Sandfields Pumping Station.

The Victorian ironwork here tells you everything about Burton-on-Trent's industrial past. Sandfields Pumping Station is a proper slice of 19th-century engineering - all red brick and mechanical guts, the kind of place that pumped water through the town when it actually mattered. You're looking at a working (or preserved) monument to when infrastructure was something you could actually see and understand.

It's not a big sprawl. An hour here, maybe ninety minutes if you're really into steam engines and the mechanics of Victorian life. History types and industrial archaeology enthusiasts will find it genuinely interesting. Kids might get restless unless they're already fascinated by how things work - there's not much interactive stuff, just the building and its story.

The station sits within reach of both Kingfisher Holiday Park and Cannock Chase's excellent caravan site, so you can easily tack this onto a longer stay in the area. If you're based around Burton-on-Trent anyway, it's worth the detour. Worth it as a standalone trip? Only if you're already keen on that sort of thing.

Best to ring ahead about access and opening times - these places can be temperamental about visitors. It's free to look from outside at least, and the building itself photographs well if you're that way inclined.