London Zoo Parrots

The parrot enclosure at London Zoo is genuinely one of the few reasons to trek all the way to Regent's Park if you've got kids in tow. The birds are kept in a proper walk-through aviary - which means they're flying about at head height rather than stuck behind glass - and the noise alone will either delight or horrify depending on your tolerance for screaming macaws at 9am.

You'll see everything from tiny lorikeets to those enormous blue hyacinths that cost more than a car. The handlers occasionally do talks if you time it right, though don't expect David Attenborough levels of insight. It's mostly "that one eats nuts" and pointing at bright feathers.

The whole thing takes about an hour, maybe 90 minutes if your children are the type to stand transfixed by every single bird. Little ones find it brilliant; teenagers will be on their phones within twenty minutes. It's free if you've already paid for zoo entry, obviously, but the zoo admission itself isn't cheap these days.

If you're basing yourself at Lovat Parks just up the road - it's less than three miles away - this works as a half-day activity when the weather's iffy. Better than sitting in a caravan waiting for rain to stop. Just don't expect to spend more than a couple of hours here without feeling like you've seen everything twice.