London to Cornwall journey

[Ella19902]

Will be travelling to Cornwall from West London this summer and already starting to think about the journey! Will be with a 2 year old and 5 year old so trying to look at one or two places to stop somewhere en route. Grateful for any ideas? Salisbury looks an obvious place potentially? Or are there any good service stations which are better for you so children? Anywhere with a decent play area will keep my little ones happy.
TIA

We stopped in Wells, quaint place with. Cathedral.

Bath and Bristol would be good places to stop and not too far off the motorway.

Or if you're thinking Salisbury, are you going down the A303?

A303 is the road of hell.

Do not use the A303 in the summer! It will add hours to your journey- huge parts are single carriageway and if a car breaks down or there is an accident you will sit for hours not moving. (Can also be very slow just to sheer weight of traffic.) Use the motorway and save yourself a lot of grief.....

At that age we would drive post 8pm so they slept all the way and because the traffic was lighter.

We stopped in for a night in Bath on the way out, which broke up the journey and was a nice place to do some sightseeing.

We rely on National Trust Family membership to get us around the country. We use them like service stations (without the petrol/diesel)

Most of the stately homes have grounds with Play areas, cafes and clean loos.

A303 is usually best avoided in summer holidays.

We travel from Ipswich to Cornwall a couple of times a year via the A303. We set off in the evening and stay overnight at the Holiday Inn at Solstice Park. Then set off early to get past Stonehenge before the traffic builds up, that's where a lot of the queues are - everybody slows down to look at Stonehenge!

Mind you, when the DC were small we travelled overnight, sticking to the motorways. We'd get there about 2am, but that wasn't a problem as we were staying with the in laws

Hi OP, when mine were little we would set off about 4 in the morning and drive straight through (my kids would always fall back to sleep once we set off).

Agree with all the posters re A303 during the summer. It's a nightmare!!

If you are doing M4/M5, Membury is a good one. Other good service stations are Taunton Deane and Exeter

Avoid Bridgewater services like the plague (on the Motorway top trumps its rating is a 1).

Solstice services are functional, less grim than some on the M5.

Stourhead is a good stop off point.

If you have Nat Trust membership

If you are doing M4/M5, Membury is a good one. Other good service stations are Taunton Deane and Exeter

Sedgemoor is a good one on the M5, especially after the refurb. If you can push on about 40 miles, Taunton Deane is next, but a fair bit smaller.

If you have a good sat nav it will take you off the A303 around Stonehenge thus avoiding all the hold ups. We do East London to Plymouth in just under 5 hours with a quick stop at a village called Mere.

Darts farm near Exeter is an excellent stop, large field to run around in with animals. Great food they have a cafe indoors but also a fab fish and chips shop where you can also have grilled fish with salad rather than the fried variety.
another one I like on the way home is Clark’s village, great bit of shopping and a huge playground with a ship.

I’m another fan of leaving at 4/5am you miss all the traffic and the kids are quiet and wake up in time for breakfast.

Avoid the A303! I do that journey regularly and always do M4/M5 even though it means I can't stop off with friends who live minutes off the A303
My favourite way of doing it when the DC were that age was to leave about 6.30/7.00 (they were always up by then anyway!) having packed the night before and then stop at Puxton Park. Spend the day there (have coats, wellies & a change of clothes easy to hand or just stay in the soft play) with the DC having plenty of fresh air & a good run around as well as lunch and then back in the car for the next stint, chucking snacks & sandwiches at them and stopping for tea if needed.
Other good places to stop are Dyrham Park (very little to actually do there but plenty of space) and the garden centre just off Junc 22.

Another vote for Mere. Just off A303

It has a co op, a deli, a car park, a playground and decent public toilets.

This is what I came on to say - NT is brilliant for use as a service station and the kids can run about

Wookey Hole hotel - very near Wells.

Long car journeys with DCs are best done over night in my experience.

The roads are much quieter and the DCs sleep.

Doesn't have to be all night.

Could do 7pm- midnight or 4am to 9am.

Agree with others, if you're coming from West London then M4/M5 is far easier. The service stations pps have mentioned should all be fine.

If you're absolutely desperate to go A303 (and I'm not sure why you would be), a friend has said that the Mattia Diner is actually quite good (and it always looks interesting when we go past). And further on (if you're not cutting across to the M5) is La Campagna at Chard (just where the speed cameras are). I haven't been there since it was the Eagle Tavern, but they look to still have a good playground outside.

Sleeper train?

Limits what you can take, & you would be car-less/need to hire the other end, but great fun in its own right, plus you'd miss all the hellish driving.

We do that journey very early in the morning.

We leave at 4am and we can be nearly in Cornwall before the kids have been awake long enough to get restless.