Where would you take a 2 year old for a short break in the UK?

[KitKat1985]

Hello. Instead of doing a party for DD's second birthday (mid Sept) I was thinking of taking her, myself and DH away for a mini break (1 night, but could maybe stretch to 2 nights if place wasn't too expensive). Keen for some recommendations as a lot of parks / zoos are aimed at older children and I want something that she will enjoy. Was thinking maybe Paultons park / Chessington / Longleat. She really likes animals though so also considering maybe a night in a London hotel and take her to London zoo? Or maybe a mini break to Butlins? Our requirements are:

1. Ideally no more than roughly a 3 hour drive from where we live in East Sussex, or else she'll get really ratty and bored and I don't want to spend most of the time driving.
2. Somewhere with half decent family rooms to stay (ideally with a separate sleeping area for her as we've discovered through bitter experience that she won't settle to sleep if we are in the room with her).
3. Not ridiculously expensive (maximum £150-200ish).

Any ideas wise people of Mumsnet?

Monkey World in Dorset is amazing!

I also love Blackpool Zoo (best thing about the place by a country mile) but that's too far for you I'd imagine.

Oh and on the settling to sleep front when we go away with the small kids we put them down then camp out in the bathroom with pillows and whatever chair is in the room and stick a film on and have a few drinks. Works surprisingly well!

Beach. One with rock pools for crabbing.

Drusillas? Arundel wetland centre?

Center Parcs, so easy to do with kids.

Monkey world sounds nice. Haven't considered that yet thank you. I guess we could camp in the bathrooms, but it depends on how big the bathroom is. I'll be nearly 7 months pregnant and DH is 6'3!

Beach is a lovely suggestion Herat but we live very near the coast so we get the opportunity to go to the beach quite often, so would like to do something we don't get the chance to do that much.

I have considered Drusillas (mainly because it's only a 15 minute drive from my house - lol)!

Do you know Bails if there are any Center Parcs east sussex way? Do they let you do 1 night breaks? I always thought they booked for weekends / the week etc?

Paulton's Park with Peppa Pig world is great, my 2 year old loved it. They have some animals too, mostly birds if I remember correctly. If you stayed in the Southampton area you could go there one day and then Marwell Zoo the next. There are also a few animal places in the New Forest (Longdown Farm etc) which are good for little ones. No ideas about places to stay though I'm afraid.

If you go to monkey world then you could go to Alice's wonderland near Bournemouth too. It's a sort of theme park but for little kids. Ours loved it and it's cheap and cheerful

Actually I've just checked it's called Adventure Wonderland

Not longleat, it's a safari to see the animals you drive round so unless you want another couple hours in car on top of journey I would give it a miss. Animals tend to be far away too. London zoo is a better option and you can use tesco vouchers to get in I think.

Centreparcs do not do one night breaks.

Premier in s are good for reasonably priced family accommodation but not sure you would get London accommodation plus zoo for £100-200.

Hi. I think you are right MouldyCheese about Longleat having thought about it. I went about 4 years ago and on reflection it might be a bit boring for a toddler and I don't think she would see much.

At the moment I'm debating the relative merits of a 2-night Butlins break at Bognor Regis (they have a 'Just for Tots' break that week so would be very DD-friendly) or about scraping the idea of staying away completely and taking DD on a day trip to London zoo (I have researched London accommodation but very pricy for something with a separate space for DD to sleep in) and using the money saved on accommodation to treat DD to an extra day out somewhere nice the same week / buy her an extra birthday present.

I Remember taking mine to the zoo at that age they chased the pigeons and ignored the zoo animals. You are getting more for your money with the butlins option and you can take her to the zoo when she is older