Well I say Buckinghamshire, but I don’t think a single trip out from the campsite was inBuckinghamshire – the nice thing about this county is that it is central to a lot of different areas so you have your pick of outings.

The other difference about this camping trip was that with the children being that bit older, we were able to spend a couple of days at the site chilling out while they played with other kids on the play area. While this made for a much more relaxing holiday, it makes for a shorter trip report!

Legoland, Windsor

Before we arrived at Legoland we were frightened a bit by reports of how busy it was in the summer holidays, how people had only managed to get on three rides each day and how expensive it all was. So, while the kids were really looking forward to going, I have to confess to not a small bit of trepidation.

Fortunately, some of the cost was covered as we had saved up Tesco vouchers to get free entry into the park. We did fork out for their virtual queueing system, Q-Bot, to the tune of £10 per person (including very small children) – a grand total of £40 which in the end didn’t end up being that useful.

The problem is that most of the rides suitable for younger children aren’t on the Q-Bot system. Also, you don’t appear to be able to queue up several rides in one go, only your next ride – this relies on you a) knowing the park well enough to work out where you are going next and b) sorting out something to do while you’re waiting (just not physically standing in the queue). It would probably work well if you have an annual pass so know the layout, have older children and press the button for the next ride just as it’s scanned on your current ride (so that you’re effectively “queueing” while on another ride and walking to the next one). However, that takes a more organised family than us.

That said, we did have a lot more fun than expected and the kids adored every minute. It wasn’t too crowded (the weather wasn’t brilliant and the predicted “good weather” day was the day after, so presumably more people put off their trip until then) although the traffic getting through Windsor was a nightmare – all queueing to get to Legoland, presumably. A lot of the models were showing their age – the plastic faded in the sun – and we didn’t end up spending much time in the model area as it just didn’t really grab the kids’ imagination as we thought it might (though the shop was another story!).

The rides, once you’d got on them, were pretty good – especially the rides for the younger children which were still interesting enough that a 7 year old was perfectly happy going on them. They had a nice level of interactivity which made them more compelling than a lot of fairground rides, and most of the queues in the morning at least were fairly short.

The food wasn’t particularly unreasonably priced, although not particularly inspiring. They do have healthier choices though with a selection of baguettes as well as the ubiquitous hot dogs/ice creams/doughnuts. Which was just as well as (for the first time in ages) we hadn’t been organised enough to get a packed lunch together before we went.

All in all a good day out, but I’m not sure we’d have been as happy if we’d paid full-price entrance fee!

Didcot Railway Centre, Oxfordshire

Living with a train buff and small boys, we can’t get through many holidays without a visit to the local steam railway. This trip was no exception. This time was the turn of Didcot Railway Centre.

This is a great little railway – there’s not much to it (only a very small line for short trips, unlike the Severn Valley Railway where you can go miles on the trains) and you do have to be careful to visit on a steam day, but it had such a friendly and hands-on atmosphere. You can have a good ramble around into the engine sheds, watch an engine being turned on a turntable, look around a little memorabilia museum and take short trips back and forth.

The facilities are good for such a small place – refreshments, a good sized picnic area with some under cover and a well-stocked shop. A very good value day out.

The Look Out Discovery Centre, Berkshire

We went to The Look Out as part of a mini-blog meet with Turquoise Lisa and Karen @ Rise and had a blast.

The Look Out is a hands on science and nature exhibition separated into different subject ‘areas’, eg. forces and movement, light and sound, water and nature. Basically the children and adults get to play, and accidentally learn stuff at the same time. By far the best room was the water and nature room (see the photo) which had a big plastic ‘canal’ that you could run boats down and control the flow of water with taps, barriers and tunnels – we spent ages there!

Outside the centre is great too with a large adventure playground suitable for a wide range of ages, although it did get rather busy and it was quite challenging to find a picnic table free for our lunch.

All in all, though, another great day out and it was fantastic to be able to see Lisa and her girls again, and meet Karen, Pete and Bernard for the first time.