Parrotsphere

The Parrotsphere is a proper bit of quirk in North Yorkshire - a landmark that makes you do a double-take on the drive through. It's exactly what the name suggests: a giant parrot sculpture that's become oddly iconic in the region, the sort of thing locals point out to visitors with a knowing grin. You'll spot it from the road, and most people stop for photos because it's impossible to resist. The thing is genuinely peculiar in the best way - there's no pretension about it, just a bold, colourful statement that brightens up the Yorkshire landscape.

It's not somewhere you'll spend hours, but that's rather the point. This is a five-minute stop if you're passing through, a proper laugh for a family road trip, and the kind of oddball landmark that makes a journey memorable. Kids will find it brilliant; Instagram-types will have a field day.

Whether it's technically open to the public or free is a bit unclear from here, so ringing ahead would be wise before you make a special trip. That said, if you're based at any of the nearby caravan parks - Black Bull, Westgate Carr Farm, or Swallowtails Glamping - it's barely out of your way. The Pickering area has enough going on to keep a week occupied, so treat this as the quirky punctuation mark on a proper Yorkshire holiday, not the destination itself.