Park for Free

20/07/2008

Take the kids to see the best of Britain’s countryside.. & save pounds in the process, as Travel Editor GILL WILLIAMS discovers…

SCHOOL’S out soon, so give the kids masses of space and save a bomb on holiday costs abroad in Britain’s amazing National Parks. With National Park Week kicking off July 28 there are heaps of free or cheap events for families.

BRECON BEACONS, WALES

PLUNGE 300 ft into a mineshaft at Blaenavon’s Big Pit (entry free, open daily  9.30am-5pm, see www.museumwales. ac.uk). The museum within the national park was a working coal mine until the '80s and is now part of the UNESCO Blaenafon World Heritage Site.

There are oodles of events during National Park Week in Brecon Beacons, including a Clay and Paint Day on July 29, for kids aged five to seven (£3.50pp, call 01874 623366) and a Survival Day at Craig-y-Nos Country Park for kids seven and up (£5).

Call 01639 730395 or see www.breconbeacons. org. While you’re there, ride on the Brecon Mountain Railway (01685 722988).

WHERE TO STAY: Llwyn-y-fron near Brecon sleeps eight plus two in a guest suite for £1,110 per week in high season. See  www.breconcottages.com or call 01874 676446.

LOCH LOMOND AND THE TROSSACHS, SCOTLAND

Pick up maps from the visitor centre to follow trails through Scotland’s first National Park. For a real adventure, take the kids along part of the West Highland Way from Glasgow to Fort William, following the eastern shores of Loch Lomond (info 0845 345 4978).

Or cycle the West Loch Lomond Cycle Path, a 16.5-mile route between Balloch and Tarbet, (info www.lochlomond-trossachs.org). There are shorter trails for Sunday walks, bike rides and horse riding in Argyll and Queen Elizabeth forest parks (info 01877 382383). During National Parks Week there’ll be events celebrating the Countryside on a Plate. It’s all about great local nosh. See www.anpa.gov.uk

WHERE TO STAY: Achray House Hotel, Crieff, Perthshire, B&B from £45pp per night based on two sharing, from £15 per child sharing parents’ room (minimum  two nights at weekends). See www.achray-house.co.uk or call 01764 685231.

NORTH YORK MOORS

TAKE the kids on the Cleveland Way Treasure Hunt (until August 3). Departs Robin Hood’s Bay Station Car Park from 10am to 3.30pm, £2.50 for each child, book on 01439 772738. Then find out about our seafaring history at the Captain Cook Memorial Museum in Whitby (adults £4, kids £3, family ticket £10.50, see www.cook museumwhitby.co.uk).

Swap the sea for countryside at the Ryedale folk museum at Hutton-le-Hole with its Iron Age Camp, Victorian Classroom and witch’s hovel (go to www.ryedalefolkmuseum.co.uk, family ticket £13.50). There are more than 1,400 miles of walking paths in the National Park, some quite arduous for kids, others short and linked to bus routes. For info go to www.visitnorthyorkshiremoors.co.uk. All tuckered out? Ride the North Yorkshire Moors Railway from Pickering through Heartbeat country. Call 01751 473535.

WHERE TO STAY: For holiday homes and late deals, see www.whitbyholidaycottages. net peak district, derbyshire

FORGET struggling to get the kids’ bikes on the rack. Hire a cycle in the Peak District National Park’s centres at Ashbourne, Derwent and Parsley Hay. A half-day hire is £11 and full day £14. Kids £8/£10.

Visit www.peakdistrict.org. See where Pride And Prejudice was filmed at Chatsworth (entry £11.25 adults, £9.25 OAPs, kids £6 www.chatsworth.org). Then take a ride back in time at Crich Tramway Village; adults £10, seniors £9, kids £5, www.tramway. co.uk.

And see the English National Sheepdog Trials in the Ilam Visitor Centre near Ashbourne (August 1-3. Go to www.englishnational-sheepdogtrials.co.uk)

WHERE TO STAY: Haddon Grove Farm Cottages has cut 20 per cent off rental prices for the week started July 26 – www.haddongrovefarmcottages.co.uk

DARTMOOR, DEVON

PEOPLE have been living around Dartmoor for 10,000 years, leaving behind burial chambers and stone circles through

medieval towns like Chagford.

Buy local produce at weekly farmers’ markets and farm shops open through the summer (dates and locations from www.dartmoor-npa.gov.uk). If you’re cycling, use the Dartmoor Freewheeler, a Sunday bike minibus service that takes you up on to the moor – then you can cycle downhill all the way home! Costs £5, look at www.dartmoor-npa.gov.uk and download Dartmoor Freewheeler Leaflet. Get the kids away from the telly on July 30 when they can join a Children’s Dartmoor Discovery Trail and claim a prize.  Go to www.dartmoor-npa.gov.uk

WHERE TO STAY: Collaven Manor Hotel,  Okehampton, B&B from £44pp go to www.discoverdartmoor.co.uk 

LAKE DISTRICT, CUMBRA

WITH 3,500km of walking paths and 12 of the biggest lakes in Britain, you’ll be spoilt for choice. Go for a picnic on the the eastern shores of Derwentwater then join a tour underground through the Honister Slate Mine, the last working one in England. Tours cost £27 for a family ticket, but the visitor centre and factory trail at the mine are free. See www.honister-slate-mine.co.uk. For a beaky break, visit Eden Ostrich World in the Eden Valley,  a working farm with rare breeds of British farm animals and a flock of black ostriches (www.ostrich-world.com).

WHERE TO STAY: £7pp per night in one of the converted Lakeland Barns. They’re old stone buildings with cooking facilities and bathrooms. Go to www.lakelandcampingbarns.co.uk

CAIRNGORMS, SCOTLAND

MEET Squirrel Nutkin when you take the kids on a circular walk from the visitor centre at Rothiemurchus into the estate’s ancient forests. This walk around Loch-an-Eilein with its ruined castle is one of the most photogenic valley walks in Scotland.

Go foraging for goodies (enormous cookies called oaties) at the estate’s Charlie Parker’s café. Then look for ospreys on a walk around Loch Garten (entrance adults £3, under-16s 50p, RSPB members free).

Enough walking? Take the old Strathspey Steam Railway from Aviemore to the Boat of Garten (www.strathspeyrailway.co.uk). And see the wolf pack and the Japanese monkey colony at the Highland Wildlife Park (01540 651270) near Aviemore in the Cairngorms.

WHERE TO STAY: Villas at the Silverglades Holiday Park in Aviemore. See hoseasons.co.uk

PEMBROKESHIRE, WALES

TAKE a seaside holiday in Britain’s only coastal national park. A long-distance trail takes you to sandy coves, the wooded banks of estuaries and Norman castles. Swim off the blue flag beaches at Tenby then wander into the medieval town to the National Park Centre (where a Get Crafty afternoon for kids will run July 28 from 2.30pm).

Mess about in the rock pools at St Brides Haven and take a boat with National Park guides from Martin’s Haven to Skomer Island  £8 adults, plus a £6 landing fee and £5/£ kids. Go to www.pcnpa.org.uk

WHERE TO STAY: The new Bluestone eco holiday park. Prices from £25pp per night when four share a Caldey lodge for three nights. More discounts on offer in August. See www.bluestonewales.com

NEW FOREST, HAMPSHIRE

A GREEN space since William the Conqueror made this corner of the South-East his private hunting ground. Today, it is best known for wild ponies.

For great nosh, look for the New Forest Marque sign that shows the restaurant or farm shop uses produce sourced within the forest.

Take the kids to the The New Forest Otter, Owl and Wildlife Conservation Park to see otters, owls and other native wildlife. Open all year,  10am to 6pm. Adults £7.50, kids two to 15, £5.50. See www.ottersandowls.co.uk

WHERE TO STAY: Camping at the Sandy Balls Holiday Centre. Peak-season tent pitches cost just £13, go to www.sandy-balls.co.uk

NORTHUMBERLAND

TEN perfect picnic spots have been named here from Walltown Rocks near Greenhead to the hay meadows of Greenhaugh. See www.northumberlandnationalpark.org.uk

For foot-stomping fun during National Parks Week, turn up for the Redefest music festival on August 2 where local bands mix traditional Northumbrian folk with rock, indie, barber shop and African drumming. Entry £2 per adult, £1 per child or £5 for a family.

WHERE TO STAY: Swallow George Hotel, Chollerford, Hexham. B&B for two starts from £35pp per night. See www.globekey.com

-FOR more info on Britain’s national parks go to www.nationalparks.gov.uk