National Trust - Dunster Castle and Watermill

The castle dominates the village of Dunster like something from a storybook - all red stone and towers rising above the main street. It's been in the same family for six centuries, which you can feel the moment you walk through the gate. Inside, the rooms are genuinely lived-in rather than museum-sterile: portraits stare down from panelled walls, there's proper furniture, and the whole thing has the weight of actual history rather than a theme park version of it.

The grounds are the real draw though. Beyond the castle, the watermill sits beside a stream that's been running since medieval times - you can still see it working on certain days, grain grinding away as it has for centuries. It's the kind of thing that sounds dry on paper but genuinely captures how people lived here. The walk down to the mill takes fifteen minutes through woodland, and it's lovely without being strenuous.

Family groups get the most from this. Kids will sprint around the grounds, there's enough space that they won't feel hemmed in, and the watermill's got enough moving parts to hold their attention. Serious history types will spend hours in the castle itself, reading labels and soaking up the detail. Allow at least half a day if you're doing both castle and mill properly.

It's National Trust, so there's an admission fee, though members get in free. From Minehead - just down the road - you could easily combine this with Butlins Minehead or Hoburne Blue Anchor as a base for exploring Exmoor. The castle alone justifies the trip.