I am planning a week away in April self catering and was looking for suggestions of towns/areas to consider. I will be about 34 weeks pregnant, and we will have our 3 year old so want to do something reasonably chilled. I'm looking for somewhere with some nice days out (things like farm parks, castles, aquariums, country parks go down well with the 3 year old). We would also like to be able to do some nice, gentle walks and get out in the countryside. I would ideally like to be somewhere rural, but in a reasonable sized village or small town with a playground/pubs/cafes. We stayed in Belford in Northumberland last year for a few days and enjoyed that so maybe something similar sized.
I am particularly looking at north Lake District or Scottish Borders but most importantly want to be within a maximum of 2.5 hours from Newcastle as I don't think be I'll be comfy sitting for hours. We had a lovely couple of Scottish holidays in the Highlands/Islands the last two summers with the toddler, but not really up for that this year!
Very grateful for any suggestions.