Where family funtime options include white lions, actual snow and the UK’s most famous theme park
Brum is a perfect base for exploring the West Midlands, where you’ll discover stunning countryside and a variety of attractions that are simply too large, or too wild, to be constrained to city life.
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At Attwell Farm Park, baby chicks, guinea pigs and rabbits are all waiting to be affectionately manhandled in the petting barn. Seasonal activities include an exploration of the lambing shed (but only from winter to Easter), and feeding the lambs who reside here (only from winter to early spring). There’s all-year-round action to be found on the Farm Yard Trail and the large farming machinery you can pretend to operate.
Redditch, B98 9DB. www.attwellfarmpark.co.uk
Needless to say, there’s something for everyone here. Enter, if you dare, CBeebies Land, where all the A-Listers hang out: Postman Pat, the Octonauts and Iggle Piggle among them. Play your scares safe with classics like Oblivion and Nemesis, or try out the newest ride – Wicker Man, which is based on the classic 1973 film and is the first wooden roller coaster to be built in the UK for 20 years.
Farley Lane, ST10 4DB. www.altontowers.com
Here, kids of all ages can learn to ski or snowboard on real snow, starting with the baby slope. Sledging, tobogganing and tubing are also available, and epic snowball fights are actively encouraged among the snow-slides and treehouses of the Snowplay area. Once you’re done pounding the powder, soothe your fam’s achey limbs in one of three pools.
Tamworth, B79 7ND. www.snowdome.co.uk
Two words: Thomas Land. A magical place, unique to Drayton Manor, featuring all your favourite brightly coloured train friends. Thomas is there (obvs), Gordon is there, and over 25 rides are there, including the legendary Ben 10. Elsewhere within the Manor’s vast grounds you’ll find a range of thrill rides plus crazy golf, an amusement arcade and a 15-acre zoo where you can lend a hand by helping to build a mealworm sandcastle for the meerkats.
Tamworth, B78 3TW. www.draytonmanor.co.uk
In the safari park you will see, from the comfort of your car: white lions lazing about, rhinos doing their rhino thing, elephants breaking branches off trees, giraffes eyeing you up from on-high and tigers prowling wisely. Animals including lemurs, meanwhile, wait patiently for you to feed them. You need to pay extra for the adjoining theme park, but if you take the plunge you’ll be rewarded with some satisfyingly stomach-churning roller coasters.
Bewdley, DY12 1LF. www.wmsp.co.uk
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