great day trips from London for kids

[Tanza]

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was taken round the ships) there is a big warehouse in the Docks with lots of space to run around, packed with slightly out of date interactive exhibits.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.

[Cora]

Great tip. How long was the train journey?

[GinaG3]

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]

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!

[ryedalema]

Seconding Portsmouth, but we drove down and stayed overnight at a Travel Lodge.

The next day we went to Peppa Pig World.

A full-on couple of days - but the girls were happy!

[redjam]

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]

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]

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..

[Knomester]

The House of Fairy Tales sounds amazing Pickle! Having been, do you think it would be suitable for an inquisitive (almost) 2 year old?

[Pickle]

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.

[mumalive]

Thank you for the ideas.

Will definitely be trying some if not all of them.

[Jacbuc]

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]

The hop farm in Kent is good too, plenty of activities

Also knock hatch adventure park

Near eastbourne

Paradise wildlife park in herts

[pommie]

godstone farm is lovely too. Lots of animals to see, feed and lots of different play areas for the kids (indoor as well as outdoor). We went last year with our daughter and we are planning on going again soon

[Fuschia]

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]

Minnis bay in Kent - low key beach

[Fuschia]

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

[pommie]

also mudchute farm is good too

[oimissus]

oh, how I wish I'd known about Minnis Bay before heading out on a 2 hour slog to Botany Bay. Was a 4 hour round trip worth it for a half hour paddle in the sea??? The jury's out . . .

Is Minnis sandy? Would that be the closest sandy beach?

[gebbjane]

Docklands museum is closed over the summer though http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/Docklands/Visiting-us/closure.htm because of the olympics :( But second it my 2 year old loves the toddler play area.

[Fuschia]

It's sandy

http://www.visitkent.co.uk/explore/thedms.asp?dms=13&venue=3202914

[oimissus]

good-oh. And bugger at the same time, if we'd gone there that would have taken about 40 minutes of slog into Margate off our journey! Know for next time.

[Fuschia]

Never mind! Always the way...

[Lacey]

Thanks for the Hall Place suggestion Pickle! We went today and my five year old loved the trail, in the beautiful gardens as much as in the house. Definitely worth a visit.

[ryedalema]

Just seen an advert for Lollibop...

http://www.lollibopfestival.co.uk/index2.php/

At ?22 per head it's a sharp intake of breath - but a certain Madam has a massive crush on Mister Maker (and no, it's not me!)

What do you reckon? Worth it?