Get your competitive spirit going with close yacht racing – combining the freedom of the open water with the thrill of racing and the satisfaction of hands-on involvement. You’ll be on board a modern Sigma 8 metre keelboat, a performance boat. First you’ll meet your instructor and the crew, before heading to the yachts for a safety briefing. Training includes hoisting sails, helming, practising the most efficient methods of manoeuvring the yacht and learning how to keelhaul landlubbers (or maybe not). Then you’ll be briefed on the rules of the race, which takes place on a floating ‘race track’. And it’s all hands on deck – you’ll participate fully in crewing the yacht during the race, putting into action everything that you’ve learned and pitting you against the competition and the elements. Afterwards you’ll retire to the clubhouse for results, and you’re welcome to go for a well earned drink with the instructor and crew in one of the local bars afterwards.

Lots of people assume that the most exciting thing you’re likely to see in the coastal waters round Britain is a mackerel. In fact there is a staggering variety of marine and bird life living happily round our shores – and with this experience you’ll get the chance to see it for yourselves. You’ll be welcomed at the marina, before going aboard your boat and heading out. You might see bottlenose, common or striped dolphins, porpoises, basking sharks, minke whales, fin whales, humpback whales (yes, whales and sharks around Britain!), atlantic grey seals and visiting seasonal sea birds including skuas, sabine’s gulls and the fabulously-named sooty shearwaters. Of course these are all wild animals so we can’t guarantee which ones may make an appearance on the day, but we can guarantee a fascinating and eye-opening experience.

Wind tunnels have been used for years to test the aerodynamics of cars. Then some bright spark came up with the idea of flipping one upright and jumping into the airflow – and body flying was born. The wind tunnel is a 120mph wall of air, easily strong enough to support your weight, so that you can experience freefall without the need to jump out of a plane. You’ll start off with a safety briefing from your instructor before being kitted out with your specialist flight suit. Then step into the wind tunnel with your instructor, where you’ll be lifted into the air for two incredible 60 second sessions of body flying. As a comparison, during a skydive from 10,000 feet, you would experience around 30 seconds of freefall. If you’re lucky, your instructor will jump on the flow and show you some astonishing freefall acrobatics. Your flying session will end with a debrief, and you’ll also get a DVD of your flight to take home.

You're into speed, you're into extreme, and you don't mind getting really wet? Head out onto the water in a zapcat! They're lightweight inflatable catamaran hulls with racing engines attached, which makes them amazingly stable and secure, even at high speeds, round tight corners and in conditions from ranging from complete calm to large breaking surf (in fact, they were developed originally from life-saving surf rescue craft). Your experience will begin with a briefing on safety and handling, before you head out onto the water with your instructor. He or she will show you exactly what this fantastic craft can do – so prepare for the ride of your life as you speed along, pull tight manoeuvres and hit big air jumps. Depending on the weather and at the instructor's discretion, you might also get the chance to take the helm and try your hand at powering the zapcat across open water. There's a RIB powerboat on standby acting as a support boat, and you'll get a thrilling ride on this too.

Enjoy life on the ocean wave with an introduction to three fun-packed watersports activities in this family experience. First up it's dinghy sailing and the chance to helm your own boat. With expert instruction you will be off in a matter of minutes and whether you plan to glide across the water or crash through ocean swells, you'll have great fun in these little boats. If you managed not to capsize in those, then move on to getting wet! After a quick lesson on the dry land simulator, go out on the windsurfers, combining style with speed as you race across the water (or combining chaos with flailing limbs as you fall in ungracefully!). After lunch move onto the kayaks. These are great fun, anyone can do it… and if it's that easy to get going, then it's the perfect vehicle to challenge your family to a race!

Get your competitive spirit going with close yacht racing – combining the freedom of the open water with the thrill of racing and the satisfaction of hands-on involvement. You'll be on board a modern Sigma 8 metre high-performance manoeuverable keelboat. First you'll meet your instructor and the crew, before heading to the yachts for a safety briefing. Training includes hoisting sails, helming, practising the most efficient methods of manoeuvring the yacht and learning how to keelhaul landlubbers (or maybe not). Then you'll be briefed on the rules of the race, which takes place on a floating 'race track'. And it's all hands on deck – you'll participate fully in crewing the yacht during the race, putting into action everything that you've learned and pitting you against the competition and the elements. Afterwards you'll retire to the clubhouse for results, and you're welcome to go for a well earned drink with the instructor and crew in one of the local bars afterwards.

Learn the basic principles of carriage driving and finish the day with a speedy obstacle course. After a safety briefing you'll meet Charlie, Dini and the other resident characters at the stables. You'll learn the basic techniques of carriage driving and, using your new skills, negotiate a purpose-built obstacle course. After a short refreshment break, the experienced demo team will show you how much fun carriage driving can be. Have a go yourselves and get on the backstep of a carriage pulled by two of the famous Chariots ponies. Hold on tight as you race around corners and obstacles at speed! Your session ends with coffee, cakes and a rosette each to take home.

Learn the basic principles of carriage driving and finish the day with a speedy obstacle course. After a safety briefing you'll meet Charlie, Dini and the other resident characters at the stables. You'll learn the basic techniques of carriage driving and, using your new skills, negotiate a purpose-built obstacle course. After a short refreshment break, the experienced demo team will show you how much fun carriage driving can be. Have a go yourself and get on the backstep of a carriage pulled by two of the famous Chariots ponies. Hold on tight as you race around corners and obstacles at speed! Your session ends with coffee, cakes and a rosette to take home.

Lots of people assume that the most exciting thing you're likely to see in the coastal waters round Britain is a mackerel. In fact there is a staggering variety of marine and bird life living happily round our shores – and with this experience you'll get the chance to see it for yourselves. You'll be welcomed at the marina, before going aboard your boat and heading out. You might see bottlenose, common or striped dolphins, porpoises, basking sharks, minke whales, fin whales, humpback whales (yes, whales and sharks around Britain!), atlantic grey seals and visiting seasonal sea birds including skuas, sabine's gulls and the fabulously-named sooty shearwaters. Of course these are all wild animals so we can't guarantee which ones may make an appearance on the day, but we can guarantee a fascinating and eye-opening experience.

Let's face it, there are only so many times that the kids are going to get excited when parents say ''Let's go to the cinema!'' or ''Let's go to the museum!''. It's time to try something completely different – a trip to Cheshire's premier falconry venue, to meet some magnificent birds of prey up close. Everyone gets the opportunity to handle four different birds of prey, from an eagle owl to a vulture and find out what makes a hawk a hawk, a falcon a falcon and an owl an owl. Once comfortable with the birds, you'll have the chance to fly some of them – there's nothing quite like the feeling you get when a top predator swoops in to land on your glove. You'll also go for a hawk walk, where you'll learn some more about the basics of falconry. There'll be lots of photo opportunities with the birds and you can also catch some of the flying displays that take place at the venue throughout the day. Tea and biscuits are included.