West Somerset Railway - (Bishops Lydeard Station)

The smell of coal smoke and hot steam hits you the moment you step onto the platform at Bishops Lydeard. This is heritage railway done properly - not a museum piece gathering dust, but actual working locomotives hauling carriages the way they did fifty years ago.

The West Somerset Railway runs for twenty miles through proper Somerset countryside, from here down to Minehead. You board vintage coaches with compartments and corridor cars, settle in with a cup of tea from the buffet, and watch the landscape roll past at a leisurely pace. The line climbs through the Brendon Hills, dips into the coastal plain, and the whole journey takes the best part of two hours if you go the full distance.

It's genuinely good for families with kids old enough to sit still for more than five minutes - younger ones might fidget after an hour. History buffs and railway enthusiasts will spend a fortune in the gift shop and volunteer to come back next weekend. Walking types can hop off at various stations and explore the countryside between trains.

It costs a fair bit for a return ticket, but if you're staying at Middle Stone Farm Glamping or anywhere else around Taunton way, it's absolutely worth the half-hour drive. Go midweek if you can stomach it - weekends get heaving with enthusiasts and school trips. The service runs most weekends year-round, with daily summer services. Allow three to four hours minimum if you're doing the full run to Minehead.