*Southwold* Can anyone recommend rainy day (or week...) activities?

[EmmyLou]

Going on Saturday with sister and we have 6 children between us from stroppy pre-teen hormonal wannabe goth (as good as 12yo) to baby of 14 months.

How do we please at least some of them if it pisses down all week? Actually, it's my preteen that scares me the most. She has the capacity to spoil or enhance holiday at a whim.

anyone....?

Search 'suffolk' in the UK hol section - I am sure peploe have started threads on activities in this area...their may be tips from people who don't see this thread.

there is a strange weather feature in Southwold... quite often even if the weather inland is terrible, the cloud lifts as you get closer to the coast

[http://www.southwold.blythweb.co.uk/whattodo/index.php]]

can't make it link for some reason but this site has some suggestions

do you have transport ?

we did a lot of days out in the car.

The maize maze is not far and had a trail where you had to find stamping posts and collect all of them (we were crap and missed loads) You could offer prize to older kids. Would be O.K with waterproofs and umbrellas .

We also went swimming at an indoor pool at St Felix private school (was open to public in school holidays) on the same road out of Southwold as the maize maze.

Oh and I think it's Mondays when there was a toddler music thingy for a couple of hours that ds really enjoyed (called STOMP- Southwold Toddler Music something or other), they were fine about holiday makers joining in. I think there's a library with maybe storytelling sessions too.
The music thing was at the church hall in the town centre opposite a bank but if you ask around someone will know.

We went to the Africa Alive wildlife park at Kessingland and a transport museum (East Anglian transport museum) where it poured down but ds just loved riding on the little train and big tram/trolleybuses.

We bought a cheap kite at the post office toy shop and flew it on the beach.

Mostly we needed the car though .

There will be tourist attraction leaflets all over the town so you may have to play it by ear and see what the older kids fancy doing.

How do you please such a wide age range ?

I'd be interested to know.

Thanks - wide age range is a problem. DD1(12), could be fobbed off with the promise of shopping (clothes or CDs, that is). The others are DD2 who is 8, and boy cousin of 6.8, DD3 and boy cousin both nearly 4, plus baby.

We did the Maize maze a few years ago when the weather was good - but didn't know about the pool at St Felix's - I did visit there when on holiday 2 years ago as had done my back in and couldn't sleep so saw a brilliant sports massage woman there. Will find out about the pool though, thanks.

Pier is very entertaining, obviously - both the standard arcade attractions and the alternative oddball 'machines'

would you climb up the lighthouse with the older ones?

Walk around Dunwich/Minsmere areas taking in any of the following:
RSPB centre at Minsmere
National Trust shop/cafe at Minsmere/Dunwich Heath (there are holiday activities run from there as well as tea and cake)
Flora Tea Rooms on Dunwich Beach - for fish and chips and (if you have great capacity for food) some rather awesome ice cream sundae combos.

Dunwich is great - also Minsmere - and Walberswick!

There are a few second hand bookshops in the town too although the clothes shops are a bit boutique and overpriced in general.

Perhaps you need to pack plenty of games and video/dvd's (assuming you are renting a cottage with a dvd/video player). There are lots of nice walks around Southwold but could be daunting in cold wet weather.

The lighthouse would be good "in the dry" exercise but you have to be over a metre tall to be allowed up the stairs and you're not allowed to carry the little ones up so someone would have 5 kids in tow whilst the other stayed down with the 14 month old.

We used to toast marshmallows over candles on wet summer holiday evenings and then spread the melted marshmallow over a chocolate digestive. Yummy. We also had a brilliant cottage once with a sandwich toaster and spent a wet week thinking up new fillings to inflict on each other or delight each other with for lunch or in the evenings.
Banana and mars bar was a good one.

I'm hoping that ds1 will soon be old enough for crabbing at Walberswick although that might be miserable on a wet day.

there's a place near-ish which has a donkey sanctuary and birds of prey centre - I'm hopeless and have forgotten exactly where but we were staying fairly close to Walberswick so it wasn't too far.

Emmylou, how did it go?

We just spent Bank Holiday w/e near-ish to Southwold/Walberswick etc, and had a loverly time, but it did make me think that it might be pretty hellish without the sunshine..

Also gagging to know if you are a Country gal..
I'd like to know any mumsnetter who's hoe-ing the same musical row..