Let the excitement build for a trip to Legoland Resort, with rides and shows for kids up to 15 plus interactive musical instruments, a driving school and more. Keep active at Redkangaroo Reading with its tennis courts, trampolines and parkour area. Or settle back for a ride through Chiltern countryside on the Cholsey and Wallingford Railway.
Bright lights more your thing? London’s just an hour away by the M4 or train to Paddington. Ride The Eye, catch a show, wander around Warner Bros, lose your head in The Tower or admire the view from The Shard. Pop into Windsor Castle on your way home and see history dating back to William the Conqueror.
Take the UK’s first-ever flying theatre ride at the Fire and Ice Freefall. Meet goats, alpacas and more at Beale Wildlife Park. Paint your own pots and money boxes at HaaHoos Ceramics. Or be brave and scale the high-level walkways, nets and look-out decks of Tumblestone Hollow.
Take a trip to the River and Rowing Museum and enjoy an enchanting recreation of the riverbank world of The Wind in the Willows, with its 3D models, theatrical lighting and music. Learn paddleboard at Aquapark or swim wild at Bray Lake Watersports. Or solve the Henley-on-Thames Mystery Trail and become a super-spy.
You could dibble and dabble around Henley-on-Thames for a couple of decades. But a day or so is enough to give a wonderful flavour of the Georgian frontages, quirky independents, antique shops, tearooms and beautiful riverside pubs and restaurants often accessorised with gently weeping willows. Catch the regatta in July.
Badgemore Park’s the place for great golf, with a side order of wellness through a top-class gym and holistic practitioners offering anything from podiatry to tonic massage, serene hypnotherapy, kinesiology and nutrition. Clear the mind further with short but testing hikes up Pulpit Hill, Coombe Hill or Watlington Hill.
Take a tour and tasting at Chiltern Valley Winery and Brewery or Fairmile Vineyard and add English sparkling wine to your dinner menu. Take another tour around Nuffield House to learn about Morris Motors and the philanthropy of the founder. Or slap on the sun cream and take a tour of Oxford by open-top bus.
Hire boats and paddleboards from Hobbs of Henley and get really close to the river. Discover Greys Court, star of Downton Abbey. Wander around Warburg Nature Reserve. Or book an exclusive concierge service at Humphreys of Henley and enjoy anything from food foraging to carriage rides to a day at Beaulieu Motor Museum.
