Solar System Model: Mercury

Walk the lanes around Otford and you'll stumble across something genuinely odd - a scale model of the Solar System spread across the village. Mercury is the first stop, tiny and tucked away, which rather suits a planet that's basically a scorched rock 36 million miles from the sun.

The whole thing works because someone had the good sense to make it actually walkable. You're not staring at diagrams in a gallery - you're following a trail through actual countryside, with each planet marked and scaled down to manageable distances. Mercury's just the starting point, your warm-up before the real trek begins.

It's brilliant for families who don't want a museum day but fancy a bit of science with their walk. Kids get the planetary facts without the stuffiness, and you'll actually remember the vastness of space when you're covering real ground between Venus and Earth. The whole model takes a couple of hours if you do it properly, or you can dip in and out.

Sevenoaks is the nearest proper town if you need supplies, though Otford itself is charming enough. Couple this with Thriftwood Country Park just four and a half miles away and you've got yourself a solid day out. The Solar System walk is free - it's just there, part of the village. No faffing about with tickets or opening hours to check. Go when the weather's decent and you'll wonder why more places don't do this sort of thing.