Leeds Art Gallery

You'll walk straight into the ground floor of Leeds Art Gallery and immediately feel the temperature drop - it's proper cool in there, which makes sense given the serious collection on display. The building sits right in the city centre, and free entry means you can pop in for twenty minutes or spend half a day without guilt.

The permanent collection runs through British art from the 17th century onwards, with work by Turner, Constable, and Hockney taking up decent space. There's contemporary stuff too, though I'll be honest - some of the modern installations left me cold. The Victorian paintings are where it's at if you want something immediately striking. The watercolours room is small but worth the climb.

It works best for art types and anyone wanting to kill an hour or two during a Leeds visit. Kids under eight will get bored fast - there's not much interactive stuff - but teenagers with a genuine interest in painting will find enough to keep them occupied. The gift shop's reasonable, the café does passable coffee.

If you're staying at Glenfield Caravan Park or Moor Lodge, both about six miles out, this is a perfectly decent wet-weather option. Tuesday to Saturday, 10am-5pm; Sundays 11am-3pm. Allow 90 minutes if you're actually looking at things, 30 if you're just browsing. The building itself is nothing special architecturally - functional Victorian really - but that's Leeds for you.