Watchet Town Library

Watchet Town Library is one of those places you'd walk past without thinking twice if you weren't looking for it, which is precisely why it's worth a deliberate visit if you're staying in one of the nearby holiday parks. Housed in a Victorian building in the small coastal town between Taunton and the Bristol Channel, it's a proper local library - the kind where the librarians actually know their regulars and the collection reflects what real people in the area read. The building itself has character. Wooden shelves, a decent Somerset and local studies section, and the sort of quiet you can actually work in. It's free to use, though you'll need to join if you want to borrow. Allow an hour if you're just browsing, longer if you're genuinely hunting for something specific. If you're camped at Warren Bay Holiday Village or Doniford Bay just down the road, this is a handy stop on a rainy afternoon or when the kids want to swap their seaside books for something new. It's not going to thrill everyone - families with young children might find it a bit dull compared to the beach, and it won't eat up half your day. But if you like getting a sense of how a real British seaside town actually functions beyond the holiday park gates, it's worth the ten-minute walk from the seafront. Watchet itself is worth a wander while you're here, with a working harbour and decent fish and chips.