Four days exploring the Great West Way with kids

If ever there was a name designed to give you itchy feet, it’s the Great West Way. 125 miles of adventure stretching from London in the east to Bristol in the west, following ancient routes, passing castles and stone circles, pretty villages and canals, elegant towns and vibrant cities, it’s also a perfect starting point for a family holiday itinerary.

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Which is exactly what we did at Easter, taking the winding route west from our home in London to its western edge and beyond, to the Forest of Dean on the very edge of England and Wales, before retracing our path back east and pausing at some more of the tempting stopping places along the way.

And that’s the beauty of the Great West Way too: you can follow a path from one end to another, or plot a few days discovering the highlights in a couple of areas. The Great West Way website has its own itinerary planner, with an interactive map plus tips and and events calendar to create your own perfect route, whether you’d like to transport yourself back in history, soak up some city culture or escape to the countryside.

But to start you off, here’s the highlights of my four days exploring the Great West Way with kids, and more tips to create your own family-friendly itinerary.

Before you leave London

Start your trip in London with at least a few days exploring – check out some of my favourite things to do with kids who love history as well as for kids who love animals, along with this guide to London’s museums for kids and a chance to see some of the sights linked to the Great Fire of London or along the Thames

Make the most of your London base to discover some of the historic sights nearby too – the wonderful Hampton Court Palace, as well as Windsor and Windsor Castle, Cliveden, Henley and Greenwich, home to the Cutty Sark.

Check out the range of Treasure Map Trails, including Windsor and Eton, as well as central London for a fun way to explore with kids – get 10% off using code MUMMYTRAVELS

Day 1: Lacock, Wiltshire

Even if you’ve never visited Lacock before, you’ll almost certainly recognise this picturesque village – used as a filming location for everything from Pride and Prejudice to Downton Abbey, it’s also popped up in several Harry Potter films and Fantastic Beasts.

For all its air of being frozen in time (perfect for all those period dramas), it’s still a living village: those charming medieval stone and timber framed houses are homes, and it’s not only visitors popping in to the bakery for provisions.

Once you’ve wandered through the streets, pausing to look into the 14th century tithe barn and medieval St Cyriac’s church, there are more treats for Harry Potter fans at the 800-year-old Lacock Abbey – although if you wouldn’t know Hogwarts from a hedgehog, there’s still plenty to discover here.

During our visit, the National Trust was running an Easter trail, a perfect way to explore the grounds, spotting new lambs in the fields nearby and cats prowling through the first flowers of the year blooming in the walled garden.

The manor house itself is furnished as it would have been in the 19th century when its owner, William Henry Fox Talbot created the photographic negative – the birth of modern photography.

There’s also a separate museum attached to the site with more details on the complex process required, not to mention the fact that there are significantly more photos taken every 30 seconds than in the whole 19th century!

Pausing to covet a canopied bed, look at the subject of that first photo and imagine life living in a historic house, the highlight was discovering the cloisters from the medieval nunnery which once occupied the abbey.

Another familiar sight for Harry Potter fans, the cloisters doubled as part of Hogwarts in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.

For more Harry Potter filming locations, check out my post on the best Harry Potter days out in the UK

And in one of the rooms off the cloisters stood the Mirror of Erised, as well as featuring as Professor Quirrell’s classroom in the first movie. You’ll also recognise them from Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.

Nearby stands a gigantic cauldron, looking for all the world like a prop left over from filming – in fact this one is nothing to do with Harry Potter and was made in Belgium 500 years ago. Of course, there’s nothing to stop you pretending it could be used for all manner of fascinating potions…

Where to stay?

From here it’s only 30 minutes’ drive to Bath – check into Brooks Guesthouse just outside the city centre, and about two minutes from the Royal Crescent.

The 22 bedrooms are all decorated differently, with some quirky touches to make it memorable (such as an antique horn above the toilet in our bathroom). Breakfasts are fantastic, with some delicious hot specials alongside the buffet and there’s also an honesty bar, plus homemade biscuits in the rooms.

If you’re driving along the route, it’s perfect as there’s resident’s parking for a £10 overnight fee but you’re walking distance (or a short bus ride away) from the attractions in the city centre, including the Roman Baths. Book direct or via Booking.com.

There’s a sister hotel in Bristol, which also has airstream caravans on the roof, where we stayed last year.

Day 2: Bath, Somerset

With its elegant golden buildings, its classic crescents and its long history, Bath has a reputation as a very grown-up getaway – but there are also some great things to do in Bath with kids, whether you fancy getting outdoors or exploring some history.

We started by discovering a slightly different side of the city on the Bath Skyline walk – the whole 6 mile walk takes you from Bath abbey, out across the river and over the Kennet and Avon Canal, passing woods and downs, venturing near the American Museum in Bath with ideas for detours and some linking footpaths to skip the bigger hills. 

As we didn’t have long enough for the entire route (allow three to four hours, plus extra for small legs), we stuck to the National Trust Family Discovery trail in the Claverton Down section of the walk – a two mile loop passing fairy doors in the woods, with a natural play area and suggestions for wild art along the way, plus one field of cows to negotiate.

With my daughter’s scooter for the smoother sections, it’s a lovely path to wander – and only a short drive from our hotel.

But you can’t visit Bath without seeing the Roman Baths, those thermal springs which have drawn people to the area for centuries for their healing powers – a Regency mainstay as anyone who’s read Jane Austen will know, the original temple was dedicated to Sulis Minerva and the heart of Roman life.

I was worried it might be less fascinating to kids, but I couldn’t have been more wrong.

As well as a great children’s audioguide, read by various different characters, there are several different family trails to follow – more, in fact, than we could complete in one visit.

Minnie was very happy cherry-picking the highlights from each, spotting specific exhibits, artefacts and points of interest on the treasure hunt, as well as colouring in the picture of Hoot the owl and writing her name in Roman characters among the suggested activities (not to mention even more online for families).

And there’s plenty more to see as you explore of course, watching the steam rising from the hot water as it gushes out of the spring, checking out the Roman emperors which adorn the roof (later additions rather than original statues), getting hands on with a recreation of the famous golden head of Minerva and watching colours being superimposed over a fresco.

I was rather amused to discover some of the curses people had left for the goddess – having your bathing tunic nicked can’t be much fun, admittedly.

With time ticking on – we really needed several days to explore Bath alone! – we couldn’t linger as much as I’d have liked.

But there was still time to chat to the Roman scribe relaxing on the side of the baths with his wax tablet: my six-year-old bombarded him with questions on everything from his hat to how easy it was to write to whether Romans really ate dormice…

The only thing that remained was a quick refreshing drink – of the baths’s spa water. Minnie sipped a small cup with fewer objections than when I give her something new for tea. I thought perhaps I’d misremembered the, um, distinctive taste so I tried some more too.

My memory, it turns out, was very firmly not playing tricks…

If you’ve got longer to spend (and I recommend that), some of the other highlights in Bath for kids include the Fashion Museum, where children can try on Victorian and Georgian dress, as well as the trails and workshops at the Victoria Art Gallery and a look inside No 1 Royal Crescent, which is frozen in time in the late 18th century, and has its own trail for kids.

Or pick up a Treasure Trail to explore the city – there are several for Bath including a spy mission to stop the exploding raisins in the city’s famous buns from going off. Reward yourself with an actual bun from Sally Lunn’s once you’ve finished.

Check out my complete list of the top things to do in Bath with kids as well as more things to do in Somerset with kids

Where to eat in Bath?

Pizza always goes down well with my daughter – but Dough is just as good for adults. You can choose your own base with some unusual options for the dough (think purple corn, hemp, and various others with different tastes and nutritional benefits).

If you prefer a more classic option, my daughter’s tasted great too – and came in the shape of a bear.

I chose ‘The King’ with king prawns in paprika, lemon zest, pink pepper and mushrooms in white wine, and scoffed every last mouthful except the prawn heads!

In fact, I was so full, I couldn’t finish my nutella tiramisu. My six-year-old had no such problems with her ice cream: her only complaint was that I wouldn’t order caramel and coconut so she could try them as well.

If you have more time on the Great West Way

From here, you could head on to Bristol with plenty to discover in the city itself, from the SS Great Britain to stencil art spray lessons as well as the wonderful We The Curious – check out our curious weekend in Bristol.

And while the Grand Appeal sculpture trail, featuring Wallace and Gromit, is no longer around to follow, you can still see some of our other highlights from our second visit last year, including a trip to M Shed and the mummified cats at Bristol Museum and Art Gallery.

For more things to do in Bristol with kids, check out my top picks

Day 3: Longleat, Wiltshire

One day isn’t really enough to discover everything there is to see at Longleat – as we discovered on our own visit. But it’s well worth spending at least a day exploring this fantastic attraction, with a safari drive-through experience, as well as the only koalas in England at the brand new Koala Creek.

Feed sealions between spotting gorillas and hippos on the Longleat Safari Park boat cruise, spy a host of smaller zoo animals on foot, plus you can explore the house and gardens, with a maze and refurbished play area opening for the summer.

The highlight is getting the chance to see big cats as well as wolves, giraffe, zebras and the cheekiest of curious monkeys in the safari park though.

Check out my full review of our day at Longleat safari park

Where to stay near Longleat? 

There’s been an inn on Chippenham’s marketplace called the Angel for over 250 years – and an inn on this spot for almost 400.

Now a Best Western hotel there’s not much of the history left to see but it’s still a good value stopping point along the Great West Way – free parking out back, and a separate building with quieter rooms and a swimming pool, as well as a bar and restaurant in the main hotel building across the courtyard.

There are also packages for a stay and a visit to nearby Longleat available, and it’s also a 10-minute drive from Lacock so you could also make this your base for several days’ exploring.

Day 4: Bowood House & Gardens, Wiltshire

There can’t be many Georgian mansions with both an adventure playground featuring a pirate ship, and a hermit’s cave, plus a secret passage behind a waterfall and a collection of farm animals all in the same place. So I couldn’t work out why I hadn’t come across Bowood House before.

With a special Easter trail on during our visit, there’s so much to discover at Bowood House with kids – we wandered through the grounds, stopping to play in the two play areas (one  for older kids, including a truly heart-racing slide, another aimed at younger kids) before walking through the Italian gardens and down towards the lake.

With the parkland designed by Capability Brown, it’s a gorgeous place to stroll – we headed to the Doric temple on the far bank, past swans looking optimistically for bread.

On a little side path, you can head down to the cascade, a mini waterfall set among the rocks where you can discover caves and one dark tunnel (not too long) that looks like a dead end before bringing you back out onto the path.

Which just left time for a quick look inside the Georgian country house itself. I’m not sure Minnie was taking in every detail of the interiors designed by Robert Adam but there are some fascinating stories about its former inhabitants, including Joseph Priestly, who discovered oxygen there in the 18th century – his office is still set up as it would have been.

There’s plenty to fascinate all ages in the mini museum exhibitions at the top of the house though, from Napoleonic memorabilia to a display of truly dazzling diamonds.

Throw in an Albanian costume worn by Lord Byron, some Indian artefacts and Queen Victoria’s wedding chair and it’s certainly not your standard historic house. The fact that the library has modern photos of the Lansdowne family, along with its 19th century book collection was a lovely touch too.

And to offset the hushed atmosphere inside the house? Tractor Ted Little Farm with farm animals in the barn, a couple of rabbits in their hutch outdoors, plus a mini tractor track was the perfect end to a visit to Bowood with kids.

If you have more time on the Great West Way

If you’re heading back to London, stop off at the standing stones of Avebury on the way back – and keep an eye out for the chalk horse on the hillside at Cherhill, one of the white horses of Wiltshire as you drive between the two.

It might not be as famous as Stonehenge but the largest stone circle in the world is still enough to make you marvel at those ancient ancestors and the ingenuity it took to manoeuvre the huge stones to the site.

You can wander close to the standing stones which stretch around the pretty village of Avebury.

Pop into Avebury Manor and Garden too, a 16th century manor house where – very unusually – you can get properly hands on, even lying down on the bed as well as picking up pots and pans in the kitchen or trying on costumes.

There are more tips for visiting Avebury with kids here. Parking at Avebury is free for English Heritage and National Trust members.

PIN FOR LATER: EXPLORING THE GREAT WEST WAY WITH KIDS

Disclosure: My trip was courtesy of the Great West Way, Visit Bath, Longleat, Bowood House and the hotels mentioned – I used my own National Trust membership to visit Lacock and Avebury. All opinions and choice of route are my own. This post contains affiliate links: any purchases you make are unaffected but I may receive a small commission.

Main image copyright www.GreatWestWay.co.uk, all others copyright MummyTravels

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