. When you need a break from being spun around there's also mini golf, a roller disco and some top-quality food vans. A hop, skip and a jump along the promenade is the just-opened No 42 Margate, which has 21 stylish bedrooms as well as a spa, seafront restaurant and rooftop cocktail bar. Details B&B doubles from £153; guesthousehotels.co.uk A delightfully eccentric four-acre folly tucked into a remote corner of the Dales, this collection of tunnels, mazes and towers will awaken the inner child of even the weariest accompanying adult. Choose your own adventure: you might end up scaling a turret or lost in a labyrinth, leaping through fountains or face to face with a giant conifer dog's head (adults £16.50, children £14.50, under-4s free; theforbiddencorner.co.uk). Originally a private garden and still part of the Tupgill Park estate, its award-winning Saddle Room restaurant offers cosy rooms or the option of self-catering cottages. Details B&B doubles from £105 (thesaddleroom.co.uk) ● More family days out in the UK ● Europe's best theme parks The Forbidden Corner ALAMY Home to the National Fairground Collection, this unique indoor collection features 50,000 sq ft of hand-painted signs, musical organs and historic rides dating back to){kind=link}
If there’s one thing on every child’s school holiday wish list, it’s a day out at a theme park. But schlepping little kids around bigger sites – such as the 550-acre Alton Towers Resort – can be exhausting. Here are the best bijou alternatives – with options for adrenaline junkies as well as the ride-shy.
Rising phoenix-like from literal ashes, one of the UK’s oldest amusement parks has survived fire and bankruptcy and is at least partly responsible for Margate’s reinvention as a standard-bearer for coastal cool. The park’s vintage rides include the 1920s-era Scenic Railway – a wooden, driver-operated rollercoaster – while new for this season is the Rock’n’Roller, which dips and dives at 35mph (individual rides from £2; dreamland.co.uk). When you need a break from being spun around there’s also mini golf, a roller disco and some top-quality food vans. A hop, skip and a jump along the promenade is the just-opened No 42 Margate, which has 21 stylish bedrooms as well as a spa, seafront restaurant and rooftop cocktail bar. Details B&B doubles from £153; guesthousehotels.co.uk
A delightfully eccentric four-acre folly tucked into a remote corner of the Dales, this collection of tunnels, mazes and towers will awaken the inner child of even the weariest accompanying adult. Choose your own adventure: you might end up scaling a turret or lost in a labyrinth, leaping through fountains or face to face with a giant conifer dog’s head (adults £16.50, children £14.50, under-4s free; theforbiddencorner.co.uk). Originally a private garden and still part of the Tupgill Park estate, its award-winning Saddle Room restaurant offers cosy rooms or the option of self-catering cottages. Details B&B doubles from £105 (thesaddleroom.co.uk)
● More family days out in the UK● Europe’s best theme parks
Home to the National Fairground Collection, this unique indoor collection features 50,000 sq ft of hand-painted signs, musical organs and historic rides dating back to the 1870s. Happily they’re not all “please don’t touch” museum exhibits – eight interactive attractions include Victorian gallopers, a space-themed 1930s-era Moonrocket, a spooky ghost train and, of course, dodgems. Don’t miss the side stalls – the Plate Smasher is particularly good fun (adults £16, children £14 – includes five ride tokens – under-5s free; dinglesfhc.co.uk). Nearby is the magnificent Hotel Endsleigh, part-managed by Alex Polizzi – aka the Hotel Inspector.Details B&B doubles from £260 (thepolizzicollection.com)