Originally ‘Gylla’s people’s
homestead’, Gillingham sits on the Medway estuary
and is an industrial town containing large
sections of the Royal Chatham Dockyard which
closed in 1984. Navigator William Adams
(1564-1620) was the first Englishman to visit
Japan, becoming a samurai warrior. The novel
Shogun is based on his exploits. Firm favourites
with visiting families are the Capstone Farm
Country Park, which has 280 acres of woods,
orchards and meadows in the North Downs, and the
Strand Leisure Park.
