5 summer activities to keep the family entertained

The school holidays are well underway and, with so many people holidaying in the UK, this summer is set to be busier than ever. However, Stagecoach Cumbria and North Lancashire are here to provide you and your family with stress free travel to all the best attractions in the area. 

Here are just a few of the activities you can try if you’re holidaying a bit closer to home this year. 

Go to a happy place

Take a trip to Morecambe’s Happy Mount Park, a traditional park filled with activities to keep the whole family entertained. Take a miniature train ride, play tennis, crown green bowls or mini golf or just take a stroll. On hot days the Splash Park - complete with water sprinklers, buckets and water cannons - will help kids have fun cooling down. 

Row, row, row your boat

There is nothing like heading out onto the water in the height of summer and where better to do it than the Lake District? The national park is filled with places to take a paddle and maybe even have a dip at the same time. 

The Lake District Visitor Centre, at Brockhole, has everything for hire from sit-on kayaks and stand up paddle boards to motorboats - the perfect way to enjoy Windermere, England’s largest lake. 

You could even follow in the wake of Arthur Ransome’s Swallows and Amazons by taking out a boat on Coniston Water or enjoy the glory of Borrowdale from the middle of Derwentwater, near Keswick. 

Take to the trees

Have a treetop adventure high up in the forest canopy, clambering across rope bridges and hurtling through the air on zip wires. Treetop Trek, at Brockhole, offers a range of adventures for everybody from age five upwards, at a maximum height of 15 metres and with a lower course for those with less of a head for heights. 

Have an adventure at Honister

Honister Slate Mine has used lockdown to add some new features and attractions. This includes a new zip wire and bridges on its Climb the Mine activity, which takes people deep underground to follow the route of the original mine workings. 

Visitors to Honister Slate Mine can also scale the Lake District’s only via ferrata - using metal ladders, wires, bridges and cargo nets to ascend vertical rock faces. Other activities include mine tours, guided walks and canyoning, with the mine served from Keswick by a special seasonal bus. 

Walk the walls of Carlisle Castle

A prominent feature of Carlisle for 900 years, Carlisle Castle is the key to discovering the fascinating history of the city. Look around the medieval castle rooms and see where Mary Queen of Scots was held captive and discover Richard III’s chamber. Kids will love letting their imaginations run wild exploring some of the castle walls or hunting for animals amid ancient graffiti and don’t forget to leave time for Cumbria’s Museum of Military Life as well.