Kettle's Yard

There's a moment when you walk into Kettle's Yard where the ordinary becomes extraordinary. This former home of Jim Ede, a twentieth-century art collector with obsessive taste, sits just east of Cambridge and operates as a living gallery where art isn't sealed off behind rope or glass. You'll find paintings, sculpture and objects arranged throughout domestic rooms exactly as Ede left them - a Picasso hangs near a kitchen doorway, a Henry Moore sits on a shelf beside everyday ceramics. It's intimate in a way most museums aren't.

You're looking at real life intersecting with serious art here. Ede believed strongly that good design and genuine creativity should be woven into how people actually live, and it shows. The house itself becomes part of the exhibition, with work from the 1920s onwards scattered through spaces that still feel like someone's home rather than an institution.

Art enthusiasts and collectors will absolutely rate this place. Families with older children who can handle some restraint will find it absorbing - it's compact enough that you won't be trudging around for hours. The Cambridge Cherry Hinton Caravan site is only three miles away, making it an easy morning visit before heading into the city proper. Check opening times before you go, as hours can be limited and it does close between exhibitions.

It's worth the short journey from central Cambridge if you care about how twentieth-century collectors thought and lived. Don't expect crowds or shop-bought atmosphere - this is the real deal.