Couple activity /daytime date activity?

[Wigeon]

DH and I occasionally go away for the night, leaving the DC with grandparents or for a sleepover at friends houses, usually to a nice rural pub with rooms, have dinner in the nice pub, stay the night, go for a muddy walk the next day, come home.

Thinking of arranging another night away, but wondering if there's something slightly different we could do - eg I've done a cookery day with my sister (but don't think I'd want to with DH), we've done Go Ape a few times as a family but again don't want to just with DH. We've done an escape room, just the two of us, which was really silly/fun. We've been married over 20 years (although only mid 40s), so doing something new (to us) might be fun.

Any ideas?

Well, at this time of year your outdoor options are limited unless you're happy being out in any weather, but any of:

(Indoor) Climbing, ninja warrior (indoor assault course/soft play for adults), museums, art galleries, theatre, comedy, gig (pub or otherwise), quiz night, movie, bowling, pool/snooker, board game café, city-wide treasure hunt, ghost walk or history walk, ruins/castles/stately homes/Roman villas, some kind of taster/one-off class or workshop (e.g. pottery, photography, dancing, acting, crafts, making, unusual sports taster, such as fencing etc), a car or bike track day, day at an archery range or shooting range, caving, indoor skydiving, old-fashioned steam railway, murder mystery evening, day being an animal keeper at a zoo, outdoor sculpture park, sushi or cocktail making, butchery day, wine/beer/gin/whisky tasting, cheese tasting, air soft / paintball, tank driving, forestry/outdoor/survival skills days.

Loads more options in the summer, as well, if you're planning for the future?

DH and I did pottery painting on one anniversary which was fun https://www.emmabridgewater.co.uk/products/decorating-studio. You can choose cheap or expensive pieces to paint.
Also, I know you said you didn't fancy cooking with DH, but I highly recommend https://www.brocklebys.co.uk/workshops/ It was mostly couples when we attended and really good fun.

It kind of depends on your interests.

Visiting some iconic {insert choice of sport} grounds across the country ?
Getting tickets for big events - sporting finals or WImbledon or Internationals ?
Visiting Cathedrals - whether for History, architecture, religion or spirituality, or just the nice tea shops ?
A festival ? There are loads of smaller ones now, don't have to aim for Glastonbury
A "show" to do with an interest - like a Farming / Country show or an Eisteddfod or a car show or a steam train festival ?
Historical re-enactments?
Visit the well dressings in Derbyshire ?
A history blitz in somewhere like Stratford, or Chester or York or Ironbridge ?
The Edinburgh (comedy) festival ?
A Christian Festival?
A Literary Festival. Perhaps at Hay on Wye ?
an Arts Festival ?
The heritage Weekend in September when you can look round places often not open to the public ?
Some of the odd traditions round the country - like cheese rolling ?

How about going to the theatre in an evening? There are some nice rural venues knocking about. Or a gig maybe?
For the day after, indoor climbing/ bouldering ? Canoeing- if got a wetsuit, doesn't matter if the weather is dodgy- as long as its deemed safe. If you're really adventurous, canyoning or coasteering, white-water rafting, zip wires. Visit some natural caves maybe - some are quite impressive, they even hold concerts in some.

Clay pigeon shooting! Sounds mad we had a great time

Wow, thank you for all the ideas! Will have to go through them all carefully....

If you can get into London, we did www.gourmaze.co.uk recently and it was great fun

Wow, that looks really cool! We are just outside London and like escape rooms, eating food and exploring London, so that ticks lots to f boxes. Thanks for the suggestion. Which one did you do, out of the three?

@chopc - thought I'd come back to the thread to say we did one if the Gourmaze hunts today and it was great! Good clues, plenty to eat, great to explore Shoreditch. So thanks v much for the recommendation.

@widgeon I love Gourmaze - such a great concept. We played StreetHunt Games recently and it's another London activity I'd recommend. https://streethuntgames.com/

Tandem Bike riding. You can hire tandem bikes from bike hire shops.

We did it for a date day and it was hilarious, and a good challenge for communication!