Over in Bristol, Britain’s biggest aquarium awaits, with over 40 naturally-themed displays of tropical sharks, rays, seahorses, puffer fish and piranhas. Exit through the gift shop. Try Freedog Swindon for trampolining, Clip n’ Climb and more. Or get competitive over laser tag at Laserquest Swindon.
Geeks in the family? How about The Museum of Computing, with everything from vintage handheld video games and antique typewriters through to Robots Revolution exhibits. See buffalo roaming freely at the Bush Farm Bison Centre. Or meet pigs, rabbits, goats, donkeys and ducks at Cholderton Charlie’s Rare Breeds Farm.
Get the kids out in the fresh air on the Academy footgolf course at Basset Down. Get down to STEAM museum to hear the incredible story of the Great Western Railway, build a bridge, shunt wagons, put a locomotive together and ride the train-driving simulator. Or take to the trees on the high ropes at Jungle Parc Swindon.
Scoot, skateboard or use inline skates at the ATBShop Skate Warehouse. Follow the Royal Wootton Basset Mystery Trail. Drift along the Kennet and Avon Canal in a horse-drawn barge with the Kennet Horse Boat Company. Or get creative at Eastcott Studios making and decorating your own mug, vase, bowl, picture frame, door plaque or clock.
Get out and about to see some of the world’s most exciting and iconic monuments inside the Avebury World Heritage Site. In the heart of neolithic Britain, you can visit the ancient burial ground at West Kennet Long Barrow and the mysterious Silbury Hill, right by the farm gates and made by man 3000 years ago for who-knows-what purpose.
Keep the Neolithic theme going at Avebury Stone Circle, dating back 5000 years and seemingly having the power to disable electronic gadgets. Or visit Stonehenge, the best-known prehistoric monument in the world, and see if you can figure out how they got the horizontal stone lintels in place.
Head to Lacock Abbey to wander the woodland grounds and enjoy a quirky country medieval house with a monastic past. Enjoy clay shooting, archery, air rifles and simulated game days at Barbury Shooting School. Or pack your woods and irons for testing golf courses at Marlborough, Bowood and North Wiltshire.
Pick from aerial adventure, angling, archery, rally driving, shooting, sailing, stand-up paddleboarding and more at Cotswold Water Park. Or enjoy a day in beautiful Bath to bathe in mineral-rich rooftop spa water, visit the Roman Baths with their interactive exhibits and CGI reconstructions, or climb the Abbey Tower.
Hens love space, but they also love privacy. Avebury Barns provides both in spades, with big communal areas, such as The Granary and The Barn, and individual barns so that big groups of up to 30 can split off into besties and do their own thing. Get together in The Barn for dining or yoga in an airy, atmospheric space.
Prefer to eat outdoors? There’s a softly lit pergola out on the terrace with space for 24. Eat fresh meat from the on-site farm shop cooked on the coal barbecue, then stay out under the stars to make late-night wedding plans around the two firepits.
There’s fun here, too. Don’t forget your rackets for a knockabout on the all-weather tennis court and stock up on Prosecco and popcorn for a movie night around The Barn’s 65” TV. Heading out? Choccy-box Avebury’s officially one of Britain’s loveliest villages and home to The Red Lion, a lovely thatched pub with beer garden and ghosts.
For a livelier time, head into Swindon for cocktails at Rudi’s Bar or Longs Bar, or book a taxi to Bath for classy cocktail bars to gin distilleries and sophisticated wine bars. Consider Moles, Zero Zero or Komedia for Motown. Or book some ‘me-time’ on a spa day at Whatley Manor, or even on-site.
