WE’VE got an action-packed summer and lots to keep families busy during August.

Whether you’re the organiser, the picnic packer or the lucky participants, getting out together and joining in the fun is what holidays are all about. You can make your own fun here by cooking up a treat in the mud pie kitchen, building a den to hide away in, playing traditional games on the lawn, or by joining one of the special summer activities.

As we approach the Yorkshire Day celebrations on Wednesday August 1, we’re excited to be welcoming local master baker Mike Armstrong back to East Riddlesden Hall. August 1 marks Lammas (loaf-mass), a traditional celebration of the annual wheat harvest.

Mike will be joining us to share his love of bread-making and letting us into a few secrets on how to bake the perfect loaf. You can knead your own tasty dough ready to home-bake and visit the Great Hall to see a banquet of bread laid out for Lammas. Bread-making sessions will take place at 11am, 1pm and 3pm, and are £2 per person.

If bread-making is on your list of things to do, you can also make some tasty butter to enjoy with it. On alternate Sundays from July 29 we’ll be making butter in the barn at 2-3pm.

You’ll discover the secret of how butter used to be made by hand, and experience how difficult making and keeping butter was for the people who once worked in the hall, before the days of electricity and fridges.

You can experience tastes and smells of the past, and see how 17th century gingerbread compares to that of today, at our gingerbread-making sessions. These sessions run every Tuesday from July 31 at 11.30am and 2pm, and cost £1 per person.

There are lots of things happening outdoors that will appeal to the adventurers in the family.

Every bug needs a home, even the slimy ones, and protecting bugs helps to protect the plants and wildlife of the local area. Every Tuesday and Saturday between July 24 and August 4, children can join volunteers to create bug houses from 1pm to 3pm.

Want to test your raft-building skills without getting wet? Head to the hall every Tuesday and Saturday between August 7 and 18, 1pm to 3pm to use natural materials from the gardens and learn how to build a mini raft.

You can launch it on the duck pond to see if it sinks or sails.

These two activities are from the National Trust’s ’50 Things to Do before You’re 11¾‘ list that encourages children (and the young at heart) to get involved and experience the simple things that nature offers.

You can download a list of the 50 things from the website, or call into the shop to pick up your free activity book.