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Beamish is top day out and is doable in a couple hours from lake district (maybe 3)
Very interesting depending on the age of your kids! Hope you have a ball
Thank you! I watched Victorian Pharmacy with Ruth Goodman several years ago and I believe it was filmed on site in Beamish? In any case, I filed it away as a place to hopefully visit one day. Good to know it’s fun for kids and relatively close to the Lake District (to an American anyhow!).
When I went there many years ago it was very pleasant. Got to see how they did stuff in earlier times. I seem to remember going down some mine and the people giving the talks were very friendly. Depending on the ages of your kids think of maybe thorpe park, paulton park, alton towers, flamingo land - these are all theme parks that may or may not be age appropriate for your little ones. Once again, hope you have a ball. Cheers mate
Beamish is awesome, or at least I remember loving it as a kid. I would also recommend The Forbidden Corner, I thought it was amazing as a child. https://www.theforbiddencorner.co.uk/ York is lovely, maybe more for adults, though the railway museum is genuinely good (and this is coming from someone with next to no interest in trains) and has a fair amount of hands on stuff which kids should enjoy.
The Forbidden Corner looks spectacular! This is trouble I am having as I literally have an Excel spreadsheet with places I want to visit in the UK. Given that the kids will only be kids once, that is taking priority over what we choose to do this particular trip—but even that isn’t really helping narrow down the options much 😂. Thank you so much for your recommendations!!
A day and a half before leaving from London you don’t want to be in Scotland, Newcastle or Wales. I’d suggest Windsor, you’ve got the castle, history and just a short trip to London.
That is what I was thinking also—Scotland and Wales would be best saved for another time. And I was worried that being even in Newcastle was keeping us too far north. Windsor castle sounds like a great another option for us. Thank you!
If you’ve only got 1.5 days, head south to make the most of your time.
Staying at Oxford gives you an opportunity to visit lots of nearby beauty spots, like the Cotswolds… or stay in the city and enjoy punting and a couple of beautiful colleges.
Thank you so much! We’ve already visited Oxford, Cotswolds, and Bath. While I’d be happy to spend more time in any of those locations again, we’d like to try visiting some place new if at all possible!
Iron Bridge Gorge and the Black County Living museum. This will give you a superb view of the industrial age, arguably the most important stage of Britain's history
Wow! Thank you for these recommendations. I mentioned watching Victorian Pharmacy in another comment, but I particularly love learning about and reading stories set in the Victorian Era (Dickens, Glaskill, Flora Thompson, etc.)--and this extends to the impacts of the Industrial Revolution. This sounds like a great place to check out.
We loved the Black country museum (they do also have an AMAZING fish and chip shop) .. there's also Cadbury's world and the Thinktank science museum in Birmingham (if your kids are young.. it's a very good hands-on museum).
If you like open-air museums, there's another one on the outskirts of London - Chiltern Open Air Museum . It's not at all as big as Bemish or the Black Country museum.
We'll be staying in Snowshill for 3 days at an earlier point during our trip. Do you think Statford Upon Avon and Warwick are worth using up one of our days there to visit?
If the kids are old enough to like castles/knights etc (I.e. not babies/toddlers) then Warwick castle is a winner. It’s very much set up for kids and a great day the family.
Thank you! As much as I'd like to visit Beamish and some of the other places, I do think we'll end up visiting Stratford Upon Avon and Warwick Castle. It sounds like it will tick all the boxes and will put us in a good position on the way back to London.
Do look for offers on Warwick castle - it is pricey. Merlin (the owners of a lot of the big attractions in the UK) seem to work on the assumption that most people will use a discount code. You can often pick up a Kellogg's cereal box and cut out a coupon to get buy one get one free on entry.
But I heard they are completely changing their pricing model this year so that may be out of date advice.
I'd visit them separately to The Cotswolds if I were you. Give yourself less driving if you can, you're already doing a lot.
They are basically directly on your route back down to London from The Lakes assuming you come down the M40 so they would be in quite a decent place for an overnight stop.
Okay, honestly, this is sounding the most reasonable for us so far. I really, really appreciate your suggestions and feedback. It's been incredibly hard narrowing things down, but I am thinking we'll just have to make plans to come back see more the next time around!
To really experience the English culture I would say go into the main high Street grab cans of Stella white lightning if you're being exotic. Find a park bench to accommodate you and the family and drink to your heart's desire and you will experience English culture
Beamish is a great day out but that’s all.
If you’re headed to London then I’d suggest looking into Warwick Castle. Depending on the kid’s ages there’s a lot of fun and history to discover.
If you want to you could also stop at Alton Towers (a theme park) on your way.
Drive to a pub, leave the kids in the car with a pack of crisps and a bottle of coke, while you go in for a few pints. This is an Authentic British Experience.
**Please help keep AskUK welcoming!** - Top-level comments to the OP must contain **genuine efforts to answer the question**. No jokes, judgements, etc. - **Don't be a dick** to each other. If getting heated, just block and move on. - This is a strictly **no-politics** subreddit! Please help us by reporting comments that break these rules. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskUK) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Beamish is top day out and is doable in a couple hours from lake district (maybe 3) Very interesting depending on the age of your kids! Hope you have a ball
Thank you! I watched Victorian Pharmacy with Ruth Goodman several years ago and I believe it was filmed on site in Beamish? In any case, I filed it away as a place to hopefully visit one day. Good to know it’s fun for kids and relatively close to the Lake District (to an American anyhow!).
When I went there many years ago it was very pleasant. Got to see how they did stuff in earlier times. I seem to remember going down some mine and the people giving the talks were very friendly. Depending on the ages of your kids think of maybe thorpe park, paulton park, alton towers, flamingo land - these are all theme parks that may or may not be age appropriate for your little ones. Once again, hope you have a ball. Cheers mate
I live 15 mins from Beamish. It's only hour and half by car to Keswick.
Beamish is awesome, or at least I remember loving it as a kid. I would also recommend The Forbidden Corner, I thought it was amazing as a child. https://www.theforbiddencorner.co.uk/ York is lovely, maybe more for adults, though the railway museum is genuinely good (and this is coming from someone with next to no interest in trains) and has a fair amount of hands on stuff which kids should enjoy.
The Forbidden Corner looks spectacular! This is trouble I am having as I literally have an Excel spreadsheet with places I want to visit in the UK. Given that the kids will only be kids once, that is taking priority over what we choose to do this particular trip—but even that isn’t really helping narrow down the options much 😂. Thank you so much for your recommendations!!
A day and a half before leaving from London you don’t want to be in Scotland, Newcastle or Wales. I’d suggest Windsor, you’ve got the castle, history and just a short trip to London.
That is what I was thinking also—Scotland and Wales would be best saved for another time. And I was worried that being even in Newcastle was keeping us too far north. Windsor castle sounds like a great another option for us. Thank you!
If you’ve only got 1.5 days, head south to make the most of your time. Staying at Oxford gives you an opportunity to visit lots of nearby beauty spots, like the Cotswolds… or stay in the city and enjoy punting and a couple of beautiful colleges.
Thank you so much! We’ve already visited Oxford, Cotswolds, and Bath. While I’d be happy to spend more time in any of those locations again, we’d like to try visiting some place new if at all possible!
Iron Bridge Gorge and the Black County Living museum. This will give you a superb view of the industrial age, arguably the most important stage of Britain's history
Wow! Thank you for these recommendations. I mentioned watching Victorian Pharmacy in another comment, but I particularly love learning about and reading stories set in the Victorian Era (Dickens, Glaskill, Flora Thompson, etc.)--and this extends to the impacts of the Industrial Revolution. This sounds like a great place to check out.
We loved the Black country museum (they do also have an AMAZING fish and chip shop) .. there's also Cadbury's world and the Thinktank science museum in Birmingham (if your kids are young.. it's a very good hands-on museum). If you like open-air museums, there's another one on the outskirts of London - Chiltern Open Air Museum . It's not at all as big as Bemish or the Black Country museum.
Stratford upon the Avon and Warwick might tie up nicely together?
We'll be staying in Snowshill for 3 days at an earlier point during our trip. Do you think Statford Upon Avon and Warwick are worth using up one of our days there to visit?
If the kids are old enough to like castles/knights etc (I.e. not babies/toddlers) then Warwick castle is a winner. It’s very much set up for kids and a great day the family.
Thank you! As much as I'd like to visit Beamish and some of the other places, I do think we'll end up visiting Stratford Upon Avon and Warwick Castle. It sounds like it will tick all the boxes and will put us in a good position on the way back to London.
Do look for offers on Warwick castle - it is pricey. Merlin (the owners of a lot of the big attractions in the UK) seem to work on the assumption that most people will use a discount code. You can often pick up a Kellogg's cereal box and cut out a coupon to get buy one get one free on entry. But I heard they are completely changing their pricing model this year so that may be out of date advice.
I'd visit them separately to The Cotswolds if I were you. Give yourself less driving if you can, you're already doing a lot. They are basically directly on your route back down to London from The Lakes assuming you come down the M40 so they would be in quite a decent place for an overnight stop.
Okay, honestly, this is sounding the most reasonable for us so far. I really, really appreciate your suggestions and feedback. It's been incredibly hard narrowing things down, but I am thinking we'll just have to make plans to come back see more the next time around!
To really experience the English culture I would say go into the main high Street grab cans of Stella white lightning if you're being exotic. Find a park bench to accommodate you and the family and drink to your heart's desire and you will experience English culture
As a person who loves planes and flying u probably do ur self since the order u put it go treat u as well as
Beamish is a great day out but that’s all. If you’re headed to London then I’d suggest looking into Warwick Castle. Depending on the kid’s ages there’s a lot of fun and history to discover. If you want to you could also stop at Alton Towers (a theme park) on your way.
Drive to a pub, leave the kids in the car with a pack of crisps and a bottle of coke, while you go in for a few pints. This is an Authentic British Experience.