Perhaps not so surprising. One of the wards in Ashford East (which is a town ward) is represented by two Green councillors (one the successful candidate). The LibDem vote went from 1426 to 136 so probably a mass switch (different candidate). Ashford LibDems have no town councillors so maybe it was a surprise that they had a county councillor? The leadership of the council is largely drawn from the rural areas or small towns surrounding Ashford and local media gives the impression that this influences their decision making, which does not necessarily go down well in Ashford town. The opposition on the council is The Ashford Independent Group whose aim appears to be to keep party politics out of local government.
Voters might also have been influenced by the work that went on in the construction of the lorry park, complete with flashing lights and large vehicles going along narrow roads, for 24 hours a day because it was started too late and no-one thought that a site named 'Waterbrook' might flood!
Swale East is more interesting. There is a lot of house building going on in the area which appears to be unpopular because of the pressure put upon resources (largely roads), the local MP, Helen Whately, is opposed although some have unhelpfully pointed out to her that the council is simply following government policy. Like Ashford East, one ward within the constituency is represented by two Greens. The Greens seem to be following the policy once used by the Liberals, build from the bottom.
Greens also gained both seats for Tonbridge.
Regarding the Canterbury results, Labour are the predominant party in the city with 7 councillors, 3 LibDems, 1 Conservative. In a by-election in the city yesterday, the Conservative came fourth. The MP is also Labour. What is perhaps surprising is that the defeat of Conservatives is usually blamed on the student vote, I don't suppose so many voted this time.
In Swale West a county council cabinet member of some prominence was defeated by the Swale Independents candidate. He had been the UKIP candidate last time around!
Edit: Should have added - Romney Marsh - last time UKIP and an independent both got over 1,000 votes, the independent didn't stand and the UKIP vote collapsed. Conservatives and, to a lesser extent, Labour and Green, were the beneficiaries.