Amerton Railway

The Amerton Railway is a narrow-gauge heritage line run entirely by volunteers just outside Stafford - the kind of place where retired engineers still turn up in their anoraks to tinker with locos that have been running since before most of us were born. You're riding in authentically restored carriages behind proper steam engines, chugging through the Staffordshire countryside for a few miles at a pace that actually lets you take in the landscape instead of hurtling past it.

It's firmly a family and railway enthusiast thing. Kids aged five to fifteen will get a genuine kick out of it; younger ones might find the journey a bit long, and the real trainspotters will spend as much time photographing the rolling stock as they will riding it. Plan for a couple of hours, including time to potter around the workshop and admire the restoration work happening in real time. Admission tends to be modest and the rides are reasonably priced - worth checking their website for seasonal opening dates and school holiday timetables.

If you're camped at Poppy Fields Glamping just down the road, or based at any of the caravan parks within a mile or two of Stafford, the railway makes a cracking half-day activity that breaks up the usual holiday rhythm. It's not a theme park adrenaline rush, but there's something genuinely lovely about watching someone's three-year-old's face when they realise the train is actually moving and it's real. Pack a flask and settle in.