Valley Course

The Valley Course sits just outside Canterbury and is one of those proper golf layouts that rewards a decent swing without making you feel like you need a handicap of plus two. It's an 18-hole affair that plays across rolling Kent countryside - the sort of place where you'll actually see why people get obsessed with the game rather than just hit balls into a field.

Golfers will find it genuinely engaging. The course has enough character to keep your attention all the way round without being brutally difficult, which means anyone from club regulars to high-handicappers can have a decent crack at it. The routing uses the natural contours well, and there's proper challenge in the design rather than just length for the sake of it.

If you're staying at New Beach Holiday Park down the road or Fallow Fields over in Dymchurch, this is worth booking in advance. It's the sort of course you'll actually want to play again rather than use once and forget. Expect a few hours here - a round plus a pint afterwards is the proper way to do it.

Canterbury itself is minutes away, so you can combine a morning round with the Cathedral and a decent lunch without any messing about. Bring waterproofs though - Kent gets properly damp, and the course drains well enough that they don't tend to close it.