Recommendations for trips near Tetbury / Cirencester

[DaydreamMummy]

Can anyone recommend good places to entertain and wear out children in the Tetbury / Cirencester area? I'm new to the area and I have a five year old daughter and 2 1/2 year old son and I need to get them out of the house doing something active at the weekends. They love soft play and playgrounds, but I just don't know the area very well yet... can anyone help?
I don't mind driving a bit - Bristol is about 45 minutes away, as are Bath and Cheltenham...

Prinknash abbey bird and deer park is a lovely day out. The birds and deer come and eat out of your hand. There's a pond with fish to feed. It's a nice walk set in the grounds of a monastry. My kids of the same age as yours love it.

Another place for a nice day is Minchinhampton common - there's an ice cream van (or you could visit the factory that makes the ice-cream just a bit further along the road - Winstons), really good area for walking dogs, flying kites and playing football.

The museum in the park in Stroud is good, the park has a lake with ducks and friendly squirrels.

Cotswold Farm Park is absolutely brilliant, we went on Saturday and really enjoyed it.

Cattle Country

Westonbirt Arboretum

You want Magicland in Ciro - good softplay.
There's Dick Whittington's farmpark which also has soft play, near the Forest of Dean.
And the Cotswold Farm Park, which is in the middle of nowhere but nearish to Bourton on the Water - which is also quite a good place as it has Birdland, the miniature village and also the motor museum which is home to...Brum!
Bourton also has a river running through it which is nice to sit next to with a picnic, although very busy in the summer.

Another fantastic place (not far off the M5) is Slimbridge. It is part of the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (and features in autumn watch as a migration stopover for waterfowl).

It is absolutely fantastic for young children - paths easy to push buggies on, great restaurant and you can buy bags of bird food to chuck to the ducks and geese. And did I mention the cool observation tower you can go up to get an aerial view of the place? (You can tell I'm a fan!)

I've also heard that they are doing canoe trips through the reed bed this spring and summer.

If you are coming into Bristol, some good options are:

Bristol Zoo
The SS Great Britain (recently has had an amazing refurbishment)
HorseWorld between Bristol and Bath (not at all naff as the name would suggest)

OOooh yes I second Slimbridge, we have season tickets and go a lot. They have a really good cafe there too. But I think the canoe rides are only for children aged 4? and up. Anyway too young for a 2-year-old.

You're quite right about the canoes at Slimbridge, Clara - minimum age is 5 according to the website.

But don't let that put you off, Daydream, it is still worth a visit. (We have season tickets too, and I've taken lots of visiting friends / relatives there)

Cotswold Wildlife Park is good if you're willing to drive a bit further - out near Burford. Cotswold Farm Park is fantastic. So is Bourton on the Water but avoid it like the plague summer weekends and any Bank holiday as it gets very very busy. Lovely at Christmas tho but not much help now! Gloucester Cathedral is good for Harry Potter fans and The Tailor of Gloucester shop just round the corner from the cathedral is lovely.

you also aren't far from the steam museum at swindon which is a good place to run around if it is raining...

also the adventure playground at bowood is fantabulous and about umm max 40 min from ciren, a little less from tet

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