Folkestone may be a hive of hip and happening modern pastimes today, but it has a prehistoric past it’s ready to reveal.

This weekend, as part of a range of outdoor activities for the summer holidays, the White Cliffs Countryside Partnership is calling on young nature lovers to learn more about how the land lies.

Youngsters will be led on an introduction to geology and the fossils that can be found. They will also get to learn about why the landscape around East Wear Bay looks as it does today.

Geoff Downer, from the GeoConservation Kent and Kent Geologists’ Group, will be taking youngsters on a short walk, which lasts 90 minutes. Visitors should meet outside the restaurant at the Pavilion in Wear Bay Road, Folkestone, at 2pm on Saturday, July 30. A suggested donation of £2 would be welcome.

For details call 01304 241806.

The partnership is also running an evening in search of moths at Folkestone Warren on Monday, August 1 at 8pm and rockpooling at St Margaret’s Bay on Tuesday, August 2 at 5pm.

There’s also a minibeast safari at Samphire Hoe, Dover, on Thursday, August 4 at 2pm.

For details of all Green Gang events, which are suitable for children, visit whitecliffscountryside.org.uk

A brush with the past

You can check out a mammoth collection of fossils, which includes the remains of Maidstone’s very own dinosaur, Iggy the Iguanodon, at Maidstone Museum.

The museum in St Faiths Street has more than 600,000 artefacts, some dating back to ancient Egyptian times.

There’s even a eerie looking 2,500-year-old mummy to discover. Ta-Kesh was 14 when she died and thanks to a grant of almost £80,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund, experts will soon be conducting a CT scan on her. They will then make a full facial reconstruction of how Ta-Kesh looked.

The results will be displayed in a new Ancient Civilisations Gallery which will be unveiled next summer.

More details at www.museum.maidstone.gov.uk

Join the fossil hunt

A former colliery, Betteshanger Country Park, near Deal, is also bursting with fossils.

The park has an activity sheet which you can download for free and also runs organised fossil hunts for ages seven and up at £5 per person.

To find out more visit betteshanger-park.co.uk