19 Skipton Castle, North Yorkshire

Many visitors to Skipton are not even aware there’s a 900-year-old castle here as it’s so well hidden, but there is and it’s a cracker. What makes it so special is its completeness; it is a fully roofed and remarkably well-preserved medieval building, a fact for which we have one woman to thank – Lady Anne Clifford. After the castle’s destruction by Cromwell’s bully boys during the English Civil War, she had it completely rebuilt, and the yew tree she planted in 1659 to commemorate the event still graces the central courtyard. MB Open daily, £8.70 (adult); www.skiptoncastle.co.uk

Still standing in Skipton (clockwise from this) The 900-year-old Skipton Castle; Hawkstone Park Follies; Tring’s Natural History Museum; St Peter and St Paul’s Church, Clare