It’s near to home and so much fun! DIANNE BOURNE

Finds endless entertainment for her family at this famous and reinvigorated seaside resort

WITH unfavourable exchange rates, general transport chaos and, whisper it, a miraculously sunny summer, it has never felt more tempting to stay on home shores for a family summer holiday.

And for those of us with young children to entertain, there can be few better destinations to visit than Blackpool.

The seaside resort on Lancashire’s Fylde coast has been busily reinventing itself in recent years, and whatever your preconceptions of Blackpool, let me tell you

this: It’s fun. So much fun. Having our two-year-old son George in tow meant we were able to both entertain him while treating our own inner child too.

Tourism bosses have even come up with a canny new way to help families to enjoy as many of the resort’s attractions as possible for a bargain price with the Blackpool Resort Pass or Resort Pass Plus.

You pay a set fee (£57.50 or £83), and then get to visit the likes of Madame Tussauds, the Blackpool Tower,

Blackpool Pleasure Beach and Blackpool Zoo, at a heavily discounted price.

With our passes in hand we set about to visit as many as possible during our two-night break.

The hotel for our stay was The Village, which is happily situated right next to Blackpool Zoo and Stanley Park so already offering lots to see and do as soon as we’d checked in our bags.

We were really impressed with the standard and wealth of facilities at the hotel for the price you pay (prices start from a bargainous £31 a night!) – the venue includes both an indoor and outdoor pool, two on-site restaurants and a spa.

And lovely views of the golf course to the rear and parkland to the front.

The front area of the hotel is also dominated by a huge Starbucks cafe, which was a welcome boost given my Americano addiction.

In fact I was so impressed with the hotel, I’ve booked to return on a girly break so I can fully enjoy the spa facilities (and perhaps the odd

glass of prosecco).

Being so close to the zoo we started our adventures there, and for our dinosaur-loving George it was very much a dream come true. The zoo has a huge Dinosaur Safari attraction which is really quite spectacular.

There are huge dino models poking out from a wonderful woodland trail around a huge pool at its heart.

Seeing George’s little face as he found his favourite stegosaurus was pure joy – although he did seem to think most of the other models were triceratops!

After that the real live animals in the zoo didn’t seem to quite enthrall George as much, but there’s so much to see and do here you could spend the whole day navigating the 32-acre site.

Next up was a stroll along the road to Blackpool Model Village. Bringing back many a memory from childhood holidays, it was lovely to see George so transfixed by all the little models, and in particular the working railways with the little

trains chugging around.

Returning to the hotel, we enjoyed our dinner in the Italian-themed restaurant, which was also where we returned the next day for an impressive breakfast buffet.

Fuelled up, we set off into the heart of Blackpool (about a 10-minute drive from the hotel) for a day of fun starting with a run on the beach.

Staying midweek and out of school holidays, we pretty much had the run of the beach which has just received a Seaside Award, while further along the coast the Blackpool South beach is celebrating being the only one in the region to achieve Blue Flag status.

George would probably have been happy spending most of the day running up and down the beach, but with plenty more attractions to see from our resort passes we dragged him off the sand and up to see some sea creatures close up at Sea Life.

While George was a bit wary at first, we certainly enjoyed the dazzling displays including the ever-impressive water tunnel where you can see thousands of fish swirling over your head.

Next door is Madame Tussauds, the famous celebrity waxworks museum, which has just unveiled its new £1m exhibition dedicated to Marvel superheroes.

Naturally, most of all this went over George’s head, but his mum and dad had plenty of laughs posing up with the likes of Paddy McGuinness on the Take Me Out set, sitting

wiggling the glasses next to the Two Ronnies, or walking down Abbey Road with The Beatles.

It also has its own Rovers Return pub with a host of Corrie icons leading the way into it where we had a sit and a quick drink before heading on our way.

Jumping on the tram which runs along the coastline we headed to Blackpool Pleasure Beach next, which really is a sight to behold.

The huge amusement park has just added its biggest ever £16.25m rollercoaster, ICON, alongside the myriad of white-knuckle rides.

Naturally, we were heading straight to its Nickelodeon Land though, an entire area dedicated to rides and characters from the station including SpongeBob Squarepants, Dora the Explorer and Rugrats. Then it was off back into the town centre to try out retro diner Viva Vegas.

Located right on the seafront, the restaurant is a splendid themed diner with old jukebox, purple and white booths, and a menu of American classics. And what a treat for us, we got to sit in the best seat in the house – the booth fashioned from a vintage American Cadillac!

We loved their pulled pork-piled burgers in toasted brioche buns, accompanied by a giant pile of coated fries and washed down with creamy milkshake, naturally.

For our final day, we headed back to explore

the iconic Blackpool Tower with its range of attractions over its many floors right up to the very top of the Grade I listed building.

Dating back to 1894, the tower has a rich and intriguing history, which you can discover through the Blackpool Tower Eye 4D cinema experience, which then leads you up to the top.

The glass SkyWalk – with extraordinary views to the 150 metres beneath, is not for the fainthearted, and I’ve never seen George grip on to his dad’s legs so tightly!

More exciting to George was the visit to Jungle Jim’s play centre on the fifth floor, and a visit to the new Dino Golf attraction on the sixth floor, complete with a 10ft high velociraptor, 7ft brontosaurus, 3ft baby triceratops, 4ft stegosaurus and other early creatures looming across the course.

There is also the Blackpool Tower Circus with shows on most days, and the Blackpool Tower Dungeon in the basement – although we simply ran out of time to head along to these two such was the fun-packed itinerary.

The great joy of Blackpool is that we know there is so much more for George to enjoy as he gets older, and we will undoubtedly return again soon.

The tourist board’s slogan for the seaside resort these days is “Blackpool Has It All”, and after a wonderful family break I’d very much agree.