St Fagans National Museum of History

Free entry is the first thing to know: thanks to Welsh Government support, it costs nothing to walk through more than forty original buildings from different historical periods, re-erected since 1948 in 100 acres of parkland near Cardiff. That makes it ideal for families who want to come back often or spend only a couple of hours. The range is what lifts it. Houses, a farm, a school, a chapel and a splendid Workmen's Institute cover home, work, learning, worship and community life in Wales, and St Fagans Castle, donated by the Earl of Plymouth in 1948, adds a glimpse of how the other half lived.