You might not think it, but Maidstone is a hotbed of cultural funding.

The town has had 53 grants to date from the Heritage Lottery Fund, which have seen over £8.4 million invested there. And now they are asking for more, for a huge redevelopment of Maidstone Museum. Fair play to them, I say – the money is there for the taking (after a long and complicated application process) so good luck to them.

The designs look great – the usual swathes of glass and steel, but sensitively balanced with the charming exisiting red brick building. and they plan to uncover previously unseen Tudor walls inside the building. It’s all been designed by Hugh Broughton architects, who are a small, but award-winning practice.

They are due to hear back from the HLF in September about their current application, which is detailed in my recent article on Museum [Insider].