Brean dream

Somerset is where it's at for Brit holiday fun

- Dave McClay

The Knobbly Knees, Lovely Legs and Glamorous Granny contests may have all gone, but the great British seaside holiday is still alive and kicking.

Nowhere more so than at Unity Beach in Brean on the beautiful Somerset coast.

This 240-acre resort has just been treated to a £15million facelift, and with a bucket (and spade) load of activities and options, fun for all the family is guaranteed.

In fact there are more thrills and spills than I'd bargained for... especially with the South West's largest theme park on site.

On the drive to Unity Beach, the kids quiz me on what Somerset is famous for. Lazily, I can only offer up cider, Cheddar cheese and The Wurzels.

Well, now the kids will forever associate the county with Astro Storm, Terror Castle and Wipeout.

These are just three of the exhilarating rides at Brean Theme Park that put my expectations of a slowerpaced West Country break in a spin.

Lots of go-karts, dodgems and rollercoasters and not a combine harvester in sight.

Astro Storm is a big dipper in the dark and a favourite of my eldest Lyla, 12. Terror Castle is a genuinely ghastly ghost train, and Wipeout an allswinging, all-spinning, screaminducing machine.

Thrill-seekers will find plenty more stomach-flipping rides, while Izzy, 10, lapped up channelling her inner Lewis Hamilton on the go-kart track.

There are carousels, a coconut shy and mini golf for the less intrepid. A one-day pass to the park costs £23, although Unity Beach guests get discounted rates.