Lakeview Manor Lodges - 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.

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.

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.

The Museum of Somerset is in the 12th-century great hall of Taunton Castle, in Taunton. It is run by the South West Heritage Trust, an independent charity, and tells the story of the county through its collections.

Exhibits include the Frome Hoard, 52,503 Roman coins found in a ceramic pot near Frome, and the Low Ham Roman Mosaic. You can also see the bronze-age South Cadbury shield, toys and dolls, sculpture, natural history, fossils, fine silver and pottery remains. The Somerset Military Museum follows the Somerset Light Infantry on their campaigns around the world.

At the heart of the museum is the Tree of Somerset, a sculpture carved from Quantock Hills oak that depicts events from the county's history.

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.