Thirsk Birds of Prey Centre

Falconry UK has been flying birds at Sion Hill Hall for more than thirty years, and the collection has grown to around a hundred birds across more than fifty species. Eagles, falcons, hawks, kites, vultures and owls all appear, which makes it one of the largest flying collections in the North of England. Regular viewers of The Yorkshire Vet will already know it.

What lifts it above a walk round some aviaries is the flying. Two free-flight displays a day, three at the height of summer, in a period walled garden with the hall behind, and birds passing close enough overhead that children duck. The falconers narrate with the easy patter of people who have answered every question a child can invent, and they are worth listening to even if you came for the birds alone.

From Tea Time Cafe at 87 Market Place, head north-west out of Thirsk towards Kirby Wiske and follow the signs for Sion Hill Hall. It is about six miles and fifteen minutes, on quiet country roads for the last stretch, with parking on site by the entrance. Put YO7 4ET into a satnav rather than the postal postcode, which the centre asks for specifically.

This one needs a car. There is no useful bus from Thirsk and the lanes are not a walking route, so build it into a driving day rather than a car-free one. The centre sits in the hall's walled garden, and the entrance is signed once you are on the estate. Give yourself fifteen to twenty minutes in hand before a display, because seating fills up and the birds do not wait.

Time the whole visit around the displays. Arrive for the 11.30am flight, then walk the aviaries at your own pace over lunch, and stay for the 1.30pm. From June to mid-September there is a third at 3.30pm, which is the training display for young and new birds. Each one features different birds, so two in a day is not a repeat.

Handling usually follows the displays, and the Meet the Minnies session is the hands-on option for anyone who wants a bird on the glove. Children can work through the scavenger hunts between flights, and the parkland just outside the centre has peacocks wandering it, worth a look over the fence on the way back to the car. There is a snack bar on site with no hot food, picnics are welcome in the grounds, and from July to mid-September the 1.30pm African Adventure is the main event, with twenty to twenty-five African birds flying at once.

The scale of the collection, which is the thing most people underestimate before they arrive. The setting helps too, since a walled garden puts you closer to the flying line than an open field would and gives some shelter when the wind gets up. Sessions run at a sensible pace, the falconers know their material, and the format suits mixed-age groups: small children get the spectacle, adults get the detail, and nobody has to walk far between the two.

Build the day around 11.30am and 1.30pm, with a picnic in between, and you will be back in Thirsk for afternoon tea. Check the forecast first, because high wind cuts the displays short and very hot days do the same. Layers are wise, since standing still in a garden for forty minutes is colder than it sounds. Bring a camera with a fast shutter rather than a phone if the flying is the reason you came. The season ends in October and does not restart until April, so do not plan a winter visit, and check the day of the week: it closes every Wednesday in April, May and October.