Warminster Museum

The museum sits right in Warminster town centre, which means you can knock it out between a proper coffee and lunch without any faffing about with transport. It's a modest affair - the kind of local museum that tells the story of how ordinary people lived in this corner of Wiltshire, from medieval times through to the industrial boom. You'll find bits of Roman pottery, Victorian domestic life, and displays about the town's textile trade when it actually mattered economically.

It works best for history enthusiasts rather than families with restless kids, though teenagers studying local history will find it useful. Budget an hour, maybe ninety minutes if you're the thorough type. The volunteers who run it are genuinely knowledgeable, which lifts the whole experience beyond just reading labels on glass cases.

If you're based at one of the nearby parks - Hunters Moon is practically on the doorstep at less than a mile away, while Center Parcs Longleat Forest and The Treehouses are just a couple of miles east - it makes sense to pop in on a rainy afternoon. You're probably heading to Longleat anyway for the safari park and stately home, so slot this in first to get your bearings on the wider area. Worth a visit if you're staying locally, but don't reshape your itinerary around it.