Mike Laycock and family take a weekend break in the North's other historic city

HALF-TERM was looming and the forecasters were predicting wet and windy weather. In such circumstances, many people head for York, with its wealth of museums and other indoor attractions. But what if you live here?

We gratefully accepted an invitation to spend two nights at a refurbished Holiday Inn near the North's other wonderful historic city, Chester.

Flicking through promotional leaflets beforehand, it became clear there would be plenty to see and do without getting soaked. In the city centre, we could visit the cathedral, which has England's most complete monastic cloisters, and the Rows, the covered, two-tier medieval shopping streets. And a few miles away, there was the huge Blue Planet aquarium.

But first we settled in at the Holiday Inn Chester West, just off the A55 dual carriageway, 15 minutes west of the city centre.

The redeveloped three-star Holiday Inn has 53 bedrooms and was spacious and comfortable. Our children had their own en suite bedroom, linked by an internal door to ours, and with their own satellite TV. Rooms normally cost £75 a night.

All public areas, which included a conservatory restaurant, lounge bar and mini-gym, had been refurbished. The restaurant was light and airy, and the service good. However, the lounge bar was spoilt by the lack of a non-smoking area.

After a hearty English breakfast, we set off for Chester. We decided to get our bearings by walking some of the city walls, despite the drizzle. Chester's walls are more complete than York's, although there isn't a view to match that of the Minster.

The walls led us directly to the ornate Eastgate Clock, dating back to 1897 and said to be one of the most photographed clocks in the world after Big Ben. We walked along the Rows, window shopping at the more expensive boutiques and delving into a good book shop.

Then it was on to the cathedral for a late lunch in the refectory restaurant. The good value snack was accompanied for me by a glass of Chester Pilgrim Ale, the cathedral's own beer. The cathedral itself, originally a Benedictine Abbey, includes intricate carved Quire stalls dating back almost 800 years.

By now, the rain had stopped and we decided there was time for Chester Zoo. This has been named as Britain's most visited wildlife attraction and there is a great monorail ride around the complex. The baby elephants were highly amusing and cute, and the tigers simply magnificent.

We returned exhausted, and asked for our evening meal to be brought to our rooms, where we ate watching our respective TVs.

Next morning, checking out after another hearty breakfast, we emerged into heavy rain. But that was no problem because we had the Blue Planet Aquarium to visit before travelling home. Plenty of water, but only the fish needed to get wet. The only problem was that, with many other holiday makers getting the same idea, it was busy and noisy.

This amazing aquarium was said to have the largest indoor rock pools in Europe, and the longest underwater moving walkway in the world, and we were suitably impressed. Short of scuba diving in sub-tropical waters, this must be the best way to see sharks at close quarters - and certainly safer.

Fact file:

Holiday Inn, Chester West,

Northop Hall, Chester.

Tel 01244 550011.

Chester Cathedral: 01244 324756

Chester Zoo 0870 066 4242

Blue Planet Aquarium 090 0803 0300

Updated: 09:46 Saturday, August 02, 2003