Rock up to the Lakes Aquarium

Take a nostalgic trip down memory lane this summer by visiting leading Lake District attraction Lakes Aquarium, at Lakeside near Newby Bridge, where you can now rock up for rockpool discovery sessions every day during the summer holidays.

These discovery sessions, which focus on a range of creatures, including shore and spider crabs, barnacles, turbot, limpet, starfish, periwinkle, pipefish and beadlet and dahlia anemone, take place at 1.45 pm each day until September 1.

They deliver the kind of family-focused seashore experience many parents relished in their youth, but which they may have neglected to enjoy with their own children.

Families can arm themselves with retro-style spotter sheets and try to detect creatures carefully blending into the background as part of the rockscape, rather than revealing themselves as living creatures preying on others in unique ways.

Lakes Aquarium’s talks team offer insights that can act as a springboard for further investigation on the shoreline of Cumbria, in locations such as Walney Island and up the rugged West coast moving northwards. The coast is just a short drive away from the Aquarium and offers some idyllic locations to explore.

The voyage of discovery will reveal facts such as which creatures have the ability to push their stomachs out of their mouths to digest prey too big to swallow and which have up to 192 tentacles arranged in six circles.

Families can learn about terminology such as whorls, carapaces and arthropods and find out which creatures moult at this time of year – with all the challenges that brings.

Girls can discover that a topknot is not just a hairstyle, whilst boys can come to appreciate that having good feet, albeit muscular, is as important in nature as it is in football.

The new rockpool discovery sessions are offered free-of-charge within the standard admission charge of £8.75 for an adult, £5.75 for a child and £24.95 for a family. Tickets can be bought online at lakesaquarium.co.uk at a saving of up to 25 per cent.
Lakes Aquarium opens seven days a week, from 9am to 6pm. Last admission is one hour before closing.