NewsBreakingOnline

The school holidays are well under way, and if the kids are driving you mad, check out our latest events and activities for children, from enchanted princesses to electric guitars Far, far away, Manchester From 2 August, the normally hushed rooms of Manchester Art Gallery will be disrupted by the squeals of children as they discover a fantasy world of princesses and knights. Set over the two top floors of the gallery, the transformed space will include three tents where kids under 12 can create costumes and make films of their stories to project on to the gallery walls. Artists will also be on hand to organise art activities, and there will be sensory play areas for babies and toddlers. • manchestergalleries.org . Free, 2-28 August, Tuesdays to Sundays, 1-3pm Bike It, nationwide Britain has 13,000 miles of walking and cycling routes, among them plenty of short, traffic free ones suitable for children. UK charity Sustrans is promoting its best family-friendly routes as part of its Free Range Kids campaign, aimed at ensuring future generations of independent, active children. The routes include the Spen Valley Greenway, near Bradford, a 5½-mile route along the River Exe in Devon and a nine-mile ride into the heart of the New Forest with Holmsey tearooms providing a handy pitstop. Or get a breath of sea air on a five-mile ride from Frinton to Clacton in Essex, building up an appetite for fish and chips. • sustrans.org.uk Steam fair and vintage vehicle rally, Somerset Sometimes the old ones are the best. A nostalgic day out is on the cards at the West Somerset steam fair and vintage vehicle rally held at Norton Fitzwarren, near Taunton, on 6 and 7 August. Steam engines, fire engines, tractors, steam rollers and buses will be on display, giving kids the opportunity to ride them and witness the huffing and puffing of the engines, not to mention all the fun of a fair(ground). • west-somerset-railway.co.uk . 10am-5pm each day, adults £8, children £4, family ticket £20 Traquair Fair, Scotland Traquair Fair, held in the grounds of Traquair House on the Borders on 6 and 7 August, is one of Scotland’s longest-running fairs, offering theatre, outdoor spectacles, music, dance, storytelling. This year’s theme is fire, and so there will also be flame-eating, glass-blowing demonstrations, forging and pottery-making. Included in the ticket price is a tour of the house, which dates from 1107 and was a hunting lodge for the kings and queens of Scotland. Bed and breakfast accommodation is available in the house (doubles £180), or you can camp in the grounds. • traquair.co.uk/content/traquair-fair . Adults £19 booked online, children over five £13, family ticket £46 Record-breaking, Carmarthenshire The Campbell family, famous for breaking land and water speed records in the 20th century, celebrate the centenary of their Bluebird car this year, and are showing no signs of slowing down. On 13 and 14 August, Don Wales, grandson of Sir Malcolm Campbell, will attempt to break his own electric land speed record of 137mph, as he aims for 150mph on a four-mile stretch of Pendine Sands in Carmarthenshire, where his grandfather set the world land speed record for the first time in 1924. With high adrenaline and fast cars, this will be an exciting weekend, with speed trials for the 500mph land speed attempt taking place, too. • bluebirdspeedrecords.com . Free. Record attempts 3pm on Saturday and Sunday School of Rock, Brighton Kids might balk at the idea of going to school in the holidays – unless it’s the School of Rock. The Brighton Institute of Modern Music (Bimm), which runs rock’n’roll colleges in Brighton and Bristol, has teamed up with Total Guitar and Metal Hammer magazines to offer three courses in August. The Total Guitar summer school (1-4 August, limited availability) covers artists from Bloc Party to Eric Clapton, with tutors including Paul Weller. The Skindred-to-Black Sabbath Metal Hammer school is from 8-11 August.