Hi, I'm planning a trip to England with 2 small children (18 months & 4yrs) in May. We're looking at staying somewhere either near Cardiff or Hay-on-Wye in Wales, or in the Cotswolds near the Wales border. We want somewhere where we can stay put for a week or so, but make day trips in the car to see as much of the area as possible. Obviously, long drives are not really an option!

Any suggestions for an itinery or a town to stay in would be great.

Thanks!

..something not quite in the area but "sort of". I would recommend Wells. It is a very small cathedral town. ..quite charming. It is an easy quick drive to Bath. The town is not overrun with tourists but has a lot of the amenities that tourists love. The countrysid eis beautiful. The kids will love the swans near the bishop's palace..think about it.

Lots of possible good locations -- Abergavenny, Monmouth, Chepstow, Brecon, Hereford. We spent a week at a farm B&B near Hereford and did much of what you plan to do. Do a search on Sink Green Farm for information.

With a family you are wise to stay in one place as a base and do day trips. If it were me, I'd rent a cottage somewhere w/i the triangle of Hereford to Evesham to Burford. Anywhere in that general area would put you w/i easy reach of all the places you mention.

You could do day trips in S Wales, the Cotswolds, Herefordshire/Worcestershire, Bath, etc. And each night you'd be back "home" in a cozy cottage, probably in or on the edge of a village.

You can't really go wrong where you pick - Hay on Wye is a great place to visit but I wouldn't base that far west. I'd stay more centrally so I could do day trips out like the spokes of a wheel.

If you choose the Cotswolds as a place to stay then look at a location on or just off the A40. Burford or Northleach are just off this road, and along the valleys below are Windrush, Bibury, Great and Little Barrington and Withington. Once on the A40 it's about an hour to the Welsh border at Monmouth or about an hour and a half via Hereford to Hay-on-Wye.
It won't be getting dark until 9.30 in May so you shouldn't have to negotiate twisting narrow lanes at night too much!

I will warn you about Hay-on-Wye -- a great place to visit if you love books (as I do), it's touted as being the largest used book store city in Europe. Downtown has about 50 shops -- 30 of them are used bookstores of various themes.

HOWEVER -- it took us forever to get there, through very small, windy roads. It wouldn't, in my opinion, make a good base for traveling due to that. And with two small children in the car, you don't want to be navigating and driving so much.

Shrewsbury and Bath are both much better options, I would say. I also loved Wells, and would love to go again.

We stayed at a lovely B&B just outside Bath while we were in the area, with a lovely couple with whom we chatted for hours. The name of the place was The Footman's Cottage, run by Mr. & Mrs. Nixon. It was in Wellow, which is about 6 miles from Bath.

Of course I don't know you, but I'd think you'd be much happier in a self-catering cottage with the little ones. You would have a kitchen (not that you necessarily want to do major cooking on holiday but kids can sometimes be picky and having some of their favorite foods on havd is a major plus), a washer/dryer which is a nice benefit for adults - but with kids I'd hate to think of a week w/o having one.

And many nicer B&Bs either don't take kids at all, will take infants but not toddlers, will take toddlers but not 4 yo's, or will take kids over some age - like 14.

I think you'd save money and be a LOT more comfortable w/ the extra space you'd have in a cottage.

I agree, get a self-catering place for the week. Also, we've relied on the Good Pub Guide to help us negotiate child friendly, not chain pubs with pretty gardens or play areas.

We use to buy a cheap ball when we got to the UK and carried it in the car and our boys would play with it when we stopped. You can also find little waterproof rain suits (like a onesie) that zip up. We always had those for the boys. I could slip them on easily and they could still play outside on a damp or drizzly day.