Family Adventure Inspiration

Whilst the roadmap for lifting lockdown in the UK opens up the possibility of international travel from the 17^th of May, it’s by no means guaranteed. As such, committed as we are to doing 52 new family microadventures this year, I’ve been searching out interesting and unusual activities to do right here in the UK.

My intention is to create a UK bucket list of places to visit, along with educational adventures and physical challenges that we’d love to do as a family. Then, when the restrictions lift, we’ll choose our favourites, and adventure here we come!

Each month I’ll provide a list of links to opportunities for intrepid escapades to have with your kids on this diverse isle of ours. Here’s our first selection:

• Family White Water Rafting (8+) or Hydrospeeding (12+) at Lee Valley, Hertfordshire – This looks so much fun!

• 1 Day Foraging Course in Kent – Learn how to identify edible plants, nuts, fruits and berries in the hedgerows, fields and woodlands of your local countryside and cook up a feast with your discoveries. We’re booked onto a course in early May! Looking for a course closer to home, try this post: Best foraging courses in the UK.

• Build and Paddle Your Own Canoe, Lake District – Love the idea of spending 3-4 days working with my family to make our own canoe to treasure for life!

• Spend a Night in a Bothy in the Scottish Highlands – This post gives a great overview of family bothying for beginners. The idea of sharing your overnight space with strangers can seem off putting at first, but there’s actually something wonderful about connecting and swapping stories with like-minded people (although I’d personally opt for one with separate rooms!). Although we’ve never stayed in a bothy, it sounds similar to when we overnighted in a simple Berber house in the High Atlas Mountains, Morocco, along with another couple of hikers and their guides. We had such a lovely evening chatting and getting to know our fellow adventurers and even headed out on our hike together the next morning playing games as we walked.

• Wade Out to Secluded Scolt Head Island, Norfolk at Low Tide – Once you’ve squelched your way across, try a spot of islandeering (a term coined by Lisa Drewe, author of the book Islandeering, to mean circumnavigating an island by walking, running, swimming, cycling, scrambling, coasteering or kayaking around their edges), spot rare bird species, enjoy some beach time or swim in the warm creeks.

• Fly on the Fastest Zipwire in the World: Zipworld’s Velocity 2 in North Wales – For the 10+ adrenaline junkies out there, this is one for the bucket list. This blog post gives an idea of what to expect. For younger children, check out their Fforest Coaster at their sister site, twisting through 1km of woodland, or Bounce Below, their underground net adventure inside a disused mine.

So much fun to be had in this beautiful country of ours – enjoy!