Days Out: Hornsea Beach and The Deep, Hull

*We were gifted a family pass to The Deep, Hull for the purpose of this review. As always, all thoughts and opinions are my own. 

 

Ever since our girls stepped foot on a beach for the first time, they have loved being by the seaside! They could spend all day on the beach of we let them, it’s definitely one of their favourite things to do. That’s why, when we had a day trip planned to The Deep in Hull, we decided to make a weekend of it and head to Hornsea beach too. We managed to book ourselves into a little hotel nearby, packed up the car and headed off on our first weekend away as a family!

 

Hornsea Beach –

As far as beaches go, Hornsea does what it says on the tin. It’s a stoney beach, that also has plenty of sandy patches for the kids to dig holes and build sand castles. We went on a Sunday in late Spring, when the weather was pleasant and it wasn’t too busy. There was plenty of room for everyone, which is ideal when the kids want to run around and burn some energy off. The shops, cafe’s and toilets are really close to the beach too, which makes seaside life with littles much easier!

We had a really fun afternoon at Hornsea, it’s the ideal spot for a day trip and there’s plenty of free parking nearby. This coast doesn’t have the clearest water I’ve ever seen, but other than that you’re sure to have a blast here. We’ll definitely be back!

 

 

 

The Deep, Hull –

 

The Deep has been on our must visit list ever since we had children. Hubs and I went many years ago and absolutely loved it, so we knew when the girls were old enough they would too. Our hotel was just a stones throw away from the Deep, so we got there when it opened to make the most of our day. All of the staff were really friendly on arrival, they even gave our girls their own activity book and cuddly penguin as a momento of our visit!

 

 

As soon as our girls entered the exhibition, they were awestruck! There’s so much for them to do and see, even our littlest who was two at the time loved getting involved. When we got to the first large tank both girls were amazed by the all of the sea life. There are some beautifully fascinating species to see and to learn about, we spent a lot of time watching the fish in this huge tank!

 

 

The Deep has an area with smaller tanks too, where a member of staff gives a talk on the sea life in them. It’s also possible for the kids to touch the animals, which our eldest couldn’t wait to do. As soon as she heard the lady giving her talk, she ran over to listen and was the first to touch a sea urchin when she was asked!  This added a great element to our experience at The Deep and was a lovely learning opportunity for our girls. The penguins at The Deep are such funny characters and were a real highlight for our girls too. They have specific feeding times, so if you want to see the them in their full glory you can find out when they are fed HERE!

 

 

Overall, we had the best weekend at Hornsea beach and at The Deep, Hull. It was one of the best weekends we’ve enjoyed since becoming a family of four and it’s something we’ll definitely do again in the future. Make sure you have plenty of time to explore The Deep though, you’re going to need it!

 

 

The Deep, the best bits –

 

• The Cool Seas exhibition – this area was great for the kids, it’s so much like a sensory room and they were mesmerised by it!
• Touch pool sessions – getting up close and personal with the sea life.
• The tank lift and the tunnel!
• The Dive Show – at 2pm everyday.
• Penguin feeding.
• Soft play at the end of the exhibition – our girls loved this!
• The cafe – a vast menu and very reasonably priced.