St James Road Methodist Church

The Methodist chapel on St James Road isn't going to stop you in your tracks, but it's worth a quick look if you're passing through Southampton. Built during the Victorian push for nonconformist places of worship, it's a solid red-brick structure that tells you something about how the city developed beyond just shipping and commerce. The interior, if you can get in, has that particular late-19th-century chapel feel - functional, dignified, no frills. It won't take more than twenty minutes to have a proper look around the exterior and peek through the windows.

You'll get the most from it if you're into industrial-era religious architecture or tracing how working communities organised themselves back then. Families passing through won't find it thrilling, to be honest. There's no visitor infrastructure, no cafe, nowhere to spend time. The real draw is fitting it into a walking route through Southampton's older neighbourhoods.

If you're staying at one of the nearby parks - Sunnydale Farm is the closest at 4.5 miles, though Ashurst Campsite offers decent value at 5.1 miles - it makes sense to combine a wander past St James Road with other Victorian buildings in the area rather than making a special trip. Better yet, use it as a rest point between longer walks or a drive around the New Forest, which is within striking distance of most of these caravan parks. Free to look at from outside; entry to the interior depends entirely on whether there's a service or community event on.