I have lived in Kent my entire life and in all those decades there has been an east/west divide.

The west – and I’m using a healthy dollop of artistic licence here for the purposes of making a point - thinks the east is a crime-riddled, down-at-heel place they hope never to be forced to move to.

The east, meanwhile, think the west is awash with stuck-up snobs with a superiority complex and bank balances akin to Premier League footballers.

Like any opposing teams whose borders butt up against one another, the rivalry runs deep and opinions are hard to change.

You may not think you have a bias – but the chances are you do. Albeit on a subliminal basis.

If you live in leafy Sevenoaks, for example, the chances are the thought of moving to Ramsgate has rarely crossed your mind – considered only if you should experience an enormous fall from grace and had nowhere else to go.

Even then, the chances are you’d just ‘trade down’ to Tonbridge or, in an emergency, perhaps the western reaches of the Maidstone district.

You may enjoy an occasional day out to the sun-soaked isle of Thanet, but the chances are you’ll be gunning the Land Rover back down the Thanet Way before nightfall for fear of the rowdy mobs you perceive taking to the street when it gets dark, waving flaming torches and on the hunt for some west Kent meat.

Meanwhile, many in the east couldn’t make the move west if they wanted to, given that every mile you take closer to London appears to add an extra £5,000 onto the price of the average property.

Which is where that perception of wealth comes from.

More to the point, the likes of Tunbridge Wells and Tonbridge are so poorly served by the motorways which link east to west, it’s a compelling enough reason in itself not to bother.

But, by and large, they have no desire to move west. Because they tend to be rather smug in thinking they live close to the beach – which is where all the west folk flock when the sun comes out. Plus, of course, they enjoy those burning torch-hunting sessions.

The divide is apparent in the corridors of power too.

The east know they are the poor relation of the county and, generally, feel as though they are overlooked by those in County Hall.

The west, on the other hand, point out that lots of money tends to be sunk into the east with scant regard for the challenges they face. They point to how their own areas of deprivation (yes, they do exist, eastern folk!) are over-looked due to the perception of affluence across the boroughs.

Both sides, in truth, probably have a point.

And I speak from some experience here.

I was born and spent much of my childhood in Tunbridge Wells. Both my maternal and paternal family were very much rooted in the west of the county. In fact, they were liberally scattered over the likes of the spa town, neighbouring Tonbridge and what many consider to be the uber-posh Sevenoaks.

Yet since I was about 10, I have made slow yet steady progress east.

Now, many decades later and after leap-frogging from town to town – in pursuit of property I could actually afford for myself and my family to live in – I find myself as far east as it is possible to get. My back now is pretty much to the North Sea.

To go further east would result in me taking up residence in the Netherlands.

So what have I learned of the two sides having experienced both?

All I can say is that Kent is a huge, sprawling county, of diversity and beauty. But a huge part of its charm is that the chocolate box villages of the west are comfortably matched by the majestic coastline in the east.

Yes, there is snobbery depending on which side of the divide you live. But there is also an acknowledgement that Kent’s appeal is in its differences.

Which side do I prefer? I’ll just say you cannot have one without the other. So cherry pick the best of both worlds rather than sneer at either side.