Flamingo Land Resort

Flamingo Land covers 375 acres and does two jobs at once. It is a theme park with a serious coaster line-up, and it is a zoo that the resort describes as one of the most visited in the country, holding 140 species of reptiles, mammals and birds including tigers and giraffes. One ticket covers both. That combination is the reason it works for a family with a teenager who wants to be thrown upside down and a five year old who wants to see a giraffe, which is a problem most days out cannot solve. The headline ride is Sik, an Intamin coaster with ten inversions that opened on 2 July 2022, and it is joined by Mumbo Jumbo, Velocity, Kumali and Hero.

From Tea Time Cafe at 87 Market Place, take the A170 east out of Thirsk and up Sutton Bank, carry on through Helmsley and Kirkbymoorside, then pick up the A169 south towards Kirby Misperton. Allow about 40 minutes. The postcode is YO17 6UX and parking is free with standard admission.

There is no sensible car-free route from Thirsk. The theoretical version is a train to York, then the Coastliner 840 towards Malton and Pickering, then an onward local link to the park, which eats most of the day at both ends. The Moorsbus M5 that runs summer weekends and bank holidays from Thirsk heads for Helmsley and the Moors, not this way. If you have not got a car, put Flamingo Land aside and take the train to York instead.

Ride first while the queues are short, because the rides start at 10am and the first hour is usually the quietest. Sik is the one people come for, ten inversions and a reputation to match, with Mumbo Jumbo, Velocity, Kumali and Hero behind it.

Then switch to the zoo half. The Lost Kingdom Dinosaur Safari is the crowd-pleaser, and the animal collection runs to 140 species. Younger children have the Muddy Duck Farm and the Peter Rabbit Adventure playground, which are worth saving for the afternoon when the older ones are still queueing. Live shows and keeper talks run through the day, so pick up the timings when you come through the gate and build the day around two or three of them.

Two attractions on one ticket is the whole proposition, and it is what makes the price defensible for a family. Sik gives the park a headline coaster that stands comparison with anything in the north. The zoo does real work here too, with 140 species including tigers and giraffes. Free parking on a site this size saves a family a useful amount before they have walked through the gate. And the range of what is here means you can hand a day to children of very different ages without splitting the group up all afternoon.

Book more than a week ahead. Adults and children aged 4 and over pay the same, and on a main-season date the price climbs from 46 to 58 a head as the day gets closer, so booking early saves 12 a head, and a quieter date can save more. Arrive for the 10am opening so you are through and moving when the first coaster starts. Check bank holiday hours, which have run shorter at roughly 11am to 5pm. Leave the dog at home. Allow the full day, or four hours as an absolute minimum, and remember it is a fair drive back over Sutton Bank in the evening, so break the journey in Helmsley if the children are flagging.