The Best East Midlands Attractions & Activities

Recommended places to visit and things to do in the East Midlands

Pre-book East Midlands Attractions, Tours & Experiences


 

Chatsworth House

Bakewell

  • family-friendly
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  • all-weather attraction
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  • open year round
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  • architecture
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  • art
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  • ceramics
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  • walking
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  • café
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  • guided tours
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  • shop

Chatsworth House in Derbyshire is a grand stately home of the Cavendish family, famed for its opulent interiors, priceless art, and 105-acre gardens. Set in the Peak District, it’s one of England’s most visited and admired historic estates.

Burghley House

Stamford

  • family-friendly
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  • all-weather attraction
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  • open year round
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  • architecture
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  • art
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  • ceramics
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  • walking
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  • café
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  • guided tours
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  • shop

Burghley House in Lincolnshire is one of England’s grandest Elizabethan mansions. Built for Sir William Cecil, it features lavish state rooms, a fine art collection, landscaped parkland by Capability Brown, and contemporary sculpture gardens.

  • family-friendly
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  • industrial heritage
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  • transport
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  • bar
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  • café
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  • shop

Crich Tramway Village in Derbyshire is a living museum where vintage trams run through a recreated historic village and countryside tracks. With exhibitions, period streets, and family activities, it brings transport history vividly to life.

Haddon Hall

Bakewell

  • all-weather attraction
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  • open year round
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  • architecture
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  • art
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  • film & TV
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  • walking
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  • café
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  • guided tours
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  • shop

Haddon Hall in Derbyshire is a stunning medieval manor, famed for its Tudor interiors, terraced gardens, and riverside views. Often called “the most complete house of its period,” it’s a romantic setting frequently used in films and TV.

Hardwick Hall

Chesterfield

  • all-weather attraction
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  • open year round
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  • National Trust
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  • art
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  • café
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  • guided tours
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  • shop

Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire is an Elizabethan masterpiece built by Bess of Hardwick. Famous for its vast windows, rich tapestries, and grand design, it stands amid landscaped gardens and parkland as a symbol of Tudor wealth and power.

  • all-weather attraction
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  • open year round
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  • architecture
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  • art
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  • guided tours
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  • shop

Lincoln Cathedral is a magnificent Gothic masterpiece, once the tallest building in the world. Famous for its soaring spires, intricate carvings, and the Lincoln Imp, it dominates the city skyline and is a jewel of medieval architecture.

Althorp Park

Northampton

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  • all-weather attraction
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  • art
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  • ceramics
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  • royalty
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  • walking
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  • café

ancestral home of the Spencer family since the sixteenth century with a fine collection of antiques. Diana, Princess of Wales was laid to rest here

Elton Hall

Elton

  • walking
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  • wildlife
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  • café
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with many art treasures including paintings by Gainsborough and Constable. The gardens have recently been lavishly restored with a number of specimen plants with interesting walkways lacing the gardens

Great Central Railway

Loughborough

  • family-friendly
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  • all-weather attraction
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  • open year round
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  • film & TV
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  • transport
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  • café
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  • shop

UK's only double track, main line heritage railway. It’s the only place in the world where full size steam engines can be seen passing each other

  • family-friendly
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  • all-weather attraction
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  • open year round
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  • maritime heritage
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  • café
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  • shop

carefully crafted sets and original preserved trawler interiors capture the atmosphere and essence of a remarkable way of life

  • family-friendly
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  • all-weather attraction
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  • National Trust

step back to the 1920s and discover how a grocer's family lived in a Midlands market town through their furnishings and household objects

  • free admission
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  • walking
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  • wildlife
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  • café
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  • guided tours
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  • shop

plantsman's paradise containing over 2.400 different choice varieties of herbaceous perennials arranged into areas with different growing conditions to provide inspiration to gardeners whatever their soil and aspect

Rookery Open Farm

Stoke Bruerne

  • family-friendly
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  • all-weather attraction
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  • open year round
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  • café
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  • shop

come and meet the animals and learn about farming at this sheep and cattle farm with an up-to-date playground. Picnics welcome

  • family-friendly
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  • open year round
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  • wildlife
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  • café
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  • shop

meet the farm animals, watch a falconry display, or become a farmer for a day at this friendly family country park

Stoneywell

Ulverscroft

  • family-friendly
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  • all-weather attraction
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  • pre-booking advised
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  • National Trust
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  • walking
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  • café
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  • shop

set on a rocky outcrop, one man's realisation of an Arts and Crafts vision within a family home surrounded by 4 acres of lovely gardens

The Workhouse

Southwell

  • family-friendly
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  • all-weather attraction
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  • National Trust
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  • architecture
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  • café
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  • shop

built in 1842 as the last resort for the destitute, the stories of the people who lived and worked here help tell the poignant history

  • family-friendly
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  • all-weather attraction
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  • free admission
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  • open year round
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  • industrial heritage
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  • science
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  • technology
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  • shop

set in a former Victorian sewerage works with displays of beam engines, showcasing Leicester's industrial, technological and scientific heritage

  • family-friendly
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  • open year round
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  • walking
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  • wildlife
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  • café

enjoy magnificent views, woodland walks, and open heathland. Discover the rhododendron labyrinth and the many unique wooden sculptures. Children’s play area with a hazel maze and log train in the Natural Play Area

Clumber Park

Worksop

  • external view only
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  • National Trust
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  • walking
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  • wildlife
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  • café
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  • shop

walk through the peaceful grounds to the Walled Kitchen Garden where you can experience sights, scents and a taste of the past

  • family-friendly
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  • all-weather attraction
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  • open year round
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  • archeology
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  • royalty
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  • café
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  • shop

high tech King Richard lll museum exploring the story of the last Plantagenet king including visiting the site of the grave where he was recently found

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