Aylesford to Tunbridge Wells

Michael Portillo takes to the tracks with a copy of George Bradshaw’s Victorian Railway Guidebook. Portillo travels the length and breadth of the country to see how the railways changed us, and what of Bradshaw’s Britain remains, as his journey goes through Kent, from London Bridge around the scenic south coast to Hastings.
Michael explores the life of Victorian hop pickers, finds out about Maidstone’s revolutionary paper industry and discovers how the railways turned cricket into a national sport.