Nuneaton Museum & Art Gallery

The museum sits in Nuneaton town centre, a short drive from Atherstone, and covers the area's industrial past with surprising depth. You're looking at textile machinery, mining exhibits, and local archaeology - the sort of stuff that sounds dry until you realise how much of Britain's Victorian wealth came from places like this. The art gallery upstairs has rotating contemporary work, which varies wildly in quality depending on what's on.

It's genuinely free, which is the main selling point. Allow two hours if you're thorough, an hour if you're just passing through. Kids aged eight-plus might engage with the interactive bits, but under that age it's a bit text-heavy and won't hold attention long.

What works best is combining it with a proper walk round the town itself - there are Georgian streets worth seeing - then heading out to one of the nearby caravan parks like 5 Ways Lakes or Lime Tree, which give you a decent base for exploring the wider East Midlands. The museum won't be the highlight of your trip, but it's worth an hour on a rainy afternoon, and you'll leave understanding why Nuneaton mattered.