Great Central Railway - Leicester North Station

Steam trains still run on the Great Central Railway, and Leicester North Station is where you board them. It's proper nostalgia - the smell of coal, the hiss of steam, the whole Victorian rigmarole of waiting on a platform that time forgot. The line runs south towards Rothley, and the journey itself is the whole point: you're not going anywhere practical, you're going back about 150 years.

It works best for families with kids old enough to sit still for 45 minutes or so, and for anyone who gets a kick out of heritage railways. If you're the type who thinks heritage railways are a bit much, you'll find an hour here tedious. The station itself is small - a gift shop, a tearoom, not much else - so treat it as an activity rather than a destination you'll spend half a day at.

With Bradgate Park just three miles away, you could tie a steam train ride into a broader outdoor day: train in the morning, walk through Bradgate in the afternoon. Cossiwild Camping is similarly close by. Admission and running times vary seasonally, so check ahead before you go - these volunteer-run operations don't keep shop hours.

The ride's genuinely enjoyable if you're into railways or want something a bit different with the kids. But it's not the sort of thing you'd recommend to someone who's only got a day in Leicester.