Largs, Noddle Bridge

Explorer Tom Largs Museum hides just off the town's Main Street, which feels exactly right for a place devoted to the things a seaside town keeps after visitors have caught the ferry home. Step into Kirkgate House and the history of Largs, Fairlie and Skelmorlie starts gathering round you in objects, records and local volunteers. The Largs and District Historical Society runs the museum and cares for its local archive. Exhibitions and talks connect collections with their communities. This is not a grand hall asking you to admire one famous treasure from twenty paces; it is a small place where a photograph, a familiar household object or a name in a record might prompt a proper conversation. I would probably arrive asking about Vikings and leave arguing about an old yacht or a vanished shopfront. The society also helps preserve nearby historic remains, including the seventeenth-century Skelmorlie Aisle in the old churchyard. A visit to the aisle can be arranged, but it is a separate experience rather than a door you should assume will be open whenever the museum is. Ask the volunteers what they are displaying now and what local stories have been brought in lately. They make the coast feel close. The museum lists free entry and afternoon opening from Thursday to Sunday at Kirkgate House, Manse Court; confirm its latest hours if travelling specially. The operator says there is a wheelchair ramp, though it is unsuitable for motorised chairs, and arranged group tours are possible. Give this small museum the same curiosity you would take to a castle. It may send you back down Largs Main Street seeing a different town.