To refuse to go on days out in the UK anymore ?

[Heswall]

I have spent half the day mumsnetting from my phone because we have been bored rigid on a "day out" at a local national trust event.
The egg hunt clues were crap or missing, I ended up offering lunch at Frankie and Benny's if we could get the hell out of there and warm up.
I am sick of having to buy tons of layers of warm clothing that get taken off and then lost - if anyone finds an age 11-12 Joules Aire bodywarmer can I have it back please ? - I am sick of paying £60 in petrol and entrance fees for an hours entertainment at best.
For the price of Alton Towers I can fly two people to Spain, I feel I have done every farm, theme park, old house in the half of the country I live in.
AIBU to stay shove the staycation and save up for warm sunny weather and pastures new instead ?

Ah nice but it was planned with military precision probably where we went wrong although no doubt you'll be able to find plenty more we did wrong whilst trying to enjoy yourselves

I agree that they're maybe more suitable for 7-8 upwards to be actively involved, but that younger children might still enjoy the experience. DD (13) has learning difficulties, she didn't find many of the clues, but she was in charge of crossing out! She loved the walk with her clipboard... think she felt very important!

I put a link on earlier Grimma, but here it is again, www.treasuretrails.co.uk

Well today we attempted a food festival I was promised food and things for the kids to do cookery type things. What I got was traffic, rain, a big market for which you are charged entry to, a big inflatable slide and mud all over the back seat. Did I mention it rained. Went to a nice pub and ate, lots. Not so bad after all.

It wasn't planned with military precision if you discovered the tea room prices were more than you wanted to pay and you did not have a flask and a slab of cake of your own.

Rainy bank holiday monday, next time do the cookery stuff at home and then go to the pub. The other way round probably not wise.

I'm lucky - I work for a US company, they are perfectly happy for me to work on bank holidays and take a day in lieu whenever. DD has been quietly revising for her exams all day . DH has been occupied 'fixing' the front door lock

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As a family we love nothing more than to pack a small picnic and head into the countryside for a walk. The countryside in the UK can be breathtaking. We then have a pub lunch with dominos next to a fire. Perfect , inexpensive day.

I don't do flasks and soggy sarnies, I don't care how loverly the cake started off being by the time it's been transported around for 4 hours it's sweaty and yuk

I agree Grimma, it was raining here today. We walked in the morning for a few hours - we have dogs so have no choice. Then home for painting and baking.

I have never had a soggy sandwich, a picnic can be much more than a sandwich for starters and my cake is never sweaty and yuk.

Does walking followed by baking count as a day out ? Not really what I was getting at tbh.

We have stayed in all day today cos of the rain. we have played board games, texas hold poker (taught to me by DS aged 9!) ticket to ride europe, carcassonne, we have cooked lovely food, fed our baby chicks and generally not had the tv on or spent a penny on entertainment all day! [busmile] you dont need to spend £££ on days out theres lots you can do together with your kids. if we do days out then we usually try and have cheap ones. cannot agree with all the anti staycationers. Have you thought about your carbon footprint with all these flights abroad? No point doing all the recycling type stuff if you blow it all on a flight to Malaga imo.

I was trying to suggest something different as you commented on the price of NT tea shops etc.

A day out need not include paying admission to somewhere.

If you are going to a NT place you can have your picnic in a hamper or coolbox in the car and therefore it will not be all sweaty

The point is that it may well be wise to avoid an organised 'day out' on a rainy Bank Holiday Monday. If you're doing it out of desparation to get the kids out of the house, then you're probably doomed.

Save up and go abroad by all means if you want but be careful; last year we went to Turkey at Easter. It was colder than the UK and rainy. That was fine, as we were there to see Ephesus etc, and (having checked the forecasts) had taken Goretex and fleece - but some poor souls thought they were there for sun and waterparks. The sightseeing cost money just like it would in the UK.

We love board games :o Carcassonne is fab. Have you tried Settlers of Catan? We were given it as a wedding present.

As part of our Staycation (I really hate that term, but it's quicker than the actual description! Much like 'playdate') we are going to have a massive game night, and a home cinema night.

We are also going to get our big tent out in the garden for a night or two.

We love Settlers of Catan.

Do you think it's bad to have too many days out? Will it just raise expectations too high?

We don't do much because of lack of money, but when we do go somewhere it's special and exciting. I am amazed at how often my wealthiest friend takes her 4yo out to really expensive places - theme parks once a month etc. She can easily afford it so fair play I guess but I would find that exhausting! I am admittedly more of a lazy quiet night in type person though.

Because we are only likely to be able to afford to go to somewhere once, we tend to save them until the DCs are older. DD is already asking about Disneyland (some of her friends have been) but there's just no point yet as her brother is only 2 and is too young to go on many things!

I love the UK and there's so much more of it I'd like to see - we haven't been abroad for years - but what gets me is a) how much everything costs and b) how crowded everywhere is.

We've made a decision this weekend to avoid anywhere vaguely touristy on weekends/school holidays/Bank Holidays after a very unsuccessful trip down to London on Friday - all we seemed to do was queue and spend money! But when the hell are you supposed to go when you work and your kids are in school?! There are loads of places I'd like to take DD but they either cost a fortune (Madame Tussauds I'm looking at you) or are hideously busy the whole time. How the hell do people cope with places like Disneyland or Alton Towers - or afford to go to them in the first place?

By contrast we went for a wet because I jumped in too many puddles walk at a local forest centre this afternoon, paid £2 for DD to follow the nature trail and get a Creme Egg at the end and all had a great time - I think I need to remember that and not feel that we have to do the big attractions just because - or in fact, specifically because - everyone else is!

I'm in 2 minds about NT membership - lots of our friends have it and I know I'd enjoy it but there aren't that many places near us (although it would be useful when we go away) and I wonder how much DD would get out of it - surely if you just want to walk around somewhere pretty there are plenty of places you can do it for free?

fuzz - yes, I think you can overdo it (the NT/ theme park type things, not walk/park/beach with picnic/pub type thing, can't overdo those). And waiting till they're old enough to really appreciate and remember a special place makes sense, esp if budget is limited.

We never did get around to going to Disneyland!

I vow never to go to Alton Towers again as they charge a fiver to park, I think that's disgusting actually.
Disney is once in a lifetime for most children and Its all about the timing. Dd3 was 4 and doesn't really remember going. I think that's really my point I'd rather forgo all the £100 days out and go on two holidays. It's taken me 8 years to conduct the experiment but that's my conclusion.

Each to their own

There are lots of nice piles of stones to look at up and down the country heavily guarded by English Heritage so nobody nicks them.

I think people are not comparing like with like. Walking/park/baking/board games cost very little. Big days out such as theme parks or major attractions are expensive.Forgoing all the walks in the woods aint ever going to pay for a trip abroad but 3X 5 to a popular attraction just might. I wouldn't take home made cake with me, but I do take chocolate bars which transport so much better and a kitkat is a kitkat whether it was bought in morrisons or a NT tea shop

We went to two free museums in Bristol today - the M shed and the art gallery/ museum. It worked because we just spent less than an hour in each and Dcs didn't get the chance to be bored. Strangely both were much less busy than the other two main indoor attractions in Bristol - the aquarium and @bristol both looked heaving and neither is cheap.

It depends on age of Dcs but with ours (5 and a baby) a full on day out with high expectations is usually a recipe for disaster.

Well, here it has pissed down horribly rained, all day. The assorted offspring (we've got friends staying) fought and argued all morning and in desperation we took them to the Hell that is soft play on a rainy bank holiday this afternoon (our blonde-haired blue-eyed girls got in a fight with four boys instead. Won, obviously - was there ever any doubt? [bublush]) and then to Azda for a bit of a thrill on the way home. The scheduled wholesome "outing" had been an NT egg hunt but though I'm game for the odd spot of drizzle, pissing down horribly raining all day & wet miserable children is probably against some part of the Geneva Convention.

Yes, it's luvverly to go for a bracing walk in the country on a sunny day, and yes, you can take a picnic and it's all cheap and fun and splendid. That's great as long as you have an actual choice eg if it's the weekend and you think: "oh, shall we get on the train and pop into London and do the museums today, or shall we go for a nice country walk. Let's look at the weather forecast." And you get to cherry-pick the nice days and it's a bit of a novelty and everyone is has at least a little bit of fun, when the Great Outdoors is on its best behaviour. That's an entirely different thing to a staycation where you spend 2 weeks in the pissing rain rain, and you've packed the same damn picnic 10 days in a row and you are all sick of effing hula hoops and you are nowhere near a respectable-sized town with convenient museums and galleries and so there is absolutely nothing to do which doesn't involve standing or sitting or walking about outside in the pissing rain- rain and the kids have read all their books and played their games and completely used up all of the emergency fun you had planned and are bored rigid and refusing to set foot outside the door, let alone eat another limp wet sandwich in the steamed-up car ever again.

2 weeks in a country where the sun shines - even if you are doing exactly the same things as you would be here - starts to look pretty attractive, because all those things are a lot more fun if everyone isn't wet and miserable.