Thursford

The moment you walk into Thursford, you're hit with the roar of a steam organ - properly loud, quite brilliant actually. It's a working museum dedicated to mechanical music and steam organs, and it's absolutely packed with the sort of machines that fascinate people obsessed with how things tick. The collection is enormous: fairground organs, player pianos, steam-driven contraptions that clatter and whirr like they're still running the 1920s. You can watch demonstrations of these temperamental beasts actually working, which is where the place comes alive.

Walking around takes a good two to three hours if you're thorough. It's best for adults and older children who won't get restless - very little here is interactive in the modern sense. Younger kids might find 45 minutes enough unless they're genuinely gripped by mechanical engineering. The admission fee gets you in, though I'd check their website for current prices before driving out.

Fakenham sits just a few miles away, handy for supplies. If you're based at Old Brick Kilns or one of the other caravan parks dotted around Norfolk's coast, Thursford works as a rainy afternoon detour or a half-day stop between beach walks. It won't be everyone's cup of tea - and yes, the noise takes getting used to - but if you've got even a slight curiosity about how Victorians entertained themselves, it's absolutely worth the trip.