Days out,
already planned.

Rainy day in Nottingham: castle, caves and a windmill

Nottingham city centre

Spend the morning at Nottingham Castle, where the Robin Hood gallery and optional cave tour keep children busy under cover. After lunch, head beneath the streets on a guided caves tour, then finish with hands-on science experiments at a free windmill museum in Sneinton.

Nottingham Castle → City of Caves → Green's Mill and Science Centre

Sherwood Forest: the Major Oak and forest trails

Edwinstowe

Walk out to the thousand-year-old Major Oak and build dens near the visitor centre in the morning. After a picnic, drive a few minutes to Sherwood Pines for story trails, play areas and family bike rides through the pines.

Sherwood Forest Country Park → Sherwood Pines

Castleton caves and hills: two days in the Hope Valley

Castleton

Day one goes underground: a boat ride through a flooded mine, Blue John caverns and a hike up to a Norman castle. Day two heads up Mam Tor for big views, then out to the Derwent dams for an easy lakeside cycle or walk.

Peveril Castle → Treak Cliff Cavern → Speedwell Cavern → Mam Tor + 1 more

Cable cars and cotton mills in Matlock Bath

Matlock Bath

Ride the cable cars up to the Heights of Abraham for show caves, woodland play and views down the gorge. In the afternoon, step into the story of the first factory at Cromford Mills, free to explore.

The Heights of Abraham → Cromford Mills

Bikes and farm animals: Monsal Trail and Chatsworth

Bakewell

Hire bikes or a trailer at Hassop Station and ride the traffic-free Monsal Trail through lit tunnels towards the viaduct. After lunch, drive to Chatsworth for the farmyard and woodland adventure playground.

Monsal Trail → Chatsworth

Buxton gardens and an underground cavern

Buxton

Start in Buxton's Victorian Pavilion Gardens with playgrounds and a miniature railway, then walk or drive up to Poole's Cavern for a guided tour among stalactites and a wander in the woods.

The Pavilion Gardens → Poole's Cavern & Buxton Country Park

Space, Egypt and dinosaurs: a rainy day in Leicester

Leicester

The National Space Centre fills a morning with rockets, astronaut kit and a planetarium show. Afterwards, swap space for dinosaurs and mummies at the free museum on New Walk.

National Space Centre → Leicester Museum & Art Gallery

Deer park and steam trains in Charnwood

Newtown Linford

Walk among red and fallow deer at Bradgate Park and paddle in the stream before lunch. In the afternoon, head to Loughborough for a heritage steam train ride.

Bradgate Park Leicester → Great Central Railway

Rutland Water for little ones

Oakham

Rutland Water's Sykes Lane has a shaded, enclosed playground and mini golf, perfect for toddlers. Then drive round to Normanton to see the famous half-drowned church and have lunch by the water.

Rutland Water - Sykes Lane → Normanton Church and Rutland Water - Normanton

Lincoln uphill: castle, cathedral and a Victorian park

Lincoln

Explore the Victorian prison and see an original Magna Carta at Lincoln Castle, then cross the square to hunt for the Lincoln Imp in the cathedral. Finish in the Arboretum, a free Victorian park with a lake.

Lincoln Castle → Lincoln Cathedral → Lincoln Arboretum

Seals, dunes and sand: Skegness for less

Skegness

Start at Gibraltar Point's quiet dunes and beach, where parking is the only cost. Then head into Skegness for the lunchtime seal feed at Natureland and an afternoon on the wide Blue Flag beach.

Gibraltar Point National Nature Reserve → Natureland Seal Sanctuary → Skegness Beach

Forest and canal locks in south Northamptonshire

Northampton (south)

Follow the Room on the Broom trail and try the play areas in Salcey's ancient oak forest. After lunch, watch boats work the locks at Stoke Bruerne, visit the free canal museum and peer into the Blisworth Tunnel.

Salcey Forest → The Canal Museum

Whales, mummies and polar explorers: a free rainy day in Cambridge

Cambridge city centre

Three free university museums sit within a ten-minute walk of each other in central Cambridge, so a wet day costs nothing but lunch. Start under the giant whale skeleton, eat at the Fitzwilliam's courtyard cafe, then finish with sledges and snow goggles at the Polar Museum.

University Museum of Zoology → The Fitzwilliam Museum → The Polar Museum

Glasshouses and a hillfort: a gentle toddler day south of Cambridge

Cambridge

Flat garden paths and glasshouses in the morning suit buggies and new walkers, and under-17s get in free. After lunch, swap to the woods at Wandlebury for den-building and space to run.

Cambridge University Botanic Garden → Wandlebury Country Park

The Ship of the Fens and a wetland adventure

Ely

Climb into the medieval roof spaces of Ely Cathedral in the morning, then cycle or walk the flat droves of Wicken Fen, the National Trust's oldest nature reserve. Under-16s visit the cathedral free with family.

Ely Cathedral → Wicken Fen National Nature Reserve

Norwich Castle and the Broads: a two-day Norfolk break

Norwich

Day one pairs the newly reopened Norman keep in the middle of Norwich with an easy lakeside walk on the edge of the city. Day two heads into the Broads for old boats, a short river trip and a wildlife reserve on Hickling Broad.

Norwich Castle → Whitlingham Country Park → Museum of the Broads → NWT Hickling Broad and Marshes

Holkham sands and the little steam train to Walsingham

Wells-next-the-Sea

Walk the boardwalk through the pines to one of England's widest beaches, then trade sand for a tiny steam train that trundles inland to Walsingham and back. Under-5s ride free.

Holkham Beach → Wells and Walsingham Light Railway

Dunes, seals and the Wash

Hunstanton

A morning in the dunes and pinewoods at Holme, where children go free, then the seal rescue centre at Hunstanton's aquarium. The aquarium also works as the whole day if the weather turns.

NWT Holme Dunes → SEA LIFE Hunstanton

Fort, museum and a free Tudor mansion

Felixstowe

Explore the tunnels and gun batteries of Landguard Fort while container ships slide past, then cross to Ipswich for a free Tudor house full of old toys. A park on the doorstep finishes the day.

Landguard Fort → Felixstowe Museum → Christchurch Mansion → Christchurch Park

Marshes and a pier of peculiar machines

Lowestoft

A free wetland reserve with a play area and marsh-view cafe in the morning, then down the coast to Southwold, where the pier's Under the Pier Show is full of odd home-made coin machines. Walking the pier itself costs nothing.

Carlton Marshes Nature Reserve → Southwold Pier

Boats on the Meare and birds at Minsmere

Aldeburgh

Row between the little islands of Thorpeness Meare in the morning, then spend the afternoon at Minsmere's Wild Zone, sand martin tunnels and pond dipping.

Thorpeness Meare → RSPB Minsmere

Pier train and castle ruins on the Thames Estuary

Southend-on-Sea

Ride or walk the world's longest pleasure pier out into the estuary, then head up the hill to Hadleigh's ruined castle, which is free to explore, for big views back over the water.

Southend Pier and Train → Hadleigh Castle

Roman St Albans for a few pounds

St Albans

Hands-on Roman life in the museum, with dressing up at weekends and in holidays, then out into the park built over the old Roman city for a picnic by the lake.

Verulamium Museum → Verulamium Park

Vintage planes and a French-style garden

Biggleswade

Hangars of old aeroplanes, many still airworthy, at Old Warden in the morning, then an English Heritage mansion with long garden vistas, woodland paths and a walled-garden cafe.

Shuttleworth Collection & Garden → Wrest Park

A farm-stay weekend on the Suffolk coast

Restaries at Paradise Farm, Westhall

Settle into a converted barn on a Suffolk farm, swim in the heated covered pool and meet the goats and alpacas, then spend a day on the coast: giraffes and lions at Africa Alive, lunch on Southwold Pier, Tim Hunkin's eccentric machines and a run on the beach. Works for toddlers through to tweens.

Restaries at Paradise Farm → Africa Alive! → Boardwalk Restaurant, Southwold Pier → Southwold Pier

Three free museums on Exhibition Road

South Kensington

Dinosaurs in the morning, a garden picnic at lunchtime and hands-on science in the afternoon, all within a five-minute walk of each other and all free to enter. Because everything is indoors except the V&A garden, it holds up in any weather.

The Natural History Museum → Victoria and Albert Museum → Science Museum

Dinosaurs, rowing boats and a pirate ship

South Kensington / Hyde Park

A morning with the dinosaurs, then a walk up into Hyde Park for lunch by the Serpentine, half an hour in a rowing boat or pedalo, and an afternoon on the pirate galleon in Kensington Gardens. A good shape for a dry day with under-8s who need to burn energy after a museum.

The Natural History Museum → Serpentine Bar & Kitchen → Hyde Park Boating on the Serpentine → Diana Memorial Playground

Greenwich: tea clipper, market and the hilltop

Greenwich

Walk beneath the copper hull of a Victorian tea clipper, graze the street-food stalls at the covered market, peek up the spiral stairs of the Queen's House and finish by climbing Greenwich Park for the view across to Canary Wharf. Everything is in one compact riverside town centre.

Cutty Sark Clipper Ship → Greenwich Market → Queen's House → Greenwich Park

Greenwich to Canary Wharf, by river or DLR

Greenwich / Canary Wharf

A morning on the slopes of Greenwich Park and lunch at the market, then a hop across the Thames to Canary Wharf for the free London Museum Docklands and its Mudlarks play gallery. Ends with a short wander in the covered roof garden above the Elizabeth line station.

Greenwich Park → Greenwich Market → Uber Boat by Thames Clipper → Museum of London Docklands + 1 more

Under the Thames: Mudchute farm and the foot tunnel

Isle of Dogs / Greenwich

Start with the goats and pigs at one of Europe's biggest city farms, picnic-gaze at the Greenwich skyline from Island Gardens, then walk under the river through the Victorian foot tunnel and come up beside the Cutty Sark. An afternoon in Greenwich Park rounds it off without spending anything.

Mudchute Park and Farm → Island Gardens → Greenwich Foot Tunnel → Greenwich Park

Canal day: Little Venice to King's Cross

Camden / King's Cross

Follow the Regent's Canal towpath from the moored boats of Little Venice past the edge of the zoo to Camden Lock, eat your way round the market, test the 50-metre zip wire at Gloucester Gate and finish among the converted coal stores at King's Cross. Best for confident walkers rather than buggies.

Regent's Canal Walk: Little Venice to Camden → Camden Market → Gloucester Gate Playground → Coal Drops Yard

Regent's Park: three playgrounds and a boating lake

Regent's Park

A loop of The Regent's Park built around its playgrounds: a three-zone playground with a willow tunnel, a pedalo or rowing boat on the lake, a picnic on the grass, a treehouse sand pit and a zip wire to finish. Short hops all day and only the boats cost money.

Marylebone Green Playground → The Regent's Park Boating Lake → Hanover Gate Playground → Gloucester Gate Playground

Highgate woods, Waterlow Park and Kenwood

Highgate / Hampstead

Ancient woodland with a big fenced playground in the morning, lunch at a 16th-century house overlooking a hillside park, and an afternoon at Kenwood among Rembrandts and sweeping lawns that run down to the Heath. Free from start to finish.

Highgate Wood → Waterlow Park → Lauderdale House → Kenwood

Richmond Hill, Pembroke Lodge and the deer park

Richmond

Climb from Richmond town through the sloping Terrace Gardens, take in the long view from King Henry's Mound in Pembroke Lodge's gardens, lunch on the tea-room terrace and then spend the afternoon on the open grassland of Richmond Park looking for red and fallow deer. A big-sky outdoor day.

Terrace Gardens → Pembroke Lodge → Richmond Park → Pembroke Lodge

A full day at Kew

Kew

One ticket, one big day: Victorian glasshouses for a showery morning, a picnic on the lawns, and a long session in the Children's Garden, a play space for 2-12s built around how plants grow. Child tickets are heavily discounted.

Kew Gardens → Kew Gardens → Kew Gardens

West London parks: Gunnersbury and Walpole

Ealing / Gunnersbury

A big parkland morning at Gunnersbury with a free local history museum in the old Rothschild mansion and restored Victorian kitchens, then on to Walpole Park in Ealing for its playground, walled kitchen garden and lake. Free entry everywhere and a museum to duck into if it rains.

Gunnersbury Park & Museum → Walpole Park

Toddler morning in Hyde Park

Hyde Park / Kensington Gardens

Three stops and no rush: the Peter Pan pirate ship playground at opening, a lakeside lunch with proper baby changing, and a short pedalo on the Serpentine. Done by early afternoon in time for a nap.

Diana Memorial Playground → Serpentine Bar & Kitchen → Hyde Park Boating on the Serpentine

South Bank and Westminster with a wheel ride

South Bank / Westminster

A riverside playground in the shadow of Parliament, a slow turn on the London Eye, the log-and-net playground behind it, then over the river for lunch in a church crypt and a gentle afternoon in the National Gallery's family spaces. Iconic London, sized for younger children.

Horseferry Playground → London Eye → Jubilee Gardens Playground → Café in the Crypt + 1 more

Covent Garden to Coram's Fields

Covent Garden / Bloomsbury

Street performers on the piazza, paper toy theatres in an old-fashioned toyshop, a pocket wildlife garden off Charing Cross Road, then a long lunch and play at Coram's Fields, the Bloomsbury park where adults can only go in with a child. Ends next door at the Foundling Museum if energy allows.

Covent Garden Market and Piazza → Benjamin Pollock's Toyshop → The Phoenix Garden → Coram's Fields + 1 more

Olympic Park and the V&A East Bank

Stratford / Hackney Wick

A morning of big playgrounds and riverside paths in the 2012 Olympic Park, a picnic, then two very different V&A spaces: the new East Bank museum and the Storehouse, a walk-through working store where you can peer into conservation studios. Free unless you add a paid venue in the park.

Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park → V&A East Museum → V&A East Storehouse

Walthamstow Wetlands and a Victorian steam engine

Walthamstow / Tottenham

Reservoir paths, bird hides and herons in the morning, lunch in the cafe inside an old engine house, then a short walk to Markfield Park where volunteers fire up a huge Victorian beam engine on steaming days. Free all day, and built around the engine's open Sundays.

Walthamstow Wetlands → Markfield Beam Engine and Museum

Hackney toddler day: farm, market and park

Hackney

Pigs, goats and a donkey at a small free city farm, a weekend street-food lunch on Broadway Market, and a flat, buggy-friendly afternoon in Victoria Park with its play areas and boating lake. Three stops, short hops.

Hackney City Farm → Broadway Market → Victoria Park Tower Hamlets

Horniman, a hidden wood and Dulwich's gallery

Forest Hill / Dulwich

A free museum famous for its giant stuffed walrus and playable instruments, with a small aquarium and butterfly house, then a scramble through Sydenham Hill Wood to find a Victorian folly, ending at the world's first purpose-built public art gallery, where under-18s go free.

Horniman Museum and Gardens → Sydenham Hill Wood → Dulwich Picture Gallery

Rotherhithe: farm, hilltop and Brunel's tunnel

Rotherhithe / Bermondsey

Feed the goats at a riverside city farm, climb a man-made hill on an old dock for a free view across London, picnic in the woodland strip beside it, then go down the shaft where the Brunels dug the first tunnel under a navigable river. Small, low-cost and away from the crowds.

Surrey Docks Farm → Stave Hill Ecological Park → The Brunel Museum

Tower, docks and a secret City roof garden

Tower Hill / City of London

A long morning at the Tower with the Crown Jewels, ravens and a Yeoman Warder tour, lunch overlooking the boats at St Katharine Docks, then a free lift up to a wisteria-covered roof garden and a stroll through a painted Victorian market known from the Harry Potter films.

Tower of London → St Katharine Docks → The Garden at 120 → Leadenhall Market

Central London rainy day: paintings, a crypt and the Foundling

Trafalgar Square / Bloomsbury

Indoor almost all day: the National Gallery's family spaces in the morning, a warm lunch beneath St Martin-in-the-Fields, a browse among toy theatres in Covent Garden's covered market, and the moving story of London's first home for abandoned children in the afternoon.

The National Gallery → Café in the Crypt → Benjamin Pollock's Toyshop → The Foundling Museum

Free London: playgrounds, paintings and street performers

Westminster / South Bank / West End

A day in the middle of London that costs nothing but your packed lunch: a Thames-themed playground by Parliament, the timber playground behind the London Eye, a picnic in the National Gallery's family space, the Covent Garden street performers and a hidden wildlife garden.

Horseferry Playground → Jubilee Gardens Playground → The National Gallery → Covent Garden Market and Piazza + 1 more

Rainy toddler half day at Canary Wharf

Canary Wharf

Two dry stops a few minutes apart: the free Mudlarks play gallery for under-8s at London Museum Docklands, with lunch in the museum cafe, then a gentle wander under the covered roof garden above the station. Home before nap time.

Museum of London Docklands → Crossrail Place Roof Garden

Teen day: the Tower, Borough and the graffiti tunnel

Tower Bridge / South Bank

Gory Yeoman Warder stories and the Crown Jewels, a graze around London's best-known food market, a walk through the Waterloo tunnel where street artists repaint the walls daily, and a late-afternoon London Eye ride for the skyline.

Tower of London → Borough Market → Leake Street Arches → London Eye

Christmas in the West End: toy theatres and ice skating

Trafalgar Square / Covent Garden

A winter day in the West End: the National Gallery's family tours and drop-ins, present-hunting among toy theatres, a warming lunch in the crypt of St Martin-in-the-Fields, and an afternoon skate in the courtyard of Somerset House. Only for the skating season, 11 November to 10 January.

The National Gallery → Benjamin Pollock's Toyshop → Café in the Crypt → Somerset House + 1 more

Christmas Steaming Day at Crossness (6 Dec 2026)

Abbey Wood

A one-date special: fossil hunting and abbey ruins in Lesnes Abbey Woods in the morning, then the ornate Victorian pumping station at Crossness with its giant beam engines in steam for the Christmas Steaming Day. Great for engine-mad and history-minded children.

Lesnes Abbey Woods → Crossness Pumping Station

Summer water-play day in Chelsea and Hyde Park

Chelsea / South Kensington / Hyde Park

A hot-weather day built around water: ground-level jets in Duke of York Square, a paddle in the V&A's garden pool with a picnic, a rowing boat on the Serpentine and a long late-afternoon session on the pirate ship playground, which stays open into the evening in summer.

Duke of York Square → Victoria and Albert Museum → Hyde Park Boating on the Serpentine → Serpentine Bar & Kitchen + 1 more

Sunny day: Olympic Park to Victoria Park

Stratford / Bow / Hackney

Two of east London's biggest green spaces in one dry day: playgrounds and wildflower gardens in the Olympic Park, a picnic, then a walk across to Victoria Park for its boating lake and play areas, finishing with a weekend snack on Broadway Market.

Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park → Victoria Park Tower Hamlets → Broadway Market

Weekend in London: Tower and Greenwich, then South Kensington

Tower Hill / Greenwich (Day 1); South Kensington (Day 2)

Day one goes east: the Tower in the morning, lunch by the boats at St Katharine Docks, then a river bus down to Greenwich for the Queen's House and the park. Day two stays west with free museums and a boat on the Serpentine. Two separate, walkable clusters joined only by public transport.

Tower of London → St Katharine Docks → Uber Boat by Thames Clipper → Queen's House + 5 more

Three days in London: Greenwich, the river and South Kensington

Greenwich (Day 1); South Bank/Trafalgar (Day 2); South Kensington (Day 3)

Three compact days, each in its own walkable patch: maritime Greenwich, the South Bank and Trafalgar Square with a London Eye ride, and the Exhibition Road museums. Indoor options on every day mean it survives a wet spell.

Cutty Sark Clipper Ship → Greenwich Market → Queen's House → Greenwich Park + 8 more

Eltham Palace and Well Hall Pleasaunce

Eltham

An Art Deco millionaire's house wrapped round a medieval great hall where Henry VIII grew up, complete with a gold bathroom and a pet lemur's heated cage, then a free historic park with a Tudor barn cafe, moat, ponds and a play area.

Eltham Palace → Well Hall Pleasaunce

Toddler day at Deen City Farm and Morden Hall Park

Morden / Merton

A small city farm with sheep and goats to feed and a wooden playground, then the flat meadows, boardwalks and rose garden of Morden Hall Park beside the River Wandle, with a cafe for lunch. Two stops, a 13-minute hop, and free entry.

Deen City Farm → Morden Hall Park

Hampton Court: maze, Magic Garden and Tudor kitchens

Hampton Court / East Molesey

Henry VIII's riverside palace as a full family day: the hedge maze, the Tudor kitchens and state apartments, and the Magic Garden, a large themed play garden for under-12s with towers and a dragon that comes with a palace ticket.

Hampton Court Palace → Hampton Court Palace → Hampton Court Palace

Castles and sand: a Northumberland coast weekend from Belford

East Lodge, Home Farm, Belford

Settle into East Lodge and its willow den, then head to Bamburgh's huge beach before dark. The next day is all castles and gardens: Bamburgh Castle in the morning, lunch in Alnwick's old station, and the fountains and labyrinth of The Alnwick Garden in the afternoon.

East Lodge, Home Farm → Bamburgh Beach → Bamburgh Castle → Barter Books + 1 more

Quayside bridges, a city farm and a wartime tunnel

Newcastle city centre / Quayside

A walkable Newcastle day that starts under the cathedral's lantern spire, crosses the Tyne on the tilting 'blinking eye' bridge and follows the river east into the Ouseburn valley. Lunch is among the pigs and goats at a free city farm, and the afternoon goes underground on a guided tour of a Victorian coal-wagon tunnel that sheltered people in the Blitz.

Newcastle Cathedral → Gateshead Millennium Bridge → Ouseburn Farm → Victoria Tunnel

Dinosaurs, Leazes Park and the Turbinia - a free Newcastle day

Newcastle city centre (Haymarket)

Three free stops within a mile of each other: a natural history museum with a T. rex and Egyptian mummies, Newcastle's oldest park for a picnic and a run-around by the lake, then the city's science and industry museum. It works in drizzle because two of the three stops are indoors.

The Great North Museum → Leazes Park → Discovery Museum

Rainy day on Tyneside: science centre and craft gallery

Newcastle Central Station / Gateshead

A wet-weather plan built around Newcastle's big hands-on science centre and planetarium by Central Station, followed by a calm hour in a free Gateshead gallery that has a sensory room for families. Almost everything is under cover, with only a short car or taxi hop in between.

Life Science Centre → Shipley Art Gallery

Toddler morning: city farm animals and Saltwell Park

Newcastle / Gateshead

Two stops only, both free: a small city farm where little ones can meet pigs, sheep and goats, then Gateshead's Victorian park with its hedge maze, play areas and boating lake. Lunch is in the turreted tearoom so nap time can happen in the buggy on the paths afterwards.

Ouseburn Farm → Saltwell Park

Derwent Valley woods and a riverside castle

Rowlands Gill (Gateshead)

A free green day on Gateshead's western edge: a flat old railway path along the Derwent for scooters and buggies, a picnic deep in a big Forestry England wood, then the ruins of a medieval castle above the Tyne at Prudhoe. Good for families who want fresh air without paying entry fees.

Derwent Walk Country Park → Chopwell Wood → Prudhoe Castle

Tynemouth headland, Cullercoats rock pools and a Spanish City supper

Tynemouth

A classic North Tyneside coast day: a ruined priory and castle on the headland, a sandy horseshoe bay with rock pools for the afternoon, then fish and chips under the white dome at Whitley Bay. Short hops keep little legs fresh.

Tynemouth Priory and Castle → Northumberland Park → Cullercoats Bay → Trenchers Spanish City

Ferry across the Tyne: Tynemouth to South Shields seafront

Tynemouth / North Shields

Turn a short river crossing into the highlight of the day: explore Tynemouth's priory, ride the passenger ferry over the mouth of the Tyne, then spend the afternoon on the South Shields side with a fish and chip lunch, a Victorian park with a miniature railway and a big sandy beach.

Tynemouth Priory and Castle → Shields Ferry → Colmans Seafood Temple → South Marine Park + 1 more

Souter Lighthouse, The Leas and Marsden Rock

South Shields / Whitburn

Climb a red-and-white striped Victorian lighthouse, run about on open clifftop grassland, then drop down to a cove where a giant sea stack is crowded with seabirds. Finish with a fish supper on the South Shields front.

Souter Lighthouse and The Leas → Marsden Bay → Colmans Seafood Temple

Free day in North Tyneside: farm, dene and bay

Wallsend / North Shields

Three free stops with free or cheap parking: a big country park on reclaimed colliery land with a community farm and sand-and-water play, a wooded Victorian dene with a pump track, and a little sheltered beach to finish. Pack a picnic or use the park cafes.

Rising Sun Country Park → Northumberland Park → Cullercoats Bay

Sunderland seafront and city: Roker, Seaburn and Mowbray Park

Sunderland (Roker)

A bracing walk out along Roker Pier, a long play on Sunderland's main family beach, then into the city for a restored Victorian park with a big adventure playground. End inside a medieval gatehouse castle that is free to visit on a booked slot.

Roker Pier and Lighthouse → Seaburn Beach → Mowbray Park → Hylton Castle

Washington wetlands, an old hall and Penshaw Monument

Washington

Flamingos, ducks and woodland hides fill the morning at the wetland centre, followed by a short look round the 17th-century house linked to George Washington's ancestors. Finish by climbing the grassy hill to the Greek-temple folly that watches over Wearside.

WWT Washington Wetland Centre → Washington Old Hall → Penshaw Monument

Sea glass and a wild gorge on the Durham coast

Seaham

Hunt for smooth coloured sea glass washed up from an old bottleworks on Seaham's beach, then head down the coast for a wilder walk through a steep wooded limestone gorge full of yews and birdsong. Free all day apart from parking.

Seaham Beach → Castle Eden Dene National Nature Reserve

Beamish full day with a Causey Arch finale

Beamish / Stanley

Give the whole day to the open-air museum: ride trams between the 1900s town, pit village, farms and 1950s streets, and eat in one of its period cafes. On the way home, stretch legs on a short gorge walk to the world's oldest surviving single-arch railway bridge.

Beamish Open Air Museum → Causey Arch Picnic Area

Steam train, Causey Arch and the Derwent Walk

Marley Hill / Stanley

On a running day, ride Victorian carriages behind a steam engine on the world's oldest railway, which passes the Causey Arch gorge. Then picnic beside the arch itself and finish with a flat stroll or scoot on the old railway path along the Derwent.

Tanfield Railway → Causey Arch Picnic Area → Derwent Walk Country Park

Durham City: cathedral, castle views and a riverside priory

Durham City

Start with the best free view of the cathedral and castle from a hillside park by the station, then explore the Norman cathedral with its family trail and undercroft cafe. Finish out of town at the riverside ruins of a medieval priory where Durham's monks once retreated.

Wharton Park → Durham Cathedral → Finchale Priory

Bishop Auckland palace and Hamsterley Forest

Bishop Auckland

A morning in the former palace of the Prince Bishops, with its walled garden and free viewing tower, then out to County Durham's biggest forest for picture-book trails, a play area and gentle bike routes.

Auckland Palace → Hamsterley Forest

Weardale railcar and Low Barns wildlife

Stanhope / Witton-le-Wear

A sit-down scenic ride up Weardale on a heritage diesel railcar, then a gentle afternoon on flat, buggy-friendly paths between bird hides at a wildlife trust reserve where kingfishers and otters are possible.

Weardale Railway → Low Barns Nature Reserve

Upper Teesdale waterfalls and the Silver Swan

Barnard Castle / Middleton-in-Teesdale

Walk from a little chapel visitor centre to a waterfall you can stand behind at Gibson's Cave and the tumbling cascades of Low Force. In the afternoon, a French-chateau museum in Barnard Castle where a mechanical silver swan performs every day at 2pm - and under-18s go free.

Bowlees Visitor Centre → The Bowes Museum

Darlington and Shildon railway day

Darlington

Follow the world's first passenger railway story from Darlington's 1825 station, now Hopetown with its Wagon Woods adventure play, to a hall of historic locomotives in Shildon. A Victorian park with play areas and an aviary fits between them. Site entry is free throughout.

Hopetown Darlington → South Park → Locomotion

Alnwick morning: bookshop railway station and Hulne Park

Alnwick

Browse one of Britain's biggest second-hand bookshops inside Alnwick's old railway station, with a model train running along the shelf tops, then walk into the Duke of Northumberland's walled park for a picnic by the river. Dogs and bikes are banned in the park, which keeps it calm for small children.

Barter Books → Hulne Park

Howick gardens and Craster kippers

Craster / Howick

Roam the woodland and riverside paths of the Grey family's gardens and arboretum, following the burn path towards the sea, then lunch in Craster at a smokehouse that has cured kippers since the 1800s. Finish back in Alnwick at the old-station bookshop for its afternoon ice cream counter.

Howick Hall Gardens & Arboretum → L. Robson & Sons → Barter Books

Farne Islands puffin cruise and Howick

Seahouses

In puffin season, sail from Seahouses harbour round the Farne Islands to see puffins, other seabirds and grey seals. Refuel on fish and chips by the harbour, then spend the afternoon wandering the gardens and arboretum at Howick.

Farne Islands → Neptune Fish Restaurant → Howick Hall Gardens & Arboretum

Northumberland beach day: Bamburgh sands and a seal cruise

Bamburgh / Seahouses

A whole morning of sandcastles and kite flying on the vast dune-backed beach below Bamburgh Castle, a fish-and-chip lunch in Seahouses, then a 90-minute boat trip out to the grey seal colonies of the Farne Islands, which runs all year.

Bamburgh Beach → Neptune Fish Restaurant → Farne Islands

Holy Island, Berwick walls and the Ford & Etal mill

Berwick-upon-Tweed / Holy Island

Cross the tidal causeway to the red-sandstone ruins of Lindisfarne Priory, then walk the top of Berwick's Elizabethan town walls above the Tweed. Inland, watch a water-powered corn mill grinding flour and explore a small free border castle in Etal village.

Lindisfarne Priory → Berwick-upon-Tweed Castle and Ramparts → Heatherslaw Corn Mill → Etal Castle

Hadrian's Wall high country: Housesteads, The Sill and the Roman Army Museum

Bardon Mill / Haltwhistle

Climb up to the best-preserved fort on the Wall for costumes, replica objects and sweeping moorland views, warm up with lunch and a rooftop walk at the free national park discovery centre, then finish at a hands-on museum about the life of a Roman soldier.

Hadrians Wall and Fort → The Sill: National Landscape Discovery Centre → Roman Army Museum

Gentle Roman day: Corbridge town and Chesters fort

Corbridge / Chollerford

A flatter, younger-child-friendly take on Hadrian's Wall: walk down a real Roman high street and see the Corbridge Lion, then head up the North Tyne to a cavalry fort in parkland with a bath house, a museum of carved stones and a coffee house.

Corbridge Roman Town - Hadrian's Wall → Chesters Roman Fort and Museum - Hadrian's Wall

North Tyne waterfall walk and Wallington adventure play

Bellingham / Cambo

A Kielder-country alternative: follow a wooded gorge from Bellingham over footbridges to a 9-metre waterfall, keeping an eye out for red squirrels. Then drive to Wallington for a zip line, play fort and dragon cycle trail in a big National Trust estate.

Hareshaw Linn → Wallington

Northumberland castle day: Belsay and Prudhoe

Belsay / Prudhoe

Two very different castles: a medieval tower castle in the grounds of Belsay's Greek Revival hall, with a quarry garden of rocky ravines and a Wild Man play trail, then the gatehouse and keep of Prudhoe above the Tyne. Finish with a run-around at a riverside country park.

Belsay Hall, Castle and Gardens → Prudhoe Castle → Newburn Riverside Country Park

Morpeth bagpipes and south-east Northumberland parks

Morpeth

A quirky free start in a medieval chantry full of bagpipes you can listen to on headsets, then a woodland-and-riverside country park with a wooden playground and cafe, ending at a lake with flat paths for scooters on the edge of Ashington.

Morpeth Chantry Bagpipe Museum → Plessey Woods Country Park → Queen Elizabeth II Country Park

Seaton Delaval Hall and Blyth's coastal battery

Seaton Delaval / Blyth

A woodland morning at a country park, then a Baroque National Trust mansion where children can lose themselves in a hidden woodland play space themed on old theatre machinery. In season, finish at a volunteer-run wartime gun battery in the Blyth dunes.

Plessey Woods Country Park → Seaton Delaval Hall → Blyth Battery

Middlesbrough museum, park and stately hall

Middlesbrough

Dinosaurs, space and live reptiles at a free town museum, lunch and swan pedal boats in the big Victorian park at its gate, then a Georgian National Trust hall with a natural play area and a model railway layout.

Dorman Museum → Albert Park → Ormesby Hall

Toddler farm day in south Middlesbrough

Coulby Newham, Middlesbrough

A farm park with big animals, a petting barn, sand pits and soft play on buggy-friendly paths, followed by a gentle hour in Stewart Park with its playground, animal paddocks and the small Captain Cook museum.

Newham Grange Farm → Captain Cook Birthplace Museum

Hartlepool warship, Headland battery and Seaton Carew sands

Hartlepool

Go below decks on Britain's oldest warship still afloat at a recreated Georgian quayside, then visit the Headland gun battery that faced the 1914 German bombardment. On summer-holiday afternoons, cool off in the water play zone at Seaton Carew.

HMS Trincomalee 1817 → Heugh Battery Museum → Seaton Carew Beach

Stockton: Victorian street and Saltholme wetlands

Stockton-on-Tees

Walk through a recreated Victorian street of shops inside Preston Hall and let the children loose in the parkland play areas. In the afternoon, cross the Tees to an RSPB reserve with a glass-fronted visitor centre, wild play area and level paths between hides.

Preston Park and Museum → RSPB Saltholme

Redcar and Saltburn: owls, a beacon and the cliff tramway

Redcar / Saltburn-by-the-Sea

A free museum in a grand 1710 building with a school-holiday owl centre next door, a free lift to the top of Redcar's seafront tower, and then Saltburn's Victorian pier and Britain's oldest water-balanced cliff lift for a short, cheap ride.

Kirkleatham Museum → Redcar Beacon → Saltburn Pier → Saltburn Cliff Tramway

Teen adventure: Roseberry Topping and white-water rafting

Guisborough / Stockton

Bag a summit first thing on the steep half-cone hill at the edge of the North York Moors, refuel at a forest cafe, then raft an artificial white-water course beside the Tees Barrage. A proper full-on day for teens who want to earn their tea.

Roseberry Topping → Guisborough Forest and Walkway → Tees Barrage International White Water Centre

Two-day Durham and Teesdale weekend

Durham / Barnard Castle

Day one explores Durham's cathedral peninsula and riverside priory ruins. Day two heads into Teesdale for a medieval castle in a deer park with a giant timber adventure playground, followed by the Silver Swan at a chateau-style museum where under-18s go free.

Wharton Park → Durham Cathedral → Finchale Priory → The Plotters’ Forest at Raby Castle + 1 more

Two-day Tyneside coast and Beamish weekend

Newcastle / Tynemouth

Day one is a car-light coast day: Tynemouth's headland priory, the ferry across the Tyne and a South Shields seafront afternoon. Day two is all-in at the open-air museum at Beamish, with a short gorge walk to finish.

Tynemouth Priory and Castle → Shields Ferry → Colmans Seafood Temple → South Marine Park + 3 more

Three-day Northumberland coast: Alnwick, the Farnes and Holy Island

Seahouses / Alnwick area

Three unhurried days on the Northumberland coast: a bookshop station and a duke's walled park in Alnwick plus Howick's gardens; sandcastles at Bamburgh and a boat out to the Farne seals; then a tide-timed crossing to Holy Island with Berwick's walls and the Etal mill.

Barter Books → Hulne Park → Howick Hall Gardens & Arboretum → Bamburgh Beach + 6 more

A wet day of free museums in Manchester

Manchester city centre

Three free museums and galleries that keep everyone dry and busy, from steam engines and science in Castlefield to dinosaurs and live animals on Oxford Road. Finish with a calm hour among the art and trees at the Whitworth.

Science and Industry Museum → The Manchester Museum → The Whitworth

Castle playground and a lake steamer near Penrith

Penrith / Pooley Bridge

A morning on the turrets, tunnels and slides of one of the biggest adventure playgrounds in the country, set among castle ruins and gardens. In the afternoon, step aboard a heritage boat on Ullswater for fell views from the water.

Lowther Castle & Gardens → Ullswater Steamers

Heaton Park and a bus museum on a budget

North Manchester

Manchester's largest park gives you farm animals, playgrounds and a boating lake without paying for entry. After lunch, swap the outdoors for a hangar full of old buses and trams, where accompanied children get in free.

Heaton Park → Museum of Transport

Farm animals and woodland for little ones near Bolton

Bolton / Wigan

A gentle day built around a working dairy farm, where toddlers can feed animals, take a tractor ride and see the cows milked. After lunch, a short drive takes you to wide woodland paths for a nap-friendly buggy walk.

Smithills Open Farm → Haigh Woodland Park

A full day at Chester Zoo and an evening on the city walls

Chester

Give the zoo the whole day: it is huge, and there is plenty under cover if showers pass through. If legs allow, finish with a short stretch of Chester's ancient walls to see the Eastgate Clock.

Chester Zoo → Chester City Walls

Forest trails and a castle on a crag in Cheshire

Delamere / Tarporley

Spend the morning on waymarked forest trails, including a storybook trail for younger children. In the afternoon, climb up to a ruined castle on a rocky outcrop with views over the Cheshire Plain.

Delamere Forest → Beeston Castle and Woodland Park

Liverpool waterfront: museums and a ferry across the Mersey

Liverpool Pier Head

Two free waterfront museums cover the city's story and its seafaring past, all within a few minutes' walk. In the afternoon, take the famous ferry for a loop on the river and a good look at the skyline.

Museum of Liverpool → Merseyside Maritime Museum → Mersey Ferry Explorer Cruise

Red squirrels and iron men on the Sefton coast

Formby / Crosby

Look for red squirrels in the Formby pinewoods before running down through the dunes to the beach. After lunch, head south to Crosby to find Antony Gormley's cast-iron figures standing along the shore.

Formby Nature Reserve → Crosby Beach

Blackpool in lights: a two-day autumn break

Blackpool

Day one keeps you mostly indoors at the Tower, the aquarium and Showtown, then ends with the free Illuminations along the promenade. Day two is for rides at the Pleasure Beach, with a gentle finish beside Fairhaven Lake.

The Blackpool Tower Ballroom → SEA LIFE Blackpool → Showtown Blackpool → Blackpool Illuminations + 2 more

Otters, reedbeds and the seaside at Morecambe Bay

Silverdale / Morecambe

Start on level paths through a big reedbed reserve, peering from hides for otters, deer and wading birds. After lunch, swap binoculars for swings at a seafront park in Morecambe.

RSPB Leighton Moss → Happy Mount Park

Peter Rabbit, old boats and an island cruise in Bowness

Bowness-on-Windermere

A compact day in Bowness that works in any weather: storybook scenes for younger children, a museum full of historic boats, and a 45-minute cruise around Windermere's islands.

The World of Beatrix Potter → Windermere Jetty Museum → Windermere Lake Cruises

Mountain forest and Keswick's quirky museums

Keswick

Begin high up in Whinlatter Forest with play areas and a family trail above Bassenthwaite Lake. Then drop down into Keswick for a museum of optical illusions and the town museum's rocks, mining and Lakeland stories.

Whinlatter Forest → The Puzzling Place → Keswick Museum

Titanic Quarter on a wet day

Belfast

Spend a rainy day under cover in Belfast's shipbuilding quarter. Start with the story of Titanic, grab lunch from the food stalls at a Victorian market hall, then climb aboard a real First World War warship.

Titanic Belfast and SS Nomadic → St George's Market → HMS Caroline

Free museum and park day in south Belfast

Belfast

A no-cost day in Belfast's university quarter: dinosaurs and a mummy at the Ulster Museum, a wander through the glasshouses and lawns of the Botanic Gardens, then a playground stop across the river.

Ulster Museum at Botanic Gardens → Botanic Gardens and Palm House → Ormeau Park

Zoo and adventure playground on Cave Hill

Belfast

A gentle day for small children on the slopes of Cave Hill: a morning with the animals at Belfast Zoo, then lunch and a big adventure playground in the Belfast Castle grounds next door.

Belfast Zoo → Belfast Castle Visitors Centre

Giant's Causeway, castle ruins and Portrush sands

Bushmills

The classic north coast day out: clamber over the Causeway's basalt columns, lunch at the old schoolhouse by the entrance, explore the clifftop ruins of Dunluce, then finish with a run on Portrush's long beach.

Giants Causeway and Visitors Centre → The Nook at the Giant's Causeway → Dunluce Castle → East Strand Portrush

Causeway Coast and Glens over two days

Ballycastle

Two days on the north-east coast. Day one crosses Carrick-a-Rede and explores hidden harbours and beaches; day two heads into the Glens of Antrim for a riverside walk, a bucket-and-spade stop and a castle garden.

Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge → Ballintoy Harbour → White Park Bay Beach → Ballycastle Beach + 3 more

Walls, museums and history in Derry~Londonderry

Derry~Londonderry

A history-rich city day for teenagers: walk the complete 17th-century walls, explore the city's story and an Armada wreck at the Tower Museum, lunch in the Guildhall, then visit the Museum of Free Derry in the Bogside.

Derry City Walls → Tower Museum → The Guildhall Derry → Museum of Free Derry

Glens, clifftop temple and a seven-mile beach

Limavady

A sunny-day loop on the far north coast: woodland gorge walks at Roe Valley, the clifftop Mussenden Temple with views over the Atlantic, and an afternoon on the huge sands of Benone Strand.

Roe Valley Country Park → Mussenden Temple and Downhill Demesne → Benone Strand

Mourne forest walk, castle ruin and dunes

Newcastle

A low-cost day in the shadow of the Mournes: stepping stones and follies in Tollymore, a climb up the free Norman castle at Dundrum, then boardwalks through Murlough's dunes to the beach.

Tollymore Forest Park → Dundrum Castle → Murlough National Nature Reserve

Strangford Lough: castle, ferry and aquarium

Strangford

A lough-side day with a little boat trip in the middle. Explore the grounds, farmyard and play area at Castle Ward, cross the Narrows on the car ferry, then meet sea creatures and rescued seals at Exploris.

Castle Ward → Strangford Lough Ferry → Exploris Aquarium

Caves and a country house in Fermanagh

Enniskillen

A Fermanagh day that works in any weather: a guided tour through underground rivers at the Marble Arch Caves, a walk round Florence Court's walled garden and sawmill, then a castle museum back in Enniskillen.

Marble Arch Caves → Florence Court → Fermanagh County Museum

Stars, a palace park and Iron Age Armagh

Armagh

Armagh packs a lot into a small city: a planetarium show and the Astropark, a picnic and play in the free Palace Demesne, then the ancient royal site of Navan Fort with its Iron Age characters.

Armagh Planetarium → Palace Stables Heritage Centre → Navan Centre and Fort

Emigrant ships and dark skies in Tyrone

Omagh

Follow Ulster emigrants from thatched cottages onto a life-size sailing ship and into the American backwoods at the Ulster American Folk Park, then head into the Sperrins for a guided tour of the OM Dark Sky observatory.

Ulster American Folk Park → OM Dark Sky Park and Observatory

Dinosaurs, rockets and a time machine: a wet day in Edinburgh's Old Town

Edinburgh city centre

Spend the morning in the free National Museum of Scotland, where skeletons, space kit and a whole floor of science and technology galleries keep curious kids busy. After lunch, walk downhill to Dynamic Earth for a journey through the planet's history under one roof, with no need to step outside for long.

National Museum of Scotland → Dynamic Earth

Penguins and a castle garden on Edinburgh's west side

Edinburgh (Corstorphine)

Edinburgh Zoo fills most of the day, with its hillside paths leading from penguins near the bottom to big cats and views near the top. Finish with a gentle wander and picnic in the free grounds of Lauriston Castle, which run down towards the Forth.

Edinburgh Zoo → Lauriston Castle

Farm, fruit fields and sharks by the Forth bridges

South Queensferry / North Queensferry

Start at Craigie's Farm on the edge of South Queensferry with an early bite in the farm café and a look around the fields. Then cross the Forth to Deep Sea World, where a walk-through tunnel puts sharks and rays right over little heads, all indoors.

Craigie's Farm Cafe → Deep Sea World

Seabird cams, harbour lunch and a cliff-top fortress in North Berwick

North Berwick

The Scottish Seabird Centre on North Berwick harbour has live cameras trained on the islands offshore, so children can zoom in on gannets and seals. After lunch in its café, drive a few minutes east to Tantallon Castle, a huge red-stone ruin on the cliffs facing the Bass Rock.

Scottish Seabird Centre → Seabird Cafe at the Scottish Seabird Centre → Tantallon Castle

Trams, tall ships and a dinosaur hall: Glasgow's free museum day

Glasgow West End

Two of Glasgow's best free museums sit within a mile of each other along the Kelvin. The Riverside Museum is packed with trams, cars and a walk-through old street, and Kelvingrove's halls hold everything from a Spitfire to a stuffed elephant.

Riverside Museum → Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum

Castle, monument and safari: two days around Stirling

Stirling

Day one is Stirling's big history double: the royal palace and great hall of Stirling Castle, then the climb up the Wallace Monument for views across the Forth valley. Day two heads north-west to Blair Drummond Safari Park, with a stop at Doune Castle on the way home.

Stirling Castle → The National Wallace Monument → Blair Drummond Safari and Adventure Park → Doune Castle

The Kelpies and the boat lift: a Falkirk canal day

Falkirk

Start at The Helix park, where the giant horse-head Kelpies sculptures tower over the canal and there's a big play area. In the afternoon, take a boat into the air on the Falkirk Wheel, the world's only rotating boat lift.

The Helix → The Helix Visitor Centre cafe → Falkirk Wheel

Ice cream, a castle and a country park in St Andrews

St Andrews

St Andrews Castle has a clifftop ruin and an underground mine and counter-mine for brave explorers. Fuel up with gelato in town, then drive out to Craigtoun Country Park for a picnic, play areas and, in season, its family attractions.

St Andrews Castle → Jannettas Gelateria → Craigtoun Country Park

Ship, design and science on Dundee's waterfront

Dundee waterfront

Climb aboard RRS Discovery, the polar research ship built in Dundee, then cross the road to the free V&A Dundee for design galleries and lunch. Finish with a booked session at Dundee Science Centre, a few minutes' walk away.

Discovery Point → V&A Dundee → Tatha Bar & Kitchen → Dundee Science Centre

Steam train and castle woods on Royal Deeside

Banchory

On a running day, take a short heritage train ride along the River Dee from Milton of Crathes, then eat at the brasserie by the station. In the afternoon, head a mile down the road to Crathes Castle for the gardens, woodland trails and the adventure play area.

Royal Deeside Railway → Crathes Castle Garden and Estate

Three days in Aviemore: steam, wildlife and reindeer

Aviemore

A base in Aviemore puts the best of the Cairngorms within half an hour. Ride a steam train and walk round a castle loch on day one, see polar bears and a 1700s township on day two, and meet free-ranging reindeer before a beach afternoon at Loch Morlich on day three.

Strathspey Railway → Loch an Eilein → Highland Wildlife Park → Highland Folk Museum + 2 more

River islands and glasshouses: an easy Inverness morning

Inverness

Follow the River Ness south from the city centre to a string of wooded islands linked by footbridges. Next door, the Botanic Gardens have warm glasshouses for a cactus and jungle detour, and a café with baby changing for lunch.

Ness Islands Walk → Inverness Botanic Gardens → Café Botanics

Brighton seafront: sea creatures, a hilltop park and the pier

Brighton seafront

Start under the Victorian arches of the oldest working aquarium in the world, then climb up to a quiet Kemptown park with a playground and duck pond for lunch. Finish back on the seafront with rides, ice cream and a long walk out over the waves on the Palace Pier.

SEA LIFE Brighton → Queen's Park → Brighton Palace Pier

Whitstable gardens and the Reculver towers

Whitstable

A low-cost morning on the north Kent coast: a play park and tearoom in the gardens of Whitstable's little castle, then a short drive east to the twin towers standing in the remains of a Roman fort on the shore. Bring a kite for the clifftop grass at Reculver.

Whitstable Castle and Gardens → Reculver Towers and Roman Fort

Dover to Folkestone along the white cliffs, for free

Dover

See a 3,500-year-old boat in Dover's free town museum, then drive through a tunnel in the cliffs to Samphire Hoe, a seaside park built from Channel Tunnel spoil. End on Folkestone's Harbour Arm for a picnic or street food and a walk to the lighthouse.

Dover Museum → Samphire Hoe Beach → Folkestone Harbour Arm

Little Oxford: story rooms and dinosaurs for under-5s

Oxford city centre

A short, buggy-friendly morning built around a 60-minute Small Worlds session at the Story Museum, made for under-5s. Then walk up to the natural history museum, where dinosaur skeletons stand under a glass roof and there are specimens little hands are allowed to touch.

The Story Museum → Oxford University Museum of Natural History

Canterbury on a wet day: cathedral, Roman house and a free museum

Canterbury city centre

Three indoor stops a few minutes apart in the walled city. Children go free at the cathedral, the underground Roman museum has a mosaic floor still in place and objects to handle, and the free Beaney finishes the day with natural history cases and family trails.

Canterbury Cathedral → Canterbury Roman Museum → The Beaney

Isle of Wight in two days: a queen's beach, castle donkeys and the Needles

East Cowes and Yarmouth

Day one crosses to East Cowes for Queen Victoria's holiday house, gardens and her private beach, then heads inland to a hilltop castle where donkeys still work the well wheel. Day two is in the West Wight: animals and indoor play at a farm park, then a chairlift down to Alum Bay to see the Needles.

Osborne House → Carisbrooke Castle → Tapnell Farm Park → The Needles Landmark Attraction

New Forest giants: redwoods, ancient firs and a motor museum

Lyndhurst

Morning walks under some of the tallest trees in the New Forest along Ornamental Drive, starting at Bolderwood and moving on to the redwoods of the Tall Trees Trail. The afternoon is at Beaulieu, where one ticket covers racing cars, a monorail and a stately home.

Bolderwood Deer Sanctuary → Blackwater Arboretum and Tall Trees Trail → Beaulieu National Motor Museum

Portsmouth: warships, a Tudor wreck and a view from the tower

Portsmouth Harbour

Spend most of the day at the historic dockyard going aboard HMS Victory and HMS Warrior and seeing the raised Tudor warship Mary Rose. End by going up the Spinnaker Tower next door for a view across the Solent to the Isle of Wight.

Portsmouth Historic Dockyard → Spinnaker Tower

Model villages and Roald Dahl in the Chilterns

Beaconsfield

Walk through a miniature 1930s England at the world's oldest model village and ride its little railway, then drive into the hills to the village where Roald Dahl wrote, for an afternoon of story-making in his museum.

Bekonscot Model Village → The Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre

Milton Keynes: codebreakers, sculpture and a lake

Milton Keynes

A morning on the trail of the wartime codebreakers at Bletchley Park, with hands-on code-cracking for children. In the afternoon, climb the viewing mound in Campbell Park's sculpture-filled grounds and finish at Willen Lake's playgrounds, splash park and Peace Pagoda.

Bletchley Park → Campbell Park → Willen Lake

A Surrey day of glasshouses and a crystal grotto

Wisley and Cobham

The morning is at the Royal Horticultural Society's flagship garden, with a tropical glasshouse and lakes. After lunch, cross to Painshill, an 18th-century landscape garden where children can hunt for follies around the lake, including a grotto lined with crystals.

RHS Garden Wisley → Painshill

Arundel: a hilltop castle and a boat through the reedbeds

Arundel

Climb the keep of Arundel's huge restored castle in the morning, then walk down past the river to the wetland centre for a quiet electric boat ride through the reedbeds and some pond dipping.

Arundel Castle → WWT Arundel Wetland Centre

A Dartmoor barn weekend with otters and piglets

Shuttaford Barns, Holne

Base yourselves in a converted barn in a quiet Dartmoor valley with a games room for wet evenings, then spend a day around Buckfastleigh: piggy cuddles and tractor rides at Pennywell Farm, lunch at Buckfast Abbey, steam engines at Buckfastleigh station and otter feeding time at the sanctuary next to the steam railway. Everything is within 15 minutes of the barn.

Shuttaford Barns → Pennywell Farm → Buckfast Abbey restaurant → South Devon Railway, Buckfastleigh station + 1 more

Rainy day on Bristol's harbourside

Bristol city centre

Three indoor stops a short walk apart around Bristol's floating harbour: hands-on science, the free city museum and Brunel's great ship. Good for curious 6-12s when the weather is grim.

M Shed → Brunel's SS Great Britain

Toddler riverside wander: Snuff Mills to Oldbury Court

Fishponds, Bristol

A gentle, free morning for little legs: a woodland riverside stroll past an old stone mill, ending at a playground with a kiosk café and proper toilets.

Snuff Mills → Oldbury Court Estate

Roman Baths and a big Bath playground

Bath city centre

Start early at the Roman Baths before the queues, then let off steam in Royal Victoria Park, which has one of the best playgrounds in the city.

Roman Baths

Eden and Falmouth: two days in mid-Cornwall

St Austell or Truro

Day one inside Eden's giant rainforest dome, day two by the water in Falmouth with a hands-on maritime museum and a Tudor castle on the headland. Both days hold up if it rains.

Eden Project → National Maritime Museum Cornwall → Pendennis Castle

King Arthur's castle and a free sea pool

North Cornwall coast

A dramatic morning crossing the footbridge to Tintagel's clifftop ruins, then a swim in Bude's free tidal sea pool in the afternoon. Best on a calm, dry day.

Tintagel Castle → Bude Sea Pool

Torbay caves and a full afternoon at the zoo

Torquay

A guided tour of prehistoric caves in the morning, then the rest of the day among the animals and play areas at Paignton Zoo.

Paignton Zoo

Free fun on the edge of Dartmoor: lake, marbles and forest

Newton Abbot or Exeter

A day that costs little more than parking: a lakeside country park with a treetop boardwalk, free giant marble runs at lunchtime, then play and a storybook trail in a big forest park.

Stover Country Park → Haldon Forest Park

Purbeck in two days: apes, tanks, steam and castle ruins

Wareham or Swanage

Day one pairs an ape rescue centre with a hangar full of tanks next door. Day two takes the steam train to Corfe Castle and ends on the clifftops at Durlston.

Monkey World - Ape Rescue Centre → The Tank Museum → Corfe Castle → Durlston Country Park

Fossil hunting on the Jurassic Coast

Lyme Regis

Learn about Mary Anning and Jurassic sea monsters in Lyme Regis, then head to Charmouth's free fossil centre and join a guided hunt on the beach.

Lyme Regis Museum → Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre

Forest of Dean: a viewpoint, a fairy-tale wood and old mines

Coleford

Peregrines and big river views at Symonds Yat Rock, the twisting mossy paths of Puzzlewood, then underground into ancient iron mines.

Symonds Yat Rock → Puzzlewood → Clearwell Caves Ancient Iron Mines

Mendip caves and a wild gorge

Wells

A morning of show caves, circus and mini golf at Wookey Hole, then a free scramble through the quieter Ebbor Gorge just up the hill.

Wookey Hole Caves → Ebbor Gorge National Nature Reserve

Stonehenge and Old Sarum

Salisbury

The stone circle and its Neolithic houses in the morning, then the vast earthworks of Old Sarum, where Salisbury began, after lunch.

Stonehenge → Old Sarum

Steam trains, slate caverns and the Meirionnydd coast: a weekend at Llanfendigaid

Stable Cottage, Llanfendigaid Estate, Rhoslefain (near Tywyn)

A weekend based at a cottage on the Llanfendigaid Estate, between Tywyn and Fairbourne, with a heated indoor pool to come back to. Break the drive with a boat ride into King Arthur's Labyrinth and a beach stop at Aberdyfi, then spend Sunday on the Talyllyn steam railway and Tywyn's beach.

King Arthur's Labyrinth → Corris Café, Corris Craft Centre → Stable Cottage, Llanfendigaid Estate → Talyllyn Railway + 1 more

A wet day in Cardiff: dinosaurs, then a castle

Cardiff city centre

Start under cover at the national museum, where natural history and Welsh art sit side by side and entry costs nothing. After lunch, cross the city centre to Cardiff Castle to explore its wartime tunnels, Victorian rooms and the Norman keep on its mound.

National Museum Cardiff → Cardiff Castle

Old Wales for free: St Fagans and a Llandaff mansion

West Cardiff

Spend the morning wandering between farmhouses, a school and a row of miners' cottages rebuilt at the open-air museum of Welsh life. Then head to a Victorian mansion in Llandaff for a café lunch and a run around its free gardens.

St Fagans National Museum of History → The Potting Shed Café, Insole Court → Insole Court

Lakes, ducks and a pier for little ones in Penarth

Penarth

A gentle morning on the flat lakeside paths at Cosmeston, with a café break before toddlers flag. Finish on the Victorian pier on Penarth's seafront for sea air and a look back at the bay.

Cosmeston Lakes Country Park café → Penarth Pier

Swansea in the rain: industry, history and a rainforest

Swansea city centre / Maritime Quarter

Two free museums a few minutes apart cover Welsh industry and Swansea's own past, from trams to an Egyptian mummy. The afternoon is spent in the warm under glass at Plantasia among reptiles, monkeys and tropical plants.

National Waterfront Museum → Swansea Museum → Plantasia Tropical Zoo

Gower bays: a heritage mill, Three Cliffs and Rhossili

Gower (Parkmill)

Begin at a working water mill in Parkmill, then walk down to the dramatic river-cut bay at Three Cliffs. End the day on the long sweep of Rhossili beach below the downs, with Worm's Head out at the tip.

Gower Heritage Centre → Three Cliffs Coffee Shop

Two days around Tenby: farm zoo, then three castles

Tenby

Day one is spent at a big farm park and zoo near Kilgetty with animals, rides and plenty of indoor space. Day two follows the medieval trail west: Pembroke's great round keep, a ruined bishop's palace at Lamphey, then lunch and a tidal mill at Carew.

Folly Farm Adventure Park and Zoo → Pembroke Castle → Lamphey Bishop's Palace → Nest Tearoom, Carew Castle + 1 more

St Davids: a palace, a gallery and a farm of bugs

St Davids

Britain's smallest city is easy to do on foot: start at the National Park's gallery and visitor centre, then explore the roofless bishop's palace beside the cathedral. After lunch, head just out of town to a farm dedicated to insects and creepy-crawlies.

Oriel y Parc → St Davids Bishop's Palace → The Brunch House at Oriel y Parc

Underground at Big Pit and the Blaenavon ironworks

Blaenavon

Put on a helmet and lamp and go down a real coal mine with a former miner as your guide, then explore the surface buildings for free. In the afternoon, visit the furnaces and workers' cottages of the nearby ironworks that made this valley a World Heritage Site.

Big Pit National Coal Museum → Blaenavon Ironworks

Elan Valley dams and red kite feeding

Rhayader

Walk or cycle beside the reservoirs and Victorian dams of the Elan Valley in the morning. After lunch, sit in the hides at a hill farm near Rhayader as hundreds of red kites swoop down for the afternoon feed.

Elan Valley Visitor Centre → Elan Valley Visitor Centre Café → Gigrin Farm

Two days in Eryri: Snowdon by train and Portmeirion

Llanberis, then Porthmadog

Ride the rack railway up Yr Wyddfa, then wander to a lakeside Welsh castle tower and the woods of Padarn Country Park. Day two takes in the Italianate village of Portmeirion, lunch at Porthmadog harbour station and a run on the wide Black Rock Sands.

Snowdon Mountain Railway → Dolbadarn Castle → Padarn Country Park → Portmeirion + 2 more

Conwy's walled town and the mountain zoo

Conwy

Climb the towers of Conwy's medieval castle and look down on the harbour, then step into an Elizabethan townhouse a few streets away. After lunch, drive to the hillside zoo above Colwyn Bay for sea lions, big cats and views over the coast.

Conwy Castle → Plas Mawr → Welsh Mountain Zoo

Anglesey for almost nothing: a burial mound and Newborough

Anglesey (south-west)

Crawl into a 5,000-year-old passage tomb in a quiet field, then spend the rest of the day in the pine forest and dunes at Newborough. The beach looks across to Eryri and, at low tide, out to Llanddwyn island and its lighthouse.

Bryn Celli Ddu Burial Chamber → Llanddwyn Bay

Tolkien's Birmingham: mill, bog and park

Hall Green, Birmingham

Start at the old watermill that shaped Tolkien's Shire, then follow the boardwalks of the wood he played in as a boy. Finish with playgrounds, boats and mini golf in one of Birmingham's best-loved parks.

Sarehole Mill → Moseley Bog and Joy's Wood Local Nature Reserve

Two days in the Black Country

Dudley

A proper Black Country weekend: a day in the rebuilt streets of the living museum and a fossil hunt nearby, then a zoo on a castle hill and a Victorian park with two playgrounds.

Black Country Living Museum → Wren's Nest National Nature Reserve → Dudley Zoo and Castle → Haden Hill Park and Haden Hill House

Farm animals and a big free park in Sandwell

West Bromwich

A gentle morning for little ones: a booked slot with the animals at a council farm, then lunch and the adventure playground at the Sandwell Valley visitor centre.

Coventry rainy day: cars, a dinosaur and the cathedral ruins

Coventry city centre

Three city-centre stops within a few minutes' walk of each other: a giant transport collection, a museum where Dippy the Diplodocus is visiting, and the moving ruins of the old cathedral.

Coventry Transport Museum → Herbert Art Gallery and Museum → Coventry Cathedral

Stratford-upon-Avon: Shakespeare, boats and a cottage garden

Stratford-upon-Avon

See where Shakespeare was born, take to the river in a rowing boat or a short cruise, then spend the afternoon in the orchards and sculpture trail of Anne Hathaway's thatched cottage.

Shakespeare's Birthplace → Avon Boating → Anne Hathaway's Cottage

Warwick and Kenilworth castles weekend

Warwick

Two very different castles a few miles apart: a full day of towers, shows and dungeons at Warwick, then the vast red ruins of Kenilworth and an afternoon of play and pools at Ryton.

Warwick Castle → Kenilworth Castle → Ryton Pools Country Park

Trentham gardens and the monkey forest

Trentham, Stoke-on-Trent

A morning around the lake and adventure play areas of the Trentham estate, then an afternoon walking among free-roaming Barbary macaques in the woods next door.

The Trentham Estate (Trentham Gardens) → Trentham Monkey Forest

Free aircraft and the Iron Bridge

Telford

A free day out with paid parking only: historic aircraft and a playground at the RAF Museum, then a walk across the world's first iron bridge in the Ironbridge Gorge.

Royal Air Force Museum Cosford → The Iron Bridge

South Shropshire castles and a free discovery centre

Ludlow

Explore the ruined castle at the top of Ludlow, then head up the valley to Stokesay's fortified manor for lunch and its new playground, finishing with the free meadows and exhibitions at the Discovery Centre.

Ludlow Castle → Stokesay Castle → Shropshire Hills Discovery Centre

Wyre Forest trail and farm-animal arboretum

Bewdley

A morning following the Room on the Broom trail and playing in the Wyre Forest, then an afternoon of pools, woodland paths and farm animals at Bodenham Arboretum.

Wyre Forest → Bodenham Arboretum

Worcester on a budget

Worcester

A free city museum, a hands-on Civil War house with dressing-up, and an afternoon in ancient woodland with an adventure play area, all close to Worcester city centre.

Worcester City Art Gallery and Museum → Worcester Woods Country Park

Hereford's medieval map and a Wye Valley castle

Hereford

See the Mappa Mundi and the chained library in Hereford Cathedral, then drive down to the Wye to climb Goodrich Castle's keep and peer into its dungeon.

Hereford Cathedral, Mappa Mundi and Chained Library → Goodrich Castle

Walls, Vikings and a castle keep in one walkable York day

York city centre

Start high on the medieval walls with the Minster towering beside you, then step inside the cathedral, where under-18s go free with a paying adult. After a picnic among the abbey ruins in Museum Gardens, ride through Viking-age York at JORVIK and finish on top of Clifford's Tower looking back over everything you've walked.

York City Walls → York Museum Gardens → Jorvik Viking Centre → Clifford's Tower

A rainy York day: Victorian streets, a guildhall lunch and chocolate

York city centre

Three indoor stops a few minutes apart. Walk the cobbles of a recreated Victorian street at York Castle Museum, have lunch at the café inside a 660-year-old timber guildhall where children go free, then join a guided chocolate tour with tastings and a lolly to decorate.

York Castle Museum → Merchant Adventurers' Hall → York's Chocolate Story

Sheffield's free museums: woolly rhinos, steel and a giant glasshouse

Sheffield city centre

Three free stops linked by tram. Meet the woolly rhino and polar bear at Weston Park Museum, ride across town to see a 12,000-horsepower steam engine in action at Kelham Island, and end among 2,500 plants in the Winter Garden.

Weston Park Museum → Kelham Island Museum → The Winter Garden

Waterwheels and city farm animals in south Sheffield

South-west Sheffield

A free half day for under-fives. Watch the waterwheel and let them loose on the new timber play area at Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet, have lunch at its café, then drive across to Heeley City Farm to meet the goats, pigs and sheep.

Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet → Heeley City Farm

Sharks, trams and sailing ships in Hull's Old Town

Hull city centre

Hull's Old Town packs a lot into a short walk. Spend the morning at The Deep with its sharks and penguins, then follow the river into the free Museums Quarter for vintage trams and a 1940s street, and end in the grand old dock offices of the Maritime Museum.

The Deep → Streetlife - Hull Museum of Transport → Hull Maritime Museum

Rockpools, sea cliffs and seabirds on the Flamborough headland

Flamborough / Bridlington

A clifftop coast day around the chalk headland. Rockpool at South Landing in the morning, cross the headland for lunch and a cliff walk at North Landing, and end at Bempton Cliffs, where the viewing platforms overlook one of England's biggest seabird colonies.

Flamborough South Landing → Flamborough Cliffs Nature Reserve (North Landing) → RSPB Bempton Cliffs

Saltaire and Lister Park: a free Bradford day

Saltaire / Bradford

A free day in and around the Victorian model village of Saltaire. Play in riverside Roberts Park, have lunch inside the huge Salts Mill with its free galleries, then hop two stops towards Bradford for the boating lake, Mughal Water Gardens and free art at Lister Park's Cartwright Hall.

Roberts Park → Salts Mill → Cartwright Hall Art Gallery → Lister Park

Sculptures in the fields and a coal mine museum near Wakefield

Wakefield (M1 J38-39)

Two of West Yorkshire's best-value big days out, four miles apart. Walk the open-air galleries at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, where under-19s go free, then spend the afternoon at the free National Coal Mining Museum learning about life down the pits.

Yorkshire Sculpture Park → National Coal Mining Museum

Whitby in a day: fossils, fish and chips, Captain Cook and the abbey

Whitby

Cross Whitby from west to east. See ammonites and model ships at the Pannett Park museum, where under-18s go free, then have harbourside fish and chips. Cross the swing bridge to the house where young James Cook lodged as an apprentice, and finish by climbing the 199 Steps to the abbey ruins on the clifftop.

Whitby Museum → Magpie Café → Captain Cook Memorial Museum → Whitby Abbey

Two days on the Yorkshire coast: Scarborough's two bays, then Whitby

Scarborough (overnight), then Whitby

Day one is a classic Scarborough loop: seals and penguins at the far end of the North Bay, the pagoda lake at Peasholm Park, the castle on its headland and a harbourside ice cream to finish. On day two, drive up to a hidden woodland waterfall on the moors before a Whitby afternoon of fish and chips and the clifftop abbey.

SEA LIFE Scarborough → Scarborough Castle → The Harbour Bar → Falling Foss and Sneaton Forest + 2 more

Fairy waterfall and the great limestone cove at Malham

Malham, Yorkshire Dales

A free walking day from Malham village. Follow the beck through the woods to Janet's Foss, a little waterfall wrapped in legend, then walk to the foot of Malham Cove's huge curved cliff. Strong walkers can climb the stone steps to the limestone pavement on top for a picnic with a view.

Malham National Park Centre → Janet's Foss → Malham Cove

A castle morning in Skipton, then the Strid and stepping stones at Bolton Abbey

Skipton / Wharfedale

Start inside one of England's best-preserved medieval castles in the middle of Skipton, then drive up the Wharfe to Bolton Abbey. After lunch by the river, follow the family trails to the ruined priory and the stepping stones, or into Strid Wood, where the river squeezes through a narrow rock channel.

Skipton Castle → Cavendish Pavilion → Bolton Abbey Estate