Day trips or one night stays from London with two children under 5?? Where should we go???

[smilesandsun]

Hi We're new to London and would like to do some travel outside of London to see some more of the UK. At the moment we're looking for either day trip destinations or a one night / weekend destination. We are able to travel by car or public transport.

Any ideas??

Thanks!

Seaside? Brighton or Whitstable are both fun, in very different ways.

Box Hill near Dorking is one of my favourite places - lovely picnicking. Also places that are in London, but not really like London - Richmond Park, Wimbledon Common, Hampton Court, Kew Gardens. All have good running around opportunities.

thanks i'll be looking into these. Would Brighton / whistable be an overnight stay?

No, you could do them in a day on the train or in the car quite easily. Brighton is about 1.5 hours from South London by car, Whitstable maybe closer to 2.

Hi All does anyone have any other ideas, perhaps towards the North?

thanks

Cambridge is an hour from King's Cross on the train. Lovely for just walking around and some fantastic museums (the natural history one especialy).

thanks. A lot of people have told me about Bath, would you anyone recommend it for a break with kids? Where to stay & what to do?

thanks again.

Shropshire is quite nice. It would be an overnight stay (or even two nights).
In the area there is the Severn Valley Railway, Iron Bridge Gorge museums, lovely countryside. Also there is West Midland Safari Park.

Once you pick an area to visit, you can use Mumsnet Local to find places to visit.

How far are you prepared to go?
I think Durham is just 2 hours on the fast train now and it's a great place.
Lovely Cathedral and Castle and river walks.
You could overnight and do Newcastle too but I'd do it as a day trip.

I'm quite tempted to do it as a day this summer and I'm near Glasgow!

thanks! This gives me a lot to look into.

Stratford upon Avon
The Cotswolds
West Wittering Beach in Sussex
Wisley Gardens in Surrey

Have you joined the National Trust? Great houses and gardens.

I was going for Stratford upon Avon too hf128219!

Last year we "based" in London for three days with the intention to go arround a bit.

What we did:

day 1 : went to Calais on the ferry (had to wake up really early though!)

day 2 : we went to Oxford to show the Dcs where we used to live and just have a nice stroll arround. We also took the open sightseeing bus tour that I had never had a chance to take when we lived there and that DH "owed me"!

day 3 : we went to Richmond park

Day 4: We stopped at Stratford upon Avon on the way back to Manchester.

Oh, the Dcs where 8,6,3 and 6mths old at the time. They all enjoyed it but where quite tired at the end of it!

Durham is a 3 hour train ride (plus getting to kings cross) and not do able in a day with young children IMO. I would suggest Brighton, Cambridge and Oxford by train. Bath is lovely do able in a day (just) but quite expensive to stay over. Go by train as traffic is terrible on that part of M4.

York is about two and a half hours from London by train and would make a great overnight stay. Everything is within walking distance. There's the National Railway Museum which is free. There are other museums, the Jorvik Viking Centre open top bus rides, river cruises, walks around the city walls plus lovely shops. We did two days there at Easter and had a fantastic time.

thanks. Any suggestions of a place to stay (with kids) in York?

Hotel du Vin welcomes children.
Middlethorpe Hall does not allow children under 12 - I think.

thanks