Thorpe Park
Located just 20 miles outside London, Thorpe Park in Surrey is the south-east’s premiere theme park. Open each year between February and November, you can find full opening times and all sorts of special offers available at www.thorpepark.com. For those of you who last visited in childhood, the classic Flying Fish is still there, but fortunately no longer the main rollercoaster. Nowadays, you can strap yourself into a choice of three fantastic thrill-seeking rides – Stealth, Colossus and Nemesis Inferno (similar to the more famous Nemesis at its sister park, Alton Towers).

Chessington World of Adventures
Also close to the capital, Chessington World of Adventures is more about fun than big-money rides. Having said that, there are still some thrills to be found here, from the Vampire and Dragon’s Fury rollercoasters to the Dragon Falls (lots of dragon-themed names here!) water ride. There’s also the magical Bubbleworks, which never fails to delight, no matter how old you are. What really marks Chessington out though is the accompanying zoo. So, having dealt with all the dragons, you can take a leisurely stroll around the lions and tigers. The season runs from March to December and all the details you need can be found at www.chessington.co.uk.

Alton Towers
You have to travel a long way to get to Alton Towers but my goodness is it worth it! Like Thorpe Park, Alton Towers (www.altontowers.com) is open between February and November. Spread liberally across a huge swathe of countryside, Alton Towers is the UK’s preeminent theme park. Huge, looping roller coasters. Intense speed. Spins, whirls and twists. Alton Towers has it all on a scale unlike anything else in the UK. Transport can be a little tricky – car is really the best way to get here – but if you can sort that out, it’s worth every last bit of effort!

Legoland
There are a few rides and shows on offer at Legoland Windsor, but the real reason for making the trip is to marvel at the incredible Lego-brick replicas of all sorts of well known scenes and environments. The attention to detail really is fascinating and even if this doesn’t have the intense thrills of traditional theme parks, it conjures up the “wow factor” to just the same extent. Make sure the weather’s nice when you go – you’ll want to spend so long looking at the sprawling set pieces that a sunny day is a must. Up-to-date ticket prices and opening times are available online at www.legoland.co.uk.

Woburn Safari Park
OK, so it’s not the Serengeti, but once you’re inside, that hardly seems to matter. It’s not often in the UK that you get to see lions and tigers with enough room to stretch their legs in, and the people at Woburn have created a fantastic environment that caters to the animals’ needs whilst still providing a first-class route round for visitors. As well as the big cats, there are bears, wolves, monkeys, rhinos, elephants, giraffes – the lot really. And after the safari bit, there’s a series of enclosures you can walk round with everything from penguins to wallabies in. See if you can find the red river hog – we challenge you not to be smitten by this cheeky critter! Bear in mind that you’ll need a car here (it’s a safari after all, you drive through the animals’ territories) – and other info can be found at www.woburnsafari.co.uk. One final thing, should you have a couple of hours to spare from your day, Woburn Abbey is beautiful and certainly worth a detour.

Royal Ascot
The famous Ascot Racecourse is home to more than just the Royal meeting every summer – there are around 25 race days at the famous venue each year. Whether you’re into horses, bookies, or just hanging with the landed gentry, there’s something to be found here for everyone. However, for the real glamour and glitz, Royal Ascot with the famous Gold Cup really is the race meet to head for. The week of races attracts somewhere around 300,000 spectators and although the dress code outside of the Royal box is relatively lax, many still dive into formal outfits with aplomb. Gents, you may well be more interested in the champagne and seeing if you’re solitary place bet has come home – ladies, don’t be put off by them, this is a chance to don that summer ball gown once again for a sunny day at the races.

The Fat Duck
So the Fat Duck is a restaurant, rather than an attraction per se, but bear with us on two counts here. Firstly, it’s not based in London, so we couldn’t include it in our section on the capital’s restaurants (p. XX). Secondly, as you’re probably aware it serves up such a weird and wonderful mix of foods (and has a food laboratory on the premises) that in some respects, it is just as much an attraction as the next candidate for our illustrious Top Five. Now that you’re convinced, hope in the car and head down to the otherwise pretty-but-quiet Bray for your dosage of snail porridge and bacon and egg ice cream. The tasting menu at £125 per person might sound expensive, but the Fat Duck really is an event, rather than just a meal and if you want something a bit more grown up than the latest rollercoaster, it’s worth every penny.

Duxford Air Museum
There is an Imperial War Museum in Southwark, but unlike this incarnation of the famous attraction, it doesn’t have an airfield attached to it. Duxford Air Museum, which is part of this giant IWM/airfield complex, is home to a huge collection of planes, tanks and even naval machinery. Used as an operational airfield in both World Wars, Duxford is now Europe’s premiere museum of its type. Pristine reconditioned airplanes are sure to get all the boys interested. And if that wasn’t enough, a series of air shows run throughout the year in which you can see these old beauties looping and soaring through the air. Full dates of these shows, as well as everything else you can expect to see, are online at http://duxford.iwm.org.uk.