Check out my gravel pit: Kent commuter town has fast trains to London and Paris and high speed fibre-optic internet

Ebbsfleet is a handy place to live if either St Pancras or Paris loom large in your life.

The Eurostar station has put this part of North Kent, formerly gravel pits, back on the map after decades of industrial decline and opened up villages and towns in the wider area.

As well as sitting alongside the fastest rail track in the country with 17-minute trains to central London, it has great motorway links and is getting “next-generation” highspeed fibre-optic cabling in a 15,000-home garden city.

The first phase, Springhead Park, has wide boulevards and safe play areas for children.

Homes with up to four bedrooms are being built around a central two-and-a-half-acre park.

Houses start from £422,500 and flats from £217,500. Call developer Countryside on 01474 335 195.

Castle Hill, another new neighbourhood, has 425 new homes.

Unity Gardens, the latest phase, has flats from £112,875 for a 35 per cent share. Call Clarion Housing on 0300 100 0309.

The Quarry, at nearby Erith, has 600 homes, an ecology park and a primary school.

Shared-ownership flats start at £167,500 for 50 per cent through L&Q. Call 0333 0033 737.