You don’t have to wait until you go on holiday somewhere warm to head to a waterpark with your family, because there are plenty here in the UK (and they’re designed with our weather in mind).
If your children love playing in the pool and want to take it up a notch with flumes, slides and whirlpools, plan a day out in a water wonderland.
Top tip: Before you go, check if the centre has height restrictions for certain slides, so your kids aren’t disappointed when they get there.
Calypso Cove Waterpark
Where? Barnsley, South Yorkshire.
Price: Adults from £6.60, children from £5.30, under-threes £2.
This island-themed waterpark will keep your kids entertained for hours and you will probably enjoy it just as much, too. There are flumes, slides and large waves to battle. Can you brave the Terror Torrent, the fastest indoor flume in the park? Or the Eruption, where you slide down inside a volcano? There’s also Coconut Creek for toddlers to make sure they don’t miss out on all the fun. Find out more here.
New Forest Water Park
Where? Hampshire.
Price: £15 per person for a one-hour session.
This one’s best saved for a sunny day, but with the title of the UK’s largest outdoor waterpark (we can’t imagine there’s that much competition), it’s well worth a trip, so long as your kids are aged six or over. The whole area measures at an impressive 4,000 square meters and has two trampolines, monkey bars, springboards and a climbing wall. Literally a playground on water. How far can you get round without falling in? Find out more here.
The Dome
Where? Doncaster.
Price: Adults £4, children £3 and under-fives free.
This water wonderland in Doncaster is inexpensive, yet full of fun. There are seven interlinked pools, full of fountains, jets, airbeds, geysers and not forgetting the flume rides, slides and the whirlpool spa. Find out more here.
The LC Swansea
Where? Glamorgan and Cardiff.
Price: Adults from £4.50, children aged four to 15 £4.50, under-fours £2 and under-ones free.
The best thing about this waterpark has got to be the surfboard simulator, where kids don a helmet and hop on the surfboard to see if they can stay on while the waves splash around them. Of course, there are all the usual waterpark attractions too, including a lazy river, wave machine and an aquatic maze with bridges and ball pits. Find out more here.
Wet N Wild
Where? Tyne and Wear, Newcastle.
Price: Spectator £3.95, over 1.2m £11.95, under 1.2m £6.95, under-threes free.
Boredom is not a possibility at this swimming complex as there are 10 flumes, which range from small and slow, to racy and fast. One of them – perhaps more for the adults – is called the Black Hole, where you’re dropped into a pitch black spiral of darkness on an inflatable. If that sounds too nail-biting for you, thankfully you can relax bobbing along the lazy river or take little ones to “discovery island”. Find out more.