I’ve been planning this trip almost a year (the only way to use FF miles in August to Europe), with our 7yr daughter and 9yr son. London-Edinburgh-New Forest area of southern England to visit friends. After much good advice here, we purchased first-class Britrail Family Flexipass. Great decision. The cost of four seat reservations in 2nd, per leg, would have been as much as the upgrade to 1st. We had no trouble finding empty seats in 1st. About $780 for 4 days of umlimited travel for four.

We arrived at Gatwick on Sunday morning. I had bought Thameslink RT for 4 from Gatwick to King’s Cross, for about $90, so we didn’t have to use up a days travel on our Flexipass. Caught that train to King’s X. One night stay at the Crestfield Hotel 100 yards from the station, as we were leaving from King’s X in the morning for Edinburgh. Family room, 80 pounds, great value for one night, many good reviews on TripAdvisor.

Caught the 09:00 to Edinburgh, 1st class, loved it. The Edinburgh Fringe Festival was going on, so we had booked shows for the kids on their website. I rented an apartment that was lierally in the shadow of the Castle Hill. View out the window spectacular, and fireworks over the Castle each night after the Tatoo was over. 100 pounds a night. Who would ever stay in a hotel? We had a big living room with sofabed for the kids, a BR w/king size for us, full bath-full kitchen w/washer and dryer. The weather was near perfect for 3 days.

Things we loved in Edinburgh:
The Fringe (great street performers and shows everywhere. Comedy, kids, theater, music etc.)

The Mitre Pub on the Royal Mile for an authentic Scottish meal.

The Black Bull on the Grassmarket.
Helios gift shop on the Grassmarket.

Camera Obscura (kids LOVED this)
Museum of Childhood (free, and really interesting)

Mary King’s Close underground tour (Gardeloo! Don’t ask.)

Princes Street Gardens (the floral clock tribute to Hans Christian Andersen, amazing)

The Scottish people! Very warm.

Thursday: Train to Newcastle, change to Hexham. Cab to Langley Castle.

This was a surprise for the kids, we had not told them this part. We pulled up and said we were at our friends house! Langley was absolutely stunning in every respect. Meticulously restored 5-star 14th century castle. We only stayed one night (269 pounds!), and they treated us very nicely, considering our kids are ‘energetic’. Check out the pictures at CelticCastles.com. We had the Derwentwater room. Had a fabulous meal in the dining room, and afterwards, my daughter found a Hans C. Andersen book in the library. I read stories to the kids until we all fell asleep. The kid’s favorite part of the trip.

Friday: Train back to Newcastle, found a Virgin train with service direct to Southampton, avoiding London and a schlep from King’s X to Waterloo. A nice accidental change in plan. Our friends picked us up and we went to their house in Ringwood. The New Forest is one of the most unique areas of England. Horses roam free, and little towns in the forest are really charming. Saturday it rained for the only time in 12 days, so no complaints from us. Just hung out with our friends and ate at the High Corner Pub in the middle of the forest. Great stuff.

Sunday: The grand tour of southern England. Started at Stonehenge. I had seen it, but my wife hadn’t and wanted too. Anti-climactic after the 40 minute drive, but a true earthly wonder. From there, we drove to Corfe Castle. Enjoyed it 10 times as much as Stonehenge. A ruined castle with lots of nook and crannies to explore, and a little medieval town built mostly out of the rocks from the destroyed parts of the castle. Had cream tea. Yum. From there across the ferry to Bournemouth, and dinner at West Beach, on the beach at sunset. Expensive but great atmosphere.

Monday: Back to London for the last three days. Not a cloud for one of those days, and 80 degrees. As good as it gets in London. Booked the Travel Inn at County Hall, more great advice here. 80 pounds a night right next to the London Eye, in sight of Big Ben right on the Thames. Big room, clean, great breakfast (kids ate free!) The family day-long tube pass was probably the only bargain in London. About 8 pounds for all four of us, good also on all the double-decker busses, which saved us from the tour bus cost. BIG savings, and almost as good once you figure out the routes.

London Eye- I guess a must do, but I thought disappointing for the cost. Wouldn’t do it with out kids.

Tower of London- A must do, and my favorite tourist thing there. Be sure to do the Yeoman Warder tour.

British Library- The document room of the British Library is the greatest secret in London. The Tower of London being my favorite, but there, they tell you the story of Lady Jane Grey. Go to the BL, and see the ACTUAL diary that she kept. How about the ORIGINAL Magna Carta? Not enough? The ORIGINAL Alice in Wonderland, in Lewis Carroll's own hand? Portions of DaVinci's notebook. ACTUAL scraps of paper, backs of menus, etc, with the lyrics to Beatle's tunes, as originally penned by John and Paul (in someone's basement, as noted on one of the tunes). All the while you're marveling at such, put on the headphones and listen to the accompanying tune. I had tears.

Theater- We had advance booking for Mary Poppins, which we thought was fantastic. Strangely, the stage production had more of a philosophical impact than the movie, while still being great fun. The actors were all 'practically perfect', but special kudos to Michael Haig who played Mr Banks. The kids were enthralled.

The other two nights we visited the half-price booth in Leicester Square. Don't be fooled by ANY other of the 'half-price' hawkers. One offered us Orchestra row Q at 26.50 pounds for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, I resisted and we went straight to the booth at noon, and got Orchestra row J for 22.50. The kids loved Chitty as much as Mary Poppins, my wife and I still liked MP better. Chitty ends 9/4.

The other night we saw Fame, and it was very entertaining. London and New York theater are like pizza and sex; even when it's bad, it's good.

Lunches: No doubt, Sainsbury’s for sandwiches etc. is the best deal an American can get right now, with our weak currency. Tasty pre-made fare. Did this every day.

Dinners: Only one worth mentioning was Ping Pong. Chinese dim sum dinner near Oxford Circus. Outstanding.

Each night after the theater, we would tube to Embankment, and walk across the Hungerford footbridge back to the hotel. There are two, and the view from the one nearest Big Ben is much better. A perfect way to end each fun day. What a trip! Sorry for the length, but I got alot of help from this forum, and wanted to let you know how well you can do with that help and good planning. The weather was thrown in for free!

So glad to hear you enjoyed the Fringe!
My niece is a student at the University of Edinburgh and she has the lead role in some lunatic play at the Fringe, she has been having a blast doing it. She has enjoyed meeting all the visitors, August is the absolutely best time to be in Edinburgh.

Hi ajs, I have never been to the UK but have family from there and always enjoy reading Fodorites trip reports.

Your report is wonderful!! It sounds like your children are great travellers and that you enjoy showing them their world. I always feel bad when I hear some people don't like to travel with children because we did and IMHO having a child or children along on a trip opens up a world we tend to not see without them. I have loved "dragging" my grandsons along on trips and my only regret is that they are no longer children. Thanks for sharing your family trip. Best wishes.

Thanks for your report, ajs - it was great! Sounds like the kids had a wonderful time as well.

One quick question - the Langley Castle stay. Was the price you quoted for two rooms or one room? If one, I assume a "family room"? Sounds like a great place, and I'd just like to get a feel for it. Do you have a web-link or other contact info?

(OK, I guess that was really more than one question!)

Anyway, thanks again for the wonderful report. I'm ready to go back!!

Gayle

Hi Gayle (my sister's name, who I just picked up at the airport and brought to our beach house after I posted the report!)

We had just one big room at Langley Castle. There are only about 8 or 9 rooms in the castle proper, and some have a single sofabed. They also brought in a single roll away. The room was actually 229 + 20 per child. Can't say enough about the place. My son was a litle disappointed there was no dungeon (Borthwick, close to Edinburgh has one), but still was thrilled to be there. Go to celticcastles.com to check out it, and many others. I chose it for several reasons, but the look of the place was right up there. As if Disney built a castle 700 years ago!

They do LOTS of weddings, so I would advise a weekday stay during the summer. Let me know if I can answer anything else.

Glad you liked Edinburgh. Was surprised to see Helios get a mention on this board - I used to work there! (it used to have a vegetarian cafe as well as the gift shop - I had a summer job in the kitchen)

Thanks for the info, ajs - I'll definitely look into the celticcastles site!

Gayle