Free Time with the Kids

Hi, I’m Vicky. My husband and I live in Aylesbury with our three children; a 13 year old son, an 11 year old son and a 6 year old daughter. I (mostly) love spending time together as a family. We visit all kinds of places and we’re quite happy to drive a fair distance for a decent day out. A few years ago I decided to set up Free Time with the Kids as a way to share our experiences of these family days out. You know, the essential information you need to know before your visit that can be surprisingly hard to find out. Where do I park? How much will it cost me to get in? Are there any discounts available? Are there loos? Can I take a picnic or get food? My aim is to be your go-to guide for all your free and cheap family days out across Bucks, Beds, Oxon, Herts & slightly beyond.

We have a real passion for nature, science and history, both at home and on our family day trips. Over the years we’ve been to some amazing places. Sadly, money doesn’t grow on trees. The cost of lots of day trips (and generally keeping children entertained) soon adds up. On this website you’ll find loads of free and cheap family days out across Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Oxfordshire. Plus there’s ideas of things to do with the kids when you’re at home including lots of crafts and activities.

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Let’s get social

As well as running this website I’m very active on social media. You can find me on Facebook and Instagram. Like & follow the pages for updates on our favourite places to visit, events and the latest reviews. There’s also little snippets of my crazy life as a working mum of three!! Know of an amazing place that people just have to visit? Make sure you share it on the Facebook chat group?


Free Time with the Kids map

Click the image to search the Free Time with the Kids map. You’ll find all of my reviews of family days out in Bucks, Beds, Oxon & Herts in an easily searchable format.


The reviews – Just click an image to see all the reviews of family days out in each category

Free Time with the Kids | Family Walks | Buckinghamshire | Bedfordshire | Oxfordshire | Hertfordshire

Family-friendly walks in Bucks, Beds, Oxon & Herts. There’s details of parking, toilets and food etc. The majority of the walks will be free to access and not too long.

Free Time with the Kids | Free Family Days Out Reviewed | Buckinghamshire | Bedfordshire | Oxfordshire | Hertfordshire

Parks, playgrounds, museums, woodlands, lakes – you’ll find them all here. We’re incredibly lucky that there are so many free family days out across Bucks, Beds, Oxon & Herts for us to explore.

These family days out have free admission but, in order to visit, most of us will have to pay for parking. People who are very local might be able to walk of course, making it completely free to visit!

Tickets for these attractions are valid for unlimited re-visits for a full 12 months, making them excellent value.

English Heritage and National Trust memberships give you free, unlimited access to hundreds of amazing family days out across the UK. Locally we’ve got some amazing (and really varied) places to visit, that all become free when you join either the National Trust or English Heritage (affiliate links)

Places where a family of four (even better if it’s a family of five) will spend less than £25 to visit. You’ll find my reviews of cheap family activities such as soft play in here as well.

If your kids are lucky enough to have a Blue Peter badge then they can get free admission to hundreds of family days out – including several in Bucks, Beds, Oxon & Herts.

Not going out? There are lots of ideas of things to do at home with the kids to keep them entertained, without spending a fortune.

Free Time with the Kids | Toddler activities  | Buckinghamshire | Bedfordshire | Oxfordshire | Hertfordshire

A dedicated page for all things under 5! There’s a directory of under 5’s classes, reviews of under 5’s groups / sessions we’ve been to, plus crafts and activities particularly suited to younger children.

Have car. Will travel. I have no problem at all driving a long way for a great value day out. Realistically my max travel time for a day-trip is about 2 hours. Most of these reviews have been done as a day trip from Aylesbury but fall outside of my normal Bucks, Beds, Oxon & Herts boundary. Some are places that we’ve visited, and loved, on our holidays as well.


Search the Free Time with the Kids reviews for your next cheap family day out

Already know the name of the place you want to visit, the location or type of day out? Perfect – Just pop it in the search box below to find the review. Use the tag cloud below to search for type of place, indoors/outdoors, location etc.

Animals Aylesbury Bedfordshire Berkhamstead Berkshire Buckinghamshire Christmas CSSC Dunstable Family Walks Farm Further Afield Gardener's World Harry Potter Hertfordshire High Wycombe Historic House Houses and gardens Indoors Lakes Lakes / Rivers Large Family Tickets Leighton Buzzard London Milton Keynes Museum Northamptonshire Outdoors Oxford Oxfordshire Park Playground River or Lake Single adult family Soft play Splash Park St Albans Tesco Clubcard Thame Treat Days Tring Waddesdon Warwickshire Wendover Woodland


Helpful tips from Free Time with the Kids

I love a bargain! Free Time with the Kids is based on seeking out bargains. I’m a member of various discount schemes and memberships that allow us to save a fortune on days out. There are lots of other ways to keep the costs down – find out what they are in the blog. We often visit one-off events, particularly at times like the Christmas period. If I do a review of a one-off event that goes on the blog too. Something special happening or some interesting day out related news? You guessed it – it’s all on the blog pages.


Have a look around to find out more about our cheap family days out in Bucks, Beds, Oxon and Herts. I’m always keen to hear recommendations of places our family should visit, so please get in touch if there’s somewhere I’m missing.

Email contact@freetimewiththekids.com