Whitley Bay Holiday Park

At low tide, you can toddle across the stone causeway to St Mary’s Lighthouse to climb the 137 steps for spectacular views of the coast, or to go on a rock pooling expedition with an expert (they’ll fish out weird and wonderful creatures you would never have spotted yourself). There’s a small maritime museum and a good cafe, too. Aside from the golden sands of Whitley Bay, this part of the North East is blessed with many other Blue Flag beaches, and at Cullercoats Bay there are smugglers’ caves to explore, to boot... Newcastle and Gateshead are absolutely crammed with things to do, whatever floats your boat: marvel at the world’s only tilting bridge, the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, visit the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, get hands-on with the imaginative exhibits at the Life Science Centre, which also houses a planetarium, or come face-to-face with a life-sized T-Rex at the Great North Museum: Hancock. For those who are feeling flush, the Metrocentre is heaven for shoppers - and long-suffering offspring will find plenty of indoor and outdoor play areas and activities to keep them happy, too.