Little breaks in the UK

[PinkCatPenPot]

We've decided this year that we don't want to do a "long" holiday and will instead do short 2-4 day breaks. It is me, DH and 4 year old DS. Would like a mixture of places with lots to do and places where we can lounge about and relax. We did York by train (we live in London) earlier in the year and had a really brilliant time - we do have a car but would like some places you can get to easily by train too.

Any suggestions would be welcome, as long as any reccommendations of nice places to stay (self catering or hotels, we don't mind).

Happy to do up to a 4 hour drive from London, but probably not much more than that given it would only be for a short break.

Bristol. Get the train to Temple Meads and stay in the centre near the docks.

Wells-Next-the-Sea in North Norfolk.

I love Bristol, definitely on the list, and I've never been to Norfolk so that's another one for the list!

The Isle of Wight!

You can get there in under three hours from Waterloo. Train to Portsmouth Harbour, ferry to Ryde, Isle of Wight Railway to anywhere on the East Coast, e.g. Shanklin. If you buy a train ticket from Waterloo to Shanklin then it's valid on all three parts of the journey. Lovely island but make sure you go within season as lots of places are closed until about Easter.

Oxford is lovely, loads to see and do.

I booked glamping through the YHA last year. You also can't beat a few days on the Norfolk coast.

We're staying at YHA Bristol in August. It's a cracking location.

Rye, Dungeness, and Port Lympne (we stayed in a pod).

Stratford was great this summer- there's a Tudor farm that we really loved. I don't how easy the farm is to get to by bus, maybe take the car.

Portsmouth is good fun even if you don't go to the Isle of Wight - the Victory, the Mary Rose and the submarine museum are all interesting and child friendly.

Get the train to Cardiff - so much there to do, and very easy to get round by bus once there. DS adored St Fagans at that age as it was plenty of room to run round as well as looking at stuff

Hastings and Rye are lovely (we were there a few weekends ago)
Bath is beautiful, lots to see and do.
Hunstanton is great for kids, ours always love the beach/crazy golf/arcades/bowling.

Lake District is lovely - easy to get to by car or rail. Just avoid Windermere and go for some of the smaller ones e.g. Grasmere

Cambridge is gorgeous. The Cotswolds can be done by train fairly easily.

Alnwick/Northumberland but you’d have to get the train as it would take an age by car.

Lovely train journey direct from kings cross

Swanage, Jersey. St Ives, Oxford, Cotswold's,

Another vote for Wells-next-the-Sea. Static caravans or cottages depending on budget. Go in the summer months (it’ll be busy) or early September it’s usually still quite nice. You can go crabbing, walk up to the beach, there’s an arcade. Cromer is also a short distance away (you can grab a bus if you didn’t want to drive) with a few more child friendly attractions like mini golf. Hunstanton also has a few child friendly attractions. Wells is in the middle between Hunstanton and Cromer.

Bath is easily reached by train from London and is beautiful. Not sure what kid friendly activities there are though. Have a look at the trains out of Paddington, you can get to Chippenham, Bristol, Taunton, Cardiff within 4 hours.

Durham, and Beamish would make a nice break. Or even Hartlepool we have the Naval museum maritime experience with the Trincomalee that is great for children, lovely beaches and "seaside" too.

Disneyland Paris? Quick train ride from London.

Norwich and Brighton.

Tenby (go by train) or any seaside resort

Boat holiday on the Norfolk Broads. Previous experience is not needed, they give you a lesson as before you sail away. It's so much fun and amazingly relaxing.

We’ve done Bristol and Cardiff in the last couple ofyears and can highly recommend. Agree with St Fagans nr Cardiff and also Barry Island beach - you can get the train from Cardiffor drive as it’s only about 5 miles away. The sand was pristine clean and there was plenty of space even on a nice summer day.

Check ou

I don't live in the UK but over the years have visited:
Liverpool
Manchester
Winchester
Norwich
St Albans
Isle of Man

Forgot - also:
Oxford
Cambridge
Edinburgh
Glasgow
Dundee
Essex (Romford - don't ask, wouldn't recommend)
Greenwich

I second isle of wight

Lots of these suggestions are more than4 hrs from London. You can get a long way north fast if your destination is a city on the main line. If not...

I’d recommend the Isle of Wight too, loads to do, we were really pleasantly surprised when we went a few years ago. Avoid The Needles attraction though, it’s awful. Instead (if you want to see them), go up to the old battery (NT), there is a tunnel up there that gives you the best view of the needles. And you don’t need to battle the coach parties and tourist tat! We loved Carisbrook Castle, Ventor, the beaches, red squirrels, donkey sanctuary, Roman villa was also worth a look. Blackgang Chine and Shanklin Chine are classics with kids.

Also look at Bath, although this is probably less child friendly. I’d also do shorter weekends in Winchester or Salisbury or the New Forest.

Cotswolds would also work, but you’d definitely need a car. Stratford-upon-Avon is just over 2hrs on a direct train, but personally I’d drive and maybe do a visit as part of a Cotswolds tour.