Museum of Bath Architecture

The building itself is the real draw here - a former public bath house on Bath Street that tells you more about Georgian architecture than any textbook could. You're walking through rooms where the city's obsession with stone, symmetry and show-off design becomes properly tangible. The museum explains how Bath's famous honey-coloured stone was quarried, how the Romans built their baths (the real ones, still visible under the city), and why every terrace and townhouse looks like it was designed by someone with a ruler and compass.

Architecture buffs will spend a good two hours here. Families with younger kids might find it a bit dry unless they're already interested in buildings - there's not much interactivity, and the displays assume you care about load-bearing walls and Palladian proportions. But if you've got teenagers who've started to notice how cities are actually built, or if you're the sort of person who can't walk past a chimney without wondering how it works, you'll find it genuinely engaging.

The visit complements a longer Bath stay well. Pop in here before wandering the Royal Crescent or the Circus - you'll suddenly see how cleverly those addresses were engineered. Admission is free, and you can cover it in ninety minutes without rushing. The museum sits right in Bath's city centre, so it slots easily between other visits. If you're based at Bath Mill Lodge Retreat just over two miles away, or at Campwell Farm nearby, this works as a rainy-day stop that actually justifies the time.