Thornton Park Farm Lodges - Fun Days Out

Gulliver's World is a theme park in Warrington, loosely based on the world of Lilliput from Gulliver's Travels. It is split into themed areas including Western World, Safari Kingdom, Land of Oz, Smuggler's Wharf and Lost World. Rides such as The Antelope, Desperado Drop and Apache Falls sit alongside play areas, both indoors and outdoors, designed for children between 2 and 13.

Beyond the main park, Blast Arena is an indoor NERF attraction for children aged 6 and over, with blasters, goggles and target vests provided. The site was once part of the RAF Burtonwood air base, and the RAF Burtonwood Heritage Centre on the park has RAF memorabilia and displays on its history. It suits families with younger children, who can build a day around the rides, play areas and themed zones.

Tip: The website says booking tickets early can save money, so check online before you go.

The Piece Hall in Halifax is a Grade I listed building, completed in 1779 as a cloth hall where handloom weavers sold their woollen "pieces". It is the only surviving example of the great eighteenth century northern cloth halls, and one of Britain's most outstanding Georgian buildings. Its 315 rooms are arranged around a large open courtyard.

Today those rooms hold independent shops selling gifts, homeware, arts and crafts, fashion, toys and collectables. There are also several cafés, bars and eateries, including a deli, a bakery and a wine bar. You can walk the colonnaded galleries, join a heritage tour, or call in at the visitor centre. The courtyard also hosts events such as markets, music and family activities. Well-behaved dogs on a lead are welcome in the courtyard.

Tip: Some shops, the restaurant and bar, and ticketed events may restrict dogs, and the historic building has some uneven surfaces, so take care.

Eureka! The National Children's Museum in Halifax is an interactive museum built around learning through play. It is run as an educational charity and is based on the North American model of children's museums, with hands-on activities meant to get adults and children learning together.

Its galleries have included a miniature town square with shops, a bank and a fountain, a gallery on the human body and well-being, and an interactive space about the science of sound and music. There has also been an outdoor sandpit, described as possibly the largest in the North of England. The museum is aimed at families with children aged 0-11, and it sits next to Halifax railway station.

Tropical World is a licensed zoo in Roundhay Park, Leeds, made up of climate-controlled glass houses that each recreate a tropical environment. You start in the butterfly house, where butterflies fly freely around a swampy setting with terrapins, koi and Morelet's crocodiles. From there you move into an Aztec-themed aquarium with stingrays, octopus, seahorses, piranhas and poison dart frogs.

Further on are a rainforest house with a tumbling waterfall and reptile displays, a canopy house with free-flying parrots and cotton-top tamarins, and a desert house with a mob of meerkats and tortoises. The last house is a nocturnal one, home to bats, armadillos and pygmy slow loris. There is a café overlooking the Canal Gardens and a gift shop at the entrance, and the surrounding Roundhay Park is there to explore afterwards.

Tip: Free parking is close by, a short walk away, and buses 2 and 12 stop right outside. Dogs, including assistance dogs, are not allowed inside.

AO Arena is a large indoor venue immediately north of Manchester city centre, partly built over Manchester Victoria railway station. It opened in 1995 and hosts concerts, comedy, family shows and sport, including ice hockey and boxing.

Seating runs a full 360 degrees on both tiers, a layout Wikipedia says no other indoor venue in the UK shares. The arena was used for the 2002 Commonwealth Games, and it has also hosted basketball and some of the biggest music tours.

What's on changes from week to week, so look at the events listing for the dates of your stay. Tickets are sold per event through the arena's website.

Tip: The arena sits partly above Manchester Victoria railway station, so it is easy to reach by train.

The Brontë Parsonage Museum is the former family home of Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë in Haworth, West Yorkshire. Built in the late 1770s and now Grade I listed, it is where the sisters spent most of their lives and wrote their famous novels, including Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.

You can walk through the rooms where they lived and worked, and see items from a collection designated as Outstanding. That includes the mahogany desk where Charlotte wrote her novels. Changing exhibitions and events run through the year, and a free digital guide adds more of the story. It suits book lovers and anyone curious about Yorkshire's literary history. Families will find it a good way to bring real history to life for children, and the moorland setting is part of the story.

Tip: Download the free Bloomberg Connects digital guide to get more of the Brontë story before and during your visit.

The People's History Museum in Manchester is the national museum of democracy. It tells the story of how democracy developed in Britain, and of ordinary people who came together to fight for their rights. It is based in a Grade II listed former hydraulic pumping station, linked by a glass walkway to a modern extension.

The collection covers topics such as the Peterloo Massacre, trade unionism, the women's suffrage movement and the co-operative movement. It holds the largest collection of banners in the world, alongside posters, badges and photographs. Galleries and exhibitions include hands-on and digital interactives, and the museum describes itself as family friendly throughout. There is a café, a gift shop and a picnic area. It suits history fans, curious adults and families wanting a day in the city.

Tip: Check the museum's website before you go, as the exhibitions and activities change.

Bankfield Museum is a grade II listed Victorian mansion in Akroyd Park, Halifax. It was once the home of mill owner, philanthropist and MP Colonel Edward Akroyd, and it became a museum soon after he sold it. Today it tells the story of Halifax and Calderdale through its collections.

Displays cover local history, costume, art, toys, military history, jewellery and textiles from around the world. One part of the museum shows the history of the Duke of Wellington's Regiment, from its beginnings in the early 1700s until it became part of the Yorkshire Regiment. The park sits in the Akroydon model village conservation area, a village Akroyd built close to the house.

Tip: The museum isn't open every day of the week, so check its opening days before you set off.