Marton Mere Holiday Village

We’ll start off with Blackpool – assuming you make it off site for a day or two; as well as the famous Tower, shows, circus, autumn Illuminations and whirling around the rides on the Pleasure Beach, you can ogle the folk at Blackpool Zoo or the Sea Life Centre, get waxy at Madame Tussauds or make a splash at the Sandcastle Waterpark, the biggest indoor waterpark in the country. If you’re out of energy after the SplashZone and Summer Mania Wrestling, more wrestful options in the area include gentle horseback cantering, angling for fish or linking up with the several golf courses around: Staining Lodge Golf Course is a mile and a half from Marton Mere and the Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club is within a short drive (there’s a nature reserve here too). Knights and hangers-on (parents) should have a ball at Chorley’s Camelot Theme Park, while younger adventurers will enjoy The World of Beatrix Potter at nearby Bowness or Farmer Parrs Animal World; if your youngsters are into their history – or going underground – there’s a good day out at Keswick’s Honister Slate Mine too. The Lake District is also within easy reach: cruise along for a trip on Lake Windermere and a visit to the adventure playground, exhibitions and gorgeous gardens at the Lake District Visitor Centre, or have a puff on the Lakeside & Haverthwaite Steam Railway along the banks of the River Leven. The Forest of Bowland, Beacon Fell Country Park and the historic city of Lancaster can all be had within a Mere half hour drive.