My experiences of rural and diverse Somerset hark back to my childhood, with many a wet week fighting the gales sweeping the barren landscape of Brean Sands or waiting for the seemingly non-existent tide to creep up the expansive beach at Weston-Super-Mare and Burnham-on-Sea.

To make matters worse, my family always stayed with relatives near Bridgwater, a town which unfortunately welcomed its visitors with a flatulent pong – due to the British Cellophane factory.

My husband had similar, if not worse, memories. He was forced to stay in Somerset nearly every weekend, in a ‘caravanette’ his father knocked up from a converted baker’s van.

So a short break in a barn conversion near Taunton did make us shiver. But we needn’t have worried. Our three-day vacation was fun-packed to the brim, and the attractions we visited left our small children (ages: 28 months and eight months respectively) smiling, enthralled and knackered. If you have little monsters, you’ll know how vital this is.

Oxfordshire to Somerset is a reasonably decent journey for a young family, with Bristol being the only possible obstacle (will there ever be an end to the roadworks at this city’s stretch of the M5?).

We started our holiday with a late lunch in Wookey Hole. Getting lost on the windy lanes of Cider Country could have threatened the peace before we even alighted our car, as our toddler Grace started to brew a tantrum, but the novel sight of farmers driving cattle up the road amused her sufficiently to stave off an outburst.

We ate at the Wookey Hole Inn, which promised Peace, Love and Good Food. It doubles up as a boutique hotel, with five “funky double rooms”, and the restaurant had style, elegance, warmth and crayons on the table. Staff spied Gracie immediately and urged her to colour in the tablecloth. If that wasn’t enough to win over her harassed parents, then the good locally-sourced food and informal babysitting service (we ate while they watched the toddler in their sculpture garden) was.

With full stomachs we headed off to Wookey Hole’s famous caves, which were beautiful enough to make up for the poor jokes of our guide. The attraction has something for everyone, and following our underground tour we walked through the Valley of the Dinosaurs, lingered in the fairy garden and laughed out loud courtesy of old-fashioned crazy mirrors.

The water at Wookey was harnessed by a paper mill, and a little of its history is available for the intellectuals, but my husband would’ve been happy to spend all day in the Old Penny Arcade.

Our first afternoon finished with a warm welcome at our holiday cottage, West Hayes Barn, in Halse, less than four miles from Taunton. This beautiful conversion nestled in a corner of the owners’ small-holding. It was wonderfully furnished and stocked with everything a family could need, including a washer/dryer to tackle bouts of random car sickness, a bottle of cider for mummy and daddy, and individually wrapped gifts for the little ones.

Youngsters have access to an outside play area shared with four local children who were happy to show us their pony and explain that their pigs were now “in the freezer”.

Saturday was a food day for us, and started at Glastonbury Farmers’ Market. Small, but perfectly formed, we left with numerous cheeses, chocolate pudding, and fillet steak. There was enough time before lunch to mooch around this slightly weird town, which is packed with magic shops, gothic stores and spiritual healers.

We moved on down the road to Brown Cow Organics, a farm which specialises in beef raved about by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Jamie Oliver and Rick Stein, but which also sells rare-breed pork, free-range chickens and organic vegetables.

The rest of our day was spent at Blue Anchor, a quiet seaside resort near Minehead, where huge waves battered the pebble beach, making it perfect for anglers to fish for bass. In fact, while they patiently waited for a nibble, a silvery specimen literally jumped out of the surf into our laps.

Unfortunately it was too small to eat, so after Gracie had inspected it, we gently returned it to the sea.

For me, our final day was the pièce de resistance as we took the West Somerset Railway. This is a steam train from Bishops Lydeard to Minehead, and gives a taste of how rail travel should be. During our visit, the line was also showcasing heritage diesels, which attracted a number of enthusiasts with their obligatory weak lemon drinks and anoraks.

We enjoyed our journey, which helped me to understand my father’s affectionate musings about steam travel.

On the way out we stopped in Watchet. A short bus ride took us to the Tropiquaria Animal and Adventure Park, a strange attraction sprawling around an old BBC radio building. Part zoo and serpentarium, part adventure playground, it’s slightly retro and had everything from monkeys and spiders, to castles and pirate ships.

Within minutes of getting back to Bishops Lydeard both children were asleep – a satisfying sign of a day well done.

In all, Somerset offered our whole family a welcoming stay, and my husband and I spent the journey home marvelling about why we’d never thought about it as a holiday spot before. We will certainly return.

West Hayes Barn Prices start from £490 for a week at this 16th century Grade 2 listed barn, which is set in the conservation village of Halse, in the middle of an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Call 01823 431622