Must Do day trips to tag onto a holiday near Longleat

[BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz]

We are many driving hours north of Longleat, but I really want to take the dcs (10 and 8). Would be daft to go all that way and not add in other stuff, so I'm looking for anything within about a 1 hour drive of Longleat that your kids of a similar age have absoloutley loved.

Also, is Longleat a 1 day or is 2 worth doing?

We will have a car, it'll be late English summer holidays when we go, and we will probably need to find self catering accomodation somewhere in that area.

Any lovely villages or small towns worth a good mooch around near there too?

Stourhead, Sherborne (2 castles, Abbey, shops & cafes), Wells (cathedral, Bishops Palace) would be on my list.

We’re doing the same this summer - camping near Longleat and doing some other days out. Just bought our tickets with Clubcard Vouchers! It’s a great day out but so expensive that I don’t think it’s worth paying for a second day. They used to do a 2-day pass but don’t seem to any more, sadly.

We’ve stayed in the area before and love Stourhead for fantastic walks and a decent cafe so will go back there. Watching with interest for other ideas.

Wookey Hole definitely not worth the money!

Paignton Zoo is good if not animaled out after Longleat.

Bath
Stonehenge
The Dorset coast

We did a weekend at Longleat Center Parcs with a day at Longleat itself tacked on. Worked well.

I imagine I'd have to sell a kidney, a kid or my soul to purchase a weekend at CP in the school summer holidays

Frome is a nice place for a mooch, independent shops, nice cafés. Very close to Longleat, about 6 miles.

Salisbury a bit further away, but well within your hour (25 miles).

Right on the hour is Monkey World near Warehem.

The Hawk Conservancy Trust near Andover is about 45 mins away.

The Fleet Air Arm Museum - you can go on Concorde and the air craft carrier experience is fab.

Quite a few of the local campsites/accommodation will do you a really good discount for Longleat - definitely worth checking.

Longleet Safari park is pretty much a full day activity I would say, if not more. There are many sections to it, both driving and on foot. Plus the boat ride and the train if you fancy that.

App went weird so posting as photo!

We had a great time at Shepton Mallet prison. They have escape rooms - which are proper old prison cells - and you can also tour the whole prison.

The roman baths at Bath have a good audio tour with a kids version and when we went there were also some reenactors there to talk to. We also went to the Royal Crescent.

We also went to Cheddar Gorge, a massive outlet centre called Clarks Village and the Hauser and Wirth Somerset gallery.

It probably depends on which side of Longleat you're staying.

We camped at the site near the entrance, definitley two days at longleat

Avebury
Silbury Hill
West Kennet Long Barrow
The White Horses
Stoney Littleton Long Barrow

You've got to remember that the traffic is bad in Dorset in the summer holidays. It would be nearly 2 hrs to the Dorset coast from Longleat on clear roads, in summer traffic it could be 3. I wouldn't factor in anywhere much more than 30 miles away to be within an hour.

Bristol has plenty of things to do. We the curious is good for kids, there's various ships moored, museums.

I'd say 1 day is enough for Longleat.

Depending on what your kids like:
Jumpin Fun inflatable park in Salisbury
Avebury Stone Circle plus Wiltshire Museum
Bowood is lovely on a sunny day, big adventure playground
Cheddar Gorge and Wookey Hole
Dyrham Park and Lacock

Loads to do in Bath, Victoria Park, American Museum, Roman Baths, leisure centre has swimming pool, bowling and a trampoline park, theatres.

Thank you everyone, lots of lovely things for me to google and build an itinerary around!

Definetly don't want to be driving 3 hours one way to the coast for the day. We are lucky enough to live a short walk to the sea so will make this one an in-land trip.

Fleet Air arm museum and clarks Village

Winchester

If it was me, I would definitely do a day in Bath and visit Victoria Park and either the Roman Baths or the American Museum depending on where your children's interests lie.

And if they have any interest in pre-history, I'd first visit the Wiltshire Museum in Devizes (very hands-on and perfect for kids that age) and then on to Avebury, Silbury and West Kennet to see it all in real life. Nice pub in Avebury for lunch.

We had a lovely holiday near there about 10 years ago.
we stayed here if you are looking for self catering https://www.bythebyreholidays.com/ I think they offered discounted tickets to Longleat.

we also went to Stonehenge and Glastonbury on day trips , might be too far if you are staying a short time. Enjoy.

Legoland Windsor is a couple of hours away...

Long leaf has gone downhill alot. I wouldn’t recommend it.

Longleat!

My kids (much to my actual fury) are not even the slightest bit interested in Lego. They clearly were swapped at birth.

But I've arranged with dh that I get a solo weekend in Windsor at some point as I want to do a tour of the Palace and the kids wouldn't care a jot so I'm saving Windsor for a solo trip.

Maybe I should do Legoland alone