British weather on holiday with bored kids help

[Towelles]

On holiday in Norfolk with DH and SDC for a week. It’s overcast and windy. I am an outdoors person but SDC (primary aged) aren’t so we can’t do activities any water sports. They don’t really like walking far

The caravan park facilities are ok but the arcade and food is expensive. It’s too cold to swim in the pool longer than an hour. The on site park is shit. The beach is lovely but very windy and the kids are bored after an hour or so. There is evening entertainment so that’s all covered it’s the day times

We have been mostly driving around trying to find things to do. Went to a play park today with a zip wire that actually charged adults to go in and frankly it was a rip off.

We went to see the seals the DC thought that was boring.

I would be happy to do coastal walks or hire bikes I think it’s beautiful here

About to hire a boat to go on the broads (for ££££) (I would also like to walk around but I don’t think this will be popular) so basically it’s me sitting in the back of a boat watching the SDC argue about who is steering it

Can anyone suggest ideas?

we tried crabbing yesterday but the kids got bored as we didn’t catch anything

they then slept in till 10am so most of the day was gone by the time everyone got dressed

please help me save my sanity - is this going to just cost me £1,000 to make this week any good?

I’d completely missed that she said husband, I see that now. I had incorrectly assumed that she was still at the dating stage, as I’m surprised you would actually get married to anyone without knowing that their kids are like this and what their parenting is like.

My kids are the same age. On our last holiday they also just wanted to be by the pool, so I said "Right kids, we're going on a 5km walk because I want to see x and y, when we get there I'll buy you an icecream, then we'll walk back and then pool time. I think just plan what YOU want to do and bring them along and stop revolving everything around them.

Boardgames, crafts, watch a film.

I also specifically told my kids that holidays are for the whole family, I want to do X, Dad wants to do Y and they want to do Z, so we'll do all three because that's called compromising and then we all have fun. They were fine with it.

My youngest is that age and loves aquariums (so does my big teen to be honest). We also do museums, escape rooms, crazy golf, arcades, etc.
Look for go karting, climbing walls, VR places.
And yes it's going to cost a fortune! This is why we don't holiday in the UK, we aren't sporty or outdoorsy and it's shit as it's always cold!

We have holiday’d a lot in Norfolk and days out can get expensive but the best value and most enjoyable for our kids were:

bewilderwood (lots of play areas and slides and kids shows in the woods with a boat ride at the beginning)

pettits adventure park (rides and animals and play areas)

Happisburgh beach (lovely shallow pools for paddling and next to a park)

sandringham estate play park (free apart from car park)

please avoid any aquariums- so expensive and the kids are bored and done within 45 mins from my experience

We live in Norfolk and go to Haven Caister most years as Ds (13 with autism) loves it. I wouldn’t bother with the sea life centre in Yarmouth, it’s absolutely tiny and you’ll be done with it in an hour. The things we enjoy most are Southwold - just down the road along the coast, old fashioned seaside resort, the pier has some really good vintage arcade type stuff. Go to Norwich for the day, the castle has just re opened; have lunch somewhere- the market has some nice stalls for cookies, food etc. Planet Spice and the Smokehouse (two separate restaurants) are really nice places to eat out. If you can handle a longer road trip High Lodge near Thetford is good, you can hire bikes and cycle through the forest. But yes, ultimately the dc have to change their mindset.

There’s a great science museum in Norwich if that’s of interest?

I’m going to go against most people on this thread. The stepchildren don’t sound especially difficult if they are happy with the pool and arcade. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. Sometimes it’s simpler to just go for the easiest option. I’m more like your step kids (despite being in my 60s!). I’d much prefer to be in a tacky seaside arcade than having a long walk along a windy beach!

OP has said though that the arcade is expensive and it’s currently not warm enough to swim in the pool.

Another thing - kids often mirror adults. If you're anxious that they're bored and their Dad is sort of listless and aimless, then that's what they'll mirror. I bet if you both get genuinely excited about walks and beaches then they'll mirror that too.

Have a day at home playing games and puzzles

Second Sandringham and High Lodge, although both probably over an hour by car.
Marina leisure centre...newly refurbished pool with a couple of slides Dh can take them and you can go for a walk? There is a Lido at Beccles which is heated I think...can also get the black dog ferry to the locks inn at Geldeston. Various canoe hire places around there. Maybe a bit chilly, but it's not that cold inland round here...
Bungay has a pool with a slide. I would make your dh take them on a tour of the local pools and give you some time to walk and enjoy the countryside, then reconvene for family stuff later in the day?
Southwold?

The pool at Great Yarmouth would be a good trip. It has slides (think there is also a climbing wall there)

I manged to booka boat for the next day from weyford marine

Cromer Pier? Sheringham Museum and the mammoth trail?

Cinema ?

There's a Sealife Centre in Hunstanton too and the pirate crazy golf there is fun, and there's a decent indoor pool, also a bowling alley and you can go out on a trip with the Wash Monster, an amphibious vehicle (if it's not too similar to the previous seal trip). So if you're anywhere near Hunstanton you could fill a day no problem. The things I have mentioned are close together. A little further out of town is the Lavender Farm which has petting animals and (I think) a softplay.

There are a few farm barn type softplays if you Google.

I found a discount code online last time we did Sealife. I'd say it fills 2 hours.

had a huge row all afternoon and told him he was wet parenting them. He made a point about them mirroring my boredom but I said the problem is, they are just willing hostages counting down the hours until swimming. I suggested letting them swim first before we go out, or twice a day, and said he needs to hype them up a lot more than he is when it isn’t something that exciting.

This all started as I thought we were going to look at basking seals, which was what we agreed. When we got to the beach there were seals bobbing their heads up in the sea so we walked 0.2 miles onto the first bit of sand from the car park… and the kids just dug a hole there and started throwing stones around so we stood there for an hour getting wind blown seeing nothing. I was expecting us to walk down the beach or the pretty coastal pathway but what happened is that when we did walk for 20-30 mins, they trailed hundreds of feet behind us so we were walking like snails and had to keep stopping for them to catch up. DP said after a certain point I just carried on walking (setting a pace for them to catch up) but they didn’t so we just all got further apart from each other and I will admit I was disappointed because not once did DP say ‘OMG let’s see the seals’ or ‘isn’t this pretty’ we just all walked along reluctantly in penance

He launched into this whole thing about how he feels responsible for me and my enjoyment on this holiday blah blah I said we all ought to be able to enjoy something we like for a small amount of time, but silently expecting the DC to tolerate activities they clearly don’t like isn’t the answer either because no one enjoys it - he needs to be more proactive. I said I am an adult and I can take care of my own needs I wasn’t expecting him to treat me like I am the third child. We walked down this river today because he thought i would like it but the kids didn’t, so it was AWFUL exactly the same experience as above. Me walking fairly normal pace and kids meters and meters behind us dragging their feet

Us all trudging around places no one is having fun isn’t working out. I did explain he needs to talk to them to tell them to check their privilege and tell their faces to try to enjoy the all expenses paid holiday we are taking them on. Because they aren’t verbally moaning he has taken offence, but I pointed out they ARE complaining passive aggressively instead and he is allowing it

I’ve said my bit now and his suggestion was we don’t holiday together again. Right so instead of parenting, exclude me.

It does sound awful and like you probably shouldn't holiday together, or at least, not spend the days together.

You'd be better off somewhere like Searles' in Hunstanton. You could leave them to it and take the car out!

I agree with him about taking separate holidays. Let him take his kids on holiday on his own and you can go for and do your own thing without having to worry about anyone else.

Trying to think about it from their point of view, I’m not sure I’d want to be dragged around Norfolk with my step-mum either.

I'd be bored trudging about too. It sounds like there is 0 joy. It's not the walking as such it sounds like you don't talk as you go, laugh, joke etc. You could be playing the 'would you rather' game the whole way (would you rather be a donkey with a giraffe neck or a giraffe with a donkey bum). But you're painting a picture of walking around in silence with everyone scowling.

@Towelles have you seen this?

DH said to winging relative who moaned she was bored - that things aren't boring, people are.

Cinema?