Allen Wittert

The Allen Wittert gallery sits quietly in the Tunbridge Wells area, a proper find if you're after contemporary art away from the usual tourist circuit. It's a working gallery space where you'll see rotating exhibitions - the sort of place where artists actually show their stuff rather than some sterile white cube trying too hard to be important.

What strikes you first is how personal it feels. You're not herded through via velvet ropes or bombarded with audioguide nonsense. The work hangs at eye level, and there's genuine space to breathe between pieces. Whether it's painting, sculpture, or mixed media depends on what's on at the time you visit, but the calibre stays consistent. This is genuinely interesting art, not the sort that makes you squint at the label trying to work out what you're looking at.

It appeals most to anyone serious about visual art - collectors scouting new talent, practising artists wanting to see what others are doing, or simply folk tired of the National Gallery queues. If your kids think a gallery is somewhere to run around, they'll be bored rigid. Fair warning.

Staying at one of the nearby parks - Apple Acres is just 1.5 miles down the road, or Glamping at Honnington Farm if you want something more upmarket - means you can pop into Tunbridge Wells proper for the day and hit the gallery as your quieter afternoon activity. It's not a three-hour mission, but that's rather the point. Thirty to forty minutes does it justice without overselling what's there. Check ahead for opening hours and admission fees, as these can shift with exhibitions.