Hawkchurch Resort And Spa - 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.

Lyme Regis Museum overlooks Lyme Bay and the Jurassic Coast, and it is built on the site of the former home and fossil shop of Mary Anning. Three galleries tell the story of the town across 200 million years, using objects, audio and touchscreens, with plenty of interactive and touch exhibits.

The ground floor covers the history of Lyme Regis, including its maritime and social past. Upstairs, the Geology Gallery has celebrated fossils and tells the story of Mary Anning and the birth of palaeontology, while the Writers' Gallery looks at authors and artists connected to the town. The top floor covers the Lyme Regis Railway, Lyme at War and working life through the ages, plus the Rotunda Gallery with changing art exhibitions. Families with children can pick up a Museum Trail at Reception. Fossil fans, history lovers and anyone curious about Mary Anning will get the most from it.

Tip: If you're visiting with children, ask for the Museum Trail at Reception, which comes with the admission ticket.

Forde Abbey is a former Cistercian monastery, now a family home, with nearly 900 years of history. Inside, you can see surviving monastic parts such as the cloisters, the monks' dormitory and the old chapter house, alongside State Rooms with ornate plaster ceilings and four-poster beds. The house is also known for its Mortlake tapestries, woven from the famous Raphael cartoons. It featured in the Hollywood film of Far From the Madding Crowd.

The thirty acres of award-winning gardens are the other big draw. Expect the tall Centenary Fountain, tranquil lakes, a bog garden, a rock garden, woodland walks and a Victorian walled kitchen garden. There are picnic lawns, and the Abbot's Table café serves lunches and homemade cakes. The plant nursery and gift shop can be visited without buying a ticket. It suits garden lovers, history fans and anyone after a relaxed day out.

Tip: Dogs are welcome in the gardens on a short lead, and the nursery and gift shop can be visited without an admission ticket.

Monkey World is an ape and monkey rescue centre set in 65 acres near Wool in Dorset. It was founded in 1987 and takes in primates rescued from the illegal pet trade, laboratories and abuse, rehabilitating them into natural living groups.

You can see the largest group of chimpanzees outside Africa, split across four social groups, plus Bornean and Sumatran orangutans. The park also has Europe's only orangutan crèche, five species of gibbon and a wide range of monkeys and lemurs, including capuchins, marmosets, spider monkeys and slow lorises. The lemurs are fed at their window each day around midday. There's also a gift shop, and the centre's work is shown in the TV series Monkey Life.

Tip: Book online in advance, as tickets are cheaper than at the gate.

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.

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.

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.

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.