The Barbican Plymouth

The Barbican is Plymouth's oldest quarter, and it's the reason most people actually bother exploring the city centre on foot. You're walking through proper Tudor and Jacobean streets - narrow, cobbled, genuinely higgledy-piggledy - with three-storey townhouses that lean at angles that make you wonder how they're still standing. Sir Francis Drake lived round here somewhere. The Spanish Armada was defeated from these waters. It's all real history, not the theme-park version.

The main draw is St Andrew's Church, which is substantial and worth ten minutes inside. Merchant's House Museum gives you a feel for Tudor domestic life, though it's small enough that you'll be done in 45 minutes. You can poke about the narrow lanes for free - past independent cafes, a few bookshops, craft places - and pretend you've stumbled backwards in time. It works better if you don't look at the surrounding modern Plymouth, which rather ruins the atmosphere.

Who gets something from it? History enthusiasts, yes. Photographers will spend an hour here. Families with younger kids might find it dull after 90 minutes - there's no playground, no spectacle, just old buildings. It's genuinely pleasant to walk through, though, and it makes a natural half-day trip if you're staying at somewhere like Dartmoor Domes nearby. Pair it with the Hoe and you've got a proper afternoon. Go early on weekdays to avoid the school groups.