The Admiral Barge Caen Hill locks visitor Centre..

The flight of locks at Caen Hill is one of those sights that stops you dead. Sixteen locks stacked like a giant's staircase, each one lifting the Kennet and Avon Canal another few metres towards the summit. The visitor centre sits right there at water level, giving you the full perspective of what canal engineers actually managed to pull off in 1810.

What you're looking at is Victorian engineering at its most audacious - a vertical climb of 237 feet squeezed into less than two miles of canal. On a busy day you'll see boats working their way up or down, which is genuinely gripping to watch if you've got the patience. The whole operation takes about three hours per boat, so it's not a spectator sport you rush through.

Historians will find this absolutely absorbing. Anyone with an interest in industrial heritage won't want to miss it. The visitor centre itself explains the mechanics without getting bogged down in unnecessary detail. Walking the towpath alongside the locks gives you a proper sense of scale - it's steep, and you can understand why boats need all that planning.

It's free to access the locks and towpath, though opening hours for the centre building aren't confirmed. Allow at least an hour if you're serious about it, longer if you want to sit and watch boats negotiate the flight. Devizes is a fifteen-minute drive south, and both Mill Farm Glamping and the Devizes Camping and Caravanning Club Site make good bases for exploring the canal and wider Wiltshire countryside.