Travelling to the UK in May - recommendations please?

[Himom]

We are travelling to the UK on holidays in May. DS is 6 and DD is 3.5. Can I get some recommendations on must-see/must-do things in the UK for the kiddos please? We'll be travelling around Bath, Cotswold, Norwich (just for Bewilderwood), York, Newcastle, Edinburgh and London.

So far on my list are:

-. St Fagans museum
-. Bewilderwood
-. Bowood House
-. Bewilderwood
-. Beamish
-. Longleat : not sure about this one, looks very commercialised from the website.

Thanks in advance for all and any recommendations!

[flapjack]

I'm in Swindon, if you fancy a cuppa at some point. Definitely Beamish and Bowood, the National Railway Museum in York (which is free, and far superior to any other) and IMO, I'd forget Longleat. The Cotswold Wildlife Park is- funny peculiar. It's small, but there's a certain surreal quality to seeing zebras on the front lawn of an English country house.

In Newcastle, the Laing art gallery has a fantastic childrens section, there is an absolutely brilliant park in Gateshead (Saltwell) - one of the National Trust Places up there, Cragside, will be gorgeous in May with lots of rhodedendrons. I'd get further up north and go to the Northumberland beaches (see my blog) and please, go spend a day in my home city of Durham. It's lovely.

I may live on the southern edge of the Cotswolds, but I'm not much help. We like Bourton-on-the-water, Cirencester's our shopping town and there's some nice places to go and run off steam. Oh, and the water park is nice for getting kids out of the house.

[orangefoot]

I agree that Longleat is worth a miss.

Bath has a great toy shop... Bourton-on-the-Water in the Cotswolds has a lovely stream running through it which you can paddle in while eating ice creams. We went to the bird place there once and it was ok.

I don't know anywhere up north I'm afraid but for kids that age I'd recommend plenty of green spaces to run in or little woods with trees to climb. Keep a picnic in the car so you can stop wherever you see a nice place and just have fun.

[tessie]

I second Northumberland beaches. Or how about a walk out to Holy Island? http://www.lindisfarne.org.uk/

Near Newcaste, http://www.alnwickcastle.com/ is worth a visit. It was used as Hogwarts in the Harry Potter films. You can be a knight or lady for a day. Also visit http://www.alnwickgarden.com/ they have the most amazing giant tree houses.

Oh, babe woken up, will try and come back with more suggestions.

[flapjack]

Originally Posted by orangefoot

Bath has a great toy shop... Bourton-on-the-Water in the Cotswolds has a lovely stream running through it which you can paddle in while eating ice creams. We went to the bird place there once and it was ok.

Bourton has the dragonfly maze, though, which IS fun... and Bath has many, many toyshops.

[mamajax]

Wow, you're going to Norwich just for Bewilderwood! We went there and although it was good it was INCREDIBLY busy. We had to queue for about 45 minutes just to get in and then later the queue for food was an hour and a half. I would really recommend taking food in with you. They were way over stretched for the number of people that were there when we went. However, if you go on a quiet day during school term time I think you could have a good time there.

The North Norfolk beaches are beautiful - Wells next the Sea, Holkham, Cley, Blakeney Point for crabbing and boat trips to see the seals.

We also recently enjoyed Pensthorpe Bird Centre which is huge and lovely with lots of spaces to sit and watch the wild birds.

If your kids are into trains there's Sheringham Railway which has a steam train you can ride. Have a great trip!

[orangefoot]

Originally Posted by flapjack

Bourton has the dragonfly maze, though, which IS fun... and Bath has many, many toyshops.

I haven't been to either for a while - can you tell

[NW6Londonmum]

I went to Bewilderwood last Summer. I was expecting some magical - perhaps my expectations were too high. It was OK but really nothing spectacular. Very busy as PP says and food outlets were crowded and swarming with wasps, lots of queues, not much for my youngest. We were staying on the North Norfolk coast which I would recommend (especially Holkham Bay beach). If I had made a long journey for Bewilderwood I would have been disappointed. The scenario with the characters living in the wood was contrived and it wasn't great value for money. The visit started with a long wait for a boat to get to the activities. Perhaps term time would be a better experience.
Is your 3.5 yr old quite brave? The big slides were just about OK for my 4 yr old.
We liked Pensthorpe too and enjoyed some pond dipping.

Depending where you are around London the wetland centre in Barnes is very good and the playground is well-designed.

What sort of things do they enjoy doing?

[Maluhia]

Edinburgh has an amazing playground below the main castle - and the shop in Edinburgh Castle has dress up dresses