Go carbon-neutral
LONELY Planet is launching a new range of carbonneutral tours with adventure holiday company Intrepid Travel. The small group trips, in 65 countries, will help support local communities. They range from a two-and-a-half-hour foodie tour of Tokyo (from £59pp) to a seven-day Galapagos Experience (from £726). See lonelyplanet. com/experiences.
THE February ambush that goes by the name of “half term” is almost here. Happily, we have some Uk-based ideas to keep little and big ones entertained – and they won’t break the bank.
Storybook isle Purbeck and Brownsea, Dorset
The Isle of Purbeck is not actually an island at all but a Dorset peninsula with the English Channel to the south and east and Poole Harbour to the north. That isolation right in the centre of England’s south coast makes it somewhere special, a place that inspired Enid Blyton’s Famous Five adventures, and a place that has a lot to do and see.
Guarding its uplands is the ruin of Corfe Castle, while the resort of Swanage is on the shore below. The two are connected by the Swanage railway, steam-hauled during half term. See swanagerailway.co.uk.
North of Swanage along the shore there is a magnificent walk out to Old Harry Rocks, chalky white bluffs rising from the sea, with a view out to the Isle of Wight.
Just beyond Old Harry is the fabulous long stretch of Knoll Beach, then Poole Harbour begins. Within the huge harbour area is mysterious Brownsea Island, christened Whispering Island by the Famous Five. It is now a nature reserve with red squirrels, reached by regular foot ferries.
Both Brownsea and Corfe Castle are National Trust properties and are both open over half term. See nationaltrust.org.uk.
Trainy days Private railways
The pruning of branch lines off the national rail network in the 1960s, which then became available to steam engine enthusiasts, means Britain is now home to more than 100 heritage railways. And lots of them will be dusting off their ticket machines and stoking up their locomotives in preparation for half term.
Many are members of the Heritage Railway Association, so look up the nearest to you via the map on its website: heritagerailways.com.
A good one is South Devon’s Dartmouth Steam Railway, which runs along the beach at Paignton before cutting inland to link up with the Dart river down to Kingswear. See dartmouthrailriver.co.uk.
Or in the heart of the country, try the Nene Valley Railway outside Peterborough, which will be wheeling out its unmistakable Thomas the Tank Engine to run special services over half term. See nvr.org.uk.
Farm fun Little lambs
February is lambing time, and open farms up and down the land will be showing off this year’s cuddly bundles. Bottle-feeding newborns is usually on the daily programme, and where there are lambs, there are usually ponies, donkeys, goats, ducks and chickens.
Some farms, such as Barleylands near Billericay in Essex, have extended beyond this farm menagerie, with fruit bats, a skunk and jerboa desert rodents, as well as a rainforest selection of snakes, frogs, tortoises, lizards and insects. See barleylands.co.uk.
Traditional settings, such as Mead Open Farm in Bedfordshire, are a bit more active and physical, with climbing walls and high ropes. There is even a Digger Village – a child-friendly construction site. See meadopenfarm.co.uk.
For a true digger experience, though, you need to head for Diggerland itself and there are branches in Kent, Devon, Yorkshire and Durham.
And any child at heart can operate a JCB, provided they are more than 110cm tall. See diggerland.com.
Deep thinking Welsh mines and caves
Who knew redundant mine workings could be fun? For a couple of years now, the former slate quarry at Blaenau Ffestiniog has hosted Titan, the fastest zipwire in the world.
And the site near Snowdon, in the northwestern corner, has also opened Bounce Below, where kids can go crazy in a subterranean playground with six levels of cargo nets and four industrial slides. See zipworld.co.uk.
On the England-wales border in the Forest of Dean, Clearwell Caves reopens at half term for young explorers to head below ground to discover the realities of mining, with the added