I can't help you much, but I made some searches on ashford in the UK.

It's not that far from the port in dover, where you can easily travel a weekend to france. The Dover - Calais stretch.

It's a longer way to go to London from ashford than the other way ashford to dover.

I have been to the UK many years ago, then I visited among other destinations, manchester and during a day trip we went to blackpool amusement park.