Visit the loveliest castle in the world

That’s what Lord Conway famously called Leeds Castle. It’s certainly pretty beautiful. Listed in the Domesday Book a castle has been on the site since 1119. Today there’s over 500 acres of beautiful parkland and formal gardens, a maze, activities, a lake, and of course the stunning home. Bought by Lady Baillie in 1926 for £ 180,000 (bargain!) it’s her style you’ll see as you wander round and, if things are going well, imagine your future home together.

See and save some animals

Run by the Aspinall Foundation and committed to conservation the 600 acre Port Lympne Safari Park is home to lions, deer, bear, largest herd of black rhino in the UK, western lowland gorillas, and the only giraffe in Kent. If you are a single parent dating there’s plenty of space for them to run around and animals to look at whilst you guys get to know one another without the worry having to pretend to be an alien/princess/giant mushroom. Just me as a kid?

Punt away

The River Stour passes through the whole county, but nowhere is it more lovely than in the cathedral city of Canterbury. Get a riverboat tour through the city, gazing at the old architecture and clear water. This is the kind of activity that suits everyone, from teenagers dating to over 50s dating, and everything in between. Wrap up warm in winter, bask in summer, and watch the world go by.

Enchanting Austen             

Visit the stunning seventeenth century manor at Groombridge Place, take a turn around the formal gardens, get tipsy in the vineyards and lose your heart in the Enchanted Forest. The 2005 film of Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice, starring Kiera Knightley, was filmed here Groombridge Place with the manor masquerading as Longbourn. And as love stories go, that’s a pretty good one.

Seafood

Every July the seaside town of Whitstable plays host to the Oyster Festival, where Oyster lovers and just lovers both enjoy the sun, sand, seafood and whatever else that famous aphrodisiac leads to. Personally I can’t stand oysters, but champagne – yes please!

Reviewed by Francesca Baker

Starting with trembling strings a melodic announcement that ‘it’s all good’ over beats which hint at the far East, building to a synthy ringlet of a bridge before a somewhat narcotic chorus, Doubt is the first of two tracks on this release from SAFARI, the quintet who aren’t, as so many would have you believe, a Delphic replacement, but autonomous creators of compelling and laser sharp electro-rock and connoisseurs of deeply enveloping grooves.
The T.G.H.L.V.E remix of Doubt is the one you’re likely to hear on the indie disco dance floor, a rhythmic sphere of catchy pop hooks being perfectly tumbled with the glitchy synths, whilst partner single Are We Ready is of a more measured pace, a kind of electronic somnolent soul searching.
As awesome on stage as they are on record (if you weren’t at the It’s All Happening gig on January 17^th at the Old Blue Last to see for yourself, or indeed if you were and realise you need to see them again, head to Hoxton Bar & Kitchen on March 22nd or keep an eye on their website for dates), SAFARI are here for the long term. Where the f*ck are Delphic?