Several places around Kent in South East England are joining in the Charles Dickens bicentenary celebrations this year – the area featured in many of the Victorian author’s books, and he wrote several of them while taking the sea air in Broadstairs.

But what if you are a Kent tourist attraction with no Dickens connection. Luckily for Sandwich, it’s also 250 years since the fourth Earl of Sandwich invented the sandwich, and that is a good enough reason to have a two-day festival. It takes place on May 12 and 13 – a good weekend to do the South East England drive.

The eponymous Sandwich celebration is one of the many events staged in the historic town. The focus will be on food and fun, the food being sandwiches (hot and cold), while the fun will include a re-enactment of the very moment when the Fourth Earl called for a slice of beef between two toasted pieces of bread while playing cards -- he did not want to take a break in his gambling habit: the rest is history.

Sandwich has several year round attractions. It was one of the Cinque Ports and still has many original medieval buildings, including several famous. Sandwich Bay is home to nature reserves and two world-class golf courses, the Royal St George's and adjacent Prince's.

So it will be a tuna on rye and eighteen holes for me in May.