needing a car and UK holidays

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Been researching a few places to go to for a short break and my impression is that most place nowadays need a car. We live in London, dont own a car and DC both get too car sick to travel by car. Yes, we've gone to a few places in Kent but otherwise so much of advice on internet is 'a quick drive to....just park there...' Never quite realised just how limiting not driving would be when planning a holiday with kids in the UK.

It doesn’t surprise me. Not many people rely on public transport of the cities in the uk. Not just rural living but also town living can be difficult without a car.

so unless you want a city break I can imagine it’s hard.

Am very happy with a city break, just that it's summer so was thinking about somewhere more outdoorsy. We have been to Oxford, York, Liverpool, Brighton, Hastings, Broadstairs, Whitstable and a few others with the kids and will absolutely do the others over the next couple of years. I was reading up on New Forest, which sounded amazing but probably wont work for us.

Just need some planning
If you do a city break you can get around by tram and train....personally I get just as sick if not more on them, it may be about what you are used to.
If you want a beach holiday stay in a big resort on the beach where you don't need to go anywhere else, or one close to a town or in the town itself.
We were in Newquay last week, train station in the town, amazing beaches in the town, lots of things to do including a zoo and aquarium and activities for the kids, loads of places to eat, all walkable. There is also a bus that goes along the coast or you can get trains to other towns.
Or places like center parks where its all onside.

But seriously don't let travel sickness control you. We just give my DD tablets anytime we are driving more than 10-15 minutes.

I know you've been to York, but you can also use it as a base with easy trains to Leeds for royal armouries, Harrogate for Valley Gardens, RHS Harlow Carr and afternoon tea at Betty's, knaresborough for boating on the rive and Mother Shipton's Caves, and on to the coast (Filey and Scarborough).

@Mumof2teens79 how was Newquay? I've never been to Cornwal but would love to take DC.

This. Most of the national parks are only one change of train from London, some are even served directly.

I would say that all of the posters claiming that it's next-to impossible to holiday by train in the UK haven't looked into it properly. Even if you didn't live in London, large proportions of Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham manage to decamp to Rhyl/Blackpool/Windermere/Barmouth/wherever by train each year. They manage.

We don’t have a car and we’re currently on a walking holiday in Grasmere. The 30 minute bus ride there from Windermere obviously wouldn’t work for you but you could stay in Windermere.
The Hope valley in the Peak District has 4 train stations. Get the train to Sheffield, then change.
You could visit Pembrokeshire by getting the train to Tenby or Saundersfoot.
I appreciate the travel sickness limits things but you can go to plenty of places in the UK by train.
BTW see if your GP will prescribe your DC Phenergan. It’s the only travel sickness medication that works for DS.

@MinnieMountain thank you will check it out. I think most car sickness pills are sedatives so we use them for getting to somewhere and maybe on way back but not during the holidays themselves. Plus unfortunately neither taxi drivers nor bus drivers are very appreciative of two kids repeatedly vomiting throughout their journey.

I live in East Sussex. As well as all the above, there are lots of great routes for cycling on bridleways, including much of the South Downs Way and routes across the Ashdown Forest, and new ones like the Egrets Way that follows the route of the River Ouse from Newhaven to Lewes.

Rail connections aren't bad, either, at least on non-strike days.

Weymouth in Dorset is straight down the line from London. Lovely beach and a very britsh seaside resort. Lots to do in the area by bus too.

Could you give kids the Kwells children’s dose? There are specific Kwells travel sickness tablets for kids?

I live in London and don't drive, and have done lots of UK holidays without a car. Most city breaks are fine and I've always had great fun with dc of all ages - Birmingham, Sheffield, Liverpool, York, Leicester, Milton Keynes, Edinburgh, Bournemouth. Other places we've done are Butlins Bognor, Isle of Wight, North Wales, Center Parcs Woburn, Brockenhurst, Tobermory.

We did a farm holiday in Cornwall which was quite restrictive without a car, but it had lots to do on site so would be OK (except we went in 2020 and half those facilities were closed, but would be fine now!). And once went on an activity holiday in Wales which was supposed to have everything on site, except it rained and they cancelled some of the water activities, and all the other families went off sightseeing nearby, and we were just stuck there playing travel games. So I'd be wary of holidays which have no public transport nearby at all (we took a taxi from the station) even if the venue is supposed to have all entertainment on site.

Norfolk Broads? Train to Wroxham (Liverpool Street to Norwich then the Sherringham line) pick up your boat and spend the rest of the week exploring Norfolk from the water

Also I was terribly car sick as a child, fine now!

Never noticed any significant sedative effect on DD tbf.

Welcome to the rest of the UK that didn't have the excellent transport links of London!

York and Norwich are walkable cities.

I think your problem is you can't use buses either. DP and I both hate driving so don't want that on holiday. We've done loads of UK breaks and find that most rural places do have a good bus service (although restricted so you have to plan ahead).

I also get car sick on long car and coach rides and have to say the sickness pills are fine, the sedative effect is very mild.

Newquay was great. I know boardmasters is there this week and we deliberately avoided that. It went downhill a few years ago I think but there are some really nice places opening up. Like I say there are multiple beaches in the town itself with sand and rock pools etc. Loads of places doing surf lessons or coasteering. Shops, golf, a cinema. Places to eat.

My kids are a bit older now and we stayed outside the town and drove to different places but you could definitely do a week staying in the town itself.

We did Weymouth last year and that was great too, loads to do and a huge beach.

Exeter itself is very nice and you can walk to places like Topsham or get a bus or train to Exmouth....or just stay in Exmouth.

I have a work colleague that can’t drive and each year her dad drives them to a caravan park for a week then goes to collect them-they stay on site. It’s pretty limited though.

You could get the sleeper train to Penzance from Paddington. Use train for St Ives and a few other places when down here. Or then travel on to the Scillies where no visitor has a car.

We’ve just done North Norfolk on the train from near London and it’s been absolutely fine. Rented a place next to the beach so we can go there most days, a few easy walks, can get back into the city on the train if we wanted to. Just research that there’s enough in the place you’re going to to keep you amused.

I moved to London 15 years ago and have never had a car. There are loads of trips you can do by public transport from London! A few that I've done: many many places on the Kent and Sussex coasts, Portsmouth, Isle of Wight (by ferry), Bournemouth, Norwich, Cambridge, Bath, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, York, Inverness and a train through the Highlands (gorgeous), Isle of Skye (though you do have to get a quick 30 min taxi from train station), Lake District, Cardiff, Cornwall and more.

You could go south west - get sleeper train to Cornwall

Train to Tenby in Wales

Weston Super Mare

Bournemouth

Torquay

Chichester

I second (third) Penzance, and/or Hayle. Both are on the main train line, from which you can take side trips on branch lines to St Ives, Newquay, Falmouth and (a bit further away) Looe. You can also do the Eden Project- take a bus from St Austell Station.

There is a brilliant bus called the Land's End Coaster that goes all the way round the Land's End peninsula from Penzance to St Ives hourly, so you can stop off at Porthcurno, Sennen, Land's End, Geevor mine etc....it's much used by coast path walkers. Plus there's a pilot scheme going on at the moment with bus fares, so they're really reasonable (£5 max per day).

There's also a good cycle path from Penzance to Marazion, for St Michael's Mount, and you can cycle safely in the other direction to Newlyn and Mousehole.

We go without a car. It requires more walking, patience to wait for public transport and revised expectations, but we normally have a nice time. We end up in a lot of bizarre little local museums which you'd never stop at, but when you're constrained to a 15 mile radius you worry less about the big hitting attractions. We've done lots of places on the great western line to Cornwall. Penzance and Totnes both had plenty to see locally. There are buses. They're not London frequent, but if you're organised and patient one every 2 hours is ok. Malvern & Worcester area have plenty to do too. It's just a different sort of much slower holiday. Otherwise why not Paris or Amsterdam by train?