St. Mary's, Penzance

The church sits at the heart of Penzance's seafront, and it's genuinely worth ducking inside if you're passing through. St. Mary's is a proper Victorian rebuild - the original medieval structure burned down in a Spanish raid (1595, if you're keeping score), which tells you something about Penzance's position as a working port rather than a sleepy tourist town.

What you get is a spacious interior with decent stained glass and some solid stone work from various centuries. The organ's impressive if that sort of thing does it for you. You'll spend fifteen minutes looking round, maybe twenty if you're the type to read every plaque. Free to wander in during opening hours, though I'd check ahead because church schedules are weirdly unpredictable.

It works well as a damp-weather stop if you're staying at one of the caravan parks nearby - Polmanter Touring Park is only about six miles out, and St. Ives Holiday Village not much further. Couples and history types will get something from it. Younger kids will find it quiet and a bit cool temperature-wise, so don't plan on them being entertained for long. The real draw is how it anchors Penzance's actual identity as a place with grit, not just ice cream and beaches. That matters when you're walking round what's otherwise becoming quite a generic seaside resort.

Worth twenty minutes on a drizzly afternoon. Don't go out of your way for it.