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great day trips from London for kids

Tanza

By Tanza
in The Family Room Discussion

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Tanza

Tanza

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As the school summer holidays have arrived I thought people might be interested in sharing ideas for day trips outside London.


We went to Portsmouth for the day and thought it was great for an easy day out from East Dulwich. You can go by train from Waterloo or Victoria.


The train station is right by Portsmouth Docks (a five minute walk) and there is lots to do, (including visiting Nelson's Victory ship, visiting a Victorian warship, the ticket includes a boat trip round the harbour, and lots more. The Mary Rose isn't open at the moment though.)


But bit that I particularly liked is that five minutes in the other direction from the station is Gun Wharf, which has lots of places to eat overlooking the harbour along with loads and loads of discount shops including Gap, Ted Baker, M&S, Ralph Lauren etc. Big wide avenues, flat and pedestrianised.


Obviously, you couldn't visit any of the ships with a buggy as you need to be able to climb ladders, but if you needed to entertain a smaller child (while an older one was taken round the ships) there is a big warehouse in the Docks with lots of space to run around, packed with slightly out of date interactive exhibits. The Docks also have a huge open plan cafe.

GinaG3

GinaG3

Posted
Posted

We loved going to the Mary Rose as kids. It should be open on schedule from October/November this year, with new museum. We are waiting to go down there on mass for the relaunch. Haven't been since I was about 10 or 11.


I grew up around Oxford and we used to do a tonne of day trips with our mum and dad. We loved Roald Dahls house, the living rainforest, Bekonscot model village. I fondly remember these. All worth a visit with children from age 3-4 especially rainforest and model village. You can look them all up online for locations. Probably not quite so accessible without a car but a great day trip all the same.

Pickle

Pickle

Posted
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A bit closer to home is Hall Place, in Bexley (about 30 mins by car down the A2). We went last weekend, they currently have a brilliant child friendly interactive installation called the "House of Fairy Tales" which is hard to explain but totally captured the imaginations of my 4 and 5 year olds who spent a few hours playing. It's on until September, a family ticket is ?20 but gives unlimited visits.


It's a very random collection of things, ranging from a four poster bed they can jump on, to an old fashioned school room with desks, ink, and a fridge with a frog in it... (told you it was hard to explain!). Nothing is off limits, everything is there to be touched and explored by kids. Brilliant.


The gardens are extensive and free, and there was a nice cafe where we ended up having lunch and then also coffee and cake as we stayed so long in the house. Would be a nice place to take a picnic to on a sunny day, which it looks like we will see plenty of next week, hooray!

redjam

redjam

Posted
Posted

Good thread, Tanza!


We have just been today to the inflatable Stonehenge in Greenwich, which was brilliant fun - a ginormous bouncy stone circle! The same size as the real Stonehenge, apparently. It's travelling around but will be in Clapham Common on 2 August, Burgess Park on 4 August and Crystal Palace on 9 August (www.sacrilege2012.co.uk).


Other tips: we're hoping to go back to Bedgebury Forest in Kent again this summer - you can hire bikes and there are loads of little hidden playgrounds nestling amongst the trees. Cafe, lake, Go Ape centre for older kids etc.


We're also hoping to go to Riverhill Himalayan Gardens in Kent this year - I remember it from that Country House Rescue programme and always wanted to give it a try. It looks very child-friendly but pleasingly low-tech (maze, gardens, some bloke dressed up as a yeti, kids' activities etc). Has anyone been and can report back?


Finally - Pickle, thanks so much for the House of Fairy Tales recommendation - we will DEFINITELY go there. We practically lived in the House of Fairy Tales area at Camp Bestival last year - it was brilliantly bonkers and the whole family loved it. Mentioned it to the kids this morning and they were jumping up and down with excitement. I had no idea they were in Bexley this summer so thank you very much for the tip-off.


Happy summer, people!

Bellenden Jo

Bellenden Jo

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We went to Riverhill a couple of weeks ago, again because of Country House Rescue. Excellent day out. My two spent ages building a den, we spotted the yeti hiding in the woods, kids screamed, I thought it was brilliant. Fantastic views, lovely walks, and not too expensive.


Cafe there serves excellent coffee, which is always a plus!

ryedalema

ryedalema

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We're also planning a day out to the Roald Dahl museum in Great Missenden (about 1.5 hours away I believe) - has anyone been there? And there seems to be lots of Puppet making events on the Time Out website - anyone have any recommendations? I quite fancy the day at Glaziers' Hall at the mo..
Pickle

Pickle

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Yes, I think it would, you would just need to guide the play a bit more than with older kids. If nothing else, there are large beanbags and a lot of open space to take a big run up... (this activity alone filled in an hour for us!).


It's a very clever setup. When we first walked in I felt a bit disappointed as at first glance it doesn't look like much, but there is so much to do, and they kept finding more. Some brilliant details, like little doors (that open) down at skirting board level - as adults we didn't notice them, but the children spotted them straight away.

Jacbuc

Jacbuc

Posted
Posted
What a helpful thread. I just wanted to say that we had a fantastic day the enchanted forest at Groombridge yesterday. Its a little way on from Tonbridge Wells and it may be accessible by train but we drove down, about an hour and a half. Well worth it. Significant sized forest walk with a series of magical senario's and scenes to stumble on. The kids, aged 5 and three and a half loved it. It has very good tire them out value too. The entrance was about ?8.00 each and it took us about four and a half hours to get around. Good idea to take plenty of fluids in this heat. They had a shop and cafe etc.
Fuschia

Fuschia

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Posted
The 3 places I just listed, you can use tesco days out vouchers, which means a huge saving ... Also at Southend pier fair ground (adventure world?) which is brilliant for age 5-12, I would say, no queues even on busy days and tesco voucher gets you a wrist band for access all rides
Fuschia

Fuschia

Posted
Posted

Not out of London but the following are all good


Docklands museum via east London line/dlr

Has good toddler area ... Docklands nice to stroll round


Cp park and one O clock club, Which is open mornings

Easy day out ... One o clock club followed by swings and sandpit


Surrey docks farm, walk after along the Thames, there are some swings close by with good pirate ship

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