The Astbury - Fun Days Out

The Black Country Living Museum in Dudley is an open-air museum of rebuilt, replica and recreated shops, houses and industrial workshops, spread across 26 acres of former industrial land. Historic characters in period settings chat to visitors and demonstrate traditional skills, such as hand-forging nails and casting brass. The visit is self-guided, so you can explore at your own pace.

Highlights include a working replica of the Newcomen steam engine, a colliery with an underground drift, canal-side lime kilns and a 1930s fairground. Electric trams and trolleybuses carry you from the entrance to the village, and a narrowboat trip runs into Dudley Tunnel. There are eateries on site. It suits history fans, families and anyone curious about the Industrial Revolution, and Peaky Blinders fans can see screen-used sets from the show.

Tip: Allow 4 to 5 hours, and head first to the trams or trolleybuses to reach the village at the heart of the site.

West Midlands Safari Park, near Bewdley in Worcestershire, combines a drive-through safari with walk-through animal areas and an adventure theme park. The four-mile Safari Drive takes you past lions, giraffes, rhinos, tigers and more, including white lions and cheetahs, with the cheetah reserve billed as the UK's largest drive-by one.

On foot, you can visit walk-through areas with penguins, hippos, lemurs, sea lions, lorikeets and meerkats. The African Walking Trail gets you close to elephants, giraffes and rhinos, while Tiger Tropics and Lion Ridge are for big cat fans. Land of the Living Dinosaurs adds animatronic dinosaurs and fossils, and there are daily feeds and talks. Rides in the theme park can be added to your ticket, and the Discovery Trail has mostly indoor exhibits, which helps if the weather turns.

Dudley Zoo & Castle is a 40-acre zoo within the grounds of Dudley Castle, in the Black Country. It opened in 1937 and is run today by a registered charity. The castle ruins share the wooded hillside with the animal enclosures.

Animals include giraffes, tigers, lions, reindeer, wallabies and snow leopards, plus several aviaries, a reptile house and a good range of primates. The zoo is also known for its modernist enclosures and buildings, designed by Berthold Lubetkin and the Tecton Group, with engineering by Ove Arup. A chairlift, relaunched in 2012 after a refurbishment, helps with the steep slopes up towards the elephant house.

It suits animal lovers and anyone curious about the architecture or the castle's history.

Tip: The site is steep, and the car park is barrier-operated with a token needed to exit, so keep that in mind when you arrive.

Blists Hill is an open-air museum on a former industrial site in Madeley, Telford, recreating the sights, sounds and smells of a working-class Victorian town. It is set in the year 1900 and opened in 1973. You can wander through shops and cottages, including a bank, bakery, chemist, printer, post office and fish and chip shop, with costumed demonstrators showing the skills of each trade.

Beyond the high street, the site has three districts. The industrial area has the conserved remains of the Madeley Wood Company blast furnaces, beam engines and a wrought iron works. The countryside area includes a squatter's cottage and a tin tabernacle church. On select days, a replica of Richard Trevithick's 1802 steam locomotive runs on a short stretch of narrow gauge track. The site has also appeared in Doctor Who and Blue Peter.

Tip: Check the National Trust Ironbridge Gorge website before you go, as visits to Blists Hill may need to be booked in advance.

Wightwick Manor is a National Trust house on the edge of Wolverhampton, built in 1887 for paint and varnish manufacturer Theodore Mander. It was designed under the influence of the Aesthetic and Arts and Crafts movements, and it still feels like a lived-in family home rather than a gallery. Inside you'll find William Morris wallpapers and fabrics, De Morgan tiles, Kempe stained glass and Pre-Raphaelite paintings, including work by 13 professional female artists.

Outside, 17 acres of woodland and gardens are there to explore. The Old Manor, a much older building next door, houses the De Morgan Gallery. Manders Tearoom has indoor and outdoor seating, and there's a shop and a second-hand bookshop. Look out for the cushions with cats on them in the Manor, which mark places to sit down.

Tip: Rucksacks and large bags (bigger than A4) aren't allowed in the Manor, so leave them in your car or a locker.

Coalport China Museum tells the story of Coalport china, a maker of fine British chinaware that was based on this site until the factory closed and production moved to Stoke-on-Trent. It stands in the village of Coalport, on the northern bank of the River Severn, within the Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage Site, considered the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution.

You can see original examples of historic china, including the official National Collections of Caughley and Coalport china. There are demonstrations of traditional ceramic techniques, and original industrial buildings including the kilns used to fire the pottery. A hands-on workshop area offers painting activities, with ceramic activities added in the school holidays. Doctor Who fans may also like to know that The Mark of the Rani was filmed here.

Tip: Head for the hands-on workshop area if you want to try painting; extra ceramic activities run in the school holidays.

The National Sea Life Centre is an aquarium in Brindleyplace, Birmingham, beside the canal and opposite Arena Birmingham. The building was designed by Sir Norman Foster, and the centre opened in 1996 as the only inland sea life centre in the UK.

The main draw is the 360-degree ocean tunnel, where giant green sea turtles, blacktip reef sharks, rays and tropical fish swim overhead and all around you. Elsewhere you can watch gentoo penguins in the Penguin Ice Adventure habitat, see jellyfish and the creatures of Reef Edge, and look at seahorses from the centre's breeding programme. The Marine Mammal Rescue Facility looks after sea otters rescued in Alaska, and there is a 4-D cinema with wind, spray and seaweed smells to go with the film. It suits families with children and anyone who likes close-up views of sea life.

Tip: Book online in advance, as entry is at a chosen timed slot.

Wenlock Priory is a ruined monastery on the edge of Much Wenlock, in Shropshire, cared for by English Heritage. An Anglo-Saxon monastery was founded here around AD 680, and it was later refounded as a Cluniac priory. The layout of the church and monastic buildings is still clearly visible, and parts of the great 13th-century church stand high.

The highlight is the chapter house, with its interlocking round arches on carved columns. You can also look at the medieval tiles and wander the cloister garden. The topiary-filled gardens were created in Edwardian times by the priory's owners and are still a distinctive feature, and the gardens are listed Grade II. There is also a World Builder trail where you can build your own city. The town itself is a network of narrow streets lined with timber-framed black and white buildings.

Tip: Advance tickets can be booked online through English Heritage.