Family holidays: what"s new in Britain Travel The Guardian

All downhill from here ... an active family journey in the Scottish Highlands

1 Eco-camping, Gloucestershire Alde Garden

Dome Garden is a new stay done up of 10 geodesic domes opening in Coleford, in the Forest of Dean, this April. The domes are related by paths done from recycled glass, and nap up to six. They are as comfy as they are cool, with big beds, beanbags and woodburning stoves, and their own kitchen area and en apartment showering (heated by a log-powered boiler). On site there"s a club and pizza oven. Meanwhile, nearby Saxmundham in Suffolk, Alde Garden is opening on eleven June. Choose from the Mongolian-style yurt (sleeps up to five), hobo sight (up to three) or tipi (up to four). The site offers babysitting and free bike hire, and is on the Suffolk coastal cycle route. • A week in Jul at the Dome Garden (01730 261458) costs from £745 per dome. A week at Alde Garden (01728 664178) costs from £200 a week.

2 Flotilla sailing, the Solent

You might not get the blinding fever that you would in, say, Turkey or Greece, but from this summer – for around half the cost – you can cruise as piece of a squadron on UK waters with Sunsail. With trips using via the summer holidays (10 July-28 Aug), family groups can cruise past ancestral castles and old coastal towns on the Solent. Families who don"t know their bowsprit from their taunt can sinecure a Sunsail skipper. • From £1,699 (maximum eight people) per vessel per week (0844 463 6578). A skipper costs £115 a day.

3 Butterfly World, Hertfordshire

Butterfly World in St Albans is set to open the second proviso of "the largest walk-through moth experience in the world" on twenty-nine Apr (completion is due subsequent year) with 3 new gardens, a moth tact residence and a chrysalis-shaped lake, home to hundreds of plants and mini-beasts. Visitors can additionally try the pleasant moth residence and twenty acres of meadows. • £6 adults, £4 children, under-3s free, family sheet £19 (two adults and dual children). Open from twenty-nine April-26 Sept (01727 869203).

4 Arts festival, the Cotswolds

Spectacular entertainments, from concerts to lighting device and fireworks displays, are betrothed at the initial biannual Broadway Arts Festival, from 11-20 June. The legal legal holiday will cap in a family fun day on the last Saturday, with a encampment celebration and children"s procession. Meanwhile, in Staffordshire, the initial Just So Festival in Barnswood, nearby Leek, from 20-22 August, combines art, song and literature. Highlights embody a Moomin celebration and a angel folklore track by the woods. • Broadway Arts Festival (0845 190 5450) prices vary. Just So Festival £20 adults, £10 children, under-5s 1p.

5 Wildlife weekend, North Yorkshire Family cycling in the New Forest. Photograph: Alamy

Forest Holidays, that offers camping and wooden cabin breaks via the UK, has launched a Wildlife Weekend at Spiers House in Cropton Forest from 4-6 Jun and 27-29 August, where family groups can stick on the proprietor ranger and a guest consultant from the RSPB on a timberland travel to find the animals and birds that have the North York Moors their home. It is additionally charity a ranger-led cycling mangle in the New Forest, Hampshire, from 7-9 and 17-19 September. • 0845 130 8225, forestholidays.co.uk. Wildlife week end £60 adults, £31.50 children, together with pitch. Cycling mangle £60 adults, £45 teenagers (not befitting for small children), together with pitch.

6 Comedy and crafts, Birmingham

Following a two-year, £15m overhaul, MAC (Midlands Arts Centre)is reopening on 1 May with a full programme of art workshops, song performances, humerous entertainment shows, plays for young kids and sorcery shows. Keep an eye on the website for sum of what"s on at this non-profit centre that aims to have enlightenment permitted to everyone, together with children. • 0121-446 3232. Admission free; prices for events and activities have nonetheless to be confirmed.

7 Long-distance walking, Snowdonia

The Mawddach Way in Snowdonia is a new long-distance pavement covering roughly 50km around the Mawddach estuary. The total track takes 3 days but kids can cope with the peaceful stretches by woodland, green hills and open country, and you can do sure legs by open transport. Barmouth is the referred to starting point, with great rail connectors and car parking, and you can stay in opposite place to live each night. For place to live see eryri-npa.co.uk.

8 Safari-style camping, New Forest Safari-style camping in the New Forest

Following the launch of the initial UK parcs last year (nine in all), Eurocamp is introducing a safari-style stay to Britain. Campers at the Holmsley site, in the New Forest, can right away bed down in stylish, two-bedroom tents, finish with teak furniture, a entirely versed kitchen area, large embellished patio and barbecue. Eurocamp has additionally combined an additional Scottish play ground to the collection: Glenmore is on the banks of Loch Morlich in the Cairngorms. • 0844 406 0552. Three-night mangle in a safari tent in Jul from £185 (up to 4 sharing). Three nights in a classical tent at Glenmore in Jul from £149 (up to 6 sharing).

9 Family adventure, Scotland Photograph: Alamy

Sign up for McKinlay Kidd"s new seven-night family journey outing and you"ll lapse with tales of rafting on the stream Spey in the Cairngorms and roving the "Harry Potter" Jacobite steam train. Another prominence of the three-centre Highlands legal holiday is the "Drop at the Top" cycle ride, where you and your bikes are driven to the tip of a mountain for a free-wheeling float down marks and timberland roads to the bottom. • 0844 804 0020. From £690 adults, £330 young kids in August, together with BB place to live and all activities.

10 Alice in Wonderland, Cornwall

Several scenes from Tim Burton"s new Alice in Wonderland movie were shot at the National Trust"s Antony House in Torpoint, and the residence is hosting the own Alice experience from currently until 31 October, with art installations and sculptures widespread via the gardens. Slide down the rabbit hole (or rather ramp) in to a sorcery grassed area filled with hulk mushrooms; wander past the larva perched on a mushroom, smoking a hookah pipe; see out for Cheshire Cat, sat atop a yew tree and stick on in the Mad Hatter"s tea party, where Alice, the hatter, the White Rabbit and the Dormouse lead young kids around the gardens, re-enacting scenes along the way. • (01752 812191. Admission: residence and grassed area £7.50 adults, £4.80 children; grassed area usually £4.90 adults, £2.50 children.

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