europhile

We are planning a trip to London during the Christmas holidays with our 3 kids. As a teenager my family did a London stay combined with Christmas at a Cotswold hotel and it was lovely. I'd like to do something similar, but with some fun festivities for the kids. I have read about a number of country house hotels which offer Christmas getaway packages for 2-3 nights including the 24th and 25th. One such package is at the Oakley Court Hotel in Windsor. It seems family friendly but still stately. Would Windsor be a nice place for the holiday? Is the town pretty or are there better options elsewhere (but still close to London)? Thanks for any insight you can share!

janisj

Windsor is nice -- but isn't a 'country' village or town. The Castle will be fully decorated - it is closed on Christmas and Boxing days. If the weather cooperates here are long walks through the Great Park.

There is a lot to see within a reasonable day trip (like Stonehenge or Avebury), and of course you could always take the train into London for a day.

hetismij2

Oakley Court Hotel is quite a way out of Windsor. Will you have a car? Otherwise getting into Windsor could be tricky.

PatrickLondon

>>and of course you could always take the train into London for a day.<<

No trains on Christmas Day, and limited service on Boxing Day at best.

bvlenci

My family spent Christmas in London a few years ago. We had a great time, but I must warn that everything is shut down on the 25th, and most of London is also shut down on the 26th, and at least half of the 24th. If you want to see any museums, make sure to include some days before and after those days.

Walks of London had some walking tours on the 25th. We had an apartment, so we mostly stayed in on the 25th and fixed our own Christmas dinner, played cards, got acquainted with Christmas crackers, etc. I took a self-guided Harry Potter walk with my granddaughter in the afternoon, but I must report that the streets were littered with the remains of drunken Christmas Eve revelries, including vomit and other unpleasant human waste. Everything got cleaned up on the 26th.

One of our highlights was Christmas Eve services at Westminster Abbey. You have to get (free) tickets to these, and they go almost as soon as they're offered online. People with tickets line up hours before the service to get good seats. We got there too late for the best seats, but the sound carries well throughout the abbey, and that's what we most enjoyed. People without tickets got into a separate line. I saw later that a good many of them managed to get in, including a woman who had accidentally been standing in our line and so didn't have a good position in the no-ticket line.

There were also bus tours available on the 25th, usually to a cathedral city, with a Christmas service, a tour of some provincial city or town, and a traditional lunch somewhere. We didn't do any organized activities, partly because health issues of one of our family members made it hard to make firm plans.

janisj

>>No trains on Christmas Day, and limited service on Boxing Day at best.<<

Yes, the day trip would have to be before Christmas day . . . Unless you drove in.

europhile

Thanks very much for the suggestions. I was assuming London would be mostly shut down for the actual holiday. We will stay in Lomdon from 12/26-30 and do our sightseeing then. The self guided Harry Potter walk sounds like a great idea. My boys are big fans. I know the studio tour is actually outside of London. But are there some sights in the city center to see? Back to the manor house idea, Oakley has some activities like gingerbread making, visit from Father Christmas, etc. which would be festive and fun. I like that it's not right in the town so there is some land to run around, but I would like it to be a pretty town with some shops and churches.

Tulips

There's Legoland at Windsor.

Nonconformist

Oakley Court isn't in Windsor at all, it's in the parish of Bray, probably as close to Maidenhead as it is to Windsor, so you'd need a car. The actual village of Bray, which you could drive to, is quite attractive.

Most things in the UK are shut at Christmas. Christrmas Day itself you could do a country drive/walk, but nowhere you would pay admission to. Actually, a slightly quiry and probably anticlimactic thing you could do is drive to Winkfield Row (not all that far), and see if you can find the house which was used for the exterior of Harry Potter's house in the films: http://www.getreading.co.uk/news/rea...shire-11314368 (no. 15 on this list - you'll see Oakley Court appeared in a less approrpiate movie too)

Legoland is pretty close to Oakley, and your children (depending on their age) might like that on Christmas Eve, although I suspect you'd have to book it ahead: https://www.legoland.co.uk/explore-t...hristmas-2017/

The Theatre Royal in Windsor is doing Sleeping Beauty for its pantomime this year, and there will be performances on 24 and 26 December: http://www.theatreroyalwindsor.co.uk/details.php?id=551

Scootoir

I thought Windsor was an attractive town when we visited on a day trip last year. There were lots of small shops and a shopping center to walk through from the train station. Sorry, I only remember one church but we were in a limited area near the castle.

May I ask how far in advance you booked your stay Europhile? I am researching for a possible family visit for Christmas 2018 and find that some country house hotels haven't posted what's on for 2017.