Ripley's Believe It Or Not, Blackpool

The moment you walk in, you're hit with cabinets of oddities - shrunken heads, two-headed animals in jars, fortune teller machines from the 1920s. Ripley's Believe It Or Not in Blackpool is less museum, more cabinet of curiosities from someone's deeply eccentric travels. You get taxidermy that looks questionable by modern standards, peculiar artworks, and objects that make you squint and think "surely that's not real?"

It's the sort of place that appeals to kids aged eight to fourteen most - there's enough visual weirdness to hold their attention for a solid hour, maybe two if they're properly into the macabre. Adults either find it brilliant or a bit dusty and dated, depending on whether you see it as kitsch fun or actual historical oddity. Fair warning: some of the exhibits feel distinctly of another era, which is part of its charm but also its limitation.

Blackpool's got plenty of holiday parks within a couple of miles - Haven Marton Mere and Pipers Height are your closest bets - so it slots in nicely alongside the Tower, the Pleasure Beach, and seafront strolls. Not a day-long draw on its own, but a solid rainy afternoon filler when you're based in the area. Check opening hours before you head down, as they can be seasonal. It won't break the bank, but don't expect cutting-edge museum design.