Welsh wonders

Big Pit

Don't be put off by the word 'museum', because Big Pit is more an experience than anything else even though it first appears big, bleak and grey.

You get a get a hard hat with lamp then you are taken blinking 300ft down a mineshaft in a real pit cage. It's all authentic and your guide is a real miner. Above ground there are colliery buildings to explore, including the brilliantly laid-out museum in the pithead baths.

National Coal Museum, Blaenavon, NP4 9XP. Tel: 01495 790311

www.museumwales.ac.uk

Admission: free

The National Showcaves Centre for Wales

Definitely the best place to go in the Brecon National Park for a day out which will appeal to all ages.

Younger children love the huge dinosaur models, and there's a Shire horse centre for older children.

But it's the underground caves which stand out. A series of them wind through the heart of the hillside, revealing underwater rivers, pools, waterfalls and, of course, stalagmites and stalactites.

Abercrave, Swansea, SA9 1GJ. Tel: 01639 730801/730284
www.showcaves.co.uk

Admission: adults £10.50, children £6.50.

National Slate Museum

Er, slate, we know what you're thinking. But slate rocks! You wouldn't put a slate museum down as a place for children to have fun, but they love it.

Sitting and watching slates being split, staring open-mouthed at the huge buzz saws used to cut up trees for railway sleepers, running past the historic workers' houses and climbing on slate walls.

Comes with a good cafe and small play area on site.

Padarn Country Park, Llanberis, Gwynedd, LL55 4TY. Tel: 01286 870630
www.museumwales.ac.uk
Admission: free

Sygun Copper Mine

If you are your clan has ever wanted to pan for gold, now's their chance. Set in its beautiful location in Gwynant Valley, in the heart of Snowdonia, the list of activities here is beguiling.

Children can't get in fast enough, and enjoy the clambering, ladder-climbing self-guided tour along and up tunnels. The tour ends much higher up the mountain than where you start, and the walk back down is stunning through shoulder-high gorse.

For a small extra charge you can try panning for (fools?) gold, paint pottery or go metal detecting for coins.

Beddgelert, Gwynedd, LL55 4NE. Tel: 01766 890595
www.syguncoppermine.co.uk
Admission: adults £7.95, children £5.95, OAPs £6.95.

Cardigan Bay Marine Wildlife Centre

This charitable trust monitors and studies bottlenose dolphins, grey seals, porpoises and other sea creatures and is based in a lovely listed building, free to enter.

There's a whole floor of information, interactive displays and fun things for children to see and do, along with an area where they can sit and draw their discoveries.

Glanmor Terrace, New Quay, SA45 9PS. Tel: 01545 560 032

www.cbmwc.org

Admission: free. Boat trips: adults £18, children under 12 £10 (2 hours, longer trips available).

Cardiff Castle

If you only have time to do one thing in Cardiff city centre, take a guided tour around this castle-come-fantasyland.

A wondrous place of ornately painted rooms, exquisite craftsmanship and extravagant style, it's like a cross between Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings.

Children love the combination of the film set extravagance inside, and the large grass area outside.

Castle Street, CF10 3RB. Tel: 029 2087 810
www.cardiffcatle.com
Admission: grounds & tour, adults £7.50, children £4.50, OAPs/students £5.95.

Castell Coch

You can see the most beautiful castle in Wales nestling in the tree-covered hillside as you drive along the M4.

Approached through a thick forest overlooking a gorge in the Taff Valley, the interior is a sumptuous Arts and Crafts-style interpretation of medieval decor. Scenes from Aesop's Fables decorate the walls and ceilings.

Tongwynlais. Tel: 029 2081 0101
www.cadw.cymru.gov.uk

Admission: #3.50, reduced rate #3, family ticket #10 (two adults and all children); free to Cadw members.

Marloes Peninsula

Few head for this far-flung corner of west Wales compared with the beaches around Tenby and St David's, which is great for those of us who want to keep this part of the Pembrokeshire Coast Path to ourselves.

Children will enjoy spotting wild flowers and butterflies and looking out for a first glimpse of the beach.

Greenwood Forest Park

A real child-pleaser, you'll want to spend the day here where the emphasis is on the environment rather than thrills and spills.

Nevertheless, there's plenty of shrieks from the toboggan-like Great Green Run, and the Green Dragon Coaster really is the world's first environmentally-friendly (small) rollercoaster - powered by the weight of passengers in a funicular rather than the National Grid.

Y Felinheli, LL56 4QN. Tel: 01248 671493

www.greenwoodforestpark.co.uk

Admission: depending on season (low/mid/high) adult £6.85-£9.80, child £5.75-£8.95, OAPs £6.10-£9.20, families £22.50-£33.60. Under 3s free.

National Waterfront Museum, Swansea

You could spend hours in this inspirational state of the art museum, which explores how the industrialisation of Wales shaped the country and the people who live in it.

Time flies as children run from one interactive push button display to another, playing with the huge screens and then moving downstairs to old industrial equipment, mine trucks, engines, carriages and cars. A contemporary treasure house.

Oystermouth Road, Maritime Quarter, SA1 3RD. Tel: 01792 638950

www.waterfrontmuseum.co.uk

Admission: free.

Ceredigion Museum & Rheidol Railway

A must for families in Bohemian Aberystwyth is Ceredigion Museum, housed in a beautiful old Edwardian Coliseum music hall.

The wonderfully-atmospheric museum is a great place to play with puppets and has an engaging collection of reconstructed rooms.

Terrace Road, Aberystwyth, SW23 2AQ. T: 01970 633088
www.ceredigion.gov.uk
Admission: Free

Red Kite Feeding Station

You'll never have seen so many red kites in your lives travelling through mid Wales, and the reason is the growing numbers of Red Kite Feeding Stations.

As well as Grigin Farm there's another at Cors Caron, near Tregaron, one at Bwlch Nant yr Arian, near Ponterwyd and at Llanddeusant, in the Brecon Beacons.

Grigin Farm, South Street, Rhayader, LD6 5BL. Tel: 01597 810243

www.gigrin.co.uk

Admission: adult £4, Child (4-15) £1.50, OAPs £3, under-4s free.