From Folkestone’s harbour arm to Canterbury Cathedral, Rocksalt and Bluewater, our county is full of well-known attractions and venues. But it’s also home to scores of hidden gems which deserve to be shouted about.

Today we are launching a new series showcasing some of the cafes, restaurants, beaches, walks and attractions which we think more people need to know about. We start with reporter Sam Lennon’s favourite sandwich shop – which you can’t even find on Tripadvisor…

How’s that for service?

Before I even enter The Tucked Away Take Away in Ashford they have my food ready.

It does help that I am so predictable that without fail I only ever order a ham salad stick and a slice of hot sausage pie.

But when they see me lurking outside puffing a cigarette before I come in, the staff know that is a cue to act. The total cost? Just £5.20.

With low prices like that, no wonder the place is bustling with customers. That’s even when these independent traders are surrounded by competition from other food outlets including the big boys of Greggs, KFC and McDonald’s.

Boss Malcolm Golesworth said: “Most of our trade is workers in the town centre. We keep our prices down because it is better to have them come in twice a week rather than once a month.

“There is room for both big and small traders here. All the time I have been here we have had Greggs.

“McDonald’s is a different product and and some of their workers buy their lunch here. Well, would you want a burger for lunch every day?”

The food takeaway and mini-cafe is aptly named as it is not in obvious sight, more hidden away in the back footpaths of the town centre. You can’t even find it on Tripadvisor.

I have been using it to buy my lunch almost all the time I have been based in the KM Ashford office in the town centre, since 2021, and in a previous stint, from 2007 to 2016.

In those earlier years the business was Ye Olde Carvery just a few yards away in Middle Row, run by Mandy Stutchbury, a well-known figure in the community.

It had been a family business since the early 1970s, previously run by her mother.

Mrs Stutchbury, who had run the business for 10 to 15 years, retired and the business was taken over in March 2013 by Mr Golesworthy, who lives in New Romney. He owns the business but not the property itself.

On April 11 this year the outlet moved to its new premises, with a new look, taking over the former Nutmeg Cafe unit. The lease at the previous site had expired.

The business closed for a month for the refurbishment of the new premises, making its regular customers, me included, hunt for other places for our takeaway lunches. There’s nothing wrong with Greggs – but it doesn’t have those delicious hot sausage pies which keep me coming back to the Tucked Away bakery.

When it reopened I was please to find it still sells the same cakes, huge sandwiches and jacket potatoes. The new name reflects the fact it is hidden away just off the Lower High Street and not a carvery as the previous name suggested.

The predecessor site was that spring listed for sale for £150,000 or could be let out for £12,000 a year. It is still on the market now.

The customer area was only the size of a small room so you could only squeeze in about three or four at a time.

That showed itself in the wake of the pandemic.

Outside the lockdown times, only one customer, wearing a face mask, would be inside waiting to be served. The rest carefully queued outside two metres apart.

The low ceiling and doorway made people over 6ft, me included, dip their heads down to stop them scraping the ceiling - not so much Ye Olde Carvery as Mind Thy Head.

The new premises is much larger, with room for cafe seating for at least three customers. And I’m pleased to say the portions are just as big – and filling – as ever.

Tucked Away is in an area of narrow walkways in the town centre full of independent traders.

Middle Row is one of the oldest parts of Ashford town centre, with buildings dating all the way back to the 14th century.

It shows itself today with the half-timbered medieval buildings – many of which now, sadly, are boarded up. But if anything this emphasises just what an exception The Tucked Away Take Away is, that it can continue to thrive thanks to its loyal customers.

The area was once known as the Butchers’ Shambles and is the original site of Ashford’s market. There are still remnants of this period, such as the hooks on the wall where butchers’ meat was hung.

Ye Olde Carvery was at No 13 Middle Row, but No 1 has the former market house where commercial activity was controlled and tolls were collected.

Underneath this building is ‘The Cage’, the town’s former gaol.

The Tucked Away Take Away, at 51 Ashford High Street, is open from 8am to 3pm Monday to Saturday.