If we adopted a child’s-eye view of the world, how would we choose to have fun? It’s likely to be about more than the usual incentives, such as an ice cream, suggests research from Nature Communications. According to the journal, children as young as four seek experiences that deliver positive results, guide action, answer questions about the world — and are just plain fun. Whether it’s getting up-close with crustaceans on a rockpooling adventure, diving into a good book at a literature festival, learning to surf, taking to the stage or gazing at the stars, these 12 UK-based experiences deliver hands-on learning and creativity.
1. Safaris with the Rock Pool Project Plymouth, Devon and Falmouth, Cornwall
Few activities for kids get as close to exploring alien worlds as rockpooling, in which bizarre-looking marine invertebrates reveal themselves with every rock or shell inspection. From shape-shifting sea hare slugs to spiky urchins, there’s plenty of marine wildlife to discover on the South West coast — but it’s after dark that this unique ecosystem gets really interesting. Fluorescent snakelocks anemones glow green under UV light while pink starfish flex their knobbly arms as they move between pools. A marine biologist leads the activity, teaching how to identify the creatures and demonstrating ethical and responsible ways to explore the rockpool habitat — a habitat that is highly sensitive to wandering hands and feet.
How to do it: The Rock Pool Project runs day and night safaris all year round in Plymouth and Falmouth. Specialist equipment is supplied. Wear suitable shoes with good grip to protect against sharp rocks and warm, waterproof clothing. Group tickets (maximum four people) cost £59.
2. Belfast Children’s Festival 8-16 March 2024, Belfast, Northern Ireland
Hosted by Young at Art, an educational organisation catering for the needs of babies, children and young adults, this festival promises “events to entertain, surprise and delight.” Things get a little crazy at the Baby Rave, the festival’s most popular event. Held in Belfast Cathedral, the dance party is suitable for toddlers up to four years old who don’t mind getting lost amid colourful parachutes and inflatables. Elsewhere, expect interactive painting, dancing and theatre workshops, with performances by local students.
How to do it: Events are ticketed separately and cost a maximum of £10 each (2+ years). Initiatives are in place to assist children with special educational needs or disabilities.
3. The Children’s Garden at Kew Richmond, London
One of the most extensive botanical gardens in the world, The Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew features multiple unique attractions, including a dedicated area designed specially for young
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The last (or first) hill in England is a modest 198 metres above sea level. Hillock more than hill, Chapel Carn Brea is certainly no Munro: it’s a final unpromising, bracken-brown bump in the Cornish landscape, before a sheer drop into the sea at Land’s End. Not all walks need guidebooks and Nordic poles; some are coy, cloaking their secrets in the hope that power walkers will power on by.
I grew up with African food, but in a Lebanese way.Let’s take my mum’s okra stew — the African version is filled with fried fish, cow foot, sheep tail, oxtail and beef all in one stew — while Lebanese cooking is quite simplistic and based around fresh salads and grills, that sort of stuff. So, the stew she’d make would have none of that, just beef, and it wouldn’t be made with palm oil. It was African food but in a tame way, because of my Lebanese dad. Whenever my mum makes it, I go absolutely mental — it warms up your belly, is full of good nutrients and is a different flavour to anything you’ve ever had before. My grandma once made it in Freetown, Sierra Leone, with fufu (pounded cassava root and green plantains, rolled into small balls) — proper authentic. I choked on a fish bone but it was the best meal I’ve ever had.
Veganuary was inititated by a UK non-profit organisation ten years ago to encourage people worldwide to try vegan for January and beyond. Millions of people have signed up to their one-month vegan pledge since 2014 and the number of vegan food products continues to grow. To make things easier, the organisation offers to send anyone willing to take the challenge their celebrity cookbook, meal plans and recipes – all for free. And here are 15 new food and drink products recommended for anyone going vegan this month and beyond.
Exploring Yorkshire’s coastline on two wheels is about to get a whole lot easier. Route YC, the organisation which promotes the Yorkshire coast, has teamed up with leading adventure cyclists to launch a series of new cycle routes in January. Ranging from nine to 260 miles, the routes are designed to help visitors of all abilities get off the beaten track on gravel, touring and road bikes.
£28, Hardie GrantThe second cookbook from food writer Dina Begum is a love letter to Bangladesh. Alongside the selection of tempting recipes are detailed ingredient notes, explanations of distinctive spice blends and advice on traditional preparation and serving, all accompanied by evocative photography of busy street-sellers, verdant landscapes and market produce. Some recipes do feature fish and vegetables native to Bangladesh that might be harder to find in the UK, but the author suggests accessible substitutions for those unable to find a Bangladeshi grocery store.
According to professional travel organisation, European Best Destinations, the Portuguese island of Madeira is the best place to see the annual New Year’s Eve fireworks display. The travel experts polled a panel of 11,963 travellers from 112 countries, mainly from the United Kingdom (22,42%) and the United States (18,91%) and found the top destination to count down the 2024 New Year is Madeira, followed by Marbella (Spain) with London ranking number three. Here are the top ten.
British skies dazzle when the sun sinks, and there are a handful of dark sky reserves and discovery sites where the lack of light pollution can help stargazing enthusiasts feel that bit closer to the universe. Take a winter stomp across freezing moors or a late-night summer drive up to a remote hilltop to find a sky full of stars with distant planets glittering overhead on clear nights. Often, there’s no need for a telescope either — star clusters such as Pleiades and Hyades, the Milky Way, nebulae and shooting stars can often be seen with the naked eye or with the help of a pair of cheap binoculars and stargazing apps such as Stellarium Mobile.
Now that the northern hemisphere is firmly in the cooler months of the year—and it’s only getting colder—it’s time to talk fleece. For bitter winter chills, fleece is hard to beat because the fabric is made to be both lightweight and incredibly insulating. And in recent years, fleece technology has improved so much that the variety on offer is now immense both in quality, style, and price. If you thought that Colorado bros have the market cornered with their Patagonia zip-ups, it’s time to reconsider the category altogether.I was previously super hesitant about fleece because, for most of my life, I assumed its pieces all looked the same. But while shopping in Manchester last year, I came upon a button-up fleece chore jacket with a rounded collar from UK-based Universal Works that changed my mind about what fleece could look like. But in speaking with Universal Works design director and co-founder David Keyte about the material, I learned that the name is actually a catchall that could mean different things depending on where you are. “There really are so many different fleeces,” Keyte says. “It’s an amazing technical invention that replaced knitted wools and cottons to become a flexible layer of clothing that moves with the body and is warm. Fleece became the modern version of those traditional fabrics, but it’s made of synthetic fibers that hold warmth and are lightweight.”My jacket is a wool-blend fleece (that almost looks like boiled wool), which Keyte says is great for heat regulation. I use it from fall on; either on its own or layered underneath a heavier coat when it gets bitingly cold out. But regardless of which brand or style you go for, that’s kind of the benefit of fleece when it comes to outerwear or as a shirt or sweater: They offer enough warmth when worn on their own, but most are light enough to be another protective layer to partner with heavier items for harsher winter days. Here, you'll find our picks for 28 fleece items that will serve you well from now through spring.
It’s believed that the Norwegians invented modern skiing as we know it, and the first destination ski resort was Switzerland’s St. Moritz around 1864—more than half a century before the oldest operating mountain in the U.S. opened. It was the ski loving but mountain-challenged British that popularized the very notion of the ski vacation, traveling to the Alps for food, fun and skiing.