TODDLER TRIPS

Grove Riding School sits between Marlow and High Wycombe and is home to a very large number of riding stable and privately owned horses. I’m listing it here as a ’mini trip’ with your young child to see and experience the horses rather than as a place to come and ride (although it is a great place for riding lessons and they offer lots of fun children focused ’own a pony days’ etc for kids). 

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Booker airfield is less than a 10 minute drive from Marlow and offers a great mini trip out for aeroplane inquisitive kids. You are generally able to see helicopters and small aeroplanes very close up as they take off and land. There is a small cafe with an outside area for viewing the planes. 

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Flowerland is just on the other side of Bourne End. It has everything you\’d expect at a garden centre with the addition of a small but well filled reptile centre and an aquatics centre. My littlen\’s shriek with excitement at seeing the snakes every time! You can also feed the Carp fish (you can buy food there for a token amount of money). Once you\’ve seen those you can grab a coffee in the cafe and browse the toy section or various others things in the garden centre.

Bisham woods is on the way towards Cookham when travelling from Marlow. These woods offer all of the usual natural woodland features you’d expect in the woods from logs to walk along and dens to rope swings. There is also an abundance of sticks and trees to hit them against!

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Henley river and rowing museum is, as the name suggests a museum dedicated to rivers and rowing as well as the history of Henley. Whilst the museum itself is interesting, the reason for listing it here is that there is a great permanent Wind in the Willows exhibition. This brings to life the much-loved story with 3D models, lighting and music. My 4yr old and 1.5yr old love it there. Our record so far is 4 circuits, at which point I had to drag them away!

Marlow Common is a an area of woodland near Marlow town center that makes a perfect place for a walk and play for children of all ages. The area was an old WW1 training ground so there are lots of bunkers for exploring as well rope swings, dens and an abundance of fallen logs.  There isn’t an exact path to follow but its really easy to make your own circular route of the right distance for your kids without getting lost. 

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Marlow bottom park and playing fields are tucked away behind the main road that runs through Marlow Bottom, just off Burford Close. The park has a large fenced play area with activities suitable for toddlers and bigger kids. There is parking right next to the play area which makes it convenient to pop along when you fancy somewhere different.

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