Luckington Burrows - Fun Days Out

The Roman Baths are well-preserved Roman thermae in the city of Bath. A temple was built on the site in the first decades of Roman Britain, and the bathing complex grew up around the natural hot spring over the following centuries. You can see the Sacred Spring, the Roman Temple, the Roman Bath House and a museum of finds from Aquae Sulis, including the gilt bronze head of the goddess Sulis Minerva. Visitors can tour the baths but cannot enter the water.

Audio guides are included with admission, and a costumed character is usually beside the Great Bath to answer questions about life 2,000 years ago. One-hour guided tours are also available, covering the Roman bathing experience, the Great Bath and the Sacred Spring. The Pump Room, a Neoclassical salon, serves food and drink, and there is a gift shop.

Tip: Book tickets in advance on the official website, romanbaths.co.uk, as advance prices are lower and it is the only genuine ticket seller.

Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, a World Heritage Site and one of Britain's best-known landmarks. The outer ring of huge sarsen stones, topped with lintels, was raised in the third millennium BC. It sits within a landscape dense with burial mounds and other Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments.

You can walk up to the Stone Circle and take photos, then step into the reconstructed Neolithic houses. Children can have a go at finding out what it takes to move a sarsen stone. The exhibition explains how the builders lived and worked, and includes a Neolithic man brought to life face to face. There's a café for a snack, and plenty of wider landscape to explore on foot.

History fans, families and anyone ticking off an icon will get a lot from it.

Tip: Pre-book your ticket before you travel.

Cheddar Gorge is a dramatic limestone gorge in the Mendip Hills, with cliffs up to 137 metres deep. A day ticket covers Gough's Cave, Jacob's Ladder and the Museum of Prehistory. Gough's Cave is where Cheddar Man, Britain's oldest complete human skeleton, was found, and its stalactites and stalagmites were shaped by an underground river.

If you want something more active, there are adventure caving, rock climbing and the Black Cat Freefall. Escape rooms of different lengths are a good option if you fancy something indoors. The gorge is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, with wildlife and plants to look out for, so it suits curious families, history fans, nature lovers and thrill seekers alike.

Tip: Arrive before 11am, especially in school holidays and on bank holidays, to find a parking space easily. Booking day tickets online in advance also saves money.

Glastonbury Tor is a conical hill rising from the Somerset Levels, topped by the roofless 15th-century tower of St Michael's Church. Excavations at the summit revealed the plans of two earlier churches on the site. The Tor is cared for by the National Trust and has been a place of religious significance for over 1,000 years, linked with Christian and pagan beliefs and with Arthurian legend and the Isle of Avalon.

The main thing to do is walk up. The paths to the top are concrete, with a bench halfway, and the reward is views over the Somerset Levels, Dorset, Wiltshire and Wales. Look out for the terraced slopes, whose origins are still unexplained. It is a good place to stretch your legs, take in the history and wildlife, and unwind.

Tip: There is no parking at the Tor itself, so use the nearest fee-paying car park at Draper and Co on Chilkwell Street and walk, and keep your dog on a lead because sheep graze here.

Bath Abbey is a parish church of the Church of England and a former Benedictine monastery. Founded in the 7th century, it was rebuilt in the 12th and 16th centuries and restored by Sir George Gilbert Scott in the 1860s. It is one of the most significant examples of Perpendicular Gothic architecture in the West Country, and is particularly noted for its fan vaulting.

Inside, you can look up at the architecture, read the wall and floor plaques and commemorative stained glass, and find the war memorials. The west front has sculptures of angels climbing two stone ladders, representing Jacob's Ladder. There is a museum in the cellars. It is still an active place of worship, and visitors can join a service or a tour, light a candle or listen to the choirs. It also hosts concerts and lectures.

Tip: Look up at the west front sculptures of angels climbing Jacob's Ladder, then head inside for the fan vaulting.

Longleat is a Grade I listed stately home near Warminster in Wiltshire, and one of the finest examples of Elizabethan architecture in Britain. It was the first stately home to open to the public. The house sits in 1,000 acres of parkland landscaped by Capability Brown.

The house tour takes in the Elizabethan Great Hall with its minstrels' gallery, the ante-library with a Venetian painting on the ceiling, and the Red Library, which displays many of the 40,000 books in the house. Visitor books signed by royal guests are also on display. Beyond the house, the estate has the first safari park outside Africa and a hedge maze, one of several mazes and labyrinths created by the 7th Marquess of Bath. Longleat has been used as a film location many times.

Stourhead is a National Trust estate on the Wiltshire and Somerset border, with a Palladian mansion and one of the most famous landscape gardens in England. The garden was laid out in the 18th century around a large artificial lake, with classical temples, a grotto, the Palladian Bridge and the Gothic Cottage summerhouse beside the water. Rare and exotic trees add to the setting.

The house, built in the 1720s, holds the Hoare family's art collection and library. The estate also includes the village of Stourton and wider farmland and woodland you can explore. There is an adventure playground, a restaurant, a shop, a plant shop and a pub, so families and garden lovers can easily fill a day. Dogs on short leads are welcome in the garden.

Tip: Parking is by the JustPark app or on-site machines, so download the app before you arrive. National Trust members park free but must register their visit.

SS Great Britain is a museum ship on Bristol's harbourside, designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. When launched in 1843 she was the largest passenger ship in the world, and one of the first iron, propeller-driven ocean liners. She sits on a glass 'sea', and the visit also takes in the Being Brunel Museum, the historic dockyard with its cranes and masts, and the Brunel Institute's maritime archive.

In Being Brunel you can explore the engineer's life and ideas, climb into a broad-gauge carriage and try to draw a perfect circle on a 'moving' train. The Dock Office lets you head back to 1850 and experience the Great Western Steamship Company's Grade-II listed headquarters. It suits families, history fans and anyone after a solid day out in Bristol, and the site is described as one of the city's largest indoor heritage attractions, built for all weather.

Tip: Parking is available at the Maritime Heritage Centre car park next to the site, and you pay at the ticket desks. The Long Ashton Park & Ride is an alternative Monday to Saturday.}