UK Days Out - Within 1 hour of Southampton

[HopelessGsyGirl]

Evening All,

We are visiting the UK from Guernsey for the last week of August and will primarily based in Southampton (although we will also have 1 day stints in Canterbury and Brighton too).

Can anyone recommend any attractions/activities for a 5 year old? She loves swimming and has a new found love for theme parks after a trip to Disney 😅

Thanks in advance!

Paultons park (Peppa Pig World)
Portsmouth historic dockyard (not a theme park but my 2/4/6 year olds always have a great time there)

Paultons 100%. Not the cheapest place, but in my opinion the best and cleanest theme park in the UK. It is an outstanding theme park for your child's age and the queues are not like other parks.

Moors Valley is also great for kids. Romsey Rapids is nearby or if you want bigger flumes go to Splashdown in Poole.

Defo Paultons, go later in the day (arrive lunchtime) as it really thins out towards the end of the afternoon with queues.

Lymington sea baths in the morning for swimming.

Paultons Park
Moors Valley
Longdown Activity Farm
New Forest Wildlife Park
Marwell Zoo

Portsmouth Historic Dockyard
Drive along the M27 to see how fast motorways are

Nooooooo. They close so early compared to American parks! Usually around 5pm. To get the whole park done you need all day! At 5 her child could go on most rides (possibly only edge and cyclonator she will be too short for).

OP get there for opening and spend all day there. There is so much more to Paultons than just Peppa Pig World.

Winchester is lovely for a wander round. If they weather is poor, winchester science museum is good. We enjoy a walk on southsea seafront. Theres rides and amusements. For something quieter, exbury gardens is lovely and has a little train that goes round. Royal victoria county park in Netley is a favourite too.

Well it depends on how much endurance you have for theme parks. Personally as a parent I think nearly 8 hours of it is too much. Early in the day the queues can be quite long, 20 mins plus as everyone rushes towards all the popular rides.

Having been many times, you can see just as much if not more if you arrive on the back of the must-see-it-all crowd. My ds has only so much energy as do most of our kids.

Not that it overly matters but we went to Paris rather than America - I should have been clearer ☺️

Southsea is nice. You can wander along the seafront and there are several things that kids would enjoy. You’ve got Clarence pier which has a funfair, then as you move along the seafront, you’ve got the sea life centre, the splash park, obviously the beach, Southsea castle, South parade pier and then canoe lake where there is a play park, boats on the lake, splash park and a model village.

Portsmouth also has gunwharf keys which is outlet shopping, which may be good for you, not so much fun for a 5 year old. But it has the Spinnaker Tower.

Then there is the historic dockyard with HMS Victory, The Mary Rose and HMS Warrior. The Warrior is the best of those for smaller children as they’re not so precious about kids climbing on things or touching things. You can also do a harbour tour on a boat. And I think the dockyard ticket also gets you into the submarine museum in Gosport, but I’ve never been there.

Then as others have said
Moors Valley
Marwell Zoo
Paultons Park/Peppa Pig world - don’t be put off if your little one isn’t into Peppa Pig there are loads of rides and activities that aren’t in the Peppa pig part.

Bournemouth Oceanarium, also the beach, pier, beach huts, pleasure gardens.
But will be way more crowded and feel less safe than Guernsey beaches.

Another vote for Paultons, and I would also go for a full day, I wouldn't want to spend £45pp and turn up much after it had opened. Stonehenge and the New forest are also both within reach of Southampton for day trips.

Thank you everyone! I shall look into all of these!

Paultons and Pompey dockyard as previous posters.

I would say the Witterings for a beach option rather than Bournemouth personally!

Haven’t been to either for a few years, but we used to holiday in the Bournemouth area lots when my children were small and they always loved Monkey World (particularly if you watch a few episodes on TV first, so you get to know a bit about the monkeys / apes), Farmer Palmers and some kind of Alice in Wonderland theme park (close to Bournemouth airport).