Amy Johnson Plane

The wreckage of Amy Johnson's Gipsy Moth sits in a modest gallery near Whitstable, and it's genuinely sobering to stand in front of. Johnson was Britain's most celebrated female pilot in the 1930s - the first woman to fly solo from Britain to Australia. Her plane crashed into the North Sea off the Yorkshire coast in 1941, and what you see here is what they recovered. It's not flashy. The fuselage is battered, the fabric torn. But that's exactly why it matters.

This appeals most to aviation enthusiasts and anyone interested in early 20th-century women who refused to accept "that's not for your sex". Kids find it interesting for about twenty minutes unless they're genuinely into planes. History types will linger longer, reading the plaques and thinking about what flying meant back then - no instruments, no radio, just skill and guts.

The gallery's intimate scale works in its favour. You're not shuffled through with crowds. The setting near Whitstable means you can easily combine this with a coastal walk or lunch in town. Seaview Holiday Park is just down the road if you're basing yourself here, though Nethergong Camping further out offers better reviews and more space if you've got kids who need to run around.

Allow forty minutes to an hour. The admission situation and exact opening hours aren't clearly signposted online, so ring ahead - it'll save wasted petrol. Worth the detour if you're already in East Kent, but don't plan a whole day around it.