25 May 2007

THE GREAT BRITISH HERITAGE FUN PASS
FOR KIDS

More Death & Destruction Than You Ever Thought Possible!

A massive siege engine that can throw dead horses into a castle courtyard so the inhabitants die of disease, the sort of wild birds that could make off with your baby sister, the real Harry Potter Hogwarts school and even a maze where you can finally loose your parents - heritage just got fun for all the family.

And the best way to have the most fun is with the latest version of the Great British Heritage Family Pass from the Leisure Pass Group for Visit Britain which opens up the fun at nearly 600 fantastic historic sites to visitors from outside the UK.

Now available to visitors to the UK as a family pass for the first time, the GBHP is your winning card that brings history to life all over the country.

Take Warwick Castle for example. You wouldn’t want to annoy anyone in charge there because they just happen to have the world’s largest Trebuchet; an 18 meter high 22 ton siege engine that used to knock down castle walls with massive rocks or fire diseased pigs and horses in the castle so the inhabitants died a horrible death. Clearly health and safety not so much an issue in the Middle Ages then.

Or what about Leeds Castle. Let the oldies admire the scenery whilst the kids watch the birds of prey in action, and we are not talking budgies here. Meet Jack, the only free flying Buzzard in the UK, or Lurch the African Vulture, and, if you are particularly small, hang onto something solid when the eagles get aloft.

Harry Potter stand aside – everyone can now go to Wizard school by visiting Alnwick Castle which stood in for Hogwarts in the Harry Potter films. Then learn how to really get tough with your friends by attending the Knights School. Just forget its all called heritage.

And finally if the parents are really annoying you, tell them to get lost – in the maze at Hampton Court – whilst you get lost in the 60 acres of riverside grounds. They built the maze over 300 years ago, and some people are still trying to get out.

It’s hard to imagine how much fun can be had with one small pass, particularly now that a family of fun can do it all on the one card throughout the UK. The pass was previously only available to individuals.

There’s places lots of people have heard of, such as from Stone Henge, the Palace of Holyrood House, or Anne Hathaway’s Cottage and secret places you would never have discovered without the pass.

The Great British Heritage Pass has now been running successfully for 30 years and it gets bigger and better ever time; there are 19 new properties available to see on the Pass for 2007 and its all amazing stuff.

Take Rockingham Castle in the Heart of England for example. Built by William the Conqueror it has actually been in continual habitation for the last 1,000 years, not to mention the fact that Charles Dickens was a regular visitor and and based Chesney Wolds in Bleak House on Rockingham.

Or what about Burghley House in the East Midlands. One of the largest and grandest houses of the Elizabethan age it actually has a Heaven Room where the paintings on the wall almost seem to come to life with an allusion of movement, and a Hell Staircase that you descend after your visit to Heaven.

The Great British Heritage Pass is your key to parts of the country that otherwise, you probably wouldn’t reach and you’d missing out on so much. Not a theme park in site – everything in the GBPH is the real deal, not a theme park in site, and so much better for it.

Pick up the Pass at www.britishheritagepass.com – and don’t look back!

For further information, please contact:
Angus Rankine. Leisure Pass Group. T: +44 (0) 20 7907 1522
John Samson. Presslink. T: +44 (0) 20 7831 0023.