Things to do with small children near York or Hull

[YarnyStasher]

We have a week booked in a cottage pretty much half way between York and Hull. The week is in June so our children will be 10 months and 3.2.

DS loves wheels and trains in particular so we'll be going to the National Railway Museum. We like outdoor stuff. We'll also be looking for a good swimming pool in the area.

Where do you recommend we visit? Thanks in advance for your help!

There is quite a nice fun pool at Monks Cross in York. Also you won't be far from Scarborough or Filey for the seaside.
There is a farm called Playdale Farm at Cayton on the outskirts of Scarborough which has animals plus indoor and outdoor play facilities.
Believe it or not but Hull is quite interesting - quite a few museums and interesting harbour front with lighthouse boat which my boys have always been fascinated by!
Burnby Hall which is near Pocklington has a lovely lake with lily pads and gigantic fish which you can feed and who throng to the side and stick their heads out to take food. Again my boys love it.
Can you say exactly where you're staying? It might help to give a bit more exact information.

the deep is meant ot be brilliant

We're staying here

We'll be driving down overnight and won't get into the cottage until afternoon so will go swimming and shopping in the morning :)

The Deep is good as they take Tesco clubcard.

On my what to do in York thread, someone helpfully mentioned this make your own chocolate lolly activity at York Cocoa House.

There is the North Yorkshire Moors Railway - combines steam trains and outdoors...

Castle Howard is near there

Of course there's the seaside - Bridlington has nice beaches. On the outskirts of Brid there's the John Bull factory where you can see rock/sweets being made. They also have a soft play which is very reasonable on weekdays. The other side of Brid is Sewerby Hall which has a good playground and loads of grounds to explore, plenty of squirrels etc and a nice sea view - excellent picnic spot. There's Honeysuckle Farm near Hornsea which is good for little ones and you could stop off at Mister Moos icecream parlour nearby!

Oh the railway looks excellent!

We have National Trust membership too :) Just looking up some of the other things.

Yorvik (sp?) in York is great. Used to have authentic poo smells coming from the reconstructed latrines.
The Deep is amazing.
Bridlington is a good seaside place with great fish and chips.

Best swimming pool near there might be Driffield but check whether they have school lessons on duting the day.

There's a museum quarter in Hull with all free museums - the Streetlife one has buses, cars, carriages etc to look at. We sometimes like to go to Filey as there's a big car park on the edge of town with a nice park/playground nearby, though there is not much in Filey itself.

Oh, and there's a birds of prey centre near John Bull which does displays through the day and also has small animals and even meerkats.

Wow! So many great suggestions. Castle Howard looks fantastic.

East Park in Hull is fantastic. Loads to do for free. Boating lake, large animal section including everything from farm animals to reptiles. Millions of ducks to feed. Beautiful gardens, bags of playing fields and playgrounds. oh and a skate park.
On its doorstep is a council leisure centre, with slides, wave machine and hot tubs. Woodford leisure centre.

Cannon hall park farm (think its called that? But google it). Great on a dry day wrapped up - fab play area

Bridlington is awful. Scarborough Whitby runswick is better. Hornsea Is ok and quiet

Flamingo land? Not sure what that's like

I know there's a free train museum near York

The Yorkshire sculpture park is great though - lots of fab stuff and nice coffee. It's just off M1

The Deep is great and just got penguins too.

The museum quarter in Hull is fab, Street life, Hull and East riding museum. There's also hands on history museum near trinity church. There's nice cafes to eat in in Trinity Square too.

East Park is lovely, further out the city centre and as mentioned has a leisure centre on it's doorstep.

Coast wise, Hornsea is quiet and flat so great for the little ones. Also Honeysuckle farm on the outskirts which is nice. further out is Scarborough, a lovely seaside place and Vayton had Playdale Farm, not been yet but supposed to be good.
Filey good too.

There's loads to do. Contrary to popular belief Hull and surrounding area is fab!

*Cayton not vayton.

I'd recommend Dig over Yorvik btw - we went to both last summer with kids age 7,5 and 2 and were underwhelmed by Yorvik but impressed by the much cheaper, quieter, less flashy but more hands on Dig, where the kids (including the 2 year old) really enjoyed themselves and the older 2 learnt lots that they still refer to at other more old fashioned museums (Dd likes to try to work out things about any skelton remains from pelvis shape, wear or deformity of bones and teeth etc. which she learnt about at Dig... and toddler loved the chance to actually dig stuff up... there is a play corner upstairs - small but nice for half an hour.

We went to Castle Howard last summer and were not impressed by it at all. It was over priced for what you could see.

Ran out of time and would have liked to see Yorvik.

Would recommend the train museum though, as they only expect a donation from you. It's a good day out, and the children will enjoy it. My two did!

I agree re: Dig over Jorvik. Much more hands on fun.

Beverley is a pretty market town. Very beautiful Minster and some nice boutiquey shops and restaurants.

I would recommend The Deep in Hull, its really good lots of interactive bits and some very cool sharks and rays. It was £32 for 2 adults and one 4 yo and you can go back for free within a year. The cafe is great too - cheap, tasty, homemade food.

We have been to the Deep a couple of times and enjoyed it. They have recently got some penguins, there was a local news programme on last week. So cute, we want a pet one, so we are planning another visit soon.

Ooo heaps more replies. We did think the children are too young for Yorvik. Thanks for the info on Castle Howard. DH thought that from the website too.

Lovely to have so many options. We always choose our accommodation based on it being lovely and anywhere North of London then work out local attractions after that.