Grave of John Middleton

A modest grave tucked into the churchyard near Frodsham marks the final resting place of John Middleton, a man who stood nearly nine feet tall in an age when the average person barely reached five and a half. Walking through the quiet cemetery, you're struck by how ordinary it all seems - just headstones and grass and the sound of wind through the trees. Yet this is where one of England's most extraordinary figures was buried, a giant quite literally and figuratively from the 17th century.

The site itself won't take you long. You'll find the grave, read the inscription if you can make it out, and spend maybe twenty minutes contemplating the strangeness of celebrity in an era before photography and film. What brings it alive is the story - Middleton was exhibited across England and even travelled to the Continent, a curiosity and breadwinner whose very existence defied the natural order. History types and anyone with a taste for the oddly macabre will find it genuinely moving.

Frodsham sits handily between several holiday parks. If you're based at The Ridgeway Country Holiday Park or Cheshire Glamping at Lady Heyes, this makes an easy afternoon outing - really just a small detour rather than a proper destination in itself. Pair it with a walk around Frodsham's own landscape or a visit to the town's main attractions, and it becomes part of something bigger. Free to visit, naturally, and worth the few minutes it takes to find.