Family-friendly things to do at Coleton Fishacre

Planning your family visit

Here is the information you need at a glance to help plan your next day out to Coleton Fishacre:

• Free garden trails available to pick up in visitor reception
• Baby-changing facilities are available in access-friendly toilets
• Buggy friendly routes are available around the garden
• Hip-carrying infant seats available for loan in the house
• Children’s menu available from Café Coleton
• Pocket money gifts and children’s books available in the shop.

Coming up

Summer's on it way and with it, tons of fun. Whether it's exploring the garden and spotting wildlife, discovering how the team looks after the house or finding a new bedtime read in the second-hand bookshop, there's fun rain or shine.

Summer of Play

27 July - 1 September

Create, explore, move, wonder, make-believe - Summer of Play is coming back to Coleton Fishacre.

Explore sensory moments among the shaded paths, get creative with building or spend lazy summer days in the hammocks and on the swing with a view.

By the house, there's 1920's vintage games and a giant version of Peggity - ideal for all the family.

Go wild during the summer holidays with different nature activities, try them all, find your favourite, come back again and again.

Wild Wednesdays

Wild Wednesdays are back during August, so whether you try your hand at natural art, or get active with nets and ropes in the woodland area, there's fun for kids big and small.

Wild active play

7 and 21 August, 11am-1pm

Get ready for a wild active play day. Can you work as a team to balance along a slack line, or build a giant spiders web? This session will be a chance for you to explore your physicality. You will have the opportunity to help design and build a rope assault course, challenge your balance on our slack line and clamber on a net suspended in the trees. There's even a catapult or zipwire for your teddy.

Wild art

14 and 28 August, 11am-1pm

Make art with nature and have a go at the Japanese art of hapa zome, paint with mud and berries or maybe make tree faces.

Summer of Play activities are free (normal admission applies). Summer of Play is sponsored by Starling Bank.

Family-friendly things to do in the garden

The garden has lots of paths and hills to explore. Can you follow the winding path up to the summerhouse? Try to count the steps as you go and see if you're right when you reach the top.

Get closer to nature

From designing your own natural colour palette or spotting the signs of nature in the garden, the outdoor trails are free and a great way to keep minds occupied while exploring the garden. You can pick these up and a pencil from visitor reception on arrival.

Family friendly things to do in the house

Inside the house, the blossom and bloom design trail encourages you to notice elements on nature in the art deco interior. Look for floral shapes and patterns in the collection, or spot colours and materials in the furniture. Clipboards and pencils are available with the trail at the house entrance. Don’t forget, you can claim a sticker at visitor reception for completing any of the trails.

Looking for a quiet spot?

If you need to take five somewhere a little quieter, there's plenty of spots dotted around the garden. Wander along the path to the left of the house for the wildflower meadow, across the Rill Garden to the slopes opposite the house or down through the garden to the glades.

Afternoons are normally less busy than mornings, so if you prefer fewer people around, try and visit after 2pm.