Plassey Holiday Park

Do try and make it off site at some point… attractions and activities are all around for all ages and weather, from roman around the historic walled city of Chester to barging around (by horse) on the Llangollen Canal. Plassey Holiday Park has nature trails and nature areas around the site: if this gets your brood fired up there are several other animaltastic attractions in the area, such as Chester Zoo, with over 11,000 animals to see covering four hundred species, regular events including daily animal talks and a Zoofari monorail to see the sights around the 110 acres. Both Ty Mawr Country Park near Wrexham and award-winning Park Hall Farm across the border in Shropshire have animal petting and feeding; Park Hall Farm also has two massive indoor play barns to stop day trip dampeners in wet weather. Cheshire Farm Ice Cream has animals too, but as there are also over 40 flavours of award-winning ice-cream to try, this time the farm animals might not get a look in (there’s loads more on offer here too including crazy golf, quad bikes and adventure play areas). Live science shows and over sixty hands-on exhibits are the flavour of the day at the excellent Techniquest science centre in Wrexham, with special toddler days too for very small experimenters. Older kids can make a splash at the slides and wave machines at the Plas Madoc Leisure Centre indoor pools, at Wrexham Waterworld or in the pools and leisure centres of Snowdonia National Park, where other options on offer include mountain biking, watersports and climbing that big high mountain. More leisurely, you can take the Snowdonia Mountain Railway to the summit. As it’s Wales, you’ll also find castles: Chirk, Powis, Beaumaris and Caernarfon are all within easy reach. Chirk Castle is next to the World Heritage Site Pontcysyllte Aquaduct, a must-do for its horseshoe of waterfalls and those horse-drawn barge trips along the canal. Fancy something completely different? See a steeplechase at nearby Bangor-on-Dee Racecourse, where jockeys have been jumping their horses since 1859.