Goodiford Mill Lakes - Fun Days Out

Diggerland is a theme park where children and adults can ride, drive and operate real diggers, dumpers and other full-size construction machinery. The Devon park is in Cullompton, and the whole line-up runs to around 20 rides and drives. You can get to grips with real JCBs and Komatsu excavators, spin on Spindizzy, rise up on the Skyshuttle for the views, or take an off-road trip on the Groundshuttle. There are also dodgems and go-karts.

The parks are aimed at children aged 4 to 14, though visitors of all ages enjoy it, and rides have height restrictions. There are indoor and outdoor play areas, a cafeteria and a Goodie Store for souvenirs. Visitors describe the site as compact, with little walking between rides, which suits grandparents and younger children. One reviewer spent about five hours there in mixed weather.

Tip: Check the ride height chart on the Diggerland website before you go, so you know which rides each child can enjoy.

Paignton Zoo covers 80 acres of animal enclosures and gardens, and most families spend a full day here. You can follow the four zones (Wetlands, Islands, Grasslands and Rainforests), catch the daily talks and feeding sessions, and wander through nature trails in Clennon Gorge wildlife reserve.

Highlights include Sumatran tigers, western lowland gorillas, Bornean orangutans, Rothschild's giraffes and red pandas. It is also the only UK zoo with a northern brown kiwi and a short-beaked echidna. Gibbons live on an island in the main lake. Children get indoor soft play, outdoor play areas and activity trails, and the indoor tropical houses help when the weather turns. There is a restaurant and several food outlets on site.

Tip: Book tickets online ahead of your visit to save money.

Exeter Cathedral has stood at the heart of Devon for nearly a thousand years. Its Norman towers and Decorated Gothic interior are topped by the longest uninterrupted medieval stone vaulted ceiling in the world. Inside you can see the 15th-century Astronomical Clock and an early set of misericords, and guided floor tours and audio guides help bring the building to life.

The Treasures Exhibition is the other big draw. It shows the Exeter Book, the oldest surviving book of English literature, along with the 1050 Foundation Charter and the Exon Domesday. Families can follow the Cathedral Cat Trail, and the Chapter House Café opens onto the Cloister Garden, with a shop next door. It is also a working place of worship, with regular services and concerts.

Tip: Head for the Treasures Exhibition tour or a guided floor tour, both included in standard admission, though floor tours are subject to availability.

Coldharbour Mill in Uffculme is one of the oldest woollen mills in the UK, and has been in continuous production since 1797. Once owned by the Fox Brothers textile firm, it is now a working wool museum set across 12 acres of Victorian mill buildings, boilers, steam engines and grounds. Historic England has called it "probably one of the best-preserved textile mill complexes in the country".

You can see working and static exhibits, watch craftspeople making traditional textiles, knitting yarn and hand woven rugs, and see the 18th century water wheel in action, the biggest breast-shot waterwheel still working in the UK. The estate also has about 10 acres of wetland, wildlife and mill pond, and the exhibits cover the Fox family and their Quaker history. There is a shop and a café bar on site, and the mill is just off junction 27 of the M5.

Tip: Check the mill's website for current opening days and any event days or workshops before you go.

Killerton is an 18th-century house near Exeter, cared for by the National Trust and shown as a comfortable family home. Inside, period rooms display a collection of 18th- to 20th-century costumes, and there is a fashion exhibition on the first floor. The hillside garden was created in the 1770s and includes rhododendrons, magnolias, herbaceous borders and rare trees, along with an ice house and an early 19th-century summer house.

Beyond the garden, the wider estate has parkland and woods with several circular walks. Dolbury, a wooded hill, has the remains of an Iron Age hill fort on top. You can also seek out the site of the so-called lost house, a replacement home that was planned but never built. There is a chapel, a shop, a second-hand bookshop, and two places to eat: the Stables Coffee Shop and the Killerton Kitchen Café.

Tip: Dogs on short leads are welcome everywhere outside and in the Stables Coffee Shop, but only assistance dogs are allowed in the house and the Kitchen Café.

Powderham Castle is a fortified manor house six miles south of Exeter, on flat ground beside the Exe estuary. The medieval core dates from after 1390, and the house was extended and altered in the 18th and 19th centuries. It has been home to the Courtenay family, Earls of Devon, for centuries. Strictly speaking it was never a true castle, but the castle-like west front and Charles Fowler's Victorian gatehouse give it the look of one.

Inside, highlights include the black and white marble floor of the Marble Hall, a 14-foot longcase clock from around 1745, a 17th-century Brussels tapestry and the Victorian dining hall. Outside, the park and gardens are Grade II* listed, and the rose garden sits where the old curtain wall and yard once stood. It will suit history lovers, garden fans and anyone who enjoys a walk with an estuary view.

Tip: The main public entrance gates are in the village of Kenton, so head there rather than to the castle's other side.

Tropiquaria is a small zoo and animal sanctuary based in and around a repurposed 1933 BBC Radio Transmitting Station at Washford Cross in Somerset. The listed building houses the Reptile House, Aquarium and Nocturnal House, with several acres of outdoor enclosures around it. Outside you can spot animals such as gibbons, ring-tailed lemurs, meerkats, tapir, wallabies and serval.

There are talks and encounters, a restaurant, and both indoor and outdoor play areas, so it works well for a relaxed family day out. The mix of wildlife, conservation and history should also appeal to anyone curious about the building's past. The zoo is a member of BIAZA and has bred a number of endangered species.

Tip: Don't leave dogs in your vehicle, as the car park has limited shade; only registered Assistance Dogs are allowed in the zoo.

Otterton Mill is a working watermill beside the River Otter, near Budleigh Salterton. A mill has stood here since the Domesday Book, and the old workings are free to look round, with a self-guided tour and the water wheel kept turning. Flour is still milled using traditional methods.

Alongside the mill you will find an artisan bakery, a farm shop, an art and craft gallery and a café-restaurant known for its cream teas. There is outdoor seating in the orchard picnic area and on riverside benches, and otters, beavers and plenty of birdlife are regular visitors to the valley. It suits a relaxed day of eating, browsing and pottering, and the courtyard hosts live roots music in summer. Well-behaved dogs on leads are welcome in outside areas.

Tip: Well-behaved dogs on leads can sit outside or downstairs in the café, but only assistance dogs are allowed in the farm shop, gallery and upstairs café.