A "must do" experience for 2008

Kids should hold their breath and start crossing off the days on their calendar, as the countdown begins to the unveiling of the most exciting feature in any tourist attraction in the region, if not the country.

The world’s first Virtual Dive Bell is how it has been christened by award-winning attraction, The Aquarium of the Lakes, but no name could possibly convey the sheer wonder of what will soon await visitors.

This is interactive technology taken to the ultimate level, with the aim of illuminating life in murky and seemingly fathomless lakes around the world and enabling it to smack the visitor in the face in gripping and incredibly realistic ways.

Coming face to face with a terrifying shark, trembling as a crocodile performs the death roll on its prey and biting the nails wondering whether a hippo is about to charge, is just part of the emotional roller-coaster. Luckily, being in control of the situation, if you know your Nile drocodiles, bull sharks and hippopotami, is the other.

Such an experience probably cannot be matched anywhere else in Britain. It is an absorbing and unique insight into the mysterious underwater world of lakes, as well as being highly educational and oh so cool and wicked, as the younger generation would say. Kids can play games and enjoy lots of fun while they also learn!

Once installed, the Virtual Dive Bell will be the talking point and centrepiece at the Aquarium – soon to be re-named the Lakes Aquarium, but the great news is that it will also be part of a sensational, not-to-be-missed voyage around the natural world.

Visitors are to be acclimatised for a journey through the freshwater world by sensational theming, smells, sounds and sights creating a global lakes experience. The departure point is a mountain top above Windermere, but the destinations cover lakes and freshwater environments in Asia, The Americas, the rainforest and Africa. The great news is visitors don’t need a passport.

Surreal, or all too real, are judgements only participants in this experience can make. To avoid being eaten by a shark, eyed up by a hungry croc, or head-butted by a hippo will definitely require nerves of steel, great creature knowledge and some lucky guesses from the multiple choice options available on screen. Whether the voyagers win or lose the many interactive games available, the experience will certainly press the right buttons!

This interactive feature will allow the Aquarium to lead the field when it comes to holiday or visitor experiences for the over eights, but younger children will also be enthralled by the new Lakes Aquarium. They can watch loveable otters playing in newly created paddy-fields, be mesmerised by colourful tropical fish swimming with all the guile their natural protection systems employ and laugh at the dramatic diving ducks in the fabulous underwater tunnel.

Is this the ultimate visitor experience for 2008? Only you can decide. Head to the southern shores of Windermere, near Newby Bridge, after March 20, to make up your own mind and discover depths you never knew existed.

For more information, visit Aquariumofthelakes.co.uk.