Somerset recommendations?

[LiLi]

We're off on our hols in a couple of weeks to a cottage in North Somerset (Congresbury, not far from Weston Super Mare). Does anyone have any recommendations for things to do/see in the area? Hopefully we'll get some sunshine, so what nice sandy beaches are there? If not, any ideas for how to keep two small children happy in the pouring rain?

[kelly]

We're just back from Somerset but were further round the coast at Doniford. We did the Wookey Hole which the kids thought was fantastic, I used Tesco days out vouchers to pay for it all too.

We also visited a cider farm, went to the stock-cars at Taunton and went on the West Somerset Steam Railway to Minehead (we did this on a rainy day).

There's Brean Leisure park and we saw loads of flyers for the Grand Pier at Weston Super Mare.

[coolfm]

If the weather's wet, Wookey Hole Caves is a good bet.

Yesterday, we did the swan trail in Wells http://www.swansofwells.com/ and while it would undoubtedly be more fun in good weather, I know people who've done it, and enjoyed it, in the rain.

It is a fairly outdoorsy part of the country, though. I live in Somerset and have found that there's limited indoor things for kids. One or two of the farm parks have indoor play areas, and Weston pier is largely undercover.

You won't be far from Bristol- and there are a lot of attractions there, some good for kids (Bristol Zoo, SS Great Britain and @Bristol are all good, especially @Bristol for a rainy day) and, of course, Cabot Circus or Cribbs Causeway if you fancy some shopping.

[Duckie]

DH is from that part of Somerset so we go down there regularly. The beaches at Burnham on Sea/Brean are good, as well as Weston-Super-Mare, but we've never really done the beach down there as whenever we go we seem to take torrential rain with us . DH will vouch for the beach at Brean though.

There's a really cool playground/water playground on the seafront in Weston, which we went to last year - I think they charge a small amount to get in but it's not much. The pier is good - they had a big wheel nearby there last year (which we didn't go on) but not sure if it's there this year, and also had an old fashioned fair on the front last year too.

We've been on the East Somerset railway two years in a row on their 'Day out with Thomas' as Elliot absolutely loves Thomas the Tank Engine. Re. farm-type places, there is Animal Farm at Burnham on Sea, Puxton Park and Avon Valley Country Park - none of which we've been to but they all look great; like I said, we take the bad weather with us so we've never been able to get to any of those yet .

Last year our kids loved walking up through Cheddar Gorge, although we thought they were a bit young for the caves there and Wookey Hole - apparently they can be quite scary and our two are complete wusses . We also went to Bristol and walked across the suspension bridge last year, which the kids loved. I think there is quite a lot to do down there for kids - we stay with DH's parents so it's like home from home but plenty to keep us occupied on days out.

[LiLi]

Thanks - this is brilliant, and really helpful. Fingers crossed for lots of , but it's always good to have some ideas in reserve!