Huntfun Bedale

You'll find Huntfun Bedale tucked away in this quiet market town between Northallerton and the Yorkshire Dales - it's a proper hidden treasure if you're after something a bit different from the usual park attractions. The place itself is a working farm experience that lets you get hands-on with animals and countryside life, which sounds twee until you're actually there mucking about with the goats or watching kids lose their minds over bottle-feeding lambs.

It's genuinely worth stopping for if you've got children under ten. They'll spend a solid two to three hours here without kicking up a fuss, which is no small feat. The animals are well-kept, the staff know what they're doing, and there's enough space to let kids run about without you sweating they'll disappear into the woods. Adults get something out of it too - the farm gives you a proper sense of how things actually work on the land, rather than some sanitised theme-park version.

If you're based at Pembroke Caravan Park just down the road, Huntfun makes an easy morning or afternoon jaunt. It slots nicely into a wider itinerary taking in Kiplin Country Park further afield. The whole thing works best outside school holidays - you'll avoid the crowds and actually have a chance to engage with the staff rather than queue behind sixty other families. Spring and early summer are your best bet, when the baby animals are about and the weather's reliable enough for lingering outdoors.