Puy du Fou: It’s a theme park with a difference – mainly that difference being that there are no rides. Possibly you’ve now just stopped reading but hopefully you are as intrigued as I was!

Instead of rides it has shows, including some interactive walk through ones, all of which are have historical significance. It could take you back to ancient Rome or to the start of colour cinema, the time of Vikings and or the first World War. It is all in French but they have an app that provides live translations into other languages which generally works well. Unfortunately for us (as non French speakers) it wasn’t perfect and none of the walk through attractions worked for us at all. I was very keen to see the World War One show but without the dialog it fell flat.

One show was a stunning bird show using over 300 birds of prey which was very impressive – there’s certainly no other bird show that compares to it. We sat in a Roman amphitheatre and watched gladiators battle and chariots race – after the obligatory pre-show Mexican wave of course 😁

There were Viking ships attacking villages, people who vanished into thin air, jousting and other horseback acrobatics plus fire and explosions. Something for everyone really!

The shows are loosely based on historical events, some of which occurred in the local area. And they have gone all out on the set design with boats that emerge and submerge into the lake, stages that rotate around the audience, stages that end up covered with water and have dancing people and horses – it’s all very spectacular.

It’s very successful with something like 2.8 million visitors a year and they just opened a new one in Spain. Not sure that we will make it to that one – our kids still like their roller coasters after all.