See Life At Sea Life

Liz, Jon and Rosie arrived on Friday evening. On Saturday we had a family trip to the coast to visit the Hunstanton SeaLife Centre. Liz had two free tickets, and a one pound bag of Cadbury's chocolates got us a BOGOF coupon. Rosie got in free- so it worked out relatively inexpensive for five of us to get in!
The weather was overcast when we arrived- and raining really heavily when we left. Our alternative destination had been Wroxham Barns and the children's play farm, so we were glad we'd opted to be inside on such a wet day.
Rosie has been before, and took great delight in explaining about the sharks, fishes, turtles and penguins to us.

We were not that keen on the special spooky Hallowe'en 'extras' [other Mums with toddlers were saying their kids didn't like the groaning pumpkins either] but on the whole it was very good. 
Plenty of information about looking after the wildlife of the oceans [thank you David Attenborough for raising public awareness] Lots of info panels, helpful staff members - and 'hands on' areas [with child-level handwash facilities right beside them]
The tanks were large and well set out so even little people could watch right up close [and there were stepstools for higher displays] Although it was Halfterm, it wasn't crowded [I think the weather put people off]

We enjoyed looking at Clownfish ["I've found Nemo!" said Bob] and huge Rays, and sinister Cane Toads.
There is a Seal Hospital where you could see creatures which had been beached locally being nursed back to health.
A 'rainforest room' where huge ants marched along branches carrying bits of leaf back to their home. 
And the penguins! These were great. Fortunately we got outside to their enclosure just before the heavens opened. Rosie likes them, but thinks they are rather smelly ['pungent' was Liz's description]

The penguins were swimming happily up their little channel and we were all watching them, when suddenly the one at the front hopped out of the water and waddled along the wall - rapidly followed by all the other birds.
They stood there patiently in a line, looking for all the world like they were waiting for a bus. It was so funny!

We had a lovely morning at the SeaLife Centre, then walked up to Fishers Fish&Chip Restaurant for an excellent lunch [soaked through by the time we sat down to eat!]

I'd recommend the SeaLife Centre for an enjoyable family day out - and I would imagine all their other venues would be quite similar to the Hunstanton one. BUT I would strongly recommend checking the internet and local tourist information places well before you go, to find the offers available [Liz picked up a leaflet in the centre offering 50% off a subsequent visit, and I found one on a 'local tourist info' display giving a #5 per person reduction. We paid just 16 pounds - it would have been four times that without my thrifty daughter's forward planning! Oh, and as you leave, be sure to hurry your children through the gift shop before they develop any desires for pink pirate eye patches or fluffy orange octopi.