■ Mountain boarding Take to the hills and discover the exhilaration of the UK’s fastest growing board sport – mountain boarding.

Head for Court Farm in Tillington, the first official Maxtrak centre in the county and a great place for mountain boarders, whether experienced or complete beginners.

Safety kit, boards and tuition for beginners are provided and it doesn’t take long for novices to start hurtling down the gentle nursery slope, while a big hill offers advanced riders two challenging 500-metre downhill runs.

At Out to Grass in Cradley, you’ll also be provided with board, safety kit and instruction before you head off in pursuit of downhill speed.

Call Court Farm Mountain Board Centre on 01432 760271 or visit courtfarmleisure.co.uk. Call Out to Grass on 01886 88099 or visit outtograss.com

■ Go Ape

Forest of Dean and Wyre Forest. Walk tall as you negotiate the treetop walkways of Go Ape, meeting the challenge of highwires, zipwires and cargo nets in a workout for mind and body. For details, visit goape.co.uk

■ Bowling

At TGS Bowling, 17 lanes are fitted with ‘Xtreme Lighting’, the latest graphics and children’s bumpers.

Lighter balls and bowling ramps mean that everyone can join in, and a special family pack, including an hour of bowling and a round of Adventure Golf, is available at a saving of almost £20.

Grove Golf and Bowl offers eight state-of-the-art bowling lanes using the latest computer technology, giving accurate scoring and bowling speeds, with fully automated bumpers for the less experienced to ensure that you hit a pin every time.

TGS Bowling: 01432 352500, tgs bowling.co.uk Grove Golf and Bowl: 01568 611777, grovegolfandbowl.co.uk

■ South Wales Shire Horse Show

The biggest and best Shire horse experience in Wales, with fairground, bouncy castle and crafts.

Saturday, July 25, Bailey Park, Abergavennny, 10am to 5pm.

■ Swimming

Under-16s swim free at Hereford, Leominster, Ledbury and Ross-on- Wye swimming pools. Inflatables sessions run throughout the holidays.

Details: haloleisure.co.uk

■ Hampton Court

Beautifully restored gardens, a maze and waterfall and plenty of space to run about in, Hampton Court has something for adults and children alike every day.

August 26 at 5pm – Merlin the Magician comes to Hampton Court.

Alive with music, dance, comedy and drama, we follow Merlin on his quest to guide King Arthur in his search for the Holy Grail.

Details: 01568 797777 or hampton court.org.uk

■ Horse-riding

Get in the saddle and see the world from a different perspective.

Bryngwyn Riding Centre: Old Rectory, Bryngwyn, Kington Details: 01497 851661 Sue Adams Riding School Hamnish, Leominster, Details: 01568 760267.

■ Malvern Theatres

August 8, 11am and 2pm: The Three Little Pigs, Susannah the Fanciful Sow and The Old Woman and her Pig are all brought to life with the amazing ingenuity and formidable storytelling skills of Rod Burnett and Storybox Theatre. This porcine show will send magic tingling up the spines of piglets, sows and old boars of all ages! Ages three-11.

Details: 01684 892277 or visit malvern-theatres.co.uk

■ Ludlow Assembly Rooms

Thursday, July 23, 2pm and 3.15pm, Messy Play sessions, three-seven years. Have fun finger painting and making things to take home.

Saturday, July 25, Marches Youth Festival, noon to late. A whole day packed with dynamic acts and entertainment – bands, dance and walkabout acts, buzz bus, cheerleaders, face painting – all free, at Wheeler Road Skate Park, Ludlow.

Register for skateboard competitions by 1.30pm. Battle of Trafalgar with cardboard galleons and waterbomb fun – with £50 prize for best galleon.

Friday, July 31, 10am-4pm. Create a video /animation to upload to YouTube. Work with Emma Puente to make a short video/animation, ideal for your personal profile or if you are part of a creative group that needs to make an impression. For age 12+.

Wednesday, August 12, 10am- 5.30pm (hour-long slots): Computer games on the big screen and medium screen. How often do you get to see huge computer characters zoom about on a huge cinema screen?

Bring your own computer games and book your slot quickly before they sell out. For ages eight+.

Tuesday, August 18, 9.30am: Musical Theatre Summer School, eight-11yrs and 12+. A four-day summer school (Tuesday to Friday, 9.30am-5pm) to create a show full of hits from the musicals, professionally lit in the auditorium, with experienced choreographer, dancer and voice coach. Performance on Friday at 6.30pm.

Tuesday, August 25, sessions at 10am, 11am and noon: Sled Kite Making. Make a kite to take home with kite expert Karl Longbottom.

For five-seven years.

Tuesday, August 25, 1.30pm to 3.30pm: Indian Fighting Kite Making. Make a kite to take home with kite expert Karl Longbottom.

eight+ years.

Tuesday, August 25, 3.30pm to 5.30pm: Japanese Edo Kite Making.

Make a kite to take home with kite expert Karl Longbottom. Eight+ years.

Thursday, August 27, Summer Dance Workshop: Ages three-six yrs at 2.45pm-3.30pm and ages seven- 11 yrs at 3.45pm- 4.30pm.

■ Courtyard Summer Workshops

Head off boredom by heading to The Courtyard Centre for the Arts, which has planned a range of activities, from The Courtyard Summer School to day-long workshops, to keep you entertained this summer.

August 17 to 21, 10am-3pm: Favourite Characters Come to Life: Make a play with all your favourite storybook characters, get to dress up, mess around and have lots of fun. Suitable for ages six to 12, £40 for all five days.

August 24-25, 10am-3pm: Space Explorers: Build your own galaxy and make your own rockets – no previous space-travel experience necessary. Ages six to 13, £20 for two days.

August 26, 10am to 4pm: Noise Choir: Do you get told off for being too noisy? Well, not at Noise Choir you won’t. Tell a story using voices, sounds, squeaks, pops and bangs – all you need to bring is your voice.

Ages seven to 14, £10.

August 27-28, 10am to 3pm: Create Your Own Superhero: Join this two-day workshop, practise your secret powers and then join in a super-hero battle of frightening proportions! Ages six to 12, £20 for two days.

To book call 01432 340555. Book all three workshops (Space Explorers!

Noise Choir and Create Your Own Super Hero) for £40, a saving of £10.

■ Ludlow Museum

See some of the oldest-known fossil plants and land animals in the world at Ludlow Museum and discover how a Victorian geologist made Ludlow’s rocks famous around the world. The museum also tells the story of the people who have lived and worked in Ludlow, from the Bronze Age farmers through to the present day.

Details: 01694 781306.

■ Go-karting at Herefordshire Raceway

Keeping children of different ages amused can be a challenge in the school holidays, but for the overeights, go-karting offers a brilliant solution. Boys and girls alike love speeding around the track, trying to beat each other and themselves, with every driver given a print-out of their lap times at the end.

Details: 01544 318334 or visit herefordshireraceway.org.uk

■ Indoor play for pre-schoolers

Indoor play centres are the perfect place for little ones to let off plenty of steam. Head for Play Planet in Widemarsh Street. Details: playplanet hereford.co.uk

■ Nature Trails

Download a family trail sheet from herefordshirewt.org and explore the special nature places and reserves set up by Herefordshire Nature Trust around the county. All you need is the trail sheet, a pencil, and yourselves.

There’s a Ross-on-Wye town-toriver nature trail, a trail on the Lugg Meadows and another in Crow Wood nature reserve on the edge of the Black Mountains. And at Queenswood throughout the summer, Bertie Buzzard and friends challenge you to explore the Queenswood Country Park Trail.

Details: 01432 356872 or visit herefordshirewt.org

■ Broomy Hill Miniature Railway

The Hereford Society of Model Engineers run ‘steaming’ days regularly through the summer holidays, allowing visits to see the steam locomotives and take a short ride.

Details: 01432 270143.

■ Shortwood Family Farm near Bromyard

Take a two-hour animal feeding tour, see the old-fashioned farmyard and even milk a cow at this working organic dairy farm.

Details: 01885 400205 or visit shortwoodfarm.co.uk

■ The Small Breeds Farm Park and Owl Centre, Kington

All the British owls can be seen at this unique farm park, as well as a wide selection of other animals.

Details: 01544 231109 or visit owlcentre.com

■ Weston’s Cider Visitor Centre

and Rare Breeds Farm Park Take a guided tour and then visit the farm park, which also has a tractor pad with children’s John Deere pedal tractors and a children’s play farm house.

Details: 01531 660223 or visit westons- cider.co.uk

■ The Big Chill

Herefordshire’s favourite familyfriendly festival opens on Thursday, August 6, with a wealth of workshops and activities for children, including the Victorian fun-fair and kids zone.

■ The Globe at Hay

The Art and Ideas Summer School at The Globe consists of three weeklong crash courses in philosophy, art and film-making for eight-12 year-olds, combining big ideas with a hands-on approach.

First up is Camp Anarchy, an inspirational week of hands-on, active and ideas-based sessions for eight- 12-year-olds. Society as we know it has disappeared and with it all the ideas and preconceptions that we rarely question. Beginning with how to rule the world, and ending by questioning the very foundations of knowledge, Camp Anarchy will examine society, justice, ethics, religion, aesthetics, metaphysics and more, and aims to send each participant home with a head full of awkward questions about the world and a passion for constructive troublemaking.

Camp Anarchy: August 3-7, 10am to 4pm Art School: August 10-14, 10am to 3pm Film School: 17-21, 10am to 4pm Details : 01497 821762 or globeathay.co.uk