A family favourite for the past 50 years, Talacre Beach offers fantastic entertainment on the North Wales Coastline! Located just a stone’s throw away from the beautiful sandy beach Talacre Beach Resort is a family favourite. Offering a traditional seaside feel, including its own fish and chip shop, with all the mod cons and luxury that Darwin Escapes offer. Being close to the up and coming town of Prestatyn and the beautiful city of Chester, there is always something to do in and around this 5 Star holiday park.

Our fabulous entertainment team have worked hard to create an egg-tastic Easter programme (see what I did there?) Along with plenty of party dances, laughs and of course Charlie Bear, we have fun Easter Crafts, where you can make a fun Easter card and paint some eggs. Get your running shoes ready for our fun traditional family sports day, will you find the gleaming golden egg in the Easter egg hunt? And don’t miss the fascinating creatures and the beautiful, infamous, Racoon Dog from *Animals out the Box, and join in the cheering and fun at the **Basix Wrestling show!

We also have a fun night time entertainment programme, with fantastic vocalists, such as the family favourite tribute ‘The Frozen Show’, join in the singing with some fun karaoke, win big at bingo and meet Charlie Bear too!

*Animals out the Box dates: 31st March, 7th & 14th April 2016
**Basix Wrestling dates: 6th April 2016

Our brand new retreat in the heart of the Lake District offers fantastic facilities, as well as being close to many events during half term

Half term in the Lake District means exploring the region to your heart’s content, set in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, you’ll marvel at the scenery around you and enjoy the long walks available, before returning to your stunning lodge accommodation in the Lake District. If the weather isn’t on your side and you prefer to stay dry, there are lots of events inside in the surrounding areas to keep all the family happy!

Keswick film festival

Where: Theatre by the Lake
When: 16th – 19th Feb

Anchored within the stunning Lakeland landscape, the festival will take you all over the world through the screen, you’ll visit places where the majesty of the natural environment shapes the lives, loves and futures of the characters that live there and you will live it right alongside them. With a poetry theme throughout, it explores the creative process of the makers, and sometimes the tortured souls who bring us exquisite writings ranging from 16th Century England to South American in the 20th Century. A brand new Critics Award means you can share your own views, and challenge the opinions of those that can often make or break a film. During the festival there will be thought-provoking documentaries, special guests and, of course, the best from film festivals around the world! There is an option of a festival pass if you don’t want to miss a single thing, or you can pay for individual film passes if there are only a few that tickle your fancy.

half term at Rheged Centre

The Rheged Centre has lots of events on over half term for all the family including:

• Make Your Own Mad Hatter’s Hat workshop on 24th Feb – Where you can make your own crazy and fancy hat to rival the Hatter’s himself! With a rang of colourful collage materials, ribbons and jewels all included to help personalise your hat
• 3D Printing Workshop on 20th Feb – Back by popular demand, Arts Manager John Stokes will help you discover exciting technology and learn how to use simple design software to create and print your own model.
• Film Making Animation on 21st Feb – Here you can have a go at creating your very own stop motion animations, with help from educator and animator Sheryl Jenkins. She will inspire you to design and make your own weird and wonderful creations and bring them to life using animations apps you can use at home!
• Join the Spy Academy on 22nd Feb – calling would be spies, join in and train to be an Agent! Learn how to take fingerprints, use a code cracker and solve some cryptic clues, master tricking team building games and find out who’s been causing all sorts of trouble around Rheged! At the end of the training, all Agents’ will receive a certificate and finer print key ring to take home.
• Professor Pumpernickel’s Mind Bending Science Show on 23rd Feb – Roll up and witness Profession Pumpernickel’s greatest science show on earth! He’s on a mission to inspire all future inventors, explorers, life savers and even super heroes! The show includes fire, explosions and mind bending magic!
• Woodstone Learning on 21st Feb – make your own shield and sword from willow, this workshop is back by popular demand from all would-be Knights! Don’t fancy a shield or sword? No problem, create a beautiful heart decoration instead!

With something for everyone in the Lake District this half term, Keswick Reach is the place to be!

Happy Half Term Exploring Ladies & Gents!

Are you searching for fun family days out in Cornwall? Well look no further, we’ve got it covered in our top 5 child friendly attractions in Cornwall. Cornwall is a great family location with plenty of activities for both old and young. This is why it is such a popular destination for holidays and holiday home ownership, with there being something different to do every time you visit. In this post, we have chosen a selection of our favorite family days out that between them cater for all weather conditions.

1. Cornish Seal Sanctuary in Gweek

Located in Gweek, which is just a 20-minute drive from Mullion Cove, the Cornish seal sanctuary is set in 42 acres of stunning Cornish scenery around the Helford estuary. Half the world’s population of grey seals live on and around the British coast, and their numbers have doubled since the 1960s.

The Cornish Seal Sanctuary offers visitors the chance to meet the adorable whiskered residents, and hear the touching tales behind their rescues. Visitors are also able to get up close to the other residents, which include comical penguins, mischievous otters, and noisy sea lions. You are also free to explore the remarkable woodland or test your bravery by finding out how it feels to touch starfish, crab and other creatures living in the interactive rock pool.

2. Dairyland Farm World

Located a short 7-minute drive from Piran Meadows, Newquay, Dairyland is a fantastic adventure park to suit all ages. Visitors can experience everything from petting and feeding the farm animals to tractor and pony rides, cow milking, nature trails and much more. Dairyland also offers great activities under cover for when the weather is not so good, including the Bull Pen – a massive indoor play centre, as well as the Milking Parlour and the Farm Museum, where visitors can explore Cornish farm life throughout the ages. There is also a Kitchen Café, which offers a great range of good value food and drink.

3. the Eden Project

Set in a reclaimed Kaolanite pit 5km from St Austell, the Eden project showcases artificial biomes containing a diverse collection of plants that imitate the key biomes around the world. The rainforest biome is especially interesting as it exhibits an extremely rich diverse plant ecosystem, which you can observe from a raised viewing platform. The inflated plastic structures themselves are a stunning architectural feat, and are well worth visiting.

Also for those who are interested in their James Bond trivia, the site was used as a set in the filming of Die Another Day. Overall the Eden Project is a great educational trip for the whole family highlighting the relationship between people and plants. Kids can enjoy specially designed play areas as well as follow exciting trails around the site, with shortcuts, hideaways, steppingstones and sandpits. There are also, at various points during the year, special events for kids to get involved with, including den building in the summer, ice skating in the winter, and rock climbing. It has both indoor and outdoor gardens, so it can cater for visitors whatever the weather. The food there is also good quality, ethically sourced and reasonably priced.

4. Newquay Zoo

Less than 10 minutes from Piran Meadows, Newquay Zoo offers exotic fun for all the family. Kids can get up close to over 130 of the world’s rare and exciting creatures, and they can spectate as some of the most lethal cats on the planet devour their lunch. There is also an opportunity to learn more about conservation, as Newquay Zoo is home to some severely endangered species including the delightful Red Pandas, Owston’s Civets and Black Wildebeest.

Keeper talks and animal feeding sessions occur regularly throughout the day, and offer an educational insight into how all varieties of majestic animals go about their daily lives. On top of this, Newquay Zoo’s Animal Experiences give you the chance to meet and feed some of their most popular residents including both cheeky Lemurs and chummy Penguins. Finally if you still have energy after all that, Newquay Zoo has a variety of activity trails, face painting, a dragon maze as well as a children’s play area to keep the kids occupied!

5. Crealy Adventure Park

Recently awarded the Best Family Attraction in Cornwall by readers of Primary Times for three consecutive years, Crealy Adventure Park is a popular choice for visitors with young ones. Located in 111 acres of Cornish countryside, the Adventure Park is a haven of family-friendly rides, giant play areas as well as a sanctuary for hundreds of cute friendly animals. Boasting a rich variety of crazy rides, novel attractions as well as indoor entertainment for those inevitable days when the sun isn’t shining, Cornwall’s Crealy is highly recommended as a Children’s playground destination. Look out for Swampy and Dina, the park’s resident characters!

Piran Meadows offers the ideal place to base yourself in Cornwall, enjoy your getaway, your way, with your family