The half term holiday can be welcomed as an opportunity to spend some quality time with the children, but can simultaneously present something of a challenge when it comes to keeping the kids amused. Television can provide a temporary solution when it is raining outside, but as you will be all too aware an extended session can leave tempers frayed all round.
A day trip to London can provide the highlight of the half term holiday, but if you don’t live near the capital you may need to think about turning the excursion into a weekend break.
Booking a stay in one of the Millennium hotels in greater London can turn the kid’s day out into a city break to be enjoyed by the whole family.
Here are a few notes we made concerning our last experience of visiting the capital with the kids, which may hopefully be of use if you are thinking about going the whole hog and booking into one of the hotels greater London this half term.
The first concerns perhaps the best fifty quid we’ve spent in a while, which got us a portable DVD player. We opted for a standalone model, rather than the fitted in-car incarnation of the DVD player.
This device was therefore able to not only keep the kids amused on the car journey into London, but in the hotel as well during one particularly rainy Saturday morning – well worth
the cash!
Choice of accommodation can also prove important, and if you are able to afford a hotel rather than basic B&B accommodation, facilities like a swimming pool can really pay for themselves when it comes to the ubiquitous rainy day.
Sight-seeing in the capital, or anywhere else for that matter, can be a decidedly damp squib in a significant shower, and so if your accommodation has a few indoor facilities on hand you can actually enjoy rather than merely tolerate staying indoors for the morning.
There are of course a host of indoor activities to enjoy across the city, from famous attractions like Madame Tussauds, to soft play areas for younger children, but do remember if you are on a budget that many of the available options are absolutely free. London is home to some of the finest museums in the world and entry these institutions is almost universally free.
Not only can museums and art galleries provide an educational activity for the kids, they can also present an excursion that appeals to all the family, and not just the young ones. A little online research before you arrive in London can go a long way to uncovering these free options.
If you get the bonus of good weather, some of London’s many parks can be just as enjoyable as formal sightseeing – our favourite had to be Hyde
Park.
UK
School Half Term Dates 2012, 2013 and 2014
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