Conkers

Brilliant. Has an indoor exhibition (and the best play gym I've ever seen!) all around a nature theme. Outdoors lots of trails (including a barefoot trail where they can take shoes and socks off and feel stuff with feet), a maze, a stage where a bloke shows them reptiles and bugs, sticks, mud, dens, long grasses, train ride, sandy play area......

A real adventure for kids who still find magic in 'exploring'. This isn't somewhere you can just let the kids amuse themselves, to get full benifit parents should be prepared to get hands dirty and join in, play hide and seek and fuel their imaginations.

Great value for money, we went to Thomas world the day after, which was twice the price and half as fun.

On the edge of the National forest a great campsite for exploring the forest - its literally 5 minutes walk to the track. Perfect for bikes and scooters, the local pub is 10 min walk (little ones managed it fine) and has a garden with swings, slides and trampolines (all free!)

The weekend we went it was very windy and the site is very open so ask advice on the best place to pitch and wind direction - the staff were very helpful, there is a little shop at reception and loads of information about what to see and do.

We took our 4, 3 and 1 yr old and the family shower room is small (although there where 5 of us in there!) but very good, warm and it has a baby bath top use which the littler 2 prefered.

You can also go to 'Conkers' which is a visitors centre with play park, soft play and train. I was disappointed that it didn't say anywhere that you couldn't take bikes or scooters in until you got to the counter and I think it is expensive for what is there but we did go every day once we'd forked out for the ticket - make good use of Tesco vouchers for money off! If you can get money off then worth a visit.