Help planning London and surrounding areas summer holiday with 11 year old and baby

[Catbells7]

I am going round in circles trying to decide what to do for our summer holiday this year as we will have a one year old along with our 11 year old, have been weighing up whether to fly somewhere in Europe or cruise from Southampton, some sun would be great but they both have their cons with a baby so I'm now thinking of exploring London and surrounding areas as our son has never been and would love help to plan a great trip for my 11 year old.

We will be travelling down from Scotland and will likely bring the car as thinking of doing a fortnight and seeing more of southern England which we haven't done much of - we absolutely love the Lake District so was thinking of some busy days in the city then perhaps somewhere more relaxed with gorgeous scenery/walks but I don't know the areas well enough to know where best to look. Potential ideas are:

• Son is a huge HP fan so would like to do the studio tour;
• Would love to visit some of the main museums, Tower of London and looking for ideas of must see/do for his age group;
• tying in a day at a theme park would be good;
• I had thought about a week in Devon as never been, and be nice to be on the coast, after a few days in London but there's quite a lot of driving between them so wondered if there were any better suggestions?
• Or wondered about somewhere near rivers/lakes with lovely parks?

Basically open to all suggestions from people more in the know than me! Wondered about areas which would be a more relaxing base to travel into London on the train easily instead of hotels in the centre as thinking a cottage/airbnb/lodge etc will be better so we aren't having to be quiet in hotel room at night while baby sleeping.

Greenwich maritime museum has a lot for younger and older kids, good playgrounds just outside it and also in park. Agree with DLR train. You could also do cable car from Greenwich peninsula. There’s the painted hall (?) at royal naval college and foot tunnel can be fun to Isle of Dogs. Top tip is Paul Rhodes bakery in Greenwich, they do sandwiches, delicious pastries and cakes and coffees, think it’s just take away though. Sail loft I think it’s called is a nice river front pub which does food. You can walk to Blackheath through Greenwich park past the observatory. Markets are also great and good for food. Noodle time is a nice cheap Chinese restaurant. Finally if your 11 year old would like it you can abseil on Cutty Sark!

Thanks for all the new suggestions too, going to be hard to narrow down what to do!

Definitely do Greenwich. SO much to do there!

Just thought. Kent coast could be nice for seaside break. Whitstable, Broadstairs, Dymchurch, latter has static caravans unsure about former. Some nice hotels on Kent coast. Canterbury, Rye, both pretty and lots to do. Both also historical. With a young baby I wouldn’t be driving down to Devon from London, it’s just too much. Save it for another time.

Serpentine gallery in Kensington gardens is a pretty small gallery with a garden, they may still have Hockney exhibition on, Short walk up from science museum, natural history museum. Peter Pan statue and Italianate gardens (with fountains) are there too. Harrods is really boring. Hamleys ok but not a must do.

It's a few stops from Cheshunt to Seven Sisters or Tottenham Hale, from where you hop onto the Victoria line for fast access to anywhere in Zone 1. Dead easy.

Just hopping on to suggest Cirencester and that part of the Cotswolds. It's not far from London and you can do day trips to Cotswolds Wildlife Park, Bleinheim Palace, Bourton on the Water, Oxford, Bath, etc. There's also Cotswolds Water Park which has loads of nice rentals that overlook lakes, many of which have activities on them!

@WonderingAboutBabies thank you, you've thrown a spanner in the works as had decided today that we will do a couple days at Alton Towers since my son hasn't been there before and stay in a lodge for the week in the Peak District, leaving the south coast to another time, but I've always wanted to see Bath and Oxford so might need to do more Googling and see how much we can fit in 😆

Have been Googling a lot but finding it hard to find a suitable holiday home for the dates we need that is close enough to London for travelling in each day so may need to be a hotel after all. We will be coming from the Peak District as staying there for a week before doing HP tour and London. I know we need to avoid driving in Central London but was wondering how far in it is ok to drive without it being a massive stress? Looking for somewhere that has parking and can get us into central London in under half an hour, less if possible? Thank you!

Probably no further than zone 2 if you want to get into the centre within 30 minutes.

It’s fine to drive into central London if you can park your car and leave it, it’s just not a sensible way to travel about when you’re there.

Premier Inn Hampstead/Belsize Park is a lovely area, green, has parking. About 30 mins to zone 1. Or Camden Town.

That'd be a lovely area to stay in!

Also a straightforward drive from the bottom of the M1 to Belsize Park.

Brilliant, thank you, will check out those areas today and good to know it is OK driving further in to leave car wherever we end up staying. Looking forward to showing my son all the sights of London and exploring the Peak District but might actually have been easier just to fly somewhere for a week after all

Looking from my last bit of information from the people in the know! - It looks like it might be better for us to do three nights in London instead of 4 as really want to give us time to get back up the road and ready for our son's first birthday without all being over tired from a really busy few days in London. One of these days will be taken up with going to do the HP studio tour so some help to know what is best to tie in together on the same day would be really appreciated to maximise our two days if that is what we end up going for.

I had thought one whole day might be spent exploring Greenwich so may just have to leave that area for another time.

Would like my son to see key landmarks even though we want have time to go in to them all such as Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Tower of London and Tower Bridge. Thinking on one day we could do either Tower of London or go up into the bridge.

Other things my son would enjoy would be the science museum and the Power Up exhibition so thinking of that on the other day.

Would also like to fit in a boat ride along the Thames and the Sky Garden, Battersea Power Station also looks really cool but probably not enough time for it in two days!

Any top tips for maximising this itinerary over 2 days would be great, thank you!

Yorkshire is a great place to visit, coast and countryside, or Northumberland similarly. Both are on the way back north. Devon isn’t that far but in the wrong direction, though if you choose for instance north Devon, it’s easy to hop onto the m5 for your return trip, takes us 6 hours from Bristol to Glasgow that helps

The Harry potter world books up in advance, so be aware of that.

St Albans isn’t far away and has a lovely cathedral, Roman remains. May be worth considering a visit.

Also, London is a lot smaller than it looks on a tube map, so you can walk from Covent Garden to Piccadilly Circus, to Chinatown etc quite easily.

https://walklondon.com

Some self-guided tours you just download and follow. A good way of seeing the sites.

You have to book entry to the science museum and power up and the wonderlab (which is worth it) . Book for entry as soon as it opens before it gets too busy. The Young V and A has a Wallace and Grommet exhibition which is good.

How about West Country?
Bath, Avebury Rings, Stourhead, Longleat and stone henge all very close to one another

@hahabahbag We did a fortnight in Yorkshire last year and loved it - may stop for the night on the way home. We are having a week in the Peak District and going to Alton Towers before we head to London.

@Silverbirchleaf thanks, I'm aware that HP tour fills up well in advance so booking that tomorrow. We are thinking of going into St Albans on the way home, it sounds worth a visit too. Thanks also for the walking tours - we do a lot of walking so will definitely be taking a closer look at these.

@gerispringer will make sure to book science museum and Power Up. My son is a Wallace and Gromit fan so that sounds ideal.