3-Bedroom Hot Tub Lodge in Whitnage - 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Exmoor Zoo is a conservation centre near Bratton Fleming in Exmoor, North Devon. It grew from Exmoor Bird Gardens, which opened on a former farm site in 1982, and today it specialises in smaller animals, with a good number of rare species on show.

You can see red pandas, meerkats, bush dogs and Abyssinian ground hornbills, along with small carnivores such as servals, caracals and fishing cats. Cheetahs, maned wolves and wolverines are among the other residents, and the zoo is also home to birds like flamingos and a shoebill. It is a member of BIAZA and EAZA and takes part in breeding programmes. Families and animal lovers can also book keeper-style experiences, and the zoo runs education activities for curious children.

Tip: Tickets can be bought securely online through the zoo's website, where you can also check price options and offers.

Cothay Manor is a Grade I listed medieval house near Wellington in Somerset, built around 1480. Its period rooms include a great hall with a hammer-beam roof, and the house has a chapel, a gatehouse and mullioned windows. Writing in Country Life in 1927, Christopher Hussey called it "the most perfect small 15th-century country house that survives in the Kingdom".

Outside, the gardens are divided into separate garden rooms, each with its own planting, leading off a 200-yard yew walk. You'll find specimen trees, cottage gardens, courtyards and a river walk, plus an arboretum, a bog garden and a wild flower meadow. It suits anyone who likes historic houses and gardens.