Disclaimer: This was a press trip and we received entry to the named attractions free of charge, but words and pictures are mine.
Last weekend we were invited by Visit Southampton to, well, visit Southampton, and see what the city had to offer for families.
We arrived at 10.30am ready for a full day of sightseeing!
First up, we took a trip to the Southampton SeaCity Museum.
Set over two floors, the museum houses exhibitions on the history of Southampton, and if you are a Titanic buff, it’s a great place to find out about the most well known tragedy to befall the city where 500 local households lost a family member aboard.
There are lots of exciting visuals and interactive elements including flaps to lift, steering the Titanic, shovelling coal and dressing up to help children learn and keep them entertained.
There’s a vintage penny arcade, and a nice coffee shop with a selection of cakes!
Tickets cost £8.50 for adults and £6 for children, and can be purchased online or on the door.
Our second stop was the Southampton City Art Gallery, which is free to enter.
The Art Gallery is home to over 5,300 pieces dating from the Renaissance to the present day and when we visited, had an interesting exhibition of modern art which the kids loved exploring.
There is a corner where children can create their own art and lots of activities going on over the summer; you can find more details on their website.
Next, we made our way to Seaside in the Square, a free to visit urban beach set up in Guildhall Square.
Set up by Go!Southampton, Seaside in the Square has a whole beach’s worth of sand, deckchairs and activities set up for the kids so you can relax with a cocktail and soak up the beach atmosphere while they play.
We stayed for over an hour with the children getting involved in some of the sensory play activities, doing some colouring in and even having a paddle!
By then it was getting on to late afternoon, so we walked to the hotel via one of the large city play parks.
After chilling out at the hotel, we took a 20 minute walk to the Ocean Village Marina where we were treated to a lovely meal at Banana Wharf, overlooking the boats in the marina.
With a good selection (I had Salmon Teriyaki) and a children’s menu with milkshakes and crepes for dessert, the children were happy and so was I!
The kids (and I) then summoned their last scraps of energy to check out Injoy.
Injoy is a brand new play centre with soft play, climbing walls and trampolines, located in the Ocean Village.
Injoy is open until 9pm and will hopefully be getting an alcohol license in coming weeks which I think is a blinking marvellous idea!
When the children got tired after running up and down the many levels of the soft play and bouncing on the trampolines, we got a taxi back to the hotel where my husband joined us.
After an interesting night trying to get the kids to sleep in the same room as us (hiding under the duvet cover scrolling your phone does not work, I suggest drinking gin in the bathroom), we got ready for a day at Paulton’s Park!
A day at Paulton’s Park
We’ve been to Paulton’s, the Hampshire family theme park which contains Peppa Pig World, many times before however even though the children have somewhat outgrown Peppa now (thank god), the park is still a fantastic place for them.
My smallest is now a shade over 100cm, which is the point that they can no longer visit the park for free and must pay normal entry price (although you can get a discount by booking tickets online).
We arrived at 10am as the park opened and made our way to Peppa Pig World via a quick visit to Critter Creek to go on my daughter’s favourite, the Cat-o-pillar Coaster.
We went on one ride in Peppa Pig World without queuing before we noticed the queues were starting to build; the second ride (Grampy Rabbit’s Sailing Club, which we’d been lucky enough to ride on the day it opened) had a 20+ minute queue so we decided after that to leave Peppa Pig World and come back to it later in the afternoon.
The rest of the park, including the Lost Kingdom (dinosaur bit!), Critter Creek, the play areas and the other rides barely had any queues at all.
All of the rides at Paulton’s Park are suitable for children who are at least 120cm and aged 4 years plus (accompanied, 8 years unaccompanied)
My two wouldn’t go on the larger rides with me, my oldest preferring the small rollercoasters such as Dino Chase, and my smallest insisting on going on the Dino Jeep three times!
They also spent time in the water park and in the play area, before returning to Peppa Pig World around 3pm, where the queues were starting to subside, presumably with toddlers going home for a nap.
The first thing that surprises me about Paulton’s Park is that despite it being a Saturday in the summer holidays, the queues in the rest of the park were small to non existent. The second thing is just how well looked after the park is.
Compared to other theme parks I’ve visited, it is so clean and well maintained, the landscaping around the rides is beautiful and you can tell that the professional gardeners who take care of the park take immense pride in their work.
We spent all day there, not leaving until the last ride was over!
It’s a brilliant place to visit; definitely our favourite family attraction, and it was fabulous to go back.
The children were so worn out after their weekend that they slept in until half past eight the next day; a not inconsiderable miracle, actually.
Thank you so much to Visit Southampton, Go Southampton, Paulton’s Park and the venues we visited for hosting us; we had a fabulous time during our family weekend in Southampton.
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You certainly packed in a lot in 48 hours. It looks like you had a ball. I love Southampton. Great for shopping too. It’s been some time since I visited Ocean Village Marina. By your photographs and description it looks like they’ve been adding on to it.