Plenty can be arranged on site: cookery and cocktails, horse or helicopter rides, wine-tasting, or sampling the good life with spa and massage treatments. A dozen bikes sit ready to ride the lanes of rural Kent. Use our lawns to sharpen up your batting skills, clunk the ball with the croquet mallet or fire arrows through the air.

Out there in the Garden of England, choose gastronomy and gardens, culture and countryside, and history and heritage. Castles abound, from romantic Leeds to the towering history of Dover to Hever for its glorious gardens, and Canterbury Cathedral, too, with its gothic grandeur.

Soak up the mesmerising views from the White Cliffs of Dover, or take a blustery walk on Broadstairs beach, Viking Bay or Stone Bay. Stop off for coffee and a croissant in the cosmopolitan cafes that line the Royal Harbour at Ramsgate, just 25 miles from France. Or climb aboard the boats at the Historic Dockyard Chatham.

For retail that means business, it has to be The Bluewater, with 60 places to eat and even more to shop. Ashford Designer Outlet has big labels at small prices. At night, head to the coast for quirky micropubs, or see the lights and sights of London, with West End shows or cheery East End bars and bites.