The variety of museums and exhibits in Nottinghamshire reflects its status as the country’s heartland. When England was cold and thinly populated, cavemen lived and drew at Creswell Craggs. In the squalor and poverty of medieval England, Nottingham was locking up its criminals in the Galleries of Justice. When England was at war, RAF Winthorpe was sending its boys to death and glory in the air. So to discover the personal in the political come and admire smiling gunners, glum criminals and crafty workers taking tax avoidance to a whole new level.

1 TIGGUO COBAUC OR CITY OF CAVES
Nottingham city centre is home to one of Britain’s most extensive cave labyrinths, dating from 1250AD. The sandstone caves have been adapted over the centuries by local people. You can experience the only remaining underground tannery in the country, in use from 1500-1640. Further along you move to the mid-20th century and are ushered into an air raid shelter by the local ARP warden. Fussily efficient, he involves you in the psychology of the day, where ‘careless talk costs lives’. For the majority of the visit, however, your time is your own. Take a few moments to appreciate the enchanted well, eerily steaming in the darkness or the cave-dwelling workers, who avoided tax by living underground.

2 CRESWELL CRAGGS
Creswell Craggs is an archaeological site of national importance, where the only known ice-age rock art in Britain was recently discovered. Art engravings were found in three of the Gorge’s limestone caves: Church Hole, Mother Grundy’s Parlour and Robin Hood Cave. The interiors are not usually accessible to visitors, but a walk around the beautiful gorge, peering through iron grilles and reading information boards is still fascinating. A book purchased from the museum takes you on a self-guided tour, but a guide will help you get the most out of a visit. Take a trawl through the small on-site museum and shop to pick up something interesting. A full programme of events and activities also makes the Craggs an exciting place to explore our ancient roots.

3 NOTTINGHAM CASTLE
Home to a medley of architecture and horticulture, as well as to a museum, art gallery, café, playground and caves, a castle has existed on the site since 1067, but today’s was built in 1679. Keen gardeners should look for a horse and cart-shaped bush. The museum has a number of different and often unrelated exhibits. The art gallery is determined to involve children and the inexperienced. Guides are helpful and the children’s playroom contains piratical features and paintings. Morton’s Hole is also worth a guided tour.

3 WOLLATON HALL AND PARK
Wollaton Hall is a Grade I listed building in the English Renaissance style, while its grounds comprise 500 acres of historic deer park. The hall is home to Nottinghamshire’s Natural History Museum. This is by turns tacky and brilliant. A collection of old cars, bikes and motorbikes has a wider appeal. The grounds are family friendly: herds of red and fallow deer run wild, and there are nature trails, adventure playgrounds and a sensory garden.

4 BREWHOUSE YARD MUSEUM
This museum documents everyday life in Nottinghamshire over the centuries. Stories from real people adorn the information boards, while reconstructions of rooms and shops are based on particular dwellings in the region. First stop on the tour is the dining room to which Miss Winnie Bryan donated the dining table, easy chair, slate mantle clock and enthusiastic memories of the old days. The place exerts a fascination in which black-and-white photographs leap to life with stories of borrowed toys and tantrums. The top floor is perhaps the best. The pharmacy glitters with coloured vials and well-polished wood, while the hairdresser’s boasts torturous instruments to construct permanent waves, or something permanent at any rate.

5 The Holocaust centre
Stephen and James Smith set up the Holocaust Centre in 1995 because there was nowhere in Britain solely committed to exploring this appalling time or remembering its victims. The centre takes genocide as its subject, primarily exploring the Holocaust, but also looking at more recent examples, such as Rwanda. Visitors are encouraged to remember and to learn. One 15-year-old spoke of it bringing her “a reality about the Holocaust that I had not previously experienced”. The centre is obviously challenging, but also surprisingly beautiful. It is perhaps the combination of stark information and peace that makes the experience so moving.

6 NEWARK AIR MUSEUM
With over 60 aircraft and cockpits from across the history of aviation, Newark is a plane enthusiast’s heaven. The small artefact display is a compelling mixture of objects, stories and photographs. The flight deck systems trainer, with its maze of switches, also intrigues. The planes are either in a hanger or outside. They range from the small to the massive, and in most cases you can walk right up to and under them. The museum has an unpretentious café and a superb collection of plastic model aircraft kits, as well as videos, books and cards.

7 GALLERIES OF JUSTICE
‘Feel the fear’ is the Galleries’ motto, and after being harassed by judges, prostitutes and matrons, you will be left a little frightened. Being instructed to do star jumps next to the scaffold was a highlight. The Galleries is an impressive, interactive museum, but do take along a sense of humour. On the crime and punishment tour, you enter the prison as an inmate and suffer the consequences of your actions, while the police tour puts you on the side of law and order. The building, a court since 1375 and prison since at least 1449, gives an air of authenticity to proceedings.