The Mew stone gallery

The Mew Stone Gallery sits in Paignton, a proper little art space that punches above its weight. Inside you'll find contemporary work alongside more traditional pieces - the sort of place where you might stumble across a local painter's seascapes or a sculptor's work that actually makes you stop and look properly. It's refreshingly unpretentious, without the po-faced atmosphere that kills smaller galleries stone dead.

This is best suited to art enthusiasts and anyone after a quiet hour away from the seafront bustle. Families with older kids who can appreciate work beyond bright colours will get something from it, but it's not a toddler destination. The gallery's modest size means you won't spend half the day here - factor in 45 minutes to an hour, depending on how much you want to read about the pieces.

If you're staying at South Bay Holiday Park nearby, it's an easy walk into town and worth building into a morning before heading to the beach. Paignton's got enough decent cafes to make an afternoon of it without that exhausted holiday-park feeling. The real draw here is that it genuinely supports local artists rather than churning out the same tired prints you see in every seaside town. Worth the detour if you're gallery-curious, but don't expect it to be the highlight of your trip.