Holiday ideas with 5yo October UK?

[coffeemonsterr]

We have a 5 year old and looking to go away over October 1/2 term. For some reason our schools half term is a week earlier than most so I’m hoping we will be able to find something.

we don’t have the budget to do a sunshine holiday and would rather not risk places like Canaries which may only be warm not hot, or where pools could be freezing. Unless we can afford long-haul then we would rather choose a UK break and embrace the weather!

So with that in mind does anyone have any suggestions for a UK Holliday in October with a 5yo? 5yo loves swimming so we would love access to an indoor pool, and is very active so we would look for nature, and other fun adventures.

I’m not a big fan of Centre Parcs and find it massively overpriced for what it is - just in case!

oh! Came here to suggest the obvious answer, centreparcs , then rtft.

where roughly do you live and do you drive?

You could base yourself near Windsor - you could do a day at :

• Coral Reef water park near Bracknell (nothing too special but the pirate ship is fun for a five year old and if brave there are some slides
• Legoland
• half a day at The Lookout also near Bracknell (a hands-on science place with a big tower to climb - several times if dc likes it!). If it’s not raining there’s a great forest adventure play area - you can also build dens from logs or do junior go ape or hire bikes and have a cycle in the forest)
• visit Windsor castle
• Possibly drive an hour west and visit the Living Rainforest or catch a train to central London and do the Science or Natural History museum

Whatever you do it needs to have lots of indoor stuff

We have some amazing holidays in the North East every year. Assuming you have a car I would go to Yorkshire. York itself has lots to do- my young kids loved the DIG pretend archaeologist exhibit and the castle museum/ Jorvik viking ride the train museum and walking the city walls. Then you have Scarborough on the coast which has a sealife centre and a little train that runs up the cliffs and the arcades. Brimham rocks is a stunning natural climbing frame of rock formations we all loved walking. Yorkshire has natural caves you can go in (Stump Caverns) and there is a theme park (Flamingo Land). We have travelled to Beamish living museum with the whole streets of historic buildings you can wander around. There is a birds of prey centre at Thirsk. Whitby is beautiful, as is Durham. Yorkshire has the forbidden corner which is just amazing- all the adults and kids loved exploring it- it is hard to explain just how fun it was! We take the kids to sessions at local leisure centres when we stay- we particularly love the one on the coast at South Shields but that is a little further up- I would recommend just searching for leisure centres if you want to stay in cheaper accommodation. As a cheaper area of the country generally I feel our money goes a bit further when eating out/ paying for accomadation than it does down South.

@DustlandFairytaleBeginning this sounds lovely. I assume (being a southerner!) it’s probably a risk of being a bit windy and wet all year round so you’ve got wet-weather activities nailed.

And you’re right about the CoL - if you want a laugh, google how much it costs to show a family around Windsor castle for the day visit. Our beloved Queen was certainly keen to let the tourist hordes part with their cash, and King C hasn’t changed that policy!

Just to be clear @DustlandFairytaleBeginning - do you think you could do all that stuff in one week? I’m wondering how far apart things are. With a small child (my dc is 6) I wouldn’t want to have to journey over 30 mins from my “base” hotel more than once in a short vacation.

What about Butlins it might be quieter if its before the school holidays

We once did a Haven caravan in Norfolk over that week. Was lovely - great beaches, even if not sunny you can still build sandcastles and forts etc. Haven put on all sorts of fun Halloween stuff - staff dressed up etc. You can go seal spotting etc. It was a good holiday. You can just do 3 or 4 nights, doesn't have to be the whole week.

It’s not a UK holiday, but I’d go to Spain. Spain is wonderful at the end of October. Not ridiculously hot like it is all summer and it’s my favourite time to go. I’ve gone to Barcelona and Valencia a number of times end of October and early November. You could do a mix of resort and city break if you didn’t want to spend the whole time at the beach. Equally you could totally do a whole week in a city and still not pay as much as Centre Parcs.

@DustlandFairytaleBeginningthsnks, I like the idea of Yorkshire. Have been to York pre-DC but not since. Whereabouts would you suggest being a good base for all those ideas? What sort of area within Yorkshire, other than York?

@AyaMauathank you. It’s one idea but as we live in West London it doesn’t feel much like a holiday! Good ideas for weekends though.

I came on to say York too. Stay at the Novotel, it has a pool and is 5
mons walk to the city centre.

What about Flamingo land my kids are over 25 so not been in years but its worth a look. Or caravan parks round about Scarborough or Whitby .

Now about Hendra in Newquay? They have caravans and a good indoor pool. Great base for lots of lovely places in Cornwall with lots of indoor attractions if weather is bad

Thanks for these thoughts. At the moment I really like the idea of finding somewhere in York which has a pool- maybe some kind of holiday lets. Not keen on caravans sorry - especially not in October!
the only thing is that a lot of the day trips the pp suggested are over an hour away from York by car. One or two of those would be fine but we would also need to stay local and do stuff. Anyone been to York and can recommend other attractions suitable for an active 5yo that are within 30 minutes or so of York?

Scarborough would be a good base for wanting to stay in Yorkshire .It has the water park .

We did 5 days with DD in York when she was 7. S/C appartment though, just outside the city walls but York is extremely walkable. We are in SE London so the drive was on the longer side.

We did one day trip to Castle Howard. Scarborough was a plan as well but the weather wasn't that great.