Lakeside lounging
If you’re after a timeless outdoor escapade, then the brand new A Day At The Lake festival (30 April-2 May) is worth travelling for. The beautiful Rudyard Lake, in Staffordshire, was a popular spot for day-trippers in the late 1800s, and the festival re-imagines the lake as it was during its Victorian heyday. There’s a programme of impressive performances, from tightrope-walking and outdoor theatre to storytelling and music. More old-school antics can be found down in Devon over the weekend, where the annual Brixham Pirate festival will be taking place, with swashbuckling re-enactments, shows and fancy dress, while in Maidstone 2 May will be a day of traditional celebrations, with a maypole, morris dancing and a tug of war. Family festival Geronimo – with everything from magic shows to jousting – is also taking place at Harewood House, Leeds on 2 May.
•For more day-trip ideas, take a look through our selection of bitesize guides
Go walkabout
The 18th Isle of Wight Walking festival runs from 30 April-15 May. It is the UK’s biggest festival of its kind and has a programme of 250 walks, from a guided fossil-hunting tour to a 24-hour, 70-mile round island hike. For walking ideas elsewhere in the country, we’ve rounded up 20 of the best UK walks for all abilities, plus suggestions on the best pubs, cafes and tearooms for walkers in need of a pitstop.
Feel the force
Legoland Windsor will be holding a series of Star Wars-themed activities, coinciding with the unveiling of the model of the Death Star made from 500,000 bricks. Kids can get stuck in themselves at a droid-building workshop and costumes are positively encouraged with a daily competition for the best dressed. More imperial warfare can be found at the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds this weekend, where it will have special displays of Japanese arms and armour as well as horseback archery displays. Less brutal fun will be taking place at National Sea Life Birmingham, where it is celebrating the world of penguins (all week long) and at the Life Science Centre in Newcastle, which is opening a new exhibition of animals preserved through plastination.
For more family attractions, see our Take the Kids to… series
Have an adventure
A long weekend is more than enough time to have an adventure. For inspiration, Alastair Humphreys’ guide to “microadventures” is a good place to start, and there are more ideas in our round up of how to have an adventure holiday in the UK, with tips and advice from seasoned explorers. We also have suggestions for wilderness adventures in the Highlands, the Lakes, Devon and Snowdonia. As for adventure attractions, last year the UK (well, Wales) saw a flurry of new openings, such as the world’s largest underground zipline course and an inland surfing lake in Snowdonia.
Head to the coast
The UK has more than its fair share of picturesque coastline – here are five of the very best beaches, from the cliffs and coves of Runswick Bay, North Yorkshire, to the sandy expanse of Pedn Vounder in Cornwall. And if you want to get away from it all, we’ve also got tips for the best hidden beaches, bays and walks on the UK coastline. To make a weekend of it, we’ve also got suggestions on some of the best beachside B&Bs.
