Family Breaks

A National Trust property boasting 1,000 acres of gorgeous Cheshire parklands and one of the UK’s grandest historic estates, Tatton Park is a wonderfully varied and enchanting family destination, with a historic mansion, 50 acres of gardens, a fantastic working farm and plenty of shopping & dining facilities. And through to the end of March, the Park is hosting a fantastic forest play walk in honour of the Nick Butterworth book Percy the Park Keeper. As you venture through the Parkland trail, you’ll find opportunities to recreate Percy’s activities from the books, including building dens, cooking up recipes in the mud kitchen, creating animal art and composing your own musical storm!

If your kids love nothing more than getting out into the outdoors and discovering new animals and wildlife, Gauntlet Park is the ideal destination for you. Home to over 180 birds from 50 different species, the Park features the largest collection of birds of prey in the Northwest of England, containing a wide range of birds, such as Eagles, Hawks, Falcons, Vultures and Owls. You’ll also find unusual species like Caracaras, Seriemas, Storks and Pelicans, and learn about their distinctive habits. You’ll interact with these birds and see incredible flying demonstrations, giving you a unique experience of rare creatures in their own environment. But it’s not all about the birds! Gauntlet Park is also home to a variety of non-feathery animals, including Goats, Ferrets and Meerkats.

Discover more about the universe and the stars above at the Jodrell Bank Discovery Centre, a recognised UNESCO World Heritage Site, placing it on equal footing with the likes of Stonehenge and the Taj Mahal, and home to an incredible array of fun & educational features to enjoy. This includes the famous Lovell Telescope, which was used to probe Soviet and American probes aimed at the moon in the late 50s and early 60s, the Astronomy Photography of the Year exhibition, and a fantastic range of interactive exhibitions in the space pavilion.

Grab a magnifying glass, get your thinking cap on and get ready to find hidden treasure! The Knutsford Treasure Hunt Trail is a great opportunity for getting the whole family out and working together to find and solve the trail’s clever clues dotted around the town’s existing buildings, permanent features and monuments to discover buried treasure. A circular trail approximately 1.3 miles long that takes 2 hours to complete, participants will discover Knutsford’s hidden secrets at their own pace, with a mobile phone text service for clue answers if you get stuck to ensure no stone is left unturned. There’s even a chance to win real treasure, as all correct answers are entered into a monthly draw!