Thimble Cottage

The Black Country Living Museum in Dudley is an open-air museum of rebuilt, replica and recreated shops, houses and industrial workshops, spread across 26 acres of former industrial land. Historic characters in period settings chat to visitors and demonstrate traditional skills, such as hand-forging nails and casting brass. The visit is self-guided, so you can explore at your own pace.

Tip: Allow 4 to 5 hours, and head first to the trams or trolleybuses to reach the village at the heart of the site.

Blists Hill is an open-air museum on a former industrial site in Madeley, Telford, recreating the sights, sounds and smells of a working-class Victorian town. It is set in the year 1900 and opened in 1973. You can wander through shops and cottages, including a bank, bakery, chemist, printer, post office and fish and chip shop, with costumed demonstrators showing the skills of each trade.

Tip: Check the National Trust Ironbridge Gorge website before you go, as visits to Blists Hill may need to be booked in advance.

Dudley Zoo & Castle is a 40-acre zoo within the grounds of Dudley Castle, in the Black Country. It opened in 1937 and is run today by a registered charity. The castle ruins share the wooded hillside with the animal enclosures.

Tip: The site is steep, and the car park is barrier-operated with a token needed to exit, so keep that in mind when you arrive.

Shrewsbury Castle is a Grade I listed red sandstone castle standing on a hill in the neck of the River Severn's meander. Ordered by William I around 1067, it was extended as a base for operations into Wales. Parts of the original medieval structure remain, including the inner bailey.

Tip: Access to the castle grounds is free, so you can look around them even if you don't go into the museum.

Coalport China Museum tells the story of Coalport china, a maker of fine British chinaware that was based on this site until the factory closed and production moved to Stoke-on-Trent. It stands in the village of Coalport, on the northern bank of the River Severn, within the Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage Site, considered the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution.

Tip: Head for the hands-on workshop area if you want to try painting; extra ceramic activities run in the school holidays.

The National Sea Life Centre is an aquarium in Brindleyplace, Birmingham, beside the canal and opposite Arena Birmingham. The building was designed by Sir Norman Foster, and the centre opened in 1996 as the only inland sea life centre in the UK.

Tip: Book online in advance, as entry is at a chosen timed slot.

The Coalbrookdale Museum of Iron sits in Coalbrookdale, within the Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage Site in Shropshire, known as the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution. It is built around the Old Furnace, a Grade I listed structure where Abraham Darby I perfected smelting iron with coke instead of charcoal.

Tip: For sat nav, use postcode TF8 7DQ, which covers the Museum of Iron and the Furnace Kitchen.

Boscobel House is an English Heritage site best known for sheltering Charles II as he fled after his defeat at the Battle of Worcester. You learn how he hid for 14 hours in the Royal Oak, then spent a cramped night in a priest's hole that can still be seen. Interactive touches help families follow the king's story, and costumed storytellers bring it to life.

Tip: Add the pretty 20-minute walk to White Ladies Priory, another of Charles II's refuges, to make more of the day.