February half term is probably the trickiest school holiday to keep kids busy. The days are still short and the weather is far from warm. So if you’re looking for some inspiration to keep your little ones entertained for the Peak District February half term, you’ve come to the right place.
February half term 2025 dates for schools in Derbyshire, Staffordshire, Cheshire East and Sheffield are: 17th to 21st February. Schools in Ashbourne have a later half term due to the the Royal Shrovetide Football Match from Monday 3rd March to Friday 7th March.
If you are looking for ideas for general days out, rather than specific events, please check out our guide to Family Days Out in the Peak District, which provides lots of inspiration. Some attractions around Matlock are still closed for the winter months (including Gulliver’s Kingdom and Peak Rail). However, all the caverns are open, Heights of Abraham re-opens from the winter, and Matlock Farm Park stays open pretty much year round.
Also, not much beats a long family walk in the Peak District armed with hot chocolate in your flask during winter. Do check out our safe winter walking tips.
As always, we’ll be keeping this page updated as much as possible with news from these Peak District February half term events. But also keep an eye on the Peak District Kids Facebook Group and also our Instagram. Feel free to email us if you know of an event not listed here.
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1. Family activities at White Hall Outdoor Activity Centre
Check this Eventbrite page for dates and to book online
Click here for our review of White Hall Outdoor Centre
Looking for something different for the kids during the holidays? Why not book one of the activity days at White Hall Outdoor Centre running throughout the Easter holidays?
Courses range from one-day to five-day adventures filled with fun and challenge. Children aged 6–18 years old are welcome.
There are also family activity days where parents can join in activities with their children, as well as SEND family activity days specifically designed for families and children with special educational needs and disabilities.
Activities on offer include:
- High and low ropes
- Zip wires
- Climbing walls
- Mountain biking
- Orienteering
- Artificial cave
- Problem solving
- Shelter building
- Canoeing
- SUP
- Caving
- Abseiling
- Stream Scrambling
Prices start at £34.05 per person. Each day begins at 9:30 a.m. at White Hall Centre. With pick-up at 4:30 p.m.
2. Family Day Rock Climbing with Peak Lines
Available dates throughout February half term
Click here for further information and to book
Click here for the Peak District Kids review
Spend quality time with your family, discover stunning locations in the Peak District, and create memories to last a lifetime with the family rock climbing sessions over the February half term.
Peak Lines offer private half-day and full-day climbing experiences in the Peak District.
- The sessions are friendly, encouraging, and aimed to get you working together as a family
- You will have a go at climbing and abseiling, learn how to hold each other’s ropes and even learn some of the techniques essential to climbing independently
- The session will be tailored to you and your family based on experience, age, and fitness level
- Top-of-the-range safety equipment is provided
Half Day (3 Hours) £200 for a family of up to 6 people, any additional person is £55.
Full Day (6 hours) £299 for a family of up to 6 people, any additional person is £80 .
3. Abseiling, caving and mining
Running throughout February half term
Click here to book
Peaks and Paddles are running abseiling sessions by day and night, and underground caving / mine sessions over February half term.
There’s a 15% discount at checkout valid for activities until the end Feb 2025 for booking 4 or more people for any activity by entering code ‘kids15%’.
This is available to children aged 5+. Click here for our full review.
4. Pirate Takeover at Alton Towers
Open every day over February half term (10am – 4pm)
Areas open: Mutiny Bay, Towers Street and CBeebies Land
Click here for more information
Ahoy swashbucklers! Discover buried treasure this February Half Term when you set sail to Pirate Takeover at Alton Towers Resort or be prepared to walk the plank!
Live out your own pirate story, whether you’re visiting us for swashbuckling days out or staying over for an unforgettable short break, as the infamous pirates of Mutiny Bay take over the Resort from the 15th to 23rd February 2025.
Budding buccaneers can join in the fun on an exciting pirate adventure with galleons of fun for the whole family to enjoy including the UK’s only CBeebies Land where families can make fantabulous memories and meet some of their favourite CBeebies friends!
Note that kids under 90cm are FREE!
5. Mufasa (PG) at Buxton Cinema
Pavilion Arts Centre
Monday 17th February at 4:30pm and Thursday 20th February at 1:30pm
£7 (Concession £5)
Click here for more information
Mufasa, a cub lost and alone, meets a sympathetic lion named Taka, the heir to a royal bloodline. The chance meeting sets in motion an expansive journey of a group of misfits searching for their destiny.
6. Go Ape in Buxton
Visit the Go Ape website for more information.
Click here for our review
Whether you’re looking for things to do with family or friends, Go Ape Buxton have adventure covered. Join them in Buxton Country Park, Poole’s Cavern for 2-3 hours of action-packed fun. Climb up rope ladders, tackle tricky crossings, leap off Tarzan Swings and experience high-speed ziplines in the great outdoors. Come rain or shine, whatever the weather.
Please note that as this is one of the bigger and more challenging Go Ape courses, there is a minimum age restriction of 10 years and a minimum height restriction of 1.4 metres. One adult (18+) can supervise up to two children aged between 10-15 while on the course with them. 16 and 17-year-olds can supervise themselves (but not younger children).
The parking for Go Ape is shared with Poole’s Cavern, so you can combine your visit to the cavern, and/or venture up to Solomon’s Temple.
7. Winter Tree Trail at Longshaw Estate
15th to 23rd February
Click here for more information
Winter might look still and quiet and the trees might have lost their leaves, but it can become the perfect time to take part in a trail walk within the Peak District, when it’s easier to spot various birds and wildlife. Longshaw Estate has devised a special interactive walk for all the family, including those with little legs, to discover the wonderful world of trees and their amazing patterns.
Pick up a trail sheet from the Welcome Building for £2, then follow the route, finding eight different species of tree. You can learn how to do a bark rubbing, so that you can identify each species in future. Head back to the Welcome Building and you can collect a prize.
8. Winter Birds Trail at Ilam Park
15th February to 3rd March
Click here for more information
Greater Spotted Woodpecker, Long tailed-tit and Mistle thrush are just some of the birds you can spot around Ilam Park in winter.
All the family can engage with nature, taking part in Ilam Park’s self-led trail, to discover the birds you can spot within the beautiful grounds of Ilam. There are also ten wooden birds, hidden around the accessible pathways, to uncover.
A trail sheet costs £3 and you get a prize at the end, on completion, of a wooden bird house feeder! There’s even a special colouring in station for you to decorate these, within our bookshop.
9. February half term at Thornbridge
Open throughout the February half term holidays (10am-4pm)
Adults £3, children £3, family ticket £10
Click here to book tickets
The Carriage House at Thornbridge Estate is being transformed into a Fun Zone for the February half term holidays:
- Indoor bouncy castle
- Soft play area
- Arts and crafts tables
- A Valentine’s trail through the gardens
- And of course, the return of our Duck Fountain
Plus, the Love Locker will be open. This is a project to protect Bakewell’s iconic Love Locks that were removed last year. Be one of the first to add your own lock to one of the freshly unveiled sections of the Love Locker. Pop by Bakewell key cutting shop to grab your engraved lock or bring your own special one. Alternatively, Thornbridge will have locks available to purchase, and permanent markers to make your message as unique as your love story.
All of this and more is included with your standard garden entry.
10. TrYumphant February Half-Term Holiday Camp
Monday 17th to Friday 21st February 8:30am-4pm with optional extra time until 6pm
Baslow Sports Field
From £29.75/day
Click here for more information
Join the TrYumphants for their ever-varied mixture of creativity and craftiness, movement and messiness, sports and silliness!
This is open to all kids, whether you live locally or are visiting on holiday. There are five days available and you can book in for all four days or just one; whatever suits you and your family.
Use code PDK10 to get 10% off Or get 50% off with code FSM if you qualify for free school meals based on benefits.
Contact Becky on info@tryumphinlife.com or 07855943236 if you have any questions.
11. Lego build sessions at Brick Corner, Buxton
Click here for session times and to book
If your kids are Lego fans, then a visit to the family-run Brick Corner café in Buxton is an absolute must. Here there are boxes galore of Lego for your kids to play with and let their imaginations go wild, whilst parents sit back with a coffee and slice of cake in peace (although by all means, there are no age limits if parents want to get involved!)
And over the February half term, there are Lego robotic and coding sessions to get involved in. These are 90 mins (approx.) sessions where kids follow a guided Lego build, and then code their build to move!
This is one of our top things to do in Buxton with kids.
12. Mrs B’s Troublesome Tea Challenge at Heights of Abraham
Click here for more information
Heights of Abraham reopens on Friday 14th February, just in time for February half term. Join Victorian Mrs B on her hunt for the troublesome tea-set in this fun I-Spy for younger visitors.
Plus, if you visit Heights of Abraham for February Half Term or during their long weekends in March, you’ll be offered a free return within seven days of your original visit, so you can enjoy the Heights all over again! So a top tip from us is to visit at the start of the half term holiday, so you can fit in another trip at the end!
13. TreeScape at LEVEL Centre: a digital immersive world
Open Monday to Friday over February half term and until 28th March
Click here for more information and to book
Visit TreeScape, LEVEL Centre’s stunning, immersive natural world where you can grow your own idyllic woodland and explore it through the seasons, relaxing in the sights and sounds of nature. Watch as animals, birds, plants and insects inhabit your ecosystem and discover the beauty and importance of trees, learning as you play! Afterwards you can design and colour in your own leaves, plants and wildlife to add to our big tree mural, or grab one of our tree spotting sheets and see what you can find outdoors!
You’ll also be helping real world tree planting! As part of the TreeScape project, at least 10,000 trees and multiple wildflower meadows will be planted through partnership with farms, schools and colleges.
TreeScape is suitable for everyone including school groups and families. An education pack for teachers is available from LEVEL Centre. Come along and experience this stunning exhibition for yourselves, and grasp the opportunity to learn more about the wonderful, natural world that surrounds us!
14. Visit a show cavern
Over the Peak District February half term, it’s pretty much guaranteed that it will rain at least one day. And what’s the top thing to do in the Peak District on a rainy day (if you don’t fancy donning the waterproofs for a family walk, that is)? Well it’s a visit to one of the show caverns, as the weather on the surface doesn’t matter when you’re underground. And thankfully ALL the show caverns are open this February half term.
Where are the show caverns?
- Heights of Abraham (Matlock Bath)
- Peak Cavern – aka Devil’s Arse! (Castleton)
- Speedwell Cavern (Castleton)
- Blue John Cavern (Castleton)
- Treak Cliff Cavern (Castleton)
- Poole’s Cavern (Buxton)
15. Chatsworth farmyard and playground opens for February half term
15th to 23rd February (10.30am – 4.30pm)
Click here for more information
Chatsworth farmyard and playground reopens for the Peak District February half term. In the farmyard you’ll meet friendly animals, from pigs and horses to mischievous goats and guinea pigs, as well as a number of rare breeds including Suffolk Punch horses, Shire horses, Albion cattle, Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs, Bagot goats and Cream Legbar chickens.
There will be animal handling and feeding, craft activities, and tractor rides into Stand Wood.
From the farmyard, take the secret tunnel to the children’s playground. Fetch water from the stream using the Archimedes screw, and enjoy the huge sand play area (pack wellies and waterproofs!)
Please note that the house and garden remain closed for conservation until the 15th March.
Combine your visit to Chatsworth farmyard and adventure playground with our Peak District Kids walk to Chatsworth Hunting Tower and Aqueduct in Stand Wood. We’ve also got a pram friendly version of this walk. Click here to read our full guide to visiting Chatsworth with kids.
16. Go for a family walk
A family walk in the Peak District is really number one reason to visit the National Park, and you should at least fit in one of our family walks into your February half term.
With hundreds of public footpaths criss-crossing the National Park and gentle rolling hills that aren’t too taxing on little legs, it’s the perfect free activity.
On this website we have over 80 family walks, including pram friendly walks and toddler walks, to more challenging walks such as Stanage Edge or Win Hill. Or you may even want to take on our Kinder Scout walk from Edale.
17. Get out on the bikes
February half term is a good time to dust off the bikes stored away over the winter months, and head out on one of our Peak District cycle routes.
There are lots of old railway tracks that have been transformed into traffic free routes for walkers, cyclists, horse riders and wheelchair users through some of the Peak District’s most spectacular limestone dales. As these are traffic free and relatively flat, they’re a great place to go for a family bike ride.
Plus, there are also some lovely routes around the reservoirs (including Ladybower cycle route and Carsington cycle route), although kids will need bikes with gears for these ones.
Below are our top tried and tested Peak District family bike routes. Though remember, you don’t have to do the whole route, you can always cut it short for tired legs.
You may also like to read:
Things to do on a rainy day in the Peak District
Short and easy family walks in the Peak District
Things to do in Matlock and Matlock Bath