The Cowshed - Fun Days Out

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.

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.

The Helicopter Museum near Weston-super-Mare is billed as the largest dedicated helicopter collection in the world, with more than 80 helicopters and autogyros, civilian and military, on display under cover. Highlights include two Queen's Flight helicopters, the Westland Lynx G-LYNX that still holds the helicopter world speed record, a Vietnam-era Huey and a Russian Hind gunship.

Volunteer guides explain the aircraft, and you can watch restoration work in the conservation area. Open Cockpit Days let visitors climb inside selected helicopters, put on the helmet and have the controls explained. Air experience flights over the countryside and coast can be booked online, and visiting helicopters often land on the helipad. There is a children's play area, a café and a gift shop, and the whole site is wheelchair accessible.

Tip: Parking is free, and the museum is a few minutes from Junction 21 of the M5. Book air experience flights online in advance.

Bristol Zoo Project is a wildlife conservation park in South Gloucestershire, run by Bristol Zoological Society. It covers a large site, and its areas are designed to link ecosystems and conservation programmes around the world. Current areas include Bear Wood, Benoué National Park and Discover Madagascar.

The animals include reticulated giraffes, Southeast African cheetahs, Grant's zebra, Western lowland gorillas, European brown bears, Eurasian wolves and wolverines. There are also several kinds of lemur, as well as meerkats, red pandas and gelada. Bear Wood is an environment designed to mimic England in 8,000 BC. The site also grows a third of the food for the animals, so there is a working side to the place as well as the animal areas.

SS Great Britain is a museum ship on Bristol's harbourside, designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. When launched in 1843 she was the largest passenger ship in the world, and one of the first iron, propeller-driven ocean liners. She sits on a glass 'sea', and the visit also takes in the Being Brunel Museum, the historic dockyard with its cranes and masts, and the Brunel Institute's maritime archive.

In Being Brunel you can explore the engineer's life and ideas, climb into a broad-gauge carriage and try to draw a perfect circle on a 'moving' train. The Dock Office lets you head back to 1850 and experience the Great Western Steamship Company's Grade-II listed headquarters. It suits families, history fans and anyone after a solid day out in Bristol, and the site is described as one of the city's largest indoor heritage attractions, built for all weather.

Tip: Parking is available at the Maritime Heritage Centre car park next to the site, and you pay at the ticket desks. The Long Ashton Park & Ride is an alternative Monday to Saturday.}

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.

Gough's Cave sits in Cheddar Gorge on the Mendip Hills. The first 820 metres are open to the public as a show cave, and this stretch holds most of the cave's more spectacular formations. It runs on to Diamond Chamber, the end of the show cave today. The full cave is 115 metres deep and over 3 km long, with large chambers and rock formations, and it contains the Cheddar Yeo, Britain's largest underground river system.

The cave is also known for its archaeology. Ice Age people occupied it towards the end of the last ice age, and the remains include the Mesolithic skeleton of Cheddar Man. A replica of the Magdalenian remains is in the Cheddar Man and the Cannibals Museum in the Gorge. It suits anyone who likes caves, rock formations or early British history.

Tip: Combine your visit with the Cheddar Man and the Cannibals Museum in the Gorge, where you can see a replica of the Magdalenian remains.

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.