Cornerstone St. Andrews

The ruins of St Andrews Cathedral dominate the eastern edge of town - what's left of it, anyway. This was once Scotland's most important religious building, before the Reformation did its work and left you with roofless walls and fragments of what must have been genuinely magnificent architecture. Walk through the gatehouse and you're immediately struck by the sheer scale of the place. The tower stands complete, which helps you picture how dominant this structure would have been across the medieval landscape.

It's a proper historian's haunt. The carved stones scattered about tell stories if you know how to read them, and the museum in the visitor centre adds context without being heavy-handed. Allow an hour minimum if you want to actually look at things rather than just snap photos. Kids under ten might find it a bit of a trudge round empty fields, but anyone with a genuine interest in Scottish religious history will find it worthwhile.

Free to wander the grounds, though there's a small fee for the museum if you want to go in. Best visited on a clear day - the wind can whip across that open ground something fierce. From St Andrews Holiday Park or Cairnsmill, you're barely ten minutes away on foot. Combine it with a walk round the town itself and the castle ruins nearby, and you've got a solid half-day of medieval exploration without fighting crowds.