With the summer holidays coming up, families across the UK are starting to look for ways to enjoy some quality time together - but with the country in the midst of a cost of living crisis, it's fair to say that for many families there will need to be a focus on how to make family days out more affordable without compromising on fun.
Like most families, we've really noticed a sharp increase in our outgoings lately with one of the biggest culprits being petrol prices. So when Stagecoach challenged us to take part in the Stagecoach Bus Trip Challenge, I was really intrigued. The challenge was to plan a day out for the family with a £40 budget, which had to include our bus fare...usually we'd pay around £20 in petrol and £7 in parking alone for a standard local day out, could going by bus save us much money?
Although I don't drive, it's been quite a while since I caught a bus and I have to admit - I didn't know anything about the local timetables. But using the Journey Planner on Stagecoach's website was so easy - I simply entered my starting point and destination, and it brought up various options of buses along with the time and stop I needed.
We decided to have a day out at the seaside in Torquay - there's a lovely open park with a really pretty water feature that the kids love to run around in, as well as nearby seaside attractions.
We took the Gold bus route from Paignton bus station, which ran every 10 minutes. After a short wait at the bus station, we boarded our bus and I paid our fare which came to just under £12 for the 4 of us.
The kids really enjoyed the bus journey, they seemed to love the freedom of not being in car seats and were delighted by the opportunity to sit on the upper deck and take in the view.
After a pleasant journey, we arrived right outside our destination - the amusements at Cary Parade. We spent a fun filled couple of hours enjoying the penny falls machines, having dance battles on the Dance Revolution and, of course, having our fortunes told by Zoltar!
We spent £15 on the amusements, which meant that the children won enough tickets for a small prize each - much to their delight! We even managed to win some stuffed toys on the claw machines!
After our time in the amusements, we went for a lovely stroll along Torquay harbor and ended up in the park where the children enjoyed an ice cream and a good run around.
We finished up the day with a picnic tea on the beach, before catching the bus back home.
We had such a lovely day out, and it was so nice not to have to worry about paying for petrol or parking - I wish we'd made use of the local bus services sooner, I can see us getting a lot of use out of them over the summer as it enables me to take the kids for days out on my own as well as saving us money in petrol and parking.
The total spend for our day out was:
Bus Fare: £12Amusements: £15Ice Creams: £9
So that's a grand total of £36! Stagecoach also offers a day rider ticket in the Torbay area which is priced at £5 for adults and £3.50 for children - this enables to ride across the Torbay area covering the many tourist attractions in Torquay, Paignton and Brixham for the whole day. Such a great way to save, and to avoid the parking problems during peak tourist season too!
Have you taken the Stagecoach Bus Trip Challenge? Where could you visit by bus in your local area for a budget family day out?
This post is a collaboration with Stagecoach, but all thoughts and experiences are my own