Kent is gearing itself up for a right royal knees-up - and you're all invited.

If you thought the UK's Platinum Jubilee events were mostly confined to central London, think again.

Between Thursday and Sunday Kent is bursting at the seams with proms, concerts, carnivals and fetes to celebrate The Queen's historic 70 years on the throne and this is alongside the hundreds of smaller street parties and community lunches that are being organised.

The extended Platinum Jubilee weekend takes place between Thursday and Sunday.

Trooping The Colour, an RAF fly-past, concert at Buckingham Palace, a Service of Thanksgiving at St Paul's and a People's Pageant through London are among the national commemoration events Platinum Jubilee organisers are now putting the finishing touches to. You can read more about the exact dates and times events are happening across the capital here.

But in Kent towns and villages are gearing up for big Platinum Jubilee events of their own.

From concerts in Maidstone to a food and drink festival in Medway there is plenty to keep families busy while many of Kent's villages and smaller hamlets are hosting fetes, picnics, bandstand performances and celebrations on fields and village greens.

Kent's historic castles are getting in on the act too with Dover Castle, Hever Castle and Leeds Castle among those using this week to showcase their links to previous generations of the Royal Family through storytelling events, plays and shows for children, trails, treasure hunts and music.

While in Rochester the popular annual Dickens Festival will take over the town on Saturday and Sunday with character parades, music and performances while the big national events happening for the Queen's Jubilee are going to be shown on a huge screen in the Castle's grounds.

There are too many local street parties to give them all a mention, but here's a round up of some of the bigger Jubilee events happening in Kent in the coming days:

On Thursday beacons will be lit around the county at 9.45pm - while a principle beacon is also expected to be set alight during an official ceremony at Buckingham Palace to end the first day of national events.