Family fun on a budget

Okay, so you might be feeling the pinch after the Christmas and New Year festivities. But there are ways to escape the post-holiday blues and still have change from a tenner in your pocket.

Britain is bursting with places to visit - and you don't have to break the bank to visit them. To help you on your way, we've got together a handful of ideas which make ideal free fun days out for the family. So now there's no excuses to get out there and enjoy the best the new year has to offer.

DIY York Tour

York City Centre

Start off in the Minster, the largest Gothic Cathedral in Northern Europe. Enter by the West door and look out for the Astronomical Clock, the Rose and Seven Sisters windows as you make your way through the building. From the Minster, take a walk round the city's walls, or book yourself on a free tour run by the Association of Voluntary Guides to the City of York, which start from Exhibition Square every day, apart from Christmas Day. Finish off your tour with a visit to the Guildhall in St Helen's Square, the fifteenth century building which served as a meeting place for the guilds. Open 9am to 5pm weekdays, 10am to 5pm Saturdays, 2pm to 5pm Sundays. City walls are open every day from 8am to dusk.

Norfolk Lavender

Caley Mill, Heacham, Norfolk

Tel. No: 01485 570 384

England's oldest established lavender farm. More than 150,000 visitors explored the attraction last year, including its fragrant meadow garden, herb garden and distillery, where you can see the ancient process of extracting the tiny drops of lavender oil contained in each individual floret of the plant. Be part of the experience this year by exploring the attraction free between10am to 5 pm, every day of the year apart from Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day.

Shotover Country Park

Old Road, Headington, Oxford

Tel. No.: 01865 715830

There are 100 hectares of this historic country park and the land is divided between the southern slopes of Shotover Hill and the flat wooded area near Oxford's Eastern Bypass. The park, once part of the Royal Forest of Shotover which covered a much larger area to the east of Oxford, contains a number of important wildlife habitats and has been recognised by English Heritage as a Site of Special Scientific Interest. It affords numerous lovely views over Oxfordshire and children love the natural sandpit with its tiny stream.

Harry Potter outing

Goathland to Newton Dale Halt, North Yorkshire or London's West End

There are two alternatives of this depending on where you live. If you are out and about in Yorkshire, visit Goathland in North Yorkshire - or Hogsmeade in Potter speak. The railway shop became the Prefect's Room and the Ladies' loos became the Wizard's Room. Browse round the small village - also used as a backdrop for the ITV series Heartbeat - before walking, or hopping on a train for one stop, (the North York Moor Railway doubles as the Hogwarts Express in the film) to Newton Dale Halt. Here you can walk through Cropton Forest, better known as the Forbidden Forest.

To visit: Goathland is just off the A169 between Pickering and Whitby. North York Moors Railway tel: 01751 472508.

Alternatively, London is another prime area for a Potter potter. Charing Cross Road is the stepping off point for Diagon Alley. In the book and film, Hagrid leads Harry through the Leaky Cauldron pub on Charing Cross Road into Diagon Alley. Australia House in the Strand stands in for what JK Rowling describes as 'a snowy white building that towered over the other shops'. Its Exhibition Hall is the fictional banking hall at Gringotts. London Zoo's reptile house was used for Dudley's birthday outing scenes.

Other Harry Potter locations include: Gloucester Cathedral, Harrow School (Hogwarts School) and Picket Post Close, Martin's Heron, Berkshire (Privet Drive).

Most watched News videos