THOUSANDS of Kent residents downloaded their free tickets to more than 100 attractions in this year’s Kent Big Day Out early today.

This is the second of five Big Days Out being staged by Kent Tourism at Kent County Council in the run up to the 2012 London Games.

More than 5,000 tickets to attractions ranging from castles, historic gardens to river cruises and leisure centres were downloaded on the Visit Kent website within two hours of the site going live at 9am for the Big Day out on March 29.

Sandra Matthews-Marsh, chief executive of Visit Kent said: "We held our first Kent Big Day Out last year and it was a tremendous success giving Kent people a real opportunity to explore all the fantastic attractions and visitor destinations right on their doorstep.

“This year’s Kent Big Day Out is even bigger than last year with more free tickets and a wider range of attractions taking part from historic houses and gardens to wildlife sanctuaries and nature reserves.

“And there are still plenty of tickets available to famous attractions such as Ightham Mote and Canterbury Cathedral as well as many of our county’s smaller and more unusual treasures.”

Places to visit include Bewl Water, Canterbury Cathedral, Diggerland and The Friars in Aylesford as well as some less well known attractions such as Sheerness Heritage Centre, the Royal Engineers Museum and Willesborough Windmill.

To find out more about the Kent Big Day Out and download tickets go to www.visitkent.co.uk