Birds, sharks and salt scrubs
Blast fake birds from the sky at Cotton Dale Shooting Ground. Paddleboard or pedalo at North Yorkshire Water Park. Or dive deep into fruity salt scrubs and dermaplaning at Number One Health and Beauty. Kids can meet the sharks at Sealife Scarborough, go back in time at the York Castle Museum, and get lost in the York Maze.
Country kids
Ride Hero, Velocity and Pterodactyl at Flamingoland Resort, then say hi to kookaburras, rhinos, hippos and sealions in the zoo. Then meet penguins, sharks, seals and otters at Sealife Scarborough. Don’t forget to call in at Yorkshire’s only seal hospital.
Immerse yourself in the home of iconic locomotives at the National Railway Museum in York. Go back in time at the York Castle Museum, with its collections of costume, textiles, military and social history. Then lose yourself in the York Maze, with over 20 rides, shows and attractions, plus Europe’s largest maize maze.
See how the Vikings lived at the Jorvik Centre. Take the Bloody Tour of York and join Mad Alice in the medieval streets with their gruesome history of ghosts, witches and murderers. Or try York’s Chocolate Story for an entertaining guided tour through the history of York’s most famous chocolate-making families and their finest creations.
Head to Piglets Adventure Farm to meet Truffles the pig, jump on the Bouncing Pillows and tackle the Olym-Pig Assault Course. Pack buckets and spades to head to the beaches of Scarborough, Bridlington, and Filey. Or walk the cliffs at Flamborough, packed in summer with tens of thousands of breeding auks, gannets, gulls and puffins.
For the grown ups
Enjoy a clay day blasting fake birds from the sky at Cotton Dale Shooting Ground. Play the narrow-fairwayed nine-hole Derwent course in the morning, have a bite to eat, then tackle the tree-lined Welham Course in the afternoon at Malton and Norton Golf Club. Or take out a week’s membership.
Adventure calls at North Yorkshire Water Park, with its stand-up paddleboarding, kayaking, aquapark, open-water swimming, sailing and pedalos. Stay there to fish from Wykeham’s well-stocked trout, coarse and predator lakes. Or dive deep into fruity salt scrubs, dermaplaning and frangipani body wraps at Number One Health and Beauty.
Head back into history to the riverside ruins of Kirkham Abbey to learn the secret behind Winston Churchill’s visit and unlock the connection between Helmsley Castle and the priory. Or discover Castle Howard, one of the great palaces of Europe, complete with farmhouse, playground and three cafes.
Dress up and step out in style at York racecourse. Stay in town to find weird and wonderful wares in the Shambles Market and Stonegate mall, and more traditional fare in McArthurGlen’s Designer Outlet. Or visit Trinity in Leeds, a huge mall with lifestyle and designer fashion shops, restaurants and three-screen, arthouse cinema.
