Over the years I’ve become more and more obsessed with the brown tourist signs that you see dotted around the UK. Designed to direct tourists to places of interest they give me such a weird, warm and fluffy feeling about a time gone by when people navigated by maps rather than Sat Navs and couldn’t just look up on their phone to decide where to stop next. I remember as a child in the 80s how the sight of the crossed fork and spoon (why?) would be a welcome sign on the A1 when my sister and I were starting to feel hungry in the back of the car.
Several years ago I discovered the marvellous Follow The Brown Signs site and lost many an hour on it marvelling at the more obscure signs that you can find across the country. Then Covid happened and initially none of us could go anywhere, and then the spontaneity of just randomly stumbling upon tourist attractions was effectively banned with everything having to be pre-booked. After that everyone started misusing the work “staycation” when they actually meant a holiday in the UK. This country of ours has some absolutely fascinating places to visit, and I’m firmly of the belief that no one should look down on UK based holidays (or proper staycations where you do day trips from home) at all. Seeing as Follow The Brown Signs no longer seems to be updated I thought I should make an effort to record all the brown signs that we spot on our travels (including the unofficial ones not on the list of 93 types!) and to follow as many of them as possible.
The definitive list of “official” brown tourist signs:
- Agricultural Museum
- Air Museum
- Antiques Centre
- Aquarium
- Battlefield
- Beach
- Bird Park
- Birds of Prey Centre
- Boat Hire
- Brass Rubbing
- Brewing Museum
- Bus Museum
- Butterfly Farm
- Campsite
- Canalside Attraction
- Canoeing
- Caravan Site
- Castle
- Cathedral
- Church
- Cider Farm
- Cinema
- Country Park
- Craft Centre or Forge
- Cricket Ground
- Cycle Hire
- English Heritage
- English Nature Reserve
- English Tourist Board Approved Attraction
- Equestrian Centre
- Farm Park
- Farm Trail
- Fishing
- Flower Garden
- Football Ground
- Forestry Commission
- Fountain, Spring or Spa
- Golf Course
- Heavy Horse Centre
- Heritage Railway or Railway Museum
- Historic Building
- Historic Dockyard or Maritime Attraction
- Historic Scotland Attraction
- Hotel or Overnight Accommodation
- House of Historic or Architectural Interest
- Ice Skating
- Industrial Heritage
- Information Point
- Light Refreshment
- Lighthouse Open to the Public
- Military Museum
- Motor Museum
- Museum or Art Gallery
- National Trust Property
- National Trust Scotland
- Nature Reserve
- Outdoor Pursuit Centre
- Picnic Area
- Pier
- Pottery or Craft Centre
- Prehistoric Monument or Site
- Property in the Care of CADW
- Racecourse
- Rare Breeds
- Restaurant
- Roller Skating
- Roman Remains
- RSPB Reserve
- Rugby Ground
- Safari Park
- Scottish Tourist Board Approved Attraction
- Ski Slope
- Sports Centre
- Swimming Pool
- Tenpin Bowling
- Theatre or Concert Hall
- Theme Park
- Tower or Folly
- Tram Museum
- Unique or Unclassified (a person walking)
- Viewpoint
- Vineyard
- Watermill
- Watersports
- Welsh Museum or Art Gallery
- Welsh Tourist Board Approved Attraction
- Wildlife Park
- Windmill
- Woodland Recreation Area
- Woodland Walk in Coniferous Forest
- Woodland Walk in Deciduous Forest
- Youth Hostel
- Zoo
If you’re interested in obscure, unofficial, brown signs – the likes of dinosaurs and penguins – then please take a look here.