Cornwall to London - where to stop over for the night?

[theonlywayisup33]

Trying to plan our summer holiday back from Penzance (all booked) but we have a dd with SEN and so want to stop over for a night somewhere. DH was thinking of doing two one night stopovers as i understand it is a long journey in the summer but ideally I don't want to do that.
DD cannot spend too long in the car so advice would helpful. This will be for August but we want to book now as it's all so busy.
We can't do any leaving in the early hours - more just 9-10am. So where is good to stop over?

It took us 12 hours (should have been 5.5) to get back from North Devon a few years ago thanks to traffic, roadworks and accidents

We did a similar journey and stopped for a night at a lovely pub near Exeter.
www.thecridfordinn.co.uk/

What about a night at Wookey Hole? They have a hotel and lodges, the caves and attractions are fun and Wells is just up the road.

If you can't leave early could you leave late? Especially if you'll be travelling on a Saturday which is changeover day for most places so the world and his wife are on the road. We used to travel between Cornwall and London a lot with our dcs and we'd always leave around 6/7pm. (Just find something to do locally through the day if you have to be out of your accommodation early). They'd invariably fall asleep after a couple of hours and we'd just pile on through the journey. Downside was they'd be bouncing off the ceiling when we got home and dh and I would be knackered!

We also tended to travel on the M4 as the A303 is a nightmare during holiday periods.

I'd leave early/late. We've done 2am and 6am before and misses out a lot of traffic. You don't want to hit cities eg Bristol during rush hour. Stay over in Exeter or Yeovil. Gloucester services is nice.

Thank you all. We will look into those places suggested.
Maybe Exeter/ Yeovil/ Okehampton.

Bumping this as I have the same quest. Booked Woolley Grange for a 2 night stopover on the way to Cornwall which will kick off the holiday nicely, but struggling to decide/book something for the way back... We will only stop for one night on the way back and I'm trying to avoid making it really miserable.

Take the train and rent a car in Penzance?

Another vote for Okehampton. Could you leave at, say, 4pm to let the main rump of travellers get well ahead. Then if you were to leave Okehampton at about 9am the following day you would still be ahead of them. I always find the M25/N Circular bit dreadful too. Might it be worth staying somewhere close to the M25 before trying the final leg.

Thanks for the replies already! I've just booked a room at Bishopstrow - they can accommodate a family in one room so it isn't at expensive as I first thought. I think we will aim to leave Cornwall very early (6-7am) to get there hopefully for lunch and stay that afternoon/night. They have a pool etc which the kids can use. Then depart super early the next day to get back to London. Next time I think we will train it or fly, issue is we are bringing all our bikes which is why we decided to drive, hope we don't regret it. Friends of ours took 12 hours to return from Bude during May half-term week :0