[Traveling with Kids] England 2019 - Wingfield and Bath

It's hard to believe that our Ireland leg of our trip is over and we made the flight across the water to England!  This leg of the trip was extra exciting since it was our first time in England together.  I had been to London about 20 years ago but my memory was a bit foggy and most of my London recollections comes from "Call the Midwife" and "Mr. Selfridge" 😂

Our flight was early in the morning so we snacked on what we had in our room as we got all our luggage and car seats ready to go.  We arrived at the airport with plenty of time before we needed to board our plane, since it was a smaller plane they had us check our car seats and honestly it was nice to not have to hassle with them through the airport and onto the plane.  We were able to have some breakfast, look at the shops, and then waited at our gate.  Once we boarded the plane our Pilot had his clock all messed up and told us it would be a 20 minute flight 😳 in reality it was about 1:10 minutes.  The flight was pretty seamless, Séamus was obsessed with the window, and we chatted with a couple from New Zealand.

Arriving at Heathrow we managed to navigate our way to the car rental, had a bit of confusion with our reservation, and then were on our way to Wingfield, just outside of Bradford upon Avon and Trowbridge.   We stopped for McDonald's just near the airport and the girls were able to get airplane toys to occupy them for the drive. The scenery was beautiful and Thomas loved seeing the English countryside.  The roads were much wider than what we experienced in Ireland and after some navigational learning we figured out the English signage.

We arrived at our Airbnb, Number 18, and it was to die for quaint and quintessentially an English Cottage.  Our host greeted us upon arrival and had the sweetest welcome gift for us: freshly home baked scones, jam, and proper clotted cream!  Those scones were everything I dreamed of.  The cottage is over 200 years old and has all the charm one would imagine.  All the details and touches were just perfection and the best welcome to our time in England.

the living room 

fresh flowers from Gillian's garden

the updated kitchen

the updated bathroom

the master bedroom

the second bedroom

We stopped in nearby Trowbridge for some groceries and found a lovely park for the kids to play at. Thankfully this park was mostly grass and Séamus was able to practice taking steps and crawl around.  Finnley got quite brave and managed to climb all around and do some clever footwork.  Ellie, of course, made friends with the other children at the park.  We finished out the evening back at Number 18, making sandwiches for dinner and just relaxing, as our next day was sure to be busy.

poor little Séamus's cheeks were still recovering from my #momfail of no sunscreen in Kilkenny 😢

I finally managed to get a picture of our toiletries we brought with us.  Living this toxin free life is so much easier than one would think.  Young Living actually makes a travel kit with some of our favorite personal care products in TSA approved sizes so you never have to be without! Thieves Mouthwash, Thieves Aromabright Toothpaste, Thieves Hand Sanitizer, Thieves Dental Floss (yep, turns out there is nasty stuff in that too), Lavender Shampoo, Lavender Conditioner, Morning Start Bath Gel, ART Light Moisturizer, and Genesis Lotion.  It was so great to have all of these to travel with and now this kit will go with us everywhere, I'll just refill the bottles as needed!  The only thing I was missing from home was the Thieves Hand Soap, so I'll be sure to make something work for next time (maybe this)

Breakfast scone with clotted cream and jam and a coffee (with clotted cream)

Our second day in England was a big one and dedicated to the kids!  We went to Paulton's Park, home of Peppa Pig World!!  It's a theme park, similar to Disneyland, so you know we had to go. It was a great way to break up all of the other attractions we went to and it was so much fun.  Peppa Pig World was fantastic, the girls loved it, Séamus had a blast, and we left things to do so we could come back again!

Peppa's Big Balloon Ride

The Queen's Flying Coach Ride

George's Dinosaur Adventure

They even had an indoor play area: George's Spaceship Playzone.  Which was fantastic.  All sorts of tubes, slides, and padded playing areas for the kids (no shoes allowed) and they all had so much fun!  We got lunch in the park: Cornish Pasty, Sausage Rolls, and a Kids Meal: crisps, ham sandwich, cookie, and juice.  The girls kept running back and forth from the table for a bite and then right back into the Playzone.  Séamus loved the freedom to get to crawl and climb and take steps in the Toddler Zone.

They also had an amazing playground outside, Mr. Potato's Playground.  There were slides, swings, whirlygigs, and climbing structures galore!  There was even a splash pad, Muddy Puddles, that we will be sure to bring the kids either a swim suit or an extra outfit so they can partake in that.  I loved how the whole play area was padded and there was no sand!  It was so large, and while there were lots of kids it didn't seem too crowded.

Grandpa Pig's Little Train

Peppa and George meet and greet

Whippy on a doughnut with a chocolate flake...so delish

We had the best time in Peppa Pig World!  We checked out the massive souvenir shop, Finnley got a Princess Peppa and Ellie chose a Peppa Wallet, we got Séamus a Dinosaur Rawr!!

 We left to discover more of Paulton's Park and see their other attractions.

Viking Boats

The Victorian Carousel: it was a double decker!

They had lots of animals, mostly birds, and beautiful gardens in the park as well.

And another enormous playground for the kids, complete with another splash pad! Why don't they have these in the States???

On the way home we stopped in a sweet little town so I could run out and take a look.  Here is the town square with a cute restaurant, several shops, a green space, and a giant covered sand box for the kids!!

We arrived back to our cottage, got ourselves cleaned up, and then made a decision about dinner.  We decided to try out an Indian restaurant, Namaste, and boy did it make up for our meal in Cashel!! The host was friendly and the food was delish.  Séamus made a mess of the rice, Finnley ate her weight in the rice, and Ellie appreciated the chicken.  We stopped at the park again on the way back to our cottage and then made it a night.  Our time at Number 18 was coming to an end and we were off the next day to drive through Bath before heading up towards the Cotswolds.

In Bath we drove past the Jane Austen center and it was so cute with the mannequin out front.  Then we found our bakery, Parsons Bakery, and had to have our coffee there!  It's been around since 1926 and the baked goods were so good.  We each had a caramel latte, I got the Lardy Cake, Thomas had a chocolate croissant, and the girls each got a doughnut....Séamus got bites of all of ours and the boob.

Just down the road from the bakery was this cute little grocery...I had to take pictures, I couldn't help myself.

Off to a park for the kids, Royal Victoria Park.  We learned how to get free parking and then let the girls loose!  This playground was enormous and so much fun...minus all the sand!  There were multiple play structures, lots of swings, climbing apparatuses, room to run, and a skatepark nearby that the girls paused for a while to just watch.  I had to pay to use the restroom, I got a whole 15 minutes for my money 😂, but the coolest thing was the sink.  You put your hands under the nozzle and it shoots out water, then turns off the water and shoots out soap, then you rinse, and then it dries, you just keep your hands in the sink the whole time! It was super fascinating.

his little cheeks were looking a bit better

We then were on our way to the Cotswolds, Bourton-on-the-Water.  On our drive we passed the Kilkenny Inn and I had to take a photo!  You know we love Kilkenny! And then so many other beautiful English homes along the way.  So many different styles, it is so hard to choose what my dream house truly looks like.

England was off to a great start and we had so much fun, just the 5 of us and experiencing another county all on our own.  I've got just a few more posts of our trip: Cotswolds and London and our Last Day, then our Ireland and England recap will be over.

Be sure to check out my Previous Posts:
Ireland post ONE
Ireland post TWO




Ireland post THREE

See other vacations here

♥ Ashley