Tell me of 10 uk attractions/landmarks that my children shouldn't miss out on.

[coodawoodashooda]

Ill start.

1. Buckingham Palace
2. House of Commons
3. Windsor Castle
4. Hampton Court Palace
5. Llangollan cannal
6. Edinburgh castle
7. Hadrian's wall
8. Culloden battlefield
9. Royal Mile

10. Cairngorms

Ten mine have loved
Killhope Wheel in Weardale
Great Yorkshire Show
Cadbury World
Blackpool Illuminations
Yorkshire Wildlife Park
Lake Windermere
Edinburgh Zoo
Flamingo Land
Mother Shiptons Cave
Holy Island

So to add my view:

Black country living museum
Imperial War mUseum
The South bank of London stroll from Tate Modern to Houses of Parliament
The Science Museum
Alton Towers (sorry!)
Snowdon
The big pit (Wales)
Blackpool illuminations and the fun fair

On that more, the 'right to roam' - you cannot go wandering in farms abroad, but in the UK you can.

No you can’t, you have to stick to footpaths.

^

Yup. That's what I said. You can't do that abroad. You wander on the footpaths in the UK.

Stop splitting feathers

1. An island and a boat trip e.g. Anglesey or Lindisfarne
2. A mountain - Scotland or Wales then!
3. An amazing train journey e.g. Settle-Carlisle
4. A ship
5. A castle
6. A day on the beach
7. The Lake District or the Peak District or similar
8. An amazing art gallery
9. A canal trip or other engineering attraction e.g. bridge, Falkirk wheel
10. An amazing museum

I have not visited NI personally so this is England/Wales/Scotland focused.

I would also try to get one thing in 'London' as you have to have a look at it I think.

If you love wildlife Isle of May in puffin season. It's amazing along with the other birds.

I just had to google the abuse Tunnel! Thrilled to realise that we've been there many times.

Abuse tunnel? Meant Bude tunnel.

young children find most of the above mentioned things boring as most children are not remotely interested in sightseeing. in my experience children are much happier visiting beaches, theme parks etc, places they can general have fun rather than staring at a boring sculpture or architecture, they also do not appreciate beautiful scenery such as the lake district like an adult would. so don't put pressure on yourself for your dc to be visiting all these things that are amazing to an adult as most likely your dc will just be bored by them. wait until they are much older when they will be more likely to enjoy these things.

Liverpool, The Beatles tours, Ferry Cross the Mersey and The Western Approaches (all about how we survived in WW2 when shipments were being attacked by U Boats),
At least one stately home - Chatsworrh would be my choice
York - The Jorvik Centre, and the railway museum.
The Dorset Coast, taking in Durdle Door, the Tank Museum, Lawrence of Arabia and Thomas Hardy stuff.
One of the living museums, either Beamish or Ironbridge.
If they like art, one of the Tate Galleries, if you go to Liverpool do Tare Liverpool and the Walker. Both excellent galleries.
If you do Liverpool, go to Crosby beach and see Another Place by Antony Gormley.

Lots of these are great ideas. Will add them to my list of places to go!

I agree with the poster who said about the list of experiences is a good thing to be able to tick off. The uk has so many brilliant places to go, and they are all special in their own ways. I think to plan a trip where you can tick off a number of things in one go would be easiest to achieve.

I will add in visiting a tiny seaside town with higgledy streets and lovely beaches. Tenby springs to mind, or places in Cornwall, Dorset etc.

You could take a boat trip to see wildlife (dolphins, seals, puffins). You could have fish and chips, ice cream, look for fossils, build sandcastles.

Big cities have lots to do and see, and all different depending on their history, industry etc.

Get out in to the countryside, where you're away from everything and can hear nature.

This thread is so Mumsnetty!

I agree with @Ritasueandbobtoo9

Yes @saladcreamnomayo I gave up trying to instil cultural capital. Mine found Stately Homes boring, iconic landmarks (eg Giant's Causeway) disappointing and the big London museums "a waste of time". What they did find exciting was seeing a man in the Berlin u bahn inject himself in the thigh I don't think my dc will be MN parents.

@DaisyDozyDee

If you were planning it as a trip to the UK, I wouldn’t personally aim for ticking off landmarks, but then that’s not my kind of holiday. I mi it helps, I think ideally children growing up here should have the opportunity to at some point visit: London A selection of other cities (e.g. a few from: Birmingham, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Bristol, Portsmouth, York, Liverpool, Manchester, Brighton - preferably visiting at least one of them often enough to feel comfortable visiting alone/with friends once they’re old enough). A proper hill with rewarding views. Seaside. Canals. A substantial castle (and a ruined one). A steam train ride. A stately home or palace. A big ship that can be explored. A boat trip. Somewhere with strong industrial heritage. A science museum. A natural history museum. A Roman site. A local museum. An art gallery. A big sports event and/or concert. A theme park.

I’m sure I’ve missed out more great options, but I’d focus more on the breadth of the experiences rather than ticking off specific landmarks.

I agree with this, it's a varied range of experiences and gives children scope to develop their interests. We've got a heritage museum relatively locally and they do themed days a bit like a living museum; once we turned up on a 1940s day and you could see something click in DS's brain and since then he's had a deep interest in WW2. He was 4 then and it continues now he's 10.

I also agree with the poster about the local area. So many people don't know their own doorstep. In early lockdown when families stopped being ferried to sports and events each weekend, they suddenly went out walking and discovered interesting things a 1/2 mile walk from the house that they'd been oblivious to.

I've been bloody lucky to see a good number of stunning places across Europe and Asia, but it's also made me appreciate the variation and diversity of the UK, and how much can change from one end of a county to another.

What you can realistically do will vary on where you are. For me, Scotland has some amazing delights, but it's a substantial journey to travel up to the central belt, then an epic journey for many of the more rural delights which isn't the most child-friendly experience. Going south or to Wales is more accessible for where we are and can give an equivilent for many experiences.
If London is viable, the scale of the city and sheer density of famous landmarks isn't mimicable in the UK though.

My kids are older now, but things we've done over the year that were really enjoyed were:

A trip to London - tube rides, Madame Tussaud's, London eye a walk by the Houses of Parliament and seeing Big Ben.

Theme parks - Alton towers, Chessington, LegoLand and Drayton manor.
Harry Potter Studios.

York - Jorvik Viking centre, looking around the city at the historical sites.

Whitby - the lovely shops and steps up to the abbey.

Chatsworth house, gardens, farm & playground.

Beamish museum

Symphony Hall, Birmingham to watch many cbso performances over the years. Also The Barbican and Royal Albert Hall.

Theatre to watch Matilda and wicked.

Centre for Alternative Technology

Eden project (this could have been better imo)

@immersivereader

Drystone wall question: these only exist in the Uk.

On that more, the 'right to roam' - you cannot go wandering in farms abroad, but in the UK you can.

Here's a few if mine :

Anglican cathedral, Liverpool
Howarth
A football stadium
Cricket match
York minster
A village (olde worlde)
Bolton Abbey
Chatsworth

No, there are drystone walls all over the west of Ireland.

Tarr Steps.
Sennen Cove (and surrounding area)
Crown Engine Houses at Botallack
Henrhyd Falls
Lulworth Cove (on a quiet day and don't look at the carpark)
Tyneham Village (and Worbarrow Bay)
Tall trees trail in the New Forest

Can you tell I live in the South West?

‘ ColinTheKoala

Giants Causeway and the North Antrim coastline - don’t just walk to the rocks and back ! Walk down then come back by walking up over the cliff. Spectacular

Yes I would definitely add this to my list. People rave about other coastlines but I don't think there's anywhere as beautiful as the Antrim coast. Not sure if kids would find it that interesting though.’

That coastline has some of the most beautiful white sand beaches with massive dunes, Carrick-A -Rede rope bridge, an amazing forest park, and playgrounds galore. Our kids LOVE going there! Go in the summer and use the beaches…

Devils Causeway
Durdle Door and Lulworth Cove
Attractions on the banks of the Thames in London
Cambridge
Bath
Black Country museum
Edinburgh
Gower Coast
York
Liverpool and docks

Liverpool Slavery Museum
Natural History Museum
Glasgow - city tour
Edinburgh - tour of sites
Scottish Highlands
The Cotswolds
Kew Gardens
Hampton Court
Chatsworth House
Orkney

East Lancashire Railway (steam trains)
Forbidden Corner
Crich tramway museum
Chessington World of Adventure (especially Zufari)
House of Marbles
Tamworth Castle (lovely, friendly castle, children are encouraged to w
Corram Fields in London
Legoland hotel (it's even better than Legoland itself)
Blackpool zoo (inc feeding the giraffes, was very cheap)
Blackpool Tower Circus

We did a family trip to York a couple of years ago and it was great for kids. We did:

Transport museum, incl afternoon tea in an old train carriage
Yorvik museum
Ghost bus tour
We also took a steam train to Whitby and visited the abbey, played the slots and got chips and fresh fried doughnuts...very seaside-y

DD used to love Harrods as a child esp around Christmas and bekonscot in Beaconsfield was a big hit when I was growing up and then for her too. Also Roald Dahl museum is good for Littles if you're in Bucks.

We now live in NI and love the Ulster Folk Museum (don't think it's been mentioned yet), Titanic museum and giants causeway. My daughter is obviously more easily pleased than a previous posters unimpressed son...we walked from the top down and all thought it was stunning!