Firtree Farm Lodges - Fun Days Out

Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, a World Heritage Site and one of Britain's best-known landmarks. The outer ring of huge sarsen stones, topped with lintels, was raised in the third millennium BC. It sits within a landscape dense with burial mounds and other Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments.

You can walk up to the Stone Circle and take photos, then step into the reconstructed Neolithic houses. Children can have a go at finding out what it takes to move a sarsen stone. The exhibition explains how the builders lived and worked, and includes a Neolithic man brought to life face to face. There's a café for a snack, and plenty of wider landscape to explore on foot.

History fans, families and anyone ticking off an icon will get a lot from it.

Tip: Pre-book your ticket before you travel.

Glastonbury Tor is a conical hill rising from the Somerset Levels, topped by the roofless 15th-century tower of St Michael's Church. Excavations at the summit revealed the plans of two earlier churches on the site. The Tor is cared for by the National Trust and has been a place of religious significance for over 1,000 years, linked with Christian and pagan beliefs and with Arthurian legend and the Isle of Avalon.

The main thing to do is walk up. The paths to the top are concrete, with a bench halfway, and the reward is views over the Somerset Levels, Dorset, Wiltshire and Wales. Look out for the terraced slopes, whose origins are still unexplained. It is a good place to stretch your legs, take in the history and wildlife, and unwind.

Tip: There is no parking at the Tor itself, so use the nearest fee-paying car park at Draper and Co on Chilkwell Street and walk, and keep your dog on a lead because sheep graze here.

This museum, now called the Royal Navy Museum, Naval Aviation (formerly the Fleet Air Arm Museum of the NMRN), tells the story of British naval aviation. It sits on the RNAS Yeovilton airfield, about 7 miles north of Yeovil. Its collection takes in military and civilian aircraft, aero engines, models of aircraft and Royal Navy ships, especially aircraft carriers, plus paintings and drawings on the subject.

At the entrance you will see anchors from the fleet carriers HMS Ark Royal and HMS Eagle. The museum also has viewing areas where you can watch military aircraft, especially helicopters, take off and land. Displays have included the Merlin Experience, on modern anti-submarine techniques, and Barracuda Live, about the rebuild of a Fairey Barracuda. Exhibitions change over time, so check what is currently on before you go. It suits anyone interested in aircraft, ships and naval history.

Tip: Head for the viewing areas if you want to watch military aircraft, especially helicopters, take off and land.

The Cerne Abbas Giant is an ancient figure cut into the chalk hillside above the village of Cerne Abbas. At 180ft tall, it is Britain's largest chalk hill figure and perhaps the best known. Theories about who he is and why he was made range from a symbol of spirituality to Hercules, though National Trust research suggests he was probably first made in the late Saxon period.

There is a viewing area in the car park, and a gentle quarter-mile signposted footpath leads from the village. The surrounding chalk grassland is nationally and European important for rare plants and insects, so look out for wildflowers in summer. Above the giant is the Trendle, an Iron Age earthwork. It suits history fans, walkers and nature lovers. How clearly you see him changes with the light and the season.

Tip: The viewing area in the car park gives the best view; the A352 lay-by is free but offers only a limited view. Keep dogs on leads, and expect mud on the steep slope after rain.

Stourhead is a National Trust estate on the Wiltshire and Somerset border, with a Palladian mansion and one of the most famous landscape gardens in England. The garden was laid out in the 18th century around a large artificial lake, with classical temples, a grotto, the Palladian Bridge and the Gothic Cottage summerhouse beside the water. Rare and exotic trees add to the setting.

The house, built in the 1720s, holds the Hoare family's art collection and library. The estate also includes the village of Stourton and wider farmland and woodland you can explore. There is an adventure playground, a restaurant, a shop, a plant shop and a pub, so families and garden lovers can easily fill a day. Dogs on short leads are welcome in the garden.

Tip: Parking is by the JustPark app or on-site machines, so download the app before you arrive. National Trust members park free but must register their visit.

Montacute House is a late Elizabethan mansion in South Somerset, completed around 1601 and built of golden local Ham Hill stone. Inside you can explore the ground floor, which is home to the rare Tournai Tapestry, and the Long Gallery is the longest in England and displays portraits as an outpost of the National Portrait Gallery. Outside, the formal garden has lawns, flower borders and the much-loved 'wibbly wobbly' yew hedges, plus a tranquil Orangery.

The wider estate suits walkers, with parkland, the Lime Avenue, veteran trees and heritage apple orchards. Waymarked trails lead through woodland and up St Michael's Hill to Prospect Tower, which has views over the Somerset countryside. There is a natural play area for children, a courtyard café in the old service buildings, a shop and a second-hand book barn.

Tip: Parking is free, and timed entry tickets are used on busier days, so check before you set off. The Ladies' Walk is a 45-minute climb with lovely views over the village.

Cheddar Gorge is a dramatic limestone gorge in the Mendip Hills, with cliffs up to 137 metres deep. A day ticket covers Gough's Cave, Jacob's Ladder and the Museum of Prehistory. Gough's Cave is where Cheddar Man, Britain's oldest complete human skeleton, was found, and its stalactites and stalagmites were shaped by an underground river.

If you want something more active, there are adventure caving, rock climbing and the Black Cat Freefall. Escape rooms of different lengths are a good option if you fancy something indoors. The gorge is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, with wildlife and plants to look out for, so it suits curious families, history fans, nature lovers and thrill seekers alike.

Tip: Arrive before 11am, especially in school holidays and on bank holidays, to find a parking space easily. Booking day tickets online in advance also saves money.

Longleat is a Grade I listed stately home near Warminster in Wiltshire, and one of the finest examples of Elizabethan architecture in Britain. It was the first stately home to open to the public. The house sits in 1,000 acres of parkland landscaped by Capability Brown.

The house tour takes in the Elizabethan Great Hall with its minstrels' gallery, the ante-library with a Venetian painting on the ceiling, and the Red Library, which displays many of the 40,000 books in the house. Visitor books signed by royal guests are also on display. Beyond the house, the estate has the first safari park outside Africa and a hedge maze, one of several mazes and labyrinths created by the 7th Marquess of Bath. Longleat has been used as a film location many times.