Mike Laycock and family have a wizard time at Camelot.

IT'S magic - especially for children. Spend all day riding the rollercoasters, roundabouts, railroad trains and log flumes of the theme park until you're utterly exhausted. And then, instead of piling in the car for the long drive home, take a short walk to the hotel where your room awaits... along with the swimming pools, saunas and gymnasium of the hotel's health and fitness club.

But that's what you can do when visiting Camelot Theme Park, the only park in the north with its own hotel - the adjacent Best Western Park Hall Hotel.

Situated near Chorley in Lancashire, this offers "wizard leisure breaks" which include free bed and breakfast for children and free entry for everyone to the theme park.

We actually stayed in the "hotel village," a collection of terraced single-storey homes situated in gardens just down a path from the main hotel. The location only proved a disadvantage at breakfast time on our first day, when we had to grab our coats and run to the hotel through torrential rain. But the hearty full-English breakfast buffet was well worth the soaking.

We slept in a family suite, with two single beds in the bedroom for Gabrielle and Matthew and a pull-down double bed in the lounge for my wife and me. There was satellite TV, which also featured a Playstation for a slightly-exorbitant extra charge and a slightly old-fashioned en suite bathroom. And just down the path was a modest play area, which Gabrielle appreciated.

The highlight of the hotel's facilities was Vitalia, a health and fitness club to which we had full access. This included an exercise pool where a triumphant Gabrielle managed to swim 50 metres and a very warm and gently sloping swimming lagoon, complete with a fun slide for younger children and a jacuzzi.

Close by was a 90C sauna and steam room where I enjoyed almost melting to death. I didn't venture to the gym but it seemed to possess a frightening and comprehensive range of equipment.

The theme park was just over a fence from our bedroom. And from 10am each day, you could hear the screams of excited children riding the Dragon Flyer ride around the perimeter.

The whole park was based around the theme of Camelot, Merlin, King Arthur, knights and dragons. So as well as various rides, you could also sit in a covered grandstand - useful when it was raining - to watch jousting tournaments between brave knights on horseback.

As for the rides, well... I got soaked on the thrilling log flumes, ricked my neck on the Gauntlet - a wild loop-the-loop rollercoaster - and felt nauseous on the Galleon. Yes, it was great fun!

My favourite ride (and also Matthew's) was the Whirlwind, a novel type of rollercoaster built last year at Camelot, featuring seats which actually spin round as they hurtle round the track. Not even the sight of people temporarily stuck half-way round because of a fault could deter us from going on this ride again and again. My daughter and wife preferred the gentler Caterpillar rollercoaster. Our fears of long queues and waits for rides, as you find at many theme parks at the height of summer, were generally unrealised.

After our second night at the hotel, we packed in another visit to the pools and then returned to the theme park for another thrilling day of rides before returning home across the Pennines.

Fact file:

Wizard Leisure Breaks, Park Hall Hotel, Chorley, near Preston, Lancashire. Theme park opens weekends from March 27.

Accommodation, bed and breakfast and dinner £69 per person (minimum two nights, based on two adults sharing). Two children under 16 stay free, including breakfast. Includes free family entry to theme park for both days. Further information 01257 455000.

Updated: 09:55 Saturday, March 20, 2004