Guy Fawkes

The house where Guy Fawkes was born still stands in York, though there's not much fanfare about it these days. It's a modest timber-framed building on High Petergate, the kind of place you'd walk past without thinking twice if you didn't know its significance. For anyone with even a passing interest in the Gunpowder Plot, though, stepping inside is genuinely worthwhile.

You get the sense of what a prosperous Tudor merchant's home actually looked like - all creaking floorboards and low beams. The rooms are furnished period-style, and there's enough interpretation to help you understand Fawkes himself, not just the dramatic November night that made him infamous. It's a quick visit, maybe 30-45 minutes, but it connects you to a very real person rather than just the Guy Fawkes night mythology most of us half-remember.

Families with older children and history enthusiasts will get the most from it. Younger kids might find it a bit static. Free admission last time I checked, though that changes.

If you're basing yourself at Nurseries Caravan Park or Wagtail Park just outside York, this is an easy stroll into the city centre. The cathedral and medieval walls are right there too, so you can make a proper morning of it. Don't expect crowds or commercialisation - it's refreshingly low-key for such an important historical spot. Well worth the detour if you're already in York.