The Coleshill Pillory

Standing on the high street in Coleshill, about four miles north of Coventry, you'll spot a rather squat stone structure that looks like it's been there for centuries - because it has. This is the pillory, a physical reminder of how justice worked in medieval England, and it's genuinely unsettling to look at.

It's not much of a destination in itself, to be honest. You'll spend ten minutes here, max, reading the information board and imagining the shame of being locked in place while locals threw things at you. But that's precisely why it matters. These stones saw real punishment, real humiliation, and standing in front of it hammers home the casual cruelty of history in a way no museum can.

This works best as a leg-stretch stop if you're basing yourselves at Somers Wood Caravan Park or Nightingales Rustic Camping nearby. Neither park is far away, so it's worth a quick detour on a morning walk through the village. Families with older kids who can engage with the darker bits of history will get something from it. Young children will probably find it boring unless you're good at storytelling.

The whole experience is free - there's no visitor centre or shop, just the stone and its story. Go when the weather's decent so you're not standing about in the rain for nothing. It takes five minutes to photograph, another five to actually think about what you're looking at.