UK with Kids: Cornwall, Wales and Scotland by Car

At St Michael's Mount we walked across the sea bed on a stone causeway that only comes out of the water at low tide, and the kids moved stones and found crabs underneath. A few days later, in Puzzlewood, they looked for dinosaurs in the mossy rocks where "Star Wars" was filmed. And at Loch Lomond they built a dam on a stream, three days in a row. This was our Great Britain with kids.

We went there in summer 2019: 21 days, almost 5,000 km by car from Poland and a tent at campsites in England, Wales and Scotland. We wrote the day-by-day plan, with distances and campsites, in our post Great Britain 2019 - England, Wales and Scotland with kids in a tent, and you can watch the whole trip in order on our Great Britain 2019 playlist.

Britain is a good choice for families who like castles, nature and campsites with evening bingo, and who do not mind some rain. Below you will find the most useful practical tips and links to our posts.

The UK with kids at a glance
Practical info
The best places in the UK for kids
All posts: United Kingdom

The UK with kids at a glance

Our trips: summer 2019, from 10 to 30 August, 21 days: Kent, the London area, Stonehenge, Cornwall, Wales, the Lake District, Scotland and Northumberland.
Getting there: in our Ford Tourneo Custom from Poland through Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium to France, by ferry from Dunkirk to Dover, and back on the overnight ferry from Newcastle to IJmuiden near Amsterdam. Almost 5,000 km in total, about 2,550 km of them in Britain.
Where we slept: in our tent at campsites, booked mostly on pitchup.com, and one night in a cabin on the ferry.
Kids: we travelled with four kids, from the youngest, who did part of Puzzlewood and Hadrian's Wall on Dad's shoulders, to the older ones, who climbed the rocks at Aira Force on their own.
How long: three weeks were enough for a loop from Cornwall to Scotland, but with kids it is worth staying a few nights in one place, as we did near London and at Loch Lomond.

Practical info

Documents

In 2019 the UK was still in the European Union and an EU ID card was enough. Today most EU visitors need a passport, children too, because ID cards have not been accepted since 1 October 2021. Every traveller, including children, also needs an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA). It costs £20 and you apply online at gov.uk.

Ferries

We crossed to Britain on the DFDS ferry from Dunkirk to Dover and came back on the overnight ferry from Newcastle to the Netherlands. Good to know:

Dunkirk - Dover: the crossing takes about 2 hours, and the ticket shows local times. The UK is one hour behind France, so the crossing looks like one hour on the ticket. Because of that, we were on board without any sandwiches.
A night before the ferry: we stayed in Gravelines, about 10 km from Dunkirk port, where the beach at low tide is almost a kilometre wide.
Newcastle - Amsterdam: the ferry leaves North Shields every day at 17:00, check-in is from 14:00 to 16:15, and it arrives in IJmuiden at about 9:45 in the morning. Every passenger has a place in a cabin, so the night on board replaces a hotel night on the way.

Driving on the left

Driving on the left starts right after the port gate in Dover. In a left-hand-drive car, barriers, ticket machines and campsite gates are on the passenger side, which surprised us at the very first campsite. Country roads in Devon, Cornwall and Wales are narrow, with passing places, so take it slowly in a bigger car. In Cornwall many of them are only wide enough for one car, with stone walls on both sides. In Wales signs and words painted on the road are in two languages (for example ARAF, which means SLOW). At many supermarkets there is a height barrier at about 2 m at the car park entrance, meant to stop motorhomes. Our Ford did not fit under it, so we often had to find another shop for our shopping.

Road charges and clean air zones

What to watch out for today when you drive a foreign car:

Dartford near London: you pay for the bridge or tunnel online (Dart Charge, £3.50), there are no toll booths.
London: the whole city is an ULEZ zone with a £12.50 daily charge for older cars, foreign cars too. In 2019 the zone only covered the very centre.
Glasgow: the city centre has a Low Emission Zone (LEZ), for all vehicles since June 2023 (in 2019 only for buses), so check if your car meets the rules before you drive in with an older car.

Campsites

We booked most campsites on pitchup.com. British campsites often have a clubhouse with evening bingo and live music, and some have pools for rainy days. If you have a tent, check the description and reviews for toilets, showers, water and electricity. Once we found a "campsite" with nothing but grass, and we got our money back a few days later after a complaint through the booking website.

Weather and when to go

In August it rained almost every day for us, and we bought our first umbrellas at Lidl in Dover. Rain ponchos, spare shoes and a groundsheet are more useful than sun cream. After heavy rain, the campsite in the Lake District did not let cars onto the grass, and at Loch Lomond and in Cornwall it was very windy.

In Scotland, midges are a problem from May to September, most of all at dawn and dusk when there is no wind. Bring insect repellent.

The best places in the UK for kids

Kent and the London area

The White Cliffs of Dover

The chalk cliffs are about 7 km from the port. We climbed steep steps to the top, where you can see the port and the ferry we had just arrived on, and then a downpour sent us back to the car. At Kingsdown campsite, seagulls spread our rubbish around the tent in the night. Read the whole day in Dunkirk to Dover ferry, the White Cliffs and the seagulls at Kingsdown.

Brooklands Museum

One of the best family days out near London. Here you can find:

a ride on an old red bus and the London Bus Museum, where the kids sat behind the wheel,
planes you can walk into and a cockpit with pilot seats,
an aircraft factory where the kids clocked in with worker cards and collected stamps in each department.

We stayed at a campsite in Chertsey, with planes from Heathrow flying over every few minutes. More in Brooklands Museum - London buses and an aircraft factory near London.

Windsor Castle

The oldest and largest occupied castle in the world, 17 km from Chertsey. The kids loved the guards in red uniforms most: you can watch them march through the town for free, and the Changing of the Guard is usually on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays at 11:00. More in Windsor Castle with kids.

Stonehenge and Devon

Stonehenge

You see the 5,000-year-old stone circle from a path around it, and a free bus takes you there from the visitor centre. In the rain we were a little disappointed, but the kids had great fun at the rebuilt Stone Age houses and at the huge stone on a wooden sledge that everyone can try to pull. More in Stonehenge with kids in the rain.

Lady's Mile campsite in Dawlish

A big campsite in Devon and a good stop between London and Cornwall. We stayed here twice, and on rainy days the indoor pool with slides saved us. More in Lady's Mile in Dawlish.

Cornwall

St Michael's Mount

You walk to the castle island from Marazion on a stone causeway, open about 2 hours before and 2 hours after low tide. On the uncovered sea bed the kids looked for crabs under the stones, and in the island harbour they spotted a boat on wheels. Bring shoes that can get wet. More in St Michael's Mount with kids.

Land's End and Porthcurno

The most westerly point of mainland England, with a viewing terrace, the "First and Last House" and a playground looking out over the ocean. In the evening we also stopped above the turquoise bay of Porthcurno, next to the Minack Theatre cut into the cliff. More in Land's End and Porthcurno with kids.

Forest of Dean and Wales

Puzzlewood

A small forest full of mossy rocks, roots and wooden bridges, where "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" and "Merlin" were filmed. The kids looked for dinosaurs and crocodiles in the stones, and the numbered points on the map turned the walk into a treasure hunt. The evening before, at Whitemead campsite, we played bingo and danced at a concert. More in Puzzlewood - a magical film forest.

A playground in a church and the longest place name

On a rainy day in Snowdonia we found The Fun Centre in Caernarfon, an indoor playground in an old church, with high slides and a maze. Then we drove to Anglesey, to the village of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, whose name has 58 letters. In the same post we also wrote about a campsite that turned out to be a lawn by the road, and beautiful Henstent Park, where we found a last-minute pitch. Everything is in Wales in the rain - a playground in a church and the longest place name.

The Lake District and Hadrian's Wall

Ullswater and Aira Force

A forest path with bridges and stone steps leads to the waterfall, where the water falls about 20 metres into a mossy gorge. The night before, we put up our tent in the mud, because after heavy rain the campsite did not let cars onto the grass. More in Ullswater and Aira Force.

The Sill and Hadrian's Wall

At the free visitor centre The Sill, the kids built mountains on a sand table with a coloured map projected onto it. Then we walked across fields with cows to the Roman wall and squeezed through narrow stone gaps. The whole wall is in England, and it marked the border of the Roman Empire, not Scotland. More in Hadrian's Wall and Loch Lomond with kids.

Scotland

Loch Lomond

Three nights at Cashel Campsite, a few steps from the largest lake in Great Britain. The kids paddled in the stream, built a stone dam and floated on inflatables, and we met the Scottish midges and a flat car battery. The same post covers the Glasgow Botanic Gardens, where the glasshouses are free (Hadrian's Wall and Loch Lomond with kids).

Northumberland and the ferry home

Bamburgh Castle

A castle on a rock above a North Sea beach, with rows of cannons on the walls, rooms full of armour, an old kitchen and grassy slopes the kids rolled down. In 1464 it was the first castle in England taken with gunpowder artillery. More in Bamburgh Castle - cannons, armour and a North Sea beach.

Newcastle to Amsterdam ferry

A night on the DFDS ferry is an adventure on its own for kids: a cabin with bunk beds, dancing in a hall with a dance floor, a play corner, the ship's mascot and balloon animals. In the morning we watched the Dutch coast from the deck and saw the ferry tie up in IJmuiden. More in Newcastle to Amsterdam ferry with kids and a car.

On the way to Britain

Gravelines beach

We spent our last night before the ferry at Camping des Dunes in France. At low tide there was almost a kilometre of flat sand between the dunes and the water, and after a whole night in the car we ran across it with the kids. More in Gravelines beach at low tide.