If you want to visit the Taj Mahal, buy a day return to Neasden

No need to venture abroad to see the wonders of the world ÿ they're all here anyway.

It's perfectly possible to visit the Sistine Chapel, Tutankhamun's Tomb and a Nepalese Temple in the same day, and you don't even have to leave Britain. Strange replicas of some of the world's great sights are all around us.

Tutankhamun's Tomb

Opposite a chip shop in Dorchester High Street is one of the greatest treasures of the ancient world. The Tutank-hamun Exhibition houses a full-sized replica of the 3,500-year-old burial chambers of the Egyptian pharaoh complete with hieroglyphics, artefacts and "authentic smells".

Everything is a facsimile, from a grotesque mummified body to spectacular jewels copied from originals by craftsmen in gold and semi-precious stones. The adjoining shop, meanwhile, does a brisk trade in souvenir sphinx heads, mummy playing cards and Tut tea towels.

Tutankhamun Exhibition, High Street West, Dorchester, Dorset (01305 269571; www.tutankhamun-exhibition.co.uk). Open 9.30am-5pm weekdays, 10am-5pm weekends. Admission: adults £4.75, concessions £3.75, children £2.95.

Nepalese temple

Just off the romantically named H5 road through the grid-patterned city of Milton Keynes is a little piece of England that will always be Nepal. This is where monks and nuns built the first Buddhist pagoda in the West in 1980, a few hundred yards from their temple. Sacred relics of Lord Buddha are buried within it.

The pagoda has been likened to a giant toilet-brush handle by the less spiritual, but even they must confess that the temple, garden and 1,000 imported Japanese cedar and cherry trees are one of the most picturesque parts of Milton Keynes.

Nepalese Pagoda, off V10, Milton Keynes, Bucks (01908 663652; http://mkbuddhism.tripod.com/peace_pagoda.htm). Open all year.

The pyramid

Not as big as Gaza, maybe, but the huge sandstone pyramid in Brightling, Sussex, dominates the village. An eccentric and also enormous squire, John "Hippopotamus" Fuller, built his own mausoleum in the churchyard next to his mansion in true pharaoh style – part of the preparations for his burial, 24 years before he died in 1834. Some believed "Mad Jack" was buried as if dressed for dinner, wearing a top hat and holding a bottle of claret.

John Fuller's Pyramid, Brightling churchyard, between Battle and Burwash, West Sussex.

The Sistine Chapel

From the outside, the pebble-dashed English Martyrs Catholic Church looks like an anonymous part of modern suburbia among conifers in Goring-by-Sea, West Sussex. But inside is a marvel of English eccentricity – a complete hand-painted copy of the Sistine Chapel ceiling.

Gary Bevans visited Rome in 1987 and was so inspired by the Sistine Chapel that he began painting a replica on the 3,500sq ft plywood roof back home. While Michelangelo had a team of labourers to help, Bevans had only the occasional assistance of a friend to help him move the scaffolding. His masterpiece was sponsored by a local firm of solicitors. The task took six years. "He thought it was about the right shape so he'd have a go," Father Enda Naughton, the parish priest. "He's a signwriter by trade but we discovered he's an artist by nature."

English Martyrs Catholic Church, Compton Ave, Goring-by-Sea, West Sussex (01903 242624; www.dabnet.org/goring.htm. Open daily except Monday 10am-4pm (but ceiling cannot be viewed during services). Admission free.

Totem pole

Among the trees at the southern end of Virginia Water Great Park is 100 feet of Native American tribal ritual transplanted to the Home Counties. The pole was sculpted by one the greatest totem craftsmen, Mungo Martin, chief of the Kwakiuti, from Vancouver Island. He carved it from a single red cedar, which was then taken to Britain and erected in 1958 to mark the 100th birthday of British Columbia – each foot of its length represents one year. Totem poles tell family histories and this features favourite Kwakiuti personalities, such as "man with a large hat" and the unfortunately named "halibut man".

Great Park, Virginia Water, Surrey, (www.thamesweb.co.uk /windsor/info/totem.html). Walks to the totem pole are signposted from the car park on the A30 between Sunningdale and Egham.

Indian temple

Forget the Taj Mahal – head for Neasden. England's traditional Indian temple is Shri Swaninarayan Mandir, an exotic sight in suburban north London. Our Mandir was completed three years ago, the first traditional Hindu temple in Europe. It was built using ancient Hindu rules, so 5,000 tons of stone was shipped to India to be carved by 1,500 craftsmen, then transported to Britain to be assembled by more than 1,000 volunteers. Visitors can see intricately carved shrines and balconies, 200 pillars and six domes.

Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, Neasden, London (020-8965 2651). Open 9am-6pm daily.

Maori meeting house

Under the trees in the traditional English garden of a stately home in Surrey is a brightly painted wooden house that is as important a piece of Maori history as you will find by travelling to the other side of the world.

Save yourself the long journey – take an afternoon trip to the bit of New Zealand that stands in Clandon Park near Guildford instead.

The Maoris call the building "Hinemihi" and it was bought as a souvenir for £50 by William Hillier, fourth Earl of Onslow, when he was New Zealand's Governor General 100 years ago. He shipped Hinemihi home to be erected on his lawn. But to Maoris it was more than just a garden ornament for a wealthy colonialist. The house had been built by Aporo Wharekaniwha, a noted craftsman, in the village of Te Wairoa on North Island. The village was wiped out in a volcanic eruption in 1886 – the only survivors were those who sheltered in Hinemini. So Clandon has become a place of pilgrimage for Maoris. Ancestors of the survivors make the round trip, dawn ceremonies are held at the house and the London Maori Club holds traditional meals there.

Clandon's other world sight, the sunken Dutch garden, appears to have no spiritual significance.

Clandon Park (National Trust), West Clandon, Surrey (01483 222482; www.nationaltrust.org.uk). The garden is open all year on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday. Admission free.

Florentine tower

Avoid Florence's queues and head instead for West Yorkshire. The 220ft clock tower of Bradford City Hall is a perfect copy of the Campanile bell tower of Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. The Victorian tower dominates the city but is not open to the public.

It was built by wool barons desperate to out-do rival town halls in Leeds and Halifax. Latin replicas are also dotted round the city; the Devere warehouse in Vicar Lane is a copy of an Italian Palazzo and The Telegraph and Argus building replicates an Italian merchant's palace.

Tourist information, Bradford City Hall (01274 753678).