Highley Library

Highley Library sits in a quiet corner of this small Shropshire village, a proper local institution rather than a destination attraction. It's the kind of place where you pop in to browse the shelves, use the computers, or simply escape a rainy afternoon - and there are plenty of those in the West Midlands. The stock is what you'd expect from a village library: a solid selection of fiction and non-fiction, local interest material, and the usual suspects for children's reading.

Really, this is most useful if you're staying at one of the nearby holiday parks - Bank Farm Holiday Park is just 2.4 miles away, and Stanmore Hall Touring Park sits at 5.2 miles. If the weather turns grim during a caravan holiday and you've run out of books, Highley Library offers a quiet hour or two without faffing about with long drives into Bewdley or beyond.

Admission is free, as you'd expect from a public library service. Opening hours aren't listed here, so ring ahead or check Shropshire Council's website before you visit. It's a small-scale operation - don't expect the grandeur of a Victorian lending library or extensive rare book collections. But that's rather the point. It serves its community well, and that community includes passing holidaymakers who need a warm, dry retreat and a fresh paperback.