Mercury

Mercury is a contemporary art gallery tucked away in Driffield, a market town that doesn't shout about its cultural credentials but quietly does its thing well. The space itself is modest - you're not walking into some vast brutalist warehouse - but that's rather the point. The focus lands entirely on the work, which rotates regularly and tends toward the experimental end of the spectrum. Expect installations, mixed media pieces, and the occasional work that makes you tilt your head and wonder what you're actually looking at. It's the sort of gallery where you'll spend anywhere from forty minutes to two hours depending on what's on and how deep you want to dive into the artist statements.

Who gets the most from it? Art students and anyone tired of the same safe gallery fare. If you're holidaying at one of the caravan parks dotted around - Thorpe Hall Cottages just outside Driffield, or further afield at Barmston Beach - this makes a decent wet-weather option or a half-morning cultural pit stop. With kids under twelve you might find yourself shepherding them through after twenty minutes, unless they're genuinely interested in contemporary practice. Fair warning: it's not Instagram-friendly in the obvious way, and it won't replace a trip to somewhere like the Ferens in Hull if that's what you're after.

The honest truth is you'll want to check opening hours and admission charges before you go - galleries in market towns can be a bit irregular - but if it's open when you're in the area and something about the current programme catches your eye, it's worth the diversion from the usual holiday park routine.