Chatham has been at the hub of Britain’s maritime wheel ever it started turning. Sir Francis Drake spent his boyhood soaking up Chatham’s maritime flavours and Victory herself was built on Chatham’s slips and launched into the River Medway. The naval wave however has been receding since the turn of the last century and an infrastructure developed over hundreds of years lay idle.

The South East England Development Agency (SEEDA) owns the land and they asked MDL to perform the same trick here as they had at Ocean Village and other locations. MDL have taken this brown field site and transformed it into a 500-berth marina with a vibrant waterfront scene with a 12-screen cinema, restaurants, pubs and bars and plenty to keep the kids busy, all in wonderful listed buildings.

The marina itself promises a wide range of marina facilities and services, high quality pontoons with fully serviced berths, showerblock, lifting and hardstanding and storage. The lock entrance from the Medway is not tide-dependent.

The lower reaches of the Medway are seeded with secluded anchorages and you’re only 80nm from Holland f the weather’s agreeable. For boats drawing less than two metres, you can head the other way too, up towards Maidstone and Tonbridge through the Allington Lock. If it’s grim, there’s several centuries of illustrious history scattered around you, including the Royal Naval Dockyard Museum and the RNLI museum.

Click here for the MDL website.