Shiny Brewing Company

The smell hits you first when you walk into Shiny Brewing Company - a proper industrial funk of hops and grain that tells you straight away this is the real deal, not some tourist gimmick. Based just outside Belper in Derbyshire, this craft brewery lets you see exactly how they turn raw ingredients into the sort of beers that make you understand why people get genuinely excited about local brewing.

You can tour the working brewery floor, watch the kit in action, and talk to staff who actually know what they're doing. They run a taproom where you can taste what's just come off the line - crisp, experimental stuff that changes seasonally. It's the kind of place where the head brewer will chat to you properly about flavour profiles if you ask, or leave you alone with a pint if you'd rather just sit and enjoy it.

This works best for proper beer enthusiasts or anyone curious about the craft side of brewing. Kids will find twenty minutes of it interesting, then get restless. Go midweek if you can - weekends get busier and the atmosphere changes.

If you're camping at The Firs, only five and a half miles down the road, Shiny makes a solid evening plan. Grab a couple of cans to take back to the caravan, or make it a proper outing and stay for food if they've got street vendors on. Worth checking their website first though - opening hours aren't always straightforward.