Museums will be unrolling an imaginative array of activities across the country. From candle-lit readings, paranormal investigations, sleepovers, night-time tours, musical events and much, much more.

This year’s programme sees the return of firm favourites, like Cabinet War Rooms sleepover and the Old Operating Theatre at St Thomas Church, plus exciting new additions such as the; Helicopter Museum’s ‘Back to the Blitz’ experience, follow a night shift at Cornwall’s Geevor Tin Mine and the chance to see a ‘Light in the Night’ at Cromer’s Lifeboat Museum.

You can find up to date listings at the Culture 24 Website

Here are a few suggestions:

Scotland

Go down to the Royal Botanical Gardens in Edinburgh and find out about fruits. Do you ever argue with your family about fruits? Ever called a cucumber a vegetable? Find out about the myths surrounding fruits and categorise things in their true, botanical sense with the Garden Rangers.

North East

Mother Shipton’s Cave and Petrifying Well are apparently the oldest tourist attractions in Britain! There is plenty for all the family to do with a museum, playground and 12 acres of riverside grounds besides the main attractions.

North West

If you have a “Wild Child” visit Fellfoot park in Cumbria. Here the kids can run free without fear of being told off! They can build a den, construct a dam, climb trees or splash in the lake. Fell Foot Country Park offers a unique experience for our younger visitors. Tracker packs are available and a hoot for Mum & Dad to join in! From rowing boats on the lake to crashing through the undergrowth, this is an event for an energetic family.

Midlands

Why not visit the Amazing Hedge Puzzlein Herefordshire and have fun finding your way to the centre, trying to avoid the dead ends along the way. At the museum you can also test your own theories on their computers, and contemplate mystic myths about mazes from all the world’s great religions.

East Anglia

Visit Bure Valley Railway in Norfolk for a great train day out for all the family! See all the engines and coaches in action, take a trip on a steam train and children can enter a competition which has a free prize for every correct entry. Also, under 5′s travel free.

South East

In London, there is a May Day family fun fair at Alexandra Palace with dodgems, rides, stalls with prizes, kiddies rides and refreshments.

South West

The Brixham Pirate and Shanty Festival 2010 will be held from 30th April to the 3rd May in South Devon. There you can enjoy a bank Holiday weekend of swashbuckling fun, music and piratical antics to suit all ages with the Brixham Buccaneers at their second annual festival.

Wales

The Llandudno Victorian Extravaganza offers a great opportunity to experience a huge selection of exhibits such as steam engines, early vehicles, traditional organs and much more.
Each day throughout the weekend there is a Grand Parade led by Chitty Chitty Bang Bang followed by marching bands, Victorian Costume walkers, Steam engines and vintage vehicles. There is also a fairground complete with ghost train.

Maybe you have your own suggestions? If so, please share them

Cornwall

Trerice Easter Holiday Family Activities
3-18 April
Daily family activities – Family quizzes in the house and garden (50p donation), play Cornish Kayling free of charge on the Bowling Ground and try brass rubbing with our replica Arundell family brasses (£1 donation). (3-5 April, A devious top secret Tudor trail around the house and gardens with an Easter treat for those who manage to uncover the secret message.)
Trerice, Newquay ,Cornwall, TR8 4PG
www.nationaltrust.org.uk 01637 875404

Crealy EasterFest
27 March–19 April
Meet the rabbits and babies in the Animal Nursery – from English Giants to tiny Dwarf Lops. Bunny Bonanza, Animal Showtime and Bunny Hop Races with chocolate rabbits to be won.
Crealy Adventure Park, Tredinnick, near Wadebridge, Cornwall, PL27 7RA
www.crealy.co.uk 0870 116 333300

Devon

The Big Sheep Easter Eggstravaganza!
1-16 April
30,000 eggs hidden across the site. (Dedicated fields set aside for toddlers and young children to find eggs.) Easter Bunny, Easter Art, Free Face painting, 9 live sheepy shows every day. See website for details.
The BIG Sheep, Abbotsham, Bideford, Devon, EX39 5AP
www.thebigsheep.co.uk 01237 472366

Hampshire

Spinnaker Tower – Celebrate The Circus!
2-18 April
Come and join in the fun at the Spinnaker Tower this Easter, travel to the top of the Tower and watch our very own circus show then why not have a go at juggling, plate spinning or stilt walking yourself at our circus workshop? The children can also get their faces painted, colour in their favourite pictures, meet Spinny our friendly mascot, hand strike their own souvenir coin or complete one of our activity sheets to receive a prize!
Spinnaker Tower, Gunwharf Quays, Portsmouth, Hampshire, PO1 3TT,
www.spinnakertower.co.uk 023 9285 7520

London

London Wetland Centre Egg Watching
3-18 April
Join an Egg Watch viewing and watch duck eggs develop in the centre’s incubator. Follow the progress of the eggs with an expert warden, have a look inside the shells by special egg candling techniques and learn about the development of ducklings. Visitors can come back to see the chicks hatch and take their first steps. 12noon in the Gallery (above the Gift Shop).
www.wwt.org.uk
Queen Elizabeth’s Walk, London, SW13 9WT 0208 409 4400

Norfolk

Church Farm Rare Breeds Centre Lambing
2 April – 18 April
Easter Fortnight – see lambs being born and watch them being fed
www.churchfarmstowbardolph.co.uk
off A149, Stow Bardolph , Norfolk, PE34 3HT 01366 382162

Suffolk

Baylham House Rare Breeds Farm Lambing
2 – 18 April
Visitors will be able to walk through the lambing shed, hold a lamb and may even be able to see one born. Expectant mothers will not be allowed into the lambing shed but can wait outside and walk round the rest of the farm in perfect safety.
www.baylham-house-farm.co.uk
Baylham , Suffolk, IP6 8LG 01473 830264

Jimmy’s Farm Easter Activities
2 – 19 April
Easter Holiday – The kids are OUT! So…what to do with them? Bring them down to Jimmy’s Farm for their holiday! Easter Egg Hunt, crafts, animal petting, pond dipping and lots more!
www.essexpigcompany.com
Wherestead, Ipswich, 0870 9500210

London Wetland Centre
Children under 16 will be allowed free admission and there are various tours as well as:
10.30 – 11.30am Paper making and turtle making
12.00 – 12.30pm Pond dipping – showcasing a healthy pond makes a happy garden
1.30 – 2.00pm Healthy Wetlands Healthy People games and activities
2.30 – 3.00pm Dr Quack’s medicinal plant trail – find out the historical medicinal uses of wetland plants
3.30 – 4.30pm Paper making and turtle making

WWT Caerlaverock Wetland Centre, Dumfries and Galloway
To celebrate World Wetlands Day, WWT Caerlaverock will be free to all children. This year’s theme will be ‘Healthy Wetlands-Healthy People’. Share in the global celebration of wetland ecosystems by visiting this outstanding example. Special guided walks and talks throughout the day.

Other Wetland Centres also worth visiting are:

Minsmere, Suffolk

Cley Marshes, Norfolk

Shapwick & Meare Heaths, Somerset

Here is a list of some places you might want to consider (just click the link for more details):

1. Centre for Life, Newcastle, Tyne and Wear

2. Knowsley Safari Park, Liverpool, Merseyside

3. Eureka!, Halifax, Yorkshire

4. Techniquest, Cardiff, Wales

5. Amazing Hedge Puzzle, Symonds Yat West, Herefordshire

6. Tales of Robin Hood, Nottingham, East Midlands

7. Dinosaur Adventure Park, Norwich, Norfolk

8. Beatrix Potter – The Tailor Of Gloucester’s House, Gloucester, Gloucestershire

9. Deep Sea World, Fife, Scotland

10. Imperial War Museum, Waterloo, London

If you want to treat yourself to a special break, then you will find that one of the following places will meet your needs. (Just click the link for more details)

1.Tresanton, Cornwall

2. Driftwood, Cornwall

3. Fowey Hall, Cornwall

4. Cotswold House Hotel, Gloucestershire

5. Cowley Manor, Gloucestershire

6. Westover Hall Hotel, Hampshire

7. Baglioni, London

8. Soho Hotel, London

9. Strattons, Norfolk

10. Le Manoir Aux Quatre Saisons, Oxfordshire

11. Babington House, Somerset

12. Ickworth, Suffolk

13. Royal Oak, Sussex

14. Woolley Grange, Wiltshire

A NEW DAY OUT Bewilderwood, Norfolk
ADRENALINE RUSH Dalby Forest biking trails, Yorkshire
ALFRESCO BATH The Samling, Cumbria
ANIMAL ENCOUNTER Monkey Forest, Staffordshire
BANDSTAND Birmingham Botanical Gardens, Birmingham
BEACH CAFE East Beach Café, Littlehampton, Sussex
BEACH FOR KIDS Crantock, Cornwall

BOATING The Thames at Richmond, Surrey
BREEZY HILLTOP Great Hetha, Northumberland
CAMP SITE Budemeadows Holiday Park, Cornwall
CLIFFTOP COTTAGE Whitby lighthouse, Yorkshire
COASTAL WALK Giant’s Causeway, County Antrim, Ireland
CREAM TEA Southern Cross tearoom, Devon

DEGUSTATION Valley Farm Vineyards, Suffolk
DONKEY RIDE Maggie’s beach donkeys, Weymouth, Dorset
DRIFT DOWNSTREAM River Wye, Wales
FAMILY CYCLE Loch Katrine, Trossachs, Scotland
FAMILY HOTEL Fowey Hall, Cornwall
FISH AND CHIPS Ben Ledi Cafe, Callander, Stirling, Scotland
FLYING International Kite Festival, Portsmouth, Hampshire
ICE CREAM Morelli’s, Broadstairs, Kent
LAKESIDE PICNIC Buttermere, Cumbria

MOONLIT WALK Seven Sisters, East Sussex
PICNIC CONCERT Battle Abbey, East Sussex
PUNCH AND JUDY MAN Codman’s, Llandudno, Wales
RIVERSIDE PUB The King’s Head, Northamptonshire
ROCKPOOLING Kimmeridge Bay, Dorset
SAFARI Cairngorms, Highlands, Scotland
SEA BREEZE Yachting on the Solent, Isle of Wight
SEAKAYAKING Beara Peninsula, Co Cork, Ireland

SEAL BOAT TRIP Searles, Hunstanton, Norfolk
SEASIDE PIER Southwold Pier, Suffolk
SEA-VIEW ROOM Mullion Cove Hotel, Cornwall
SECRET GARDEN Hawkstone Park Follies, Shropshire
SOLAR-POWERED STAY Mesmear, Cornwall

SOLITUDE Sandwood Bay, Sutherland, Scotland
STRIP Morfa Dyffryn Beach, Snowdonia, Wales
TOPLESS DRIVE A686, Penrith to Haydon Bridge, Cumbria
VILLAGE CRICKET Hambledon, Hampshire
WOODIE Oakwood Theme Park, Pembrokeshire, Wales
WILD SWIM Angle Tarn, Cumbria

Wickedly Wonderful in West Sussex. Kids can take part in beach games, horse-riding and watersports

XUK (Cross Keys camps) in London or Norfolk. Children can choose from sports or artistic activities.

The Venture Centre on the Isle of Man, where kids can do gorge walking and raft building.

Do it 4 Real which has 23 sites across the country. Children can choose from a variety of pursuits including filmmaking and abseiling.

If you are looking for a place to go where you can relax with your kids, check out some of the following sites.

These sites are for family friendly hotels:

1) Fritton House, Norfolk. This small hotel has a boating lake and a model farm

2) Calcot Manor, Gloucestershire. Here you will find a play area, creche and bicycles.

3) Fowey Hall, Cornwall. Babysitting service available and situated near a beach.

4) Evesham Hotel, Worcestershire. This hotel has a games room and croquet.

5) Glenfinnan House, Scotland. There is a playground and fishing.

6) Bedruthan Steps, Cornwall. Here you will find Children’s Clubs, a baby listening service, indoor and outdoor play areas, children’s swimming pools and special facilities for their meals

If you are looking for a place to rent, have a look at:

1) Baby Friendly Boltholes. This has a selection of properties in the UK. One in particular has a soft play area in the house as well as both indoor and outdoor pools!

2) Country Cottages. A variety of self-catering accommodation suitable for families.