Family activities at Dunstable Downs

A boy flying a kite at Dunstable Downs and Whipsnade Estate, Bedfordshire — Young visitor kite flying at Dunstable Downs | © National Trust Images/Arnhel de Serra

There are loads of different family activities designed to help you explore and discover Dunstable Downs. However you choose to spend your day with us, your adventure starts here.

Summer Holidays

Big Dig: Festival of Archaeology

Join in with the UK's biggest annual celebration of archaeology and unearth the underground secrets of Dunstable Downs.

Dates: Saturday 20 - Sunday 21 July
Times: drop in between 10.00am-4.00pm
Price: £2 per child. Additional car parking admissions apply.
Booking: no pre-booking required.

Summer of Play: The Dunstable Downs Sports Village

This year, see our Estate transform into a Sports Village with free, outdoor activities like football, cricket, hockey, tennis, athletics, volleyball, soft archery (Wednesdays only), and frisbee golf (Fridays only) for you to get stuck into.

Dates: Monday 22 July - Sunday 1 September
Times: drop in between 10.00am-4.00pm
Price: Free. Car parking admissions apply.
Booking: no pre-booking required.

Summer of Play is sponsored by Starling Bank.

Big Camp

Big Camp is the perfect family adventure, offering you the rare opportunity to pitch your tent and camp overnight at the highest point in Bedfordshire. Spend the weekend exploring the Downs in a new light and admiring our vast night-time skies.

Dates: Saturday 3 - Sunday 4 August
Times: Arrival from 12.00pm Saturday, exit by 2.00pm Sunday,
Price: £60 per pitch (for up to 2 adults and 3 children). Extra campers are £5 each. Car parking admissions apply.
Booking: Required.

Kite flying

The elevated position of Dunstable Downs makes it a perfect location for flying kites. You can bring your own or you can purchase one from our shop with kites priced from £8 each.

Balance bikes

You can borrow a balance bike from our visitor centre free of charge. Perfect for pre-school children learning to ride a bike.

Build a den

Venture into Chute Wood and tick off no. 4 of our '50 things to do before you’re 11¾' at our new den building area! Castle, cave or pirate ship... let your imagaination run wild and build the hideout of your dreams using an array of specially placed deadwood!

Try geocaching at Dunstable Downs

Up for a challenge? We have hidden six camouflaged geocaches across the Downs, taking you to places you may not have visited before. Geocaching is a high-tech treasure hunt which you can take part in using one of the free geocache apps, including one at geocaching.com. It will guide you to within a few metres of the geocache hiding place and once there, you will need to use your eyes to seek out the cache.

Get your free geocaching account and start hunting today.