Kent is nearly 500 miles way from Scotland, but you don’t need to walk 500 miles to find links to our neighbours north of the border.

Here are five reasons Scotland is closer than you think.

After English people, the Scots are Kent’s largest population by country of birth, making the county considerably more Scottish than it might appear.

The highest percentage of Scots per head of population is Dover, where they make up 1.56% of the total. There’s a historical reason for this as we’ll explain.

Dartford is the least Scottish place in Kent, with just 0.72% of people born north of the border.

So why is Dover the most Scottish place in Kent?

This is probably due to the village of Aylesham, built in the 1920s to house migrant Scottish and Welsh miners who came to work in the Kent coalfields.

Many worked the nearby Snowdown Colliery and, despite its closure in 1986, the miners and their descendants have left a definite mark on the area’s accent and culture. Such as...

A delicacy first invented in the town of Stonehaven on the east coast of Scotland sometime in the 1990s, deep fried Mars Bars have entered the national psyche as the totemic anti-health food.

While definitely not part of a healthy balanced diet, deep fried Mars Bars have nonetheless emigrated south, and are available in chippies across Kent.

Rich in fat, sugar and calories, deep fried Mars Bars are your snack of choice if you've ever wondered what it would be like to be morbidly obese.

If you can't resist, we're told you can buy the deep fried confectionery at the City Fish Bar in Canterbury - you can always go for a run around Kingsmead Field afterwards.

Someone you would probably not find eating a deep fried Mars Bar is James Bond author Ian Fleming.

Born into wealthy Scottish banking family, Fleming was brought up in Pett’s Bottom near Canterbury.

But despite spending his childhood in Kent, the author’s Scottish roots informed those of his fictional creation, seen most obviously in Bond’s latest cinematic outing, Skyfall.

Canterbury was home to The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders for 10 years until 2013 when the city bid them a poignant farewell.

With a few minor exceptions, the Argylls had a good relationship with the city’s residents who turned out to cheer them off and see them home over several tours of Afghanistan.

In recognition of this and the battalion’s heroic performance overseas, the Argylls were awarded freedom of the city in 2008.