What are you doing this weekend? Why not get out and about at one of the many Easter events being held across the West? Here are our highlights for the weekend

Bristol Zoo Gardens

Children can take part in a free Easter egg hunt around the zoo by solving simple animal riddles and following the clues to find eggs hidden around the grounds.

Visitors who complete the trail over the weekend will win a special chocolate egg prize. Youngsters can also look out for the Easter Bunny and Spring Bear as they wander around the zoo.

Free puppet shows will be held every weekend throughout April, by Mr Brown's Pig, below, at various times throughout the day.

For more details visit Bristol Zoo Gardens' website at www.bristolzoo.org.uk or call 0117 974 7300.

Spring is in the air, and Westonbirt Arboretum is blooming – creamy magnolias the size of dinner plates and glorious pink rhododendrons. The Forestry Commission tree garden is famous for its autumn colour, but spring seems to be one of its best-kept and most glorious secrets – and throughout April and May, get 50 per cent off all admissions on Wednesdays.

Spring Watch went live on the Westonbirt website earlier this month, with weekly updates on the best spots for spring blooms around the arboretum – from magnificent flowering shrubs in the old arboretum to wild flowers in Silk Wood.

For more information about special events and guided walks, visit www.forestry.gov.uk/westonbirt or call 01666 880220.

The National Trust and Cadbury have joined forces this Easter to run Easter egg trails, face painting and activities including professional story tellers and dedicated play areas.

Cadbury is also throwing down the gauntlet to talented young artists to help design its next range of EggHeads.

The Face on your Egg competition will give budding designers the chance to draw their very own EggHead, with the winner seeing their face on a Cadbury Easter egg in 2010, as well as receiving an all expenses-paid family trip to Cadbury World.

For more information, and to find your nearest participating National Trust site, log on at www.eastereggtrail.com and enter your post code.

The Odeon cinema in Bath will be screening a performance by the Royal Ballet of The Tales of Beatrix Potter – including sections from Peter Rabbit, The Tale of Mrs Tiggy-Winkle and The Tale of Jeremy Fisher – on Easter Monday, April 13.

The performance was filmed at the Royal Opera House in January last year, and the original choreography by one of Britain's greatest choreographers, Frederick Ashton, creates a family friendly experience perfectly suited to Easter.

Music from English composer and conductor John Lanchbery will captivate the audience, with a spirited performance from the Royal Ballet Sinfonia conducted by Paul Murphy.

From anacondas in the Amazon to glow-in-the-dark creatures at the bottom of our oceans, the new Extreme Exploration show will take visitors on an awe-inspiring journey of adventure.

And new exhibition Launch It! will be open, too. Designed in conjunction with the Rolls Royce graduate trainees, Launch It! investigates flight, showing how some shapes fall more quickly than others. Using a series of pulleys, magnets and a huge base pad, visitors can have a go at trying out various shapes to see which ones work, which ones don't and trace the pattern of flight as the shapes fall.

For more information visit the website www.at-bristol.org.uk or call 0845 345 3344.

■ Turn to page 22 for Katie Jarvis' top 10 things to do this Easter in the West Country