Weston-super-Mare

Escape from the hustle and bustle and relax in peace, or pack each day with action - whichever you want, Weston-super-Mare is likely to have it. Famed for its miles of fine, sandy beach (pictured right) -raked clean every morning -its elegant stone-built Victorian hotels and wide sweeping promenade, Weston has been a magnet for holidaymakers for generations. Plenty of fun activities can be enjoyed by kiddies and grown-ups during the day. The famous Weston-super-Mare donkeys always draw in the crowds and take the weight off weary legs, and other four-offer stylish rides around the town on horse-drawn Landaus. Miniature railway lovers can take half-mile rides around the Beach Lawns from the southern end of the seafront. The Land Train runs the length of the Prom.

To see Weston from a different perspective, visitors can take a pleasure boat trip around the bay or go on excursions to Steepholm island from Knightstone Harbour. Those wanting to take to the sea, but feeling less adventurous, can paddle around the Marine Lake in a pedalo. Real, living creatures can be seen close up at the Sea Life Centre - 'home' to over 3,000 examples of marine life. An bottom-of-the-sea tunnel gives a stunning view of weird and wonderful fish and visitors can handle the residents of 'touch pools'. Yet more living creatures can be found in the rockpools beyond the Marine Lake - and fishing nets and buckets and spades, to aid closer investigation, can be bought at one of the many seafront stalls.

The seafront also boasts a host of eating places with full meals and snacks for the merely peckish - and there are ices galore to cool children down. Enjoy the floral displays of Weston's parks and gardens which offer some of the finest seascape views to be found anywhere. Weston's link with a gracious Victorian era can be seen in the architectural features and follies. Clarence Park, Grove Park, the Italian Gardens and Town Square, Weston Woods, the Prince Consort Gardens and the floral clock - which changes its face every year -are just some of the treats in store for garden-loving visitors to Weston-super-Mare.

If you want to know more about Weston's past, visit the Heritage Centre where models and pictures tell the story of how a tiny village blossomed into a thriving seaside resort - and how life was lived by both rich and poor residents. Brean Leisure Park, just a few miles away, boasts some of the most chilling, thrilling rides around.

Contributed by: Timothy Underwood