Help me plan this journey please!

[ApocalypseNowt]

In about 2 weeks we need to make a journey from Leeds (north Leeds if that matters) to near Croyde Bay, Devon.

We'll be travelling down on a friday and ideally want to get there mid afternoon/tea time at the latest. It'll be me, dh & 2 dc (7 & 9yo).

First decision is whether to go down the M1 or over the M62 then down the M6 (I'm leaning towards M1 because the M62 can be a pain in the backside) but more than that I can't decide what time is best to set off and how to chop the journey up with breaks for stretching legs, food, etc.

Me & dh both drive, both fine with motorways. It's just I'm not at all familiar with the route and now i've completely overthought it - whether to set off mega early to get some miles done before rush hour or to wait till after rush hour to set off by which time some traffic will have cleared, etc

Any help or suggestions would be much appreciated!

I've done more or less that journey but in reverse a few times, using M5/M6 and usually use the naice Gloucester Farm Shop services as my main stopping point for lunch.

Hmm interesting...

I definitely like the sound of the farm shop services!

M1
M42
M5
A361

Definitely M1. M62 and M6 will horrendous.

It's definitely the nicest service station down this way.

You need to avoid the section between the M5 M4 Almondsbury Interchange down to past Weston super Mare at rush hour. So either get past before or leave until evening. Before sounds better for you

Otherwise you will risk standstill. Aim for early lunch at nice service station and get going ASAP.

We did this journey to Cornwall last year from east Leeds. We left at 2am ish and got to south Bristol for 7 where we stopped and had breakfast. The kids, 5 and 9, slept during that time. We got to the campsite around 10am after another stop much closer by as we were early.
I did M1, M42 etc. On the way home we left approx 4pm and stopped once. The kids were amazing.

Thanks v much for the tips all

I'm now leaning towards setting off super early down the M1. Our kids are usually pretty good travellers but if they could sleep for a good chunk of the journey that would be fab!