THE FIRST CBEEBIES LAND HOTEL HAS OPENED ITS DOORS AT ALTON TOWERS - HERE’S WHAT JOANNE DOUGLESS MADE OF IT

THERE’S the Enchanted Forest for drinks and the nightly entertainment and The Windmill for food.

The Enchanted Forest is a leaf-lined woodland, complete with star-lit sky and a stage area for entertainment. It’s unusual to find a hotel in Britain with family entertainment at night like this – there’s a big screen with interactive games and CBeebies favourites like Bing make a guest appearance to the delight of the children. It ends with stargazing and a bedtime story. For parents there’s a bar with beers, wine and cocktails.

Food is served in The Windmill, a brightly-coloured restaurant with its own castle and library. Everyone who dines can start off with a trip to the salad bar, great for hungry little people who know it’s dinner time but can’t wait to tuck in – and it’s all healthy too.

The main menu has options such as pizzas, steak and pasta and it can be ordered in ‘little guest,’ ‘grown-up’ or a ‘family sharing’ portion. There’s also a baby station with a microwave, bottle warmer and baby food pouches.

Main courses include a Sunday roast, fish finger dog, grilled salmon and steak. Some of the meals have a ‘10’ on them which means the chef has cleverly hidden 10 lots of vegetables in the sauce that even the most fussy of children couldn’t spot. My only grumble is there was only one vegetarian main option (pasta with vegetables). Children can also design their own pizza using a set of stickers and a pizza picture that can be handed to the chef to create.

For those of you with a sweet tooth I’d recommend the chocolate roll hedgehog for dessert – the grown up portion would feed a hungry family of four!

Breakfast is self-service with everything from fruit and yoghurt to a full English. There’s even smoothies (kiwi, cucumber and spinach) and juice.

Top tip: To keep the cost down order a family-sharing meal suitable for four people

There’s plenty of entertainment throughout the day, with guest appearances from characters including Bing and Postman Pat. In the Enchanted Forest there’s a programme of games and activities to dip in and out of and a family entertainment show in the early evening with a Swashbuckle Gameshow; Andy’s Prehistoric Quest and a Tots disco for the tiddlers. For older children the dancing continues until 9pm before a stargazing show and the familiar bedtime story.

The next day head off to CBeebies Land in the main Alton Towers theme park, there’s everything from a trip round Greendale in Postman Pat’s van to a high-energy Octonauts ride for older children