Family days out · all within easy reach
Things to Do
with Kids
Water slides, farms, alpacas and a safari park, with a luxury family house to come home to. Southport does children brilliantly.
Family days out · all within easy reach
Water slides, farms, alpacas and a safari park, with a luxury family house to come home to. Southport does children brilliantly.
The family base
Warren House sleeps up to fourteen, with a secure garden, games room and hot tub, and half of Lancashire's best kids' days out within thirty minutes. The seafront's slides, lanes and ramps are ten minutes north; a string of wonderful farms sits just inland; and when you want the full expedition, Knowsley Safari is under an hour. Do a big morning out, then let the house do the afternoon.
The lie of the land
Driving times from the house door. Nothing on this page needs more than three quarters of an hour, and most of it is much closer.
Ten minutes up the road
Southport's seafront stacks three kid-pleasers within a few hundred metres of each other, so one short drive covers a whole day's energy.
Southport's indoor water park, rebuilt and reopened in 2023: seven water slides, a wave pool and a lazy river, warm whatever the weather is doing outside.
Book sessions ahead in school holidays; it is deservedly popular.
Bowling with bumpers for the little ones, laser tag, pool tables and arcades, all inside Ocean Plaza with restaurants on the doorstep for the post-match debrief.
The reliable rainy-day fixture, ten minutes from the house.
A free seafront skatepark with a mini ramp, quarter pipes, flat banks, a spine and a jump box. Bring scooters, boards or BMX and let them loose.
The beach and pier are right there for everyone else.
Back at base
The trick of a great family break is a base that is as good as the days out. Warren House's secure garden, games room and hot tub soak up whatever energy the day has not.
Fifteen to thirty minutes inland
West Lancashire's flat green miles are full of farms that have turned themselves into brilliant days out. Five of the best, all within half an hour of the house.
The closest of the farm parks, at Downholland: a guinea pig village, llamas, tractor rides and big play barns for when the weather turns.
Best for toddlers to about ten.
A working farm at Burscough with animals to feed, a giant heated indoor play barn, outdoor adventure play, and its own miniature steam railway running at weekends and in the school holidays.
The train alone is worth the trip.
Hour-long family alpaca treks on a private track through open countryside near Burscough, with gentle, hand-picked animals and guides who know their herd inside out.
Book ahead; treks are small and personal.
Pick-your-own sunflowers and wildflowers in summer, pumpkins come autumn, with a tractor ride around the fields, free bouncy castles and a snack hut. Entry is a few pounds.
The photos from this one end up framed.
A charity-run farm at Newburgh with over a hundred animals, from meerkats and a wallaby to birds of prey, plus a play area, café and garden centre. Family entry costs pocket money.
Small, friendly and full of heart.
Rainy day? No problem
A PS5 on the big screen, a red mini pool table sized for small challengers, and a movie set-up for the evening. Warren House holds a wet afternoon as happily as a dry one.
The big expedition
When the crew wants the full adventure, Knowsley Safari at Prescot delivers: a five-mile drive through lions, rhino, camels and the famously cheeky baboon enclosure (take the car-friendly route if you value your wing mirrors), then a foot safari with sea lion displays, a bat forest and an amusement area. It is comfortably a whole day, and you are back at the house in time for the hot tub.
"I booked Warren House for a family stay for my 50th. The age range was 13 to 72 and the house was perfect for everyone. The house is stunning, inside and out, and every little detail had been considered."
Dawn, May 2026Everyone back for tea
Days out end the same way: everyone piling back into the big open kitchen, tales of alpacas and baboons competing across the island, dinner for the full fourteen without anyone bumping elbows.
Quick answers
The Southport seafront cluster: Splash World, Tenpin at Ocean Plaza and the free skatepark are all about ten minutes' drive, with the beach and Pleasureland alongside.
Farmer Ted's is the closest and squarely aimed at younger children. Windmill Animal Farm adds a miniature steam railway and a huge indoor play barn, so it wins on a mixed-age or drizzly day.
Splash World sessions and Natterjack Alpacas treks should be booked in advance, especially in school holidays. The farms and skatepark are mostly turn-up-and-play; Knowsley Safari is cheaper booked online.
Up to fourteen across six bedrooms, so cousins and grandparents come too. There is a secure garden, a games room, big-screen movie nights and a hot tub waiting after every day out.
Ainsdale's enormous sandy beach is minutes from the door, and Formby's National Trust pinewoods with their red squirrels are a short drive south.
Keep exploring
The days out are only half of it. Have a look at what the house itself gives the family.
PS5, mini pool & wet-afternoon insurance
Big-screen films to end big days
Soak, relax & play in the gardens
The four-legged family member comes too
A secure garden, all yours for the week
Family dinners around a table for twelve
School holidays go quickly
One booking, six bedrooms, and every day out on this page within easy reach. The kids will be asleep before you are off the coast road.