Nice place to stop between Essex & N.Devon

[OhFFSMum]

Good evening all

We are driving from Essex to North Devon (Woolacombe Bay) this weekend and I'm going round and round in circles trying to find somewhere for us approximately halfway to stop and stretch our legs, have a bite to eat etc. Can anybody recommend somewhere please 🙏. Bonus points if it has a kids play area or animals or anything at all to keep the kids entertained please!?

Thank you!

Didn’t say how old the kids are but looked and if your route includes A303 then Stonehenge (have to prebook at the moment) or Woodehenge (free). Old Sarum (pay to go in to castle) but large old cathedral site to side is free and a space for kids to run with views of Salisbury. Salisbury might be nice too.
We used to alternate between an English Heritage and National Trust membership when ours were little and used for stopping off points so remember a few of these. They loved to wander round a ruin with an audio guide, they tended to be fairly empty, most have decent loos/cafes and lots of space to run off energy.

New Forest? Has all the horses and donkeys wondering around, we went to a nice pub for dinner when we were there. Idk if there were any play areas though.

We've used this site before:
theextramile.guide/

it has all.the main A roads and motorways, with links to all the options within a mile of the junctions. You can select by venue type eg Farm shop, play area etc.

Thanks all x

Not been but maybe here:

livingrainforest.org/