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Learn, live, laugh: educational things to do in Devon

20th March 2014

Categories: Visitor News

There’s no reason why you can’t learn while you enjoy yourselves. Some of the most enjoyable family activities are hiding a healthy dollop of learning among the fun and exploration. Come to Devon these holidays and enjoy some of the best offerings from Devon’s museums, aquariums, libraries, historic houses and outdoor parks.

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More things to do around Devon: North Devon and Exmoor; South Devon; Torquay, Paignton and Brixham; Plymouth; Exeter and surrounds

Explore Exeter’s underground passages
Any Famous Five fan will love walking beneath the feet of the shoppers and under Exeter High Street through these medieval passages, unlike anything that can be explored by the public elsewhere in Britain. These vaulted passages have long fascinated local people, and inspired them to come up with stories of intrigue, war and mystery – but their original purpose was to bring clean drinking water in from natural springs in fields lying outside the city walls. Whatever their story, you can’t help feeling privy to the secrets of the city while you’re down there … and you’ll learn a lot about its history too.
More about Exeter’s underground passages
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Let Bygones enthrall you
Immerse yourselves in times past at Bygones and you’ll be learning through the mediums of sweets, games and shopping – fantastic. This popular (and all-weather) Torquay attraction includes a life-size Victorian street full of original artefacts, sweet shop and apothecary; a 28ft model railway; a recreation of a WW1 trench; and a shopping arcade from the 1940s and 1950s.
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Sleep with sharks
No, the mafia hasn’t come for you … Plymouth’s National Marine Aquarium is inviting you and your children to a sleepover on Saturday April 12. Arriving at dusk, you’ll first take a tour to see what the fish get up to at night, then there’ll be arts and crafts, games and a big screen movie in front of the huge Eddystone Reef tank – followed by a midnight snack and bed. Whilst it’s aimed at ages 5-15, parents do need to accompany their children, and of course they’ll learn something too: a greater understanding of the marine environment and how we all have a part in helping to keep it safe.
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Make your own Woodland Sculpture
Inspired by National Trust’s list of ‘5o things to do before you are 11 3/4’, if you visit beautiful Lydford Gorge on April 10 or 17 you’ll be able to take part in a family wild art workshop (suitable for children aged seven years and over). You’ll make your own wooden face sculpture made using wood and basic hand tools, with all materials supplied with full instruction and supervision by the National Trust ranger team. Make time to fully appreciate the stunning surrounds and perhaps go for as walk too.
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Look for Easter eggs – on the seashore
Wembury Marine Centre in South Devon is well-known for its excellent guided Rockpool Rambles (over Easter they’re on April 16, 18 and 19), but on Easter Monday it’s holding an Easter egg hunt with a difference. Take part in a guided strandline stroll looking for mermaids’ purses – the eggcases of sharks, skates and rays – and along the way you’ll beachcombe for cuttlefish bones, whelk eggs and shells.
More about Wembury beach
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Go on a RAMMble
Now, Exeter’s award-winning Royal Albert Memorial Museum is fab at the best of times – and then it gets better! On April 11 Razzamataz Theatre School will be offering interactive drama tours for children round the museum, and bringing collections, stories and lost secrets to life. RAMM is also holding craft workshops which allow children to make a creature then upload its picture to the Young RAMM online gallery (April 9 and 10), or make a Maori mask (April 16 and 17).
More about RAMM
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