Museum of Bath at Work

You'll find this place tucked away in a Georgian building on Bath's Julian Street, and it's genuinely one of the most overlooked attractions in the city. The Museum of Bath at Work tells the story of how people actually made their living here over the past two centuries - from the famous Bath stone workers who built those honey-coloured terraces, to the engineers, printers, and shopkeepers who kept the city ticking over.

What makes it different from the usual grand-house museum circuit is the focus on ordinary trades and crafts. You walk through reconstructed workshops, handle period tools, and get a real sense of the skill involved. The stone-cutting section alone is worth the visit - the detail is extraordinary. There's also a working Georgian kitchen that brings home how labour-intensive day-to-day life actually was.

History buffs will spend a solid couple of hours here. Families with children over eight will find plenty to engage with, though younger kids might run out of steam after 45 minutes. It's free entry, which is rare enough these days to make it worth the small detour from Bath's main tourist trail.

If you're based at Bath Mill Lodge Retreat or CAMPWELL FARM just outside the city, this pairs well with a morning exploring the Georgian architecture on foot - you'll appreciate those buildings far more after seeing how they were actually constructed. The museum's intimate scale means you won't feel rushed, and Bath's compact enough that you can easily combine it with the Roman Baths or Abbey in an afternoon.