Nine essential South Yorkshire attractions

Sheffield Winter Garden
Sheffield Winter Garden

South Yorkshire – home of picturesque villages and steel mills – is filled with intriguing places to visit. Here are our top recommendations

Sheffield Winter Garden
Above: Sheffield Winter Garden contains more than 2,500 exotic plants

Tickhill

A picturesque 11th-century village with a ruined Norman castle and 15th-century church.

The Mill Dam

An ideal picnic spot and haven for wildlife.

Cawthorne Victoria Jubilee Museum, Taylor Hill, Cawthorne

Small, Victorian museum full of curiosities, from a gin trap to a 1930s hair perming machine. Tel: (01226) 790545.

Magna Science and Adventure Museum, Rotherham

Interactive displays for children and a chance to see inside a former steelworks for adults. Awesome ‘Big Melt’ demonstration of how steel was made using a furnace brought back to life with sound and light. Tel: (01709) 720002; www.visit magna.co.uk.

RSPB Old Moor, Dearne Valley, Barnsley

250 acres of wetlands with hundreds of species of birds and butterflies. Tel: (01226) 751593; www.rspb.org.uk/reserves.

Winter Garden, Sheffield

The largest temperate glasshouse of any European city contains more than 2,500 exotic and unusual plants from around the world including towering palms from Central America. Tel: (0114) 221 1900.

Elsecar Heritage Centre, Elsecar, Barnsley

Set in the former colliery and ironworks of the Earls Fitzwilliam within the conservation village of Elsecar. Tel: (01226) 740203.

Clifton Park Museum, Rotherham

One of the most modern and user-friendly museums in the country. Home to the York and Lancaster Regimental Museum featuring 200 years of military history, plus the first ever porcelain vase cast in one piece. Tel: (01709) 336633; www.rotherham.gov.uk.

Hooton Pagnell

An historic village offering a snapshot of life hundreds of years ago. Beautifully preserved stone cottages built from local brown limestone.

For more information about South Yorkshire read our insider’s guide