Millennium Globe

The Millennium Globe sits just outside Kenilworth and is genuinely worth a look if you're passing through Warwickshire. It's a working replica of Shakespeare's original theatre - full-sized, built using period methods, and honestly quite something to stand inside. You get a real sense of what those performances actually felt like, packed in with hundreds of others in the round, no seat backs, the lot.

Historians and Shakespeare enthusiasts will spend a good hour here, poking around the construction details and soaking up the atmosphere. Families with older kids do well too, especially if you catch a performance during the season - seeing a play performed the way it was meant to be performed changes everything. Younger children might find a full-length show a bit much, though the space itself fascinates them.

You'll want to allow at least ninety minutes if you're taking a tour and having a proper look around. It's free to wander the grounds, though guided tours and performances have their own charges. Summer is obviously the time to visit for outdoor performances, but the building itself is worth seeing any time.

It works well as a half-day alongside Kenilworth Castle, which is just two miles away. If you're based at one of the nearby parks - Broadwell Woods or Mousley House Farm are both within easy reach - you can easily slot this in. It's not Shakespeare's actual theatre, obviously, but it's the closest you'll get to understanding what his audiences actually experienced.