Restaries at Paradise Farm, Westhall
Southwold Pier · Photo: User:KevinScottNL
Settle into a converted barn on a Suffolk farm, swim in the heated covered pool and meet the goats and alpacas, then spend a day on the coast: giraffes and lions at Africa Alive, lunch on Southwold Pier, Tim Hunkin's eccentric machines and a run on the beach. Works for toddlers through to tweens.
Where you stay (overnight)
Check-in from 16:00. Say hello to the goats and alpacas, have a swim in the heated pool, then light the pizza oven on your terrace.
Converted farm buildings on a 10-acre Suffolk farm with goats, pigs, alpacas and donkeys, a kids' play area and a covered pool heated to 26°C. Each cottage is self-catering with its own terrace and pizza oven.
Photo: From their website
Wildlife · 10:00–12:30 (2h30m)
Arrive at opening to see the big animals while it's quiet; check the day's keeper talk times at the entrance.
An indoor and outdoor wildlife park in Lowestoft.
Food stop · 13:00–14:00 (1h)
Lunch with sea views, or grab fish and chips from the pier chip shop if the children are restless.
The pier's sit-down restaurant, with views out over the North Sea. The pier also has a fish and chip shop, the Clockhouse café and an ice-cream parlour if you'd rather eat on the go.
Photo: southwoldpier.co.uk
Nature & gardens · 14:00–15:15 (1h15m)
Bring coins for Tim Hunkin's homemade machines, then walk to the end of the pier.
An indoor and outdoor beach in Southwold.
Photo: User:KevinScottNL
Food stop · 15:20–16:30 (1h10m)
Walk south past the beach huts for digging, paddling and a last ice cream before heading back to the farm.
East of EnglandNorwich
Day one pairs the newly reopened Norman keep in the middle of Norwich with an easy lakeside walk on the edge of the city. Day two heads into the Broads for old boats, a short river trip and a wildlife reserve on Hickling Broad.
Norwich Castle → Whitlingham Country Park → Museum of the Broads → NWT Hickling Broad and Marshes
East of EnglandHunstanton
A morning in the dunes and pinewoods at Holme, where children go free, then the seal rescue centre at Hunstanton's aquarium. The aquarium also works as the whole day if the weather turns.
NWT Holme Dunes → SEA LIFE Hunstanton
East of EnglandLowestoft
A free wetland reserve with a play area and marsh-view cafe in the morning, then down the coast to Southwold, where the pier's Under the Pier Show is full of odd home-made coin machines. Walking the pier itself costs nothing.
Carlton Marshes Nature Reserve → Southwold Pier
