Outdoor Activities in Colchester

More than the listings themselves suggest, in the case of the reserves and country parks. Abberton Reservoir Nature Reserve and High Woods Country Park are landscapes rather than sites, and the interesting bits are spread out across them. If the youngest in the group runs out at half a mile, pick a smaller footprint or accept that a carrier is coming along and plan the route to end where the car is.

That depends entirely on surfaces, and surfaces are the thing listings are worst at describing. Ring, or dig into the visitor information for the specific route you have in mind rather than the venue as a whole — a car park and a visitor centre can be easy while the path you actually wanted is not. Castle Park and Gardens is the more contained option if you would rather not gamble.

Colchester Zoo and Wyvernwood put something new in front of a child every few minutes, which is what stops a walk turning into a march. East Anglian Railway Museum does the same job with machinery rather than animals. All three do involve walking, but it is walking with a reason attached, and that difference is worth a surprising amount on a Sunday.

Six of the seventeen double up as indoor listings. East Anglian Railway Museum, Flatford - National Trust and Abberton Reservoir Nature Reserve all qualify, so there is somewhere to stand when a shower blows through. The remaining eleven are open-air throughout, which is fine when the forecast is honest and miserable when it is not.