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27-517: Weavering is a village, mainly consisting of parts of the Grove Green and Bearsted Park housing Estates, centred on Weavering Street, within the borough of Maidstone , Kent in South East England that was formerly farmland. At the 2014 Census the population of the village was included in the civil parish of Thurnham . The settlement grew from the small hamlet of Weavering Street. Prior to

54-469: Is at Bearsted . In 2012, Boxley Parish Council created an orchard to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II . The orchard was planted on former orchard land, and contains apple, pear, cherry, and damson trees, amongst other varieties. The orchard is maintained by the community, and fruit is harvested by the local residents for their own use each autumn. The orchard was officially opened by

81-509: Is based at Vinters Park in Maidstone , Kent, England. It has been home to a varied selection of independent British television programming including Later... with Jools Holland , Jools' Annual Hootenanny , Take Me Out , Catchphrase , as well as popular children's shows such as Mister Maker and Let's Play for CBeebies , or Art Attack for TVS and later for ITV and Disney Channel . Other recent credits also include: Bang on

108-417: Is via the studio's scene dock area. The studios do not currently have any camera equipment other than a limited number of tripods and pedestals, and hence visiting productions are required to hire-in equipment from elsewhere. Maidstone also has four edit suites, one dubbing suite, dressing rooms and green rooms, production and wardrobe departments, scenery departments, transmission and playback facilities. On

135-563: The Earl and Countess of Wessex in April 2012. Based at the Early Bird pub, there is also a rugby club, named 'Weavering Warriors'. Grove Green The name 'Grove Green' can be traced back to at least the early 20th century, as seen in ordnance survey maps of the time. This is due to the way the area was previously divided up. The area now covered in housing once formed part of a vast country estate,

162-573: The Middle Ages are present on the Weavering Street, suggesting it has ancient origins. What is now the housing estate one formed part of a vast, formerly prosperous and rich country estate, which had passed through several owners, including the Whatman family, who are often mentioned in the history of Maidstone. Weavering, as the area is today, covers the old market farm, which made up the eastern side of

189-578: The Money , The Royals on E!, Ultimate Brain and Hetty Feather for CBBC , Davina McCall - Fitness DVDs, and The Coalition drama for Channel 4. The site was originally chosen by the now defunct ITV company Southern Television in 1979 for a proposed new studio facility should they win the contract from the Independent Broadcasting Authority (the UK television regulator at the time), for

216-560: The South-East, there is a railway line and further down the valley, a stream, and to the West, there is New Cut Road. Weavering Street once connected Ashford Road and Bearsted Road, but bollards were put up after the construction of the housing estate to prevent a dangerous ' rat run ' route. The Minor Centre shopping area is within Weavering. Some of these are based there: The nearest train station

243-490: The UK Family Channel business. During 2002 the new owner of Flextech, Telewest Communications, overhauled the structure of the operations which resulted in the disposal of the studios. The studios were bought in 2002 by a local consortium of businessmen under the name Dovedale Associates for £4.25 million, headed by ex-BBC producer Geoff Miles. In 2005 a £2 million refurbishment programme took place, as part of

270-466: The area being used for many television programs including Cats Eyes , Tittybangbang , What's Up Doc and others. The development includes a primary school, supermarket, community centre, doctors surgery and other small shops, as well as two pubs. The Minor Centre shopping area is within Grove Green. In 2006, Abbey New Homes plc submitted a planning application for five new dwellings to be built upon

297-553: The building as a production centre for the south east edition of Meridian Tonight , before moving to its own centre at nearby New Hythe between 1994 and 2004. The Meridian newsgathering operation returned to Maidstone Studios in 2004, though the studio for the programme moved to Meridian's new base at Whiteley in Hampshire. TVS, including the Maidstone Studios, was quickly bought by International Family Entertainment Inc. and

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324-415: The colour logo device had been re-registered to lighting cameraman Keith Jacobsen, who traded as an independent production company with no links to the original. The 'new' TVS ceased trading on 9 March 2012, but as of May 2017 is owned by another independent production company. The area including car-parks and outbuildings to the east of the studio premises were bought by Hillreed Homes – planning permission

351-511: The development. In 2007, the application was re-submitted, with minor modifications. The council reluctantly gave permission for the development to go ahead. Construction started in mid-2007, and was completed in April 2008. The community hall is for a number of local social events including shin-gi-tai karate club who took over the original Grove Green Karate Club in 2003. This club has been operating in Grove green for well over 20 years and still enjoys

378-399: The estate. Similarly, the nearby Vinters Park housing estate, covers former wheat and hop fields to the west. The land in between, currently around 90 acres (36 ha), is maintained as a local nature reserve, Vinters Valley Nature Reserve. The old manor house once stood in this nature reserve, but was burnt down around 1960, just after much of the land was sold to housing developers. Today,

405-420: The first phase of development was built upon, to increase the number of houses, along what is now known as Grovewood Drive North. The two sections of Grovewood Drive were originally planned to be linked together to form one long road giving access to the whole of the area. However, in the early 1990s when the time came for this work to be completed, residents fought back, and decided it was more appropriate to leave

432-426: The housing development, residents of this road tended to class themselves as part of Bearsted , hence even today, many residents of this road include Bearsted in their address, despite technically being part of Weavering. The name, Weavering can at least be traced back to the early 20th century, as it can be seen on Ordnance Survey maps from the time, however, it is likely the name is much older, as houses dating from

459-399: The land between Grovewood Drive (North) and Grovewood Drive (South). The council rejected this, resulting in a metal 'prison fence' being erected around the land owned by the developer. The reasoning for the rejection of the application was said by the council to be wanting an option to be able to open up the road, and join the two ends of Grovewood drive, to ease the growing traffic problems of

486-471: The large scale development, the old character of the traditional hamlet has been retained. Many, if not all, of the original buildings from the old settlement remain, including several homes from the Middle Ages along Weavering Street itself, as well as a group of farmhouses behind the Tesco superstore, now only accessible from a small cul-de-sac, Wingrove Drive. In the late 1990s, a large area of open space, left by

513-529: The new dual South and South-east of England region in 1981. As Southern Television lost their franchise, they sold the site to the successful applicant Television South (TVS) at a premium. It was part of the agreement between TVS and the IBA , that TVS needed to provide a separate studio facility for the South East region. The complex first opened in late 1982 providing broadcasting and production output for TVS. The site

540-479: The new owner's plans for the complex. A new Studio 5 (now known as Studio 1) was opened, which covers 12,000 square feet (1,100 m ) able to accommodate a 2,000-strong audience; it is now their flagship HD studio, and between April 2013 and December 2018 was the home of BBC2 's Later... with Jools Holland . From 2006 to 2012 a company called "TVS Television Productions Ltd" was based in offices at The Maidstone Studios. The name "Television South Ltd", "TVS" and

567-459: The remaining part of the estate is owned by Kent County Council , but is leased to the reserve trust. In the late 1980s, Abbey Homes , a housing development company developed the area, and built the Grove Green housing estate. Many of the roads are named as to reflect the former farmland, for example, Crownfields, Meadowdown, Harvesters Way, Provender Way, Cornflower Close, Haywain Close, etc. Despite

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594-572: The remains of the manor house can be found at the nearby Vinters Valley Nature reserve. Grove Green was built upon the market farm, in the Eastern part of the estate. Similarly, nearby Vinters Park housing estate was built upon the former hop and wheat fields to the west. A remaining 90 acres (360,000 m ) of former estate land is maintained by the Vinters Valley Nature Reserve. The Maidstone Studios are also nearby which has resulted in

621-509: The roads separate, to maintain the peaceful nature of the area. Today, Grove Green and Weavering in general have become desirable places to live within the borough, with the proximity to town centre, local amenities, and local scenery, for example Banky meadow. The boundaries of the area can be defined by several features. To the South, there is Ashford Road, to the North-East, there is Bearsted Road, To

648-525: The studios were used as an independent production facility. IFE subsequently launched a UK version of The Family Channel based in The Maidstone Studios, using some elements of the TVS programme archive. Flextech was a partner in the venture, taking a 39% stake in the business. In 1996, the studio complex was sold by International Family Entertainment Inc. to Flextech when it acquired the remaining 61% of

675-477: The support of many local students. 51°16′38″N 0°33′7″E  /  51.27722°N 0.55194°E  / 51.27722; 0.55194 This Kent location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . The Maidstone Studios The Maidstone Studios , formerly called TVS Television Centre , is the largest independent television studio complex in the United Kingdom, and

702-499: Was also used as a regional office and a newsgathering hub, broadcasting the South East daily edition of Coast to Coast . TVS continued to use Maidstone until the end of their franchise, which they lost in 1991. When TVS lost its franchise from ITV, the Maidstone facility was retained, with a view to TVS becoming an independent production company. The new south and south east ITV contractor, Meridian, initially continued to rent space in

729-784: Was granted in 2014 for 77 dwellings, and work to redevelop the site started in 2017. It is planned for vehicular access to the studios (including for production trucks) to be retained through the new housing estate. As of October 2017, Maidstone Studios is only advertising its two largest studios, and is no longer advertising the three other studios on site. Studios 1 and 2 have room for audience seating as well as room for sets. Studio 1 can handle 2,400 standing, 1,200 seated; Studio 2 can handle 250 seated. Both have large production galleries, are fully air-conditioned and can operate in SD or HD . Studio 1 also includes two large scene dock doors to allow easy access for people, scenery and vehicles. Access to Stage 2

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