A WEEKEND in the home of Lego? Be there and be square, says Lifestyle Editor Catherine Bennion-Pedley.
As the jail bars slam shut and the Lego robber dramatically bows his head, the credits roll on my six-year-old daughter’s first-ever stop-motion movie.
It may not win an Oscar anytime soon, but there will surely be a sequel. Probably in about 10 minutes’ time.
We’re in the home of Lego – Billund in Denmark – visiting Lego House, which is home to 25 million bricks and a whole heap of fun.
From sitting in a huge pit of Duplo in the shadow of a giant rainbow-coloured waterfall with my son Raffy, four, to being towered over by a Lego Technic dinosaur and marvelling at the 15m-tall tree made of more than 6 million bricks, we’re amazed time and time again by the power of a toy invented more 70+ years ago.
Plus, it’s seriously hands-on and the staff are super-passionate and helpful. There are four zones – our favourite is Yellow.
Here, we design sea creatures, before releasing scanned versions to splash about in the digital aquarium.
Next, we build characters to reflect our emotions for the dance stage. Poppy and Raffy’s eyes pop as their designs come to life.
Chef’s Table
My husband Andy and I watch the same jaw-dropping reaction from the kids at Lego House’s eatery Mini Chef, where bricks are code for menu items.
We pop our chosen combo into the computer at our table and wait for the ”mini chefs” to cook up a storm.
Once ready, our Lego lunch boxes fly down a chute and characterful robot waiters Roberta and Robert hand them over.
The lemon-and-herb-marinated salmon is the winning dish, although the special-edition chef figure and bag of bonus bricks are the real wins for the children.
Lunch costs £16 for kids, £27 for adults (Legohouse.com).
Of course, we’re not going to fly 500 miles without visiting the original Legoland up the road, too.
It feels quainter and more traditional than its Windsor counterpart back home, but the queues are shorter and there’s so much Lego to play with that a fellow Brit visitor whispers in disbelief: “This stuff would all get nicked back home!”
Driving School
Watching Poppy switch into irate driver mode, gesticulating frantically at the baffled Scandinavian kids as she drives the wrong way around a roundabout, crashes into the police car and makes a sharp U-turn into the car wash at Traffic School is well worth the extra £13 fee.
Even better, it’s a half-hour experience with a photo driving licence lanyard presented at the end – even for those who clearly shouldn’t be allowed on the road!
We kip at the Legoland Hotel, also filled with bricks aplenty, so the kids can escape the dinner table at Panorama restaurant for more Lego play once they’ve had their fill of brick-shaped chips and unlimited DIY ice-cream sundaes from the children’s buffet, £21.
We find the beef carpaccio and rich bouillabaisse hits the spot nicely, though it is pricey at £35 for two courses.
Our final day at Legoland whizzes by riding the kids’ fave rollercoaster, the Flying Eagle, numerous times and watching Andy doing somersaults at 14m high on Apocalypseburg Sky Battle.
As weekends go, this is pretty fantastic plastic.
FYI
Lego House and Legoland combi tickets cost from £72.50 (Legoland.dk)
UK return flights to Billund cost from £79.
Mini Chef is getting a refurb and re-opens in March 2026.