Despite the sublime flowers, trees and lawns of the Secret Gardens of Sandwich, the atmosphere will be anything but serene this weekend.

The International World Tiddlywinks Championship will be building tension in the normally laid-back attraction, which celebrates its 100th anniversary this year.

With English champion Charles Relle of Maidstone set to attend, the event will be top notch as well as ultra competitive. Visitors to the gardens, at the heart of which stands the Grade I listed manor house, The Salutation, can take part in the tournament, whether they are a keen player or completely new to tiddlywinks.

There will be competitions running from Saturday, August 18, to Sunday, August 19, including under 16s, mens, ladies and doubles tournaments.

Budding tiddlywinkers will be kept refreshed for the competition with the Salutation’s Ale of Sandwich beer, created by Shepherd Neame.

Designed by English architect Sir Edwin Lutyens, The Salutation has three and a half acres of gardens, which were inspired by designer Gertrude Jekyll.

Owner Dominic Parker said: ‘This is the first time we have held an event of this kind at the gardens, and we are really excited about the amount of interest we have had so far.

“This will be a great opportunity for people who are familiar with the game to show off their skills, and equally, a perfect chance for people who have never played tiddlywinks to try something different.”

Admission £6.50,seniors £6, children £3, under sixes free, families £16. Call 01304 619919.

Tiddlywinks explained

: The aim of the game is to score points by flicking small discs called “winks” into a pot using a larger disc called a squidger.

: The game is traditionally played between four people, however two people can compete by playing with two sets of winks.

: A time limit of 20 minutes is set for singles and 25 minutes for doubles

: A common strategy is squoppingg, where a player stops their opponent being able to play their wink by landing on their wink. Landing on another wink, however slightly, means the squopped wink cannot be played. This often leads to large piles of winks on the table as players squop and counter-squop.

: If you pot all your winks, you win and score four points. In a two player game, once one colour has potted out, the time limit is abandoned and play continues until both colours of one side have potted out. Second place scores two points, third place one.