New Lanark

The River Clyde cuts through a steep gorge here, and somehow 18th-century cotton mills still stand on its banks like they're waiting for the looms to start up again. New Lanark is a proper industrial heritage site - rows of sandstone tenements, the mill buildings themselves, and a visitor centre that tells the story of Robert Owen, the mill owner who actually gave a damn about his workers' living conditions. Radical for the 1790s.

You'll spend two to three hours walking around the site, poking through the restored apartments (they're surprisingly small), learning about early socialism, and taking in views down the gorge. The riverside walk itself is lovely - worth doing even if the museum side leaves you cold. History types will find it genuinely interesting; families with younger kids might struggle beyond an hour unless they're properly into industrial archaeology.

The whole place is free to wander, though the visitor centre charges for entry. Go on a weekday if you can - weekends pull in coachloads. The setting is the real draw. Lanark town itself is just a few miles up the road if you need a decent lunch.

If you're camping at Ecosse Glamping nearby, this fits perfectly into a Lowlands loop. It's not a "wow" destination in the Lake District sense, but it's genuinely unusual and tells a story that matters. The industrial heritage crowd will rate it highly.