The region has a wealth of great attractions, many of them run by volunteers and enthusiasts, which have a niche following, but are hidden away.
Some of them only open occasionally, or just a few days a week - but these 13 museums shown in the gallery below provide great trips out if you can catch them at the right time.
You will find them in South Yorkshire and North Derbyshire.
With the schools summer holidays now with us, take a look and see how many of them you have never have heard of, or never visited.
9. Cawthorne Museum
Cawthorne Museum, in the picturesque Barnsley village of Cawthorne, is a small village museum which opens on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, as well as Bank Holidays. It is best known locally for its stuffed, two headed, goat. Opening Times: Palm Sunday to the end of October 2025. Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holiday Mondays 2pm to 5pm. Photo: David Kessen
10. Markham Grange Steam Museum
Markham Grange Steam Museum has a collection of restored stationary steam engines. In total around 18 steam engines & pumps are on display, some of which can be seen in motion on open days. It opens on Wednesdays and Bank Holiday Mondays and is in Markham Grange Garden Centre, near Brodsworth, Doncaster. It is open from Easter Monday to the Autumn, 10.00 am to 4.00 pm Admission is free but donations in the box are appreciated to help with restoration and running costs. Photo: Chris Lawton
11. Alfred Denny Museum
Named after the former professor of biology, Alfred Denny, the Alfred Denny Museum in Sheffield University's Alfred Senny Building, on Western Bank houses hundreds of skeletons and preserved animals. Many of the specimens have been in the museum since the early 1900s when collecting was at its peak. The Alfred Denny Museum is usually open for guided tours at 10am, 11am and 12pm on the first Saturday of each month. There are only 25 places per tour, and they must be pre-booked Photo: Chris Etchells
12. Maurice Dobson Muesum and Heritage Centre
Housed in an old Yeoman’s house in Darfield’s conservation area, The Maurice Dobson museum is overflowing with an eclectic collection of historical treasures. From industrial heritage to domestic memorabilia, the museum offers an insight of Darfield and its history.The house and much of its contents once belonged to an openly gay ex-military couple, Maurice Dobson and Fred Halliday, who were widely accepted by the pit village despite homosexuality being illegal at the time. It is open Welcome to the Maurice Dobson museum. It is open Wednesdays 1-4pm and and Saturdays 10am, until 2pm. Photo: Andrew Roe