'This family attraction doesn't look much from outside - but inside it's magical'

If there's one thing there can never be enough of it's places to take the kids and, when the weather is as temperamental as ours, it's never a bad idea to have an indoor venue up your sleeve.

It was actually a sunny day when we headed to The Flower Bowl in Preston, but having recently taken the accolade of Lancashire's Visitor Attraction of the Year, we were eager to see what it had in store.

The building itself isn't that appealing, but the colourful signs fastened to the fencing give a glimpse of the excitement inside.

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Step through the doors and it's a different story - you feel like you're entering some sort of magical fairyland, surrounded by trees twinkling with lights of every colour.

The attraction features the north of England’s only full-sized curling rink and that's where we headed for our first activity of the day.

Having only caught a glimpse of curlers in the Olympics, frenziedly sweeping the ice to help the stones go further, we were a tad anxious over what we'd let ourselves in for - especially when given headbands and non-slip shoes for protection on the ice.

Thankfully this was one of the Mini Curling sessions for beginners, which are held during the school holidays, and there's no sweeping involved, nor any of the complicated rules.

What there is, is a member of staff who does know what they're doing to talk you through it, explain the rules and then leave you to it. The curling stone that lands closest to the puck wins, it's that simple.

Anyone eight or over can play so it was the perfect activity for my group, with children ranging from 10 to 14. Although I can't say the 14-year-old was thrilled with the headband accessory.

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