14th Century Medieval Guildhall

The Guildhall in Great Yarmouth is a proper slice of medieval Norfolk - a 14th century structure that's survived everything from fire to Luftwaffe bombs. What you're actually looking at is a timber-framed building that once ran the entire commercial life of the town, from regulating merchants to settling disputes. The interior has that particular cold-stone smell of old places, with low ceilings and narrow passages that make you realise how much smaller people apparently were.

It's best suited to history types and anyone who gets a kick from standing in rooms where actual decisions were made 700 years ago. If you've got kids under eight, they'll probably get restless after twenty minutes - there's not much interaction to be done, just looking. Allow an hour, maybe ninety minutes if you want to read everything properly.

Information about admission and opening hours varies, so ring ahead before making the trip. That said, it's the kind of place that often costs very little or nothing at all.

The Guildhall slots neatly into a broader Great Yarmouth afternoon - you could walk the seafront, grab fish and chips, then pop in here before heading back to one of the holiday parks dotted along the coast. Haven Hopton is closest at just 2.5 miles, or if you're based further south at Haven Caister-on-Sea, it's still under six miles. Not a full day out by itself, but worth the detour if you're staying locally and the weather's turned mean.