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

Hi! I am planning to go from Richmond, London to Newquay Cornwall. My husband has started driving in the UK for last 2 months (though he was driving in India for 20yrs). I wanted to know the best route to reach there and if it’s safe/convenient to drive down. Pls help.

We got the sleeper train from London to Cornwall once, it was loads of fun! We felt like we were in a Famous Five novel. Hired a car and child car seats at the other end with no trouble at all.

We stopped overnight in Bristol with our nearly 2 yo on the way down which worked great, both drives were done on a lunchtime nap.
On the way home we stopped at a large farm shop/restaurant which broke it up enough.

Save yourself the hassle go m4/m5 and stop at Tyntesfield national trust place near or cribs causeway both m5 near Bristol

There are two main route options A303 or M4/5. So depends if you want wide motorway or single lane slightly more picturesque I guess.

They can both be a nightmare with traffic. If you are going at a weekend leave very early (latest 6am) or possible very late but I have never done that.

I'd also travel at night, set out at 8ish with DC in pyjamas.

So going back to last year! We left at 7am went the a303 route and made it to a lovely place called Honiton to stop. It has a park & playground & also market on a Saturday. That worked really well for us. We also drove to Lyme Regis last summer, & plan to again this weekend & there is a lovely place called Ilminster which has decent playground & big Tesco for a stop off. The journeys were no where near as bad as expected & the little ones slept or we gave them an iPad