Hutton Conyers Castle

What remains of Hutton Conyers Castle is essentially a ruin - but the right kind of ruin, the sort that actually rewards a visit rather than leaving you squinting at a heap of stones and wondering why you bothered. The castle sits just outside Ripon, and what you're looking at are the fragments of a 14th-century fortified house that once belonged to a family of some standing. The stonework that survives gives you a genuine sense of scale, and on a clear day the setting alone makes the short walk worthwhile.

It's not a destination that will consume your afternoon. Plan on thirty minutes to an hour, longer if you're the type to sit about taking photographs or reading up on the period. History enthusiasts will get more from it than casual visitors - you need to engage with what you're seeing to make sense of it. Families with young kids might find it a bit underwhelming; there's no visitor centre, no interpretation boards to speak of, and nowhere to run about safely.

The real value here is fitting it into a wider North Yorkshire trip rather than making a pilgrimage. If you're based at one of the nearby parks - Riverside Meadows is barely a mile away - it's an easy leg-stretch walk that beats another afternoon at the caravan. Ripon itself has enough going on to keep you occupied, and the Harrogate direction offers plenty more. Free to visit, naturally, and accessible most of the time, though you'll want sensible shoes and shouldn't expect facilities.