London to Scotland by car

[janinlondon]

Wondered if anyone out there had any suggestions of child friendly places to eat/take a break on the way from London to Scotland via the M1/M6? We are doing it all in one day but in the pre-child days we would stop at a pub off the motorway for lunch. Now with DD (aged 3.5) we seem condemned to the awful services. Are some better than others for things like playgrounds/toilets? any recommendations? Of course we'd rather a non-smoking pub with a nice safe enclosed garden and an indoor softplay area. In our dreams! LOL

Hilton Park Services, on the M6, junction 10A (I think) is quite good - we travel from S.Wales to the North West (of England and Wales) via this route, and although it is the same as many other service stations, it does have a little "play area" in the cafe with a table for drawing and cartoons on the TV. Toilet area is big and always seems clean, and there's a Boots (North Side only), which I've found handy on many occasions I think Stafford may have an outdoor play area, and IIRC, it has those "random" fountains, which although a mother's nightmare, are a child's dream.

When you are going back down Hillington Lake on the M6 is nice for kids, outside area to run around and one we always stop at. We tend to hammer back overnight! You can't access Hillington Northbound.

Tebay services (in Cumbria, near Kendal) has an excellent soft play area in the cafe, which means you can sit and have a bite/drink while the kids play. There's one both north and southbound.

Killington Lake used to be my favourite (which is the next one AFTER Tebay southbound), but Tebay now wins hands down. Because of that, I can't comment on its kiddy facilities.

Tebay is locally run as well, so the service is good and you're supporting a local organisation as opposed to some anonymous multi-national.

I'm too far up the M1 to recommend anywhere if you're coming off at the M6 but you could try 5 Minutes away .

On our trips north we've often stopped at Birmingham IKEA (junction 9 of M6). Excellent feeding/changing room especially compared to the service stations. Now we no longer need that we just use the restaurant which does children's picnic boxes and has play areas for dd to race around in.

SueW, what a brilliant site - will definately be sing it to make one of our regular and sooooo boring journeys "up north" a little more interesting for us all.

JanZ thanks so much for the Tebay recommendation. It saved our sanity in both directions!

Glad to be of help!