We drive into the Knebworth historic park and gardens. A cousin and her seven-year-old son are visiting and we decide to take them on a tour around the Knebworth House gardens, dinosaur trail and adventure playground. I haven’t passed by for a few years and memories of running around after my daughter and riding on a miniature steam train are all coming back to me.

The 28 acres of formal gardens are Edwardian in layout and there is so much to see. Architect Edward Lutyens, who married into the Lytton family, created garden rooms thereby separating the rose garden, gazebo, pergola and maze. The rich herb garden was created in 1982 from Gertrude Jekyll’s 1907 design.

Current residents Martha and Henry Lytton Cobbold added a dinosaur trail in the wilderness gardens and we pass some beautiful natural wood and stone sculptures added in 2004 as we begin the trail.

Perfectly cool and shaded by a canopy of tall trees, we begin by reading all about the Neanderthal people and learn about their appearance and sorts of tools that were used to hunt animals. A trail of over seventy life-size dinosaurs from stegosaurus to pterodactyls, triceratops and velociraptors and huge woolly mammoths are hidden amidst the shrubbery, the dinosaurs' lizard-like neck frills have been painted in bright colours and add a vibrancy to their camouflage.

Merrick stares on in wonderment. Under the huge redwood trees, we discover what kinds of creatures were in existence during the Ice Age, from prehistoric wolves to cave bears, so much bigger than we are used to nowadays.

The time clock is my favourite feature and puts all of the eras into perspective. It’s an amazing lesson in natural history and we learn about other eras beyond the familiar Jurassic from a wooden pie chart spanning 2,000 years. Before they leave, children enjoy scribbling words and images onto a huge blackboard using different coloured chalk, leaving their mark just as the cavemen would have.

It’s not every day that I can spend an afternoon with a seven-year-old and before long he’s ready for more fun and we dash off to the adventure playground to whizz along the zip wire, go on the swings and join the mayhem on the bouncy castle and interactive water-play.

We stop off for a picnic then head to Fort Knebworth, a wonderful attraction that has been here for years. I quite like the fact that it has remained the same since my daughter was little. My cousin enjoys watching Merrick swinging from ropes and crawling through log tunnels; it’s the perfect place to play hide and seek. As we leave she’s all smiles, looking forward to some peace and quiet this evening as it’ll definitely be an early night for her little boy.

- Marisa Laycock moved from south west London to St Albans in 2000. She enjoys sharing her experiences of living in the city.