Living somewhere can make you surprisingly bad at noticing it.

You drive past the same buildings, walk the same streets and eventually stop wondering what's actually there.

Peterborough is particularly good at hiding interesting things in plain sight.

Here are seven worth another look.

1. Longthorpe Tower is hiding one of Europe's remarkable medieval interiors

From the outside, Longthorpe Tower doesn't exactly shout for attention.

Inside is another matter.

The tower was built around 1290–1300, but its extraordinary wall paintings were added around 1330.

English Heritage describes them as among the most impressive examples of medieval domestic wall painting in northern Europe.

They cover religious stories, animals, music, morality and everyday medieval ideas.

And one image is considerably stranger than the average heritage attraction...

2. Peterborough has a medieval painting involving flaming excrement

Yes, really.

Among Longthorpe Tower's paintings is a bonnacon — a mythical creature whose rather memorable defensive weapon was projectile flaming dung.

An unfortunate archer is shown aiming at precisely the wrong end of it.

Try getting that into a school history lesson without everyone paying attention.

3. Flag Fen takes Peterborough back roughly 3,000 years

Peterborough's history didn't begin with the Cathedral.

Flag Fen preserves evidence from a Bronze Age wetland landscape, including an extraordinary timber causeway constructed across the Fens.

The city's official visitor site describes it as a journey back around 3,000 years, with preserved timbers and archaeological finds revealing the prehistoric landscape around Peterborough.

That's a very different Peterborough from roundabouts and retail parks.

4. One of England's great Norman buildings is sitting in the city centre

It's easy to stop noticing the Cathedral when it's part of the everyday skyline.

But Peterborough Cathedral has more than 1,400 years of history, while the present building is celebrated particularly for its Norman architecture and enormous West Front.

It's the sort of building people travel considerable distances to see.

Some of us walk past it on the way to get a coffee.

5. Katharine of Aragon is buried here

Henry VIII's first wife wasn't buried in London or at Windsor.

Her tomb is in Peterborough Cathedral.

That gives Peterborough a direct connection to one of the most famous episodes in Tudor history something that's surprisingly easy to forget when you live here.

6. Longthorpe wasn't always surrounded by suburbia

Today, Longthorpe feels firmly part of Peterborough.

But English Heritage records that the area around Longthorpe Tower remained entirely rural until the 1970s, surrounded by orchards and dairy farms.

That's within living memory.

It also gives you an idea of just how dramatically Peterborough expanded during the New Town era.

7. Experts still haven't completely worked out what the Longthorpe paintings mean

Perhaps the best local fact is that there's still a mystery.

Despite decades of study, English Heritage says questions remain about the meaning of the paintings and whether all the different scenes were intended to form one overall programme or message.

So one of Peterborough's most important historic treasures still hasn't completely given up its secrets.

And that's probably the point.

You don't always need another new attraction.

Sometimes you need to look again at what's already on your doorstep.

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