Farnham Maltings

The old maltings building in Farnham is one of those Victorian industrial structures that makes you stop and actually look at it. Red brick, proper Victorian engineering, sitting right there in the town centre - it's the sort of thing that gets lovingly converted into flats and studios these days, which is exactly what's happened here. Walk past and you'll see a real piece of Surrey's brewing heritage, the kind of building that mattered when Farnham was serious about its beer production.

It's not a visitor attraction in the traditional sense - you won't buy a ticket and spend two hours inside. What you get is a fascinating bit of industrial archaeology on your walk around Farnham town itself. The architecture tells you something genuine about Victorian commerce and craftsmanship. History enthusiasts and architects will find it genuinely interesting; casual tourists might give it five minutes and move on, which is fair enough.

Farnham itself is worth a proper day out. The castle ruins are better known, the town centre has good independent shops, and it's a proper working market town rather than somewhere pretending to be quaint. If you're staying at Tilford Woods Lodge Retreat, just three and a half miles away, the Maltings slots into a broader wander around Farnham's old town. It costs nothing to look at from the street, which is the only realistic way to experience it. Go on a weekday morning if you can - you'll get better light for photographs and fewer crowds.