Family Holiday Destinations Podcast
Welcome to Family Holiday Destinations, the podcast exploring the destinations, trends and ideas shaping modern family travel.
Hosted by Jessica Palmer, founder of Family Holiday Destinations, each episode combines destination inspiration, expert interviews, practical travel tips and the latest travel news to help families plan memorable holidays while keeping tourism professionals informed about the trends influencing family travel.
Whether you're a parent planning your next adventure or part of the travel industry, you'll discover fresh ideas, practical insights and conversations that explore where families are travelling - and why.
Family Holiday Destinations Podcast
Active Family Holidays: Tips from Will Cairns (Active England Tours)
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What does an active family holiday really look like - and how do you make sure it actually works with kids?
In this episode of the Family Holiday Destinations podcast, I’m joined by Will Cairns from Active England Tours to chat about planning active holidays that are genuinely family-friendly.
We cover:
- The best destinations in the UK for walking and cycling with kids
- How to balance adventure with downtime (so it doesn’t all end in meltdowns)
- What makes an active holiday enjoyable for the whole family - not just the adults
We also touch on a few travel updates, including new family-focused attractions in Japan and Australia, and what’s coming next in global travel experiences.
To wrap up, I share some practical tips for managing younger kids on active holidays, so you can get out there and enjoy it - without overcomplicating things.
IMPORTANT LINKS:
This is Our England video by Active England Tours
Thanks for tuning in to the Family Holiday Destinations podcast! For more industry interviews, inspiration, family travel news and travel tips, visit our website at familyholidaydestinations.com. Until next time, happy travels and safe adventures!
Introduction & welcome
Speaker 1Welcome to the Family Holiday Destinations podcast, where we explore your next family adventure. I'm Jessica Palmer, mother of two and founder of Family Holiday Destinations. And today we're chatting about something that's close to my heart: active family travel. From gentle walks to multi-day cycling tours to pounding the pavement at theme parks to snorkeling adventures. Traveling actively is one of the best ways to really experience a destination. And of course, get the kids off their screens for a while.
Speaker 1Later in the episode, I'll be joined by Will from Active England Tours, who specialise in creating active, family-friendly itineraries through some of the UK's most beautiful landscapes, including the Cotswolds and the Lake District. But first, let's take a look at what's making headlines in family travel this month.
What's making headlines this month
Speaker 1Speaker 1
First up, Pokemon fans. This one's for you. Japan has announced its very first Poke Park Kanto theme park, coming to the Greater Tokyo area in early 2026. Expect life-size Pokemon encounters, themed rides, and even a Pokemon village. It's set to become the ultimate bucketless destination for families travelling to Japan.
Speaker 1Closer to home, the Blue Mountains in New South Wales has welcomed back a family favourite experience, Dinosaur Valley at Scenic World. Except this time it has a new addition with the all-new Dino Aquarium. Kids can wander among life-sized dinosaurs, meet rangers, and even take a ride on this famous scenic railway while spotting prehistoric giants hidden in the rainforest.
Speaker 1And for something a little more luxurious, Dubai is set to open the world's tallest hotel this November, the Ciel Dubai Marina. Towering 82 floors high, it features the highest infinity pool on the planet and panoramic views of Palm Jumira. It's not your average family stay, but for those chasing once-in-a-lifetime views, this one is worth keeping an eye on.
Introduction to this episode's main topic and interview - Active Family Holidays
Speaker 1Speaker 1
Now, let's get on to today's main topic: active holidays for families. When you think of the UK, it's easy to picture rainy weather in old castles. But Will from Active England Tours wants to change that perception and has created a short little film, under two minutes, showing us a more appealing side of the UK. From charming village walks in the Cotswolds to cycling through the lake district, there's a lot for families to discover beyond London.
Speaker 1I recently sat down with Will for a chat about their new video and how Active England Tours makes exploring the countryside accessible and fun for families, even those with young kids. Take a listen to that conversation here.
Chat with Will Cairns from Active England Tours
Speaker 1Speaker 1
So thank you so much for taking the time to chat with me. I really do appreciate it. So tell me about Active England and how it all started.
Speaker 2So we were um, I was actually in the in the Loire Valley with my kids, and we saw people on bikes going chateau to chateau. And I thought, I live in Oxford, and we're on the edge of the Cotswolds, and we've got Oxford, Glenn Palace, um, Stratford upon Aden for everything, Shakespeare, Bath, Stonehenge, and then in at that time, Downton Abbey, and it was all in a circle. Yeah. And basically, I biked it one weekend and I thought, actually, I could run a trip. So I built a website and used my kids' kids as models and um took some photos, did some video, and that was it.
Speaker 1Oh, nice. So were they young at the time?
Speaker 2They were quite they were quite young at the time, yeah.
Speaker 1Okay, so family-friendly biking, that's good to hear.
Speaker 2Exactly. Yeah, 100%.
Speaker 1So, what inspired the video? This is our England, and how do you want it to change people's perception of England?
Speaker 2I I think England is known for many things, and we wanted to dispel, you know, um some of the myths that you have to go to London, that you have to go to um capsules and you know, big iconic places, and that it's always raining. And that's a big one for us, yeah. And and that it's and it and it's dark and a bit dingy. So you can see by the video that that that is not the case. Interestingly, if you look at the number of rain days, and I didn't believe it when I first heard this, but it's true. London has less rain days than New York in any given year. Um, and uh we judge it based on the amount of days when you can't do any activity in a season. So our seasons kind of go from March through to October, and there's normally about three or four days only where you can't do anything.
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 2Um, so the weather is a lot better than people think. Uh, there's loads to see and loads to do. You've just got to get out there, embrace it. If it does rain a little bit, don't worry about it because it'll be sunny in a minute. That's kind of the way that we look at things.
Speaker 1Yeah, absolutely. We we work like that here in Queensland too.
Speaker 2It's it comes in in the afternoon and then it goes away. Yeah, exactly. I mean, that's what we tend to think is it very, very rarely rains all day. Traveling with kids is is is a great thing to do, it expands their knowledge and understanding. They always remember whether they actually remember it or not, they always think they remember it. Yes, and I I tend to look at travel with kids in in sort of two distinct age brackets. One, and for the Aussies, it's quite interesting, maybe for the Aussies, because the way I do it is I I think about can they swim well or not? Yeah, those are the two brackets.
Speaker 1It's a safety thing, yes.
Speaker 2Yeah, it's a safety thing because once once kids can swim, it opens up so many more interesting and fun things for them to do, whether it's surfing in Devon and Cornwall, coast steering in Devon and Cornwall, whether it's just messing around in the water or swimming in a cold lake in a lake district, as soon as you've got your kids swimming, it opens up a lot more activities that they can do.
Speaker 1Yeah. I feel like when they're at that age where they can swim, they're also at that age where you're not having to hold their hand every second as well.
Speaker 2Exactly. And they're more curious as well. So my gut feel is the best time to travel with kids is probably when they're seven or eight plus. That's my that's my gut view. Uh and we certainly see that borne out on our trips because you know, fit and active seven, eight-year-olds can do as much as the adults.
Speaker 1Yeah, they can.
Speaker 2They can climb mountains, they can climb mountains, they can bike, they've got an engine that goes all day. And then if they've done a whole host of activity, they're gonna sleep in the evenings really, really easily. So that prior to you know, the ages you know, seven and below, you just have to do things slightly differently. You you you kind of have to put at all times the kids first. You have to think about how to balance the activities you want to do with what's right for the kids. So it tends to be shorter active days. Yeah. Um, although we do get some, we do get some families who who who will chuck the kids in a backpack and and and they're off.
Speaker 1Yeah, I was gonna say that sometimes when they're really young, like babies, it's actually easier because they're in a backpack and they fall asleep, but then they get to an age where they've got their own opinions and and they you know they get tired and cranky and they need a nap, and then it's and then it's quite hard.
Speaker 2And I think I think whatever age they are, it's balancing the activities. So if you if if you are in London, you know, some of the places that I would always get people to go to, I would always go to London Zoo. You know, every time I go to Sydney, I always go to the zoo in Sydney because it's I do you?
Speaker 1Nice. Yeah.
Speaker 2Oh yeah, I love it. I absolutely love it. Um, so you know, go to London Zoo, go to go go outside Buckingham Palace. If they're a bit older, go to Harry Potter World, which is literally just outside London. Go to the Natural History Museum. There are so many places that you can do which are fun and engaging for the kids. So if I think about places to go and how to balance this on a family trip, it would be do you want to go to London? That's the first question. The answer's probably yes.
Speaker 1Well, you yeah, you've got to fly in anyway.
Speaker 2You've got to fly in, you're there anyway. You know, it's 20 minutes. There's a there's a great um, you can either get in by taxi or Uber or whatever, or you can go, there's a great train called the Heathrow Express, and it gets you directly into um Paddington station in 20 minutes. So we tend to say to our guests, if you if you get in um to Heathrow, get into London, maybe stay in that Paddington area, yeah. Um, and then Paddington is a great place to go out if you're then going out from London after a couple of days. So we tend to say, come to London, um do two, three days or whatever you need to do in London, and then get out into the countryside.
Speaker 1Yeah. So you've talked in the past about Cotswolds and the lake district being ideal for family holidays. Why is that?
Speaker 2I I think that Cotswolds to start with, the the Cotswolds is what I call chocolate box in England. Um, and it's there are some amazing places in and around the Cotswolds which you can visit with the family. So Oxford, Bar, Stonehenge. Um, there's a place called Avebury, which is a bit like Stonehenge, but better, and nobody goes there. It's it's a it's a village completely surrounded by these huge, great big Stonehenge like stones. So they go on for about a mile all the way around. Yeah, and if you're going there with the kids, kids you can go up and touch the stones and all sorts of other stuff. It's much more than a couple of things. Yeah, because Stonehenge is you can't touch Stonehenge, can you? You can't get close, you can't get close. So there's loads to do for for adults and kids. I would all I the lake district is great for walking, but obviously with kids, they need to be able to walk. Mum and dad, etc., or extended family need to be able to walk a reasonable distance to get up high in the lake district. You know, I've done it with my kids back in the pint in the day, and by the time they're seven or eight, all they want to do is get to the top of the mountains. You know, you'd have you have your lunch on top of the mountain, you come back down, um you go and have a pint in a pub, uh, and the kids, you know, the kids love that sort of stuff. I would also add in Devon and Cornwall down the west of the country because that's where I mentioned swimming earlier, that's where um there's so many water sports that the kids can get involved in. You know, the water is not as warm as it is in Sydney.
Speaker 1I was gonna say, how cold are we talking?
Speaker 2Yeah, or northern Queensland. Um, but you know, it's it's 17-18 degrees centigrade in the summer, which is fine for a dip, fine for swim without a wetsuit. Um and so the summer months are great for that. Um, there's you know surfing, there's co-steering, there's just messing about in the water, there's you know the bucket and spade on the beach, there's Cornish cream teas or Devon Cream teas, there's ice creams, there's great pubs to go to for mum and dad. Devon and Cornwall is is is a really cool place to go to with kids, and it's only two, three hours from London. And the best way I I always think with a family to get around on um is by a train.
Speaker 1Oh yes.
Speaker 2The train, you know, the cheap tickets for the kids, um, jump on the train, there's no hassle with driving, you can look out the window, you can keep the kids occupied, and it's just a much more relaxing, rewarding way to travel than either going by coach or or or hiring a car or something like that.
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 2And you can get really good deals for especially for especially for the kids. So so you know, my advice would be wherever possible, um, travel by train, even if you're going up to Edinburgh or Scotland, you know. Yeah, um London to Edinburgh by train is four hours thirty, something like that. And you get straight into the middle of Edinburgh, it's by far the quickest way um to get to Scotland. And it's great to look out the window and see what's going on.
Speaker 1Do you have tours through Scotland as well?
Speaker 2Yes, we cover um the whole of the UK. Um, although our name is Active England, we we're we we do a huge amount of Scotland. We're actually building a new brand to incorporate incorporate Scotland into the East.
Speaker 1Excellent, yeah. So families with toddlers have different needs than those traveling with teenagers. How do you tailor your tours for the different age groups?
Speaker 2What we do, it's really important that what we do is we set expectations with the parents. We want to make sure that that the parents are aligned on on what can work. And whilst we're not a babysitting service, we we want to make sure that the mum and dad are getting some time off as well.
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 2So on our trips, we'll always have um fully qualified guides who are qualified to deal with kids of of all ages. It's crucial that we have all those right qualifications. They're qualified to drive the vehicles that we use and to make sure that we are looking after our guests, be they two or 102. You know, it's it's crucial that everybody gets their holiday. So we encourage parents if they want to go off and do some stuff on their own or do stuff differently. We'll help them do that, you know. So we'll babysit for the kids if they want to go out for dinner, you know. We'll we'll we'll take mum or dad out for a bike ride or for a swim or for a walk or for a run or whatever they want to do, because it's important that the parents get a break as well. But obviously, the focus is going to be a lot on the kids, especially if they're if they're if they're toddlers, etc. So uh I I think backpacks are great. If if we can get the kids in the backpack, that means you you can you can integrate more active active pursuits during the day. I mean, obviously you're not gonna ride a bike with a kid on the back, but there are tagalong bikes that you can use off-road, etc. Um, and so yeah, it's it's really making sure that uh mum and dad get a break as as well as looking after the kids. It's making sure that we set expectations about what's possible and what's not possible, what's not possible, and making sure that we shorten the days uh in terms of activity because obviously the kids are gonna need to sleep, they're not need to eat, and yada yada yada, get back early, etc. etc. So we just have to be very sensitive to the needs of both the parents and the kids.
Speaker 1Yeah. So what about multi-generational travel? Do you have do you see a lot of grandparents and then parents and then grandchildren traveling together? And then how do you b balance that with the additional accessibility needs?
Speaker 2Normally, I say I say normally, um, the the multi-gen families tend to be pretty fit and active.
Speaker 1Pretty active, yeah.
Speaker 2Yeah, so there aren't really that that many access issues. We just have to bear in mind that if people have mobility issues that they cater for in the hotels and and the activities that we do, that's that's no problem at all. I think the one thing that's really important to me on on for multi-generational families is to ensure that everybody knows what they're getting themselves into. So we always encourage calls with the group in advance to make sure that the mum or dad, um, the sons and daughters they know exactly what's being planned because we you know occasionally we've had it, we've had situations whereby the lead booker has booked the trip but hasn't necessarily informed everybody about what's being planned, and so it's a holiday for all the family, not just the lead booker. So we all we we always say that we pretty much have to have a call to elicit what's what's gonna make a magical trip for all members of the family. Um, and then we have additional calls to meet their guides in advance of them traveling so they get comfortable with the guides, they understand that the guides are gonna look after everybody in the group, but no, more communication the better, more understanding of what's gonna make a really magical holiday is really important to us.
Speaker 1So, with some of your bike tours, I'm assuming that's quite hilly. You have e-bikes as well.
Speaker 2Yeah, we'd have we have e-bikes. E-bikes are great, and they they certainly level up the the playing field. We don't let kids under 16 on e-bikes for fairly obvious reasons, but you know, e-bike e-bikes are a huge benefit to what we do. It's not depends where you go, it's actually not as hilly as people think, to be honest. We like to say that a lot of the the the UK is what we call gently rolling, so it's up and down. Yes. So you get so you go up, you get and then and then you go down, you go up, then you go down. Um, and e-bikes, as I said, certainly levels of playing field, but you know, we we have you know five, six hundred bikes here, vehicles, trailers, everything that we need to make sure that we can cater for what people like or want to do across the whole of the UK.
Speaker 1So there's a growing interest in slow and sustainable travel. Does Active England build that into its experiences?
Speaker 2100%. I think inherently what we do is pretty green, to be honest, because we're getting people out of tour buses, we're traveling where we can by train or in our electric vehicles. Um, we are making sure that people are biking and walking and and and doing everything that they can outdoors wherever possible. So inherently, we're we're we're pretty green. Um, we try and work with hotel groups who do you know, farm to fork, 20-mile menus, that sort of thing. Um, that's becoming increasingly important. So, you know, I I think at every step we're trying to be green, and inherently active travel is pretty green.
Speaker 1It is, yes. So, how do you support local communities or help reduce the overtourism in the peak kind of destinations?
Speaker 2Yeah, we tend to advise it. There are many issues in relation to this. There's dates to start with, so there are certain times of year when we advise people not to travel to certain areas, and basically it's the six weeks in the summer, so it's from late August all the late July, sorry, all the way through August, whereby the Brits are generally on holiday. A lot of them go down to Devon and Cornwall. So we tend not to do so much in Devon and Cornwall in that late July, August period. Yeah, the rest of it, to be honest, is fair game. Um, I think you can travel at any time to pretty much any place. Ah, the one other place I wouldn't go to unless you're going to the Edinburgh Fringe is August in Edinburgh with the Edinburgh Fringe and the Edinburgh Festival. Unless you've got tickets, you're gonna pay through through the roof. In terms of over over tourism, we tend to try and avoid the crowds. So we don't spend that much time in London. We try to get out of London wherever possible. Yeah, you know, we recognise people will want to go to London, but we think let's get people out of London. That's that's the first point. The second point is is travelling and doing activities at different times of the day. You've seen by that video that we do a lot of early morning, late afternoon stuff, because we want to avoid the crowds when people are you know busy milling around at certain at certain places, and then obviously we try to go to places which are off the beaten track. Now everybody says that, but we we we live here, we live and bring to the UK, we know where to go, we know what's interesting to our guests, and what we tend to find when people come to the UK, they kind of know what they're gonna get from Stonehenge. You know what Stonehenge looks like. You kind of know what you're gonna get from Oxford or Bath or Stratford, but what people don't under what people possibly underestimate is is the the sights, the smells, the countryside, the the atmosphere about being in rural England, which is completely different from any other country in the world. It's the weird and wonderful people you meet in the cafes and the pubs, it's the whole kind of package which is bigger than the places that you see. So getting off the beaten track, seeing different things, that's the recipe for success.
Speaker 1Absolutely. So, what's your personal favorite region in England that families often overlook?
Speaker 2I'd say Northumberland. We don't get many Aussies or or North Americans travelling to Northumberland. So it is on the northeast coast of England, it's right up by Hadrian's Wall. Um, there are some of the best castles in the UK there, really easy to get to. Um, Newcastle is kind of the hub of the region and it's a superb, superb city with the friendliest people in the UK. It's it's just really, really underrated. But go there quick because it's starting to get found. Oh, people are noticing. Maybe I won't notice.
Speaker 1So, last question. If a family had, say, two weeks in England, what would you personally recommend?
Speaker 2I'm gonna assume that they're an active family. Yes, yes, is that okay? So I I would say um fly into London, spend a couple of days in London. I would then head out and I would do an either or to the Cotswolds or Devon and Cornwall and then shoot up north to the Lake District, maybe in Northumberland, and then into Scotland, and spend probably two or three days in three or four different locations. That's how I would.
Speaker 1So, what is what are we looking at for travel time between those destinations?
Speaker 2Yeah, so good question. So um London out to Devon and Cornwall is roughly it's three hours. Yeah, three hours to Devon, four hours to Cornwall. The Cotswolds is an hour and a half from London. Um yeah, it's not far at all. So you just you you head through Oxford. Oxford is an hour from London, and the Cotswolds is half an hour the other side, and then um London to Edinburgh on the train is only four and a half hours.
Speaker 1Oh, so you're not gonna lose like a whole day traveling.
Speaker 2No, so no, so you can you can do a whole lot of activity in London in the morning, get the train in the afternoon, and then you're in Edinburgh for dinner. Oh, the traveling distances aren't as bad as people think, but I I highly recommend the train because it gets you in and out of the centre of these places really quickly and really easily.
Speaker 1Um you normally get the good scenery too, don't you?
Speaker 2And you get the good scenery. Yeah, there are certain trips where you need to sit on the left or the right-hand side because the scenery is better, but we advise our guests as to what to do there.
Speaker 1Absolutely. Well, thank you so much for your time. Will, I really do appreciate it. I know it's probably a bit of an early morning for you to be able to do that.
Speaker 2We're up early, we're up early today. Yeah, and Jesse and thank you so much for you know, it's been really nice chatting to you.
Simple tips for active family holidays with younger kids
Speaker 1If today's chat has inspired you to try a more active holiday with your family, here are a couple of quick tips to make it smoother with kids and a lot more fun. Tip one, the mini explorer tip. If you're out and about with young kids, give each child a responsibility during your adventure. One can be the map reader, another the snap captain, or even the wildlife spotter. This has worked well for me when my kids were younger. And by turning it into a game, it's helped keep them engaged and also, more importantly, gave them something to do other than annoying each other. Tip two, the pack smart walk far tip. If you're planning a walking or cycling holiday, they can absolutely be their own pack meal. Get them to pack a small day pack each with their own water, snacks, and a light jacket. I've found that letting the kids pack their own bag and letting them choose their snacks teaches independence and also lightens your load.
Wrap up and outro
Speaker 1So that wraps up our chat about active family adventures. I'm sure there are many other great experiences out there to be had, and we'd love to hear some of yours. Thanks for joining me on this journey. I hope it's inspired you to lace up your walking shoes and explore the great outdoors together as a family. For more tips and detailed guides, head on over to FamilyHolidaydestinations.com, where you'll find destination ideas, travel deals, and inspiration for your next trip. And until next time, happy afternoon.