Fun with the kids in Surrey, UK

We live in Surrey, UK and over the years I have discovered many wonderful places to take my children to have fun. I have listed some of my favourite here :

1. Guildford Spectrum, Guildford
This has a bowling alley, ice rink and leisure pool. In particular we’ve enjoyed bowling with other friends and going in the leisure pool. It has waves and slides which will keep them entertained for the full 1 1/2 hours.

2. Mercedes Benz World, Weybridge
Great to go to for some fun for free. You can just wander around, watch the cars racing around the track. Also you and your kids can climb into the latest Mercedes on the show floor … my boys loved doing that!

3. Piglets, Hersham
This is a great place for the under 8’s. It has a small indoor play area with slide and climbing equipment and other toys, but the real attraction is the outdoor space. There’s a large outdoor space, surrounded by farm – go look at the pigs and hamsters, or play with the ride on cars and karts or on the slide and tyre swing. They also sometimes have pony rides available. We spent many happy hours here.

4. Quad bike riding, Apps Court Farm, Walton on Thames (5-16 year olds)
These are really safe and really fun – they are mini-version quad bikes which the kids get to drive around a track. The boys loved it!

5. Coral Reef, Bracknell
Another great waterworld – splash pools, slides and waves. Great entertainment for hours.

6. The Pottery and Craft Studio, Thames Ditton
The kids get to choose their own item to paint (mine chose ceramic cars), then paint them and leave them there to be glazed and picked up about a week later. It’s not a cheap outing, but the kids really enjoy it and it keeps them quiet and enthused for a while! As a mum, you can do some painting too while having a nice cup of coffee..

7. The Cobham Bus Museum, Cobham
This is a fun (and FREE) outing, probably a fairly short one though – you’d be happy to spend about half an hour there. It is a big warehouse full of old buses and our kids loved wandering into them and getting in the front to pretend to be a bus driver. Check opening times as it is usually open only on Sundays and at certain times of the year.

8. Wisley Gardens, Woking
These are beautiful gardens, with lots of spacious grounds to wander through as well as a lake. You can picnic or eat in the restaurant. Also you can go into the glasshouse which is great (especially when the butterflies are there – you can literally walk amongst them while they fly right near to you.)

9. Great Cockrow Railway, Hardwick Lane, Chertsey
This is such fun for the under 6’s – they get to ride on a miniature railway train, and just love it! It’s run by volunteers and is open May to October, on Sundays (and Wednesdays in August.)

10. Excel Playcentre, Excel Centre, Walton on Thames
For the under 10’s. This is very handy to take the kids when the weather isn’t good – they can release lots of energy. It has a number of levels of climbing frame, with slide, ball pit and removable velcro ‘noughts and crosses’.

11. Bocketts Farm, Leatherhead
This is such a great farm and has so much to see and do. There are plenty of farm animals, plus pig races, a large sandpit and play area, a ‘jumping pillow’ plus indoor slide (kids slide down on mats) and an indoor play area. For a little extra you can also pay for a tractor ride around the farm. You can take your own picnic or buy food at the restaurant, but plan to spend a number of hours there.

Other fun stuff we have found to do in Surrey, but these are seasonal activities, so look out for them. Both of the ones I’ve listed below were summer activities, happening in July/August time.

a) Extreme Stunt Show
This is exactly what it sounds like – motorbikes riding over trucks, going through fire and generally doing all sorts of daredevil things. Great fun to watch.

b) Pop-up cinema
We saw this when they were showing an old classic movie ‘Back to the future’. It came to Apps Court Farm in Walton on Thames and you could drive-in and watch from inside your car, or take picnic blankets or chairs and sit and watch on the grass. There were plenty of mobile vans with great refreshments too, from burgers and popcorn to capuccinos and lattes. It really brought back memories for me as we used to go to the ‘drive-in’ often when I was a child!