These three towns together form a single large urban area known as the Medway Towns, gathered as they are near its mouth on the east coast of Kent. Within easy reach of the A2/M2 for good access to the rest of the country, its population is around 250,000. Chatham, a naval and army town, developed around a 17th–century naval dockyard, now being redeveloped into a business and residential community – its major buildings remain and add an important historical contribution tourism. 19th–century forts provided a defensive shield for the dockyard and in the same era it became a market town in its own right. Now a principal shopping centre, the town has important road links and the railway and bus stations are the main interchanges for the area. It is the administrative headquarters of Medway unitary authority, as well as its principal shopping centre.

The name Gillingham is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 and at the time of the Norman Conquest, as a small hamlet, but by 1901 it had a population in excess of 40,000. In June 1996 the Medway Tunnel opened, linking Gillingham with the M2 and Strood. The railway station, originally opened in 1858 to serve the dockyard labourers homes and dockyard, later became the terminus of the electrified system of the Southern Railway in 1939. There are several schools, churches, quality football clubs, an Ice Bowl, and the area boasts a sub–regional sports centre with three indoor pools for swimming and SCUBA diving, gym, sports hall, squash courts and even trampolining!

Rochester, originally a Roman fortified town with a famous bridge, is known for its cathedral and castle, and for an epic siege by King John in 1215. It is a busy town and port with good shops and amenities but also many old and interesting buildings, some associated with Charles Dickens. Rochester Airport, opened in the mid 1930s, still has two grass runways under management of the GEC, but some of the original airfield has been released for light industrial expansion. The main sports played in the town are cricket and football.

All of the above makes the Medway Towns ideal for young families starting up the property ladder, with plenty of afordable one and two bedroomed smaller homes to three bedroomed family homes and a good selection of retirement bungalows on the outskirts of the towns.