My husband and I are taking our two year old daughter to visit friends in Liverpool the beginning of April. We will be renting a car while we are there. We wanted to find a place that would be nice to go for a weekend that is not too far away (no more than 4 hours) and accepting of young children.

The two things we came up with where Scotland and the Lake District. Any other ideas? Or any ideas on where to go or stay in Edinburgh or the Lake District? Any input would be appreciated.

Scotland might be a bit far.
How about Chester?
Chester has a nice zoo and in nearby Ellesmere Port there's the Blue Planet Aquarium. http://www.blueplanetaquarium.com/
It's one of those places where you walk through perspex tunnels and see the fish swimming around and above you.
The two year old would enjoy it.

The Lake District would be great. But my choice would probably be North Wales. Great castles to clamber over, steam railways, amazing scenery etc.

Day trips from Liverpool that I make are to
Llangollen 1.5 hours - trains, canal, small town, river & ducks, small park & pleasant walk followed by afternoon teas.
BetwystyCoed 1.5 hours - miniature traintrack, even smaller town, river & cream scones.
Chester 1 hour - for concentration of shops, there is the zoo. Seen Blue Planet - not bad, pricey & wouldn't go again.
Lake district - Windermere - maybe 2 hours - traditional , touristy & busy.
Ambleside 2.5 hours - nice walk around town with just enough for a 2 year old.
Keswick 3 hours - not as touristy but just as nice as Ambleside.
Southport 45 minutes - no longer has its funfair so only shops & boating lake.
New Brighton - by ferry or car - funfair, beach & bracing walks.

Wow, these responses are great. I had no idea of all the great things to do so close by!

I thought I should at least take the opportunity to list some attractions available in Liverpool that might be of use to you or any one else who might be browsing.
Liverpool Museum has been re energised of late & is very child friendly. Albert Dock has the Beatles exhibition, Maritime museum, Tate modern art exhibition & the start of the Duck tour bus (- my son, 9, wants to go on that for his birthday day out this year).
There are various parks & gardens - Calderstones park contains some contrasting displays & attractions - a monorail miniature train track run by enthusiasts steams up on Sundays if the volunteers turn up & take kids around the track. Sefton Park has its lakes & gardens - 1m+ daffodils planted for the Marie Curie cancer appeal is quite something in spring.
Knowsley safari park & Croxteth country park are attractions but I have not been to them.
Gullivers World in Warrington is for under 10's but adults can go on some rides.
Magical Mystery Tour bus goes round the Beatle venues & sights in Liverpool.
Speke Hall is an historic Elizabethan house next to Speke, sorry John Lennon, airport where you will be able to fly direct to New York cut rate from May & I have my ticket.
Across the river by ferry is the Spaceport museum & Aquarium. Further out there is West Kirby for seaside attractions and Ness gardens.
There are lots of golf courses besides the Royal Birkdale. We have 2 football team stadiums that open for tourists - Liverpool & Everton and 2 cathedrals within 10 minutes walk of each other - The Anglican is probably the best to see.
If I think of any more I will add them on.

The single nicest excursion for a two year old is Freshfield/Formby: almost the last remaining habitat in Britain of red squirrels (far far cuter than the horrid grey ones that have driven the reds practically to extinction)

They're in a a pine wood which sweeps down, practically from the local metro station, to huge sand dunes, which in turn give onto an endless beach. Often highly dramatic - and a terrific place to teach children moral fibre.

Learning to swim, or even picnic, there builds hardiness that'll stand her in good stead for the rest of her life.

Some good suggestions so far - we have enjoyed the following with our grandson, now 17 months old. I have to agree about Formby - buy a bag of peanuts and with luck you might get to feed the red squirrels. The beach and dunes are good for a picnic in good weather. Not too far away from here is the Martin Mere Wildfowl trust http://www.wwt.org.uk/visit/martinmere/ - lots of ducks, geese swans, etc. Tatton Park in Cheshire (National Trust) along with it's house, gardens and deer park, has it's "home farm" where you can feed the chickens and see various farm animal at close quarters. Nearby Dunham Massey (also NT) has a very child friendly cafe, as well as the deer park, ducks and gardens. Chester zoo is a large and well organised zoo and the Blue Planet aquarium is great for a rainy day.

For a couple of days away, I'd favour North Wales or even Anglesey, for beaches, castles, etc. You should be able to find plenty of child friendly B&Bs. The Welsh Mountain Zoo is at Colwyn Bay - a small zoo but my grandson loved the penguin parade, where the keeper carrying a bucket of fish, leads the penguins for a walk. There ia an aquarium and various rides at Rhyll - the town is a little tacky but the beach is good and sandy. I'm sure you'll find plenty to amuse the little one in the area.

Blackpool for the Pier.

is it still there?

We took our then two and four year olds to Knowsley Safari Park in 1972 and they enjoyed it tremendously as well as feeding the squirrels in Formby. Boy, does this bring back memories.

I think our two weeks are definitely going to fly by with all of these great suggestions.

I was actually in Blackpool in '89 and thought that it had seen its better days. Has it been revived?