Trendle Ring

A lumpy field near Watchet doesn't sound thrilling, but Trendle Ring is genuinely worth the detour if you're into Iron Age stuff. It's a proper hillfort - concentric rings of earthworks thrown up by Iron Age people who knew what they were doing defensively. You can still make out the ditches and banks, though it takes a bit of imagination to picture the timber palisades and roundhouses that would have crowded the summit.

The walk up is modest, maybe ten minutes from the road, and the views across the Quantock Hills sweep out nicely. Archaeologists reckon it was occupied somewhere between 600 and 100 BC, which is the sort of timespan that makes your head spin. There's no interpretation on-site, so you'll want to read up beforehand or bring a decent guidebook - the Somerset Archaeological Society's notes are worth tracking down.

Family groups with older kids who aren't rolling their eyes at "old stuff" will get something from it. Younger ones might find it a bit abstract - there's no reconstructed settlement or hands-on nonsense, just earthworks and space. It's free to visit and accessible year-round, though winter mud can be sticky underfoot.

If you're based at one of the holiday parks - Haven Doniford Bay is closest at under three miles - it makes a solid morning's outing paired with a coastal walk down to Watchet harbour. Not a showstopper, but the kind of low-key site that rewards a bit of curiosity.