Fatherhood brings about such huge changes in your life. Many are very unnerving and include such horrors as dropping the baby, making sure he/she/it doesn't vomit on your new pinstripe suit and facing that first nasty nappy after the Missus has gone out.

And your first family-orientated holidays are up there too.

My most recent holidays had been trips to Munich's Oktoberfest - ie, five days of 11-hour drinking sessions and singing silly songs, so the entertainment provided itself.

But how to entertain an extremely energetic three-year-old for an entire week and not get bored yourself?

Norfolk was the testing ground and it passed with flying colours. And all without relying on the two well-known things about the county: floating on the broads and the city of Norwich.

We were staying in a cottage 15 minutes outside the city in the village of Poringland.

Barn Cottage was an excellent choice. With its setting, tranquillity, and separate playhouse for the kids, it was almost built with a family in mind. And an additional plus point was that its owners also ran the children's Playbarn next door, meaning virtually unlimited access for the young heir to go off and expend his energy.

But both the inside and outside play equipment there paled in comparison to one of the county's newest attractions: BeWILDerwood.

Fifty acres of woodland has been turned, with the help of £1.8m, into a fantastic children's adventure playground, themed around owner Tom Blofeld's imagined creatures, the Boggles. For someone with that surname, you'd usually associate them with taking over the world, but Mr Blofeld has created his own magical world near the village of Wroxham on the Broads.

Perhaps not the cheapest (standard admission for adults and kids over five is £10; free for younger ones) for essentially a playground, it is worth it in terms of the number of attractions.

BeWILDerwood starts with a ferry through a marshy stream and then you can just let the kids run wild - while keeping a watchful eye on them, naturally.

The wood itself is a collection of various treehouses, climbing frames, flying foxes, swings and slides.

It is congested over the weekends but the weekday we went was quiet enough for Dylan to throw himself around at will.

Given some of the bridges and tree houses this three-year-old was rampaging about were seven to eight metres high, it meant Dad just had to join in; all for safety and supervision reasons, of course.

Still, Mr Blofeld's suitably impressive magical character world certainly passed the keeping a three-year-old occupied for an entire day test with ease.

Wroxham, north east of Norwich, was at the centre of most of the child-orientated attractions in the area.

The Bure Valley Railway was worth a visit, while the Wroxham Barns children's farm was a hit with junior, where he could feed goats, horses, cows, sheep and lambs.

But before this becomes a non-stop hymn of praise to Norfolk, in my opinion Great Yarmouth was a place to avoid.

Perhaps it is the snob in me, but it was Blackpool without the class. Well, it did have some class but it was all third.

Norwich, once the setting for a riotous stag-do 10 years ago, is fairly average, too. It has charm but not a lot of individuality to set it apart from other cities.

However, this being a family-friendly holiday, its Inspire Discovery Centre deserves mention. Set up inside a former church, there are more than 40 hands-on activities, including digging for fossils and the chance to dress up as a dinosaur - another big hit with Collie junior.

Norfolk may have been a slightly left-field choice but it had more than enough of interest to ensure Dad wasn't moaned at all the way home through the Friday traffic. And that's got to be worth it if nothing else.


FACT FILE The Collie family stayed in Norfolk courtesy of Norfolk Country Cottages and Norfolk Tourism

How to get there: The easiest way, and you will want to get around when you are there, is by car, with the journey taking about three hours. Rail requires two changes with a trip into London and is close to four hours

Costs: The Barn Cottage, which can sleep six, costs between £374 and £609 for seven nights and between £281 and £457 for a short break. Prices vary depending on time of the year

BeWILDwood is £10 for adults and children over five (under fives are free). A family ticket for two adults and up to four children is £45

Bure Valley Railway is £10 return for adults and £6 for children five to 16

Wroxham Barns junior farm costs £2.95 each

How to book: For cottages visit www.norfolkcottages.co.uk BeWILDerwood visit www.bewilderwood.co.uk Norfolk and Norwich tourist boards are, respectively, www.visitnorfolk.co.uk and www.visitnorwich.co.uk