03Sep/13

Lightwater Valley, Ripon, North Yorkshire

entrance fee, teenagers, theme park, Yorkshire North, young children

Lightwater Valley near Ripon in North Yorkshire has been operating as a theme park since the 1980s and is somewhere I remember going as a child, though I don’t remember too much about it!

These days it is a huge 175 acre site and incorporates a shopping village and a bird of prey centre. It has over 40 rides and attractions and is home to Europe’s longest roller coaster – The Ultimate. More recently, it has opened a brand new Angry Birds play area.

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31Aug/13

Hands on History, Hull, East Yorkshire

free, museum, toddlers, Yorkshire East, young children
UPDATE – This museum is open to the public only on selected Saturdays through 2014 due to cutbacks. Please see their website for more information.

Hands on History is a free museum in Hull City Centre. It is a brilliant way of passing an hour with children. It can be incorporated into a visit to other Hull museums, like Streetlife Museum, and is located about a quarter of the way round on the Hull Fish Trail. 

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22Aug/13

Beamish, County Durham

Durham, entrance fee, museum, teenagers, teens, young children
Beamish Museum is a huge open air museum just north of Durham in County Durham. It’s about fifteen years since I last went and it’s over a two-hour drive from our house, but we made a massive effort to get up and visit it because I remember it being such a good day out and I was sure our two older girls would love it. We left the younger children with grandparents and spent the day at Beamish.

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17Aug/13
Family Holidays

Broad Farm, Norfolk

Camping
Broad Farm is in the village of Burgh St Margaret (Fleggburgh) to the north-west of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk. We stayed here for three nights in August 2013. 
 
It’s huge. There are four or five separate areas. One for static caravans, the rest for tourers and tents. There are also some permanent tee-pees to hire. 

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16Aug/13

Great Yarmouth, Norfolk

Norfolk, Seaside
We visited Norfolk in August 2013 and spent a day in Great Yarmouth. 
We visited the beach. It was huge but very deceptive. The first 80% or so (the part you could see from the promenade) was lovely and golden and sandy. The remaining strip next to the sea (which you couldn’t see from the prom) was all pebble. It was very difficult and painful for the children to paddle in the sea barefoot. Clean but painful. 

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