May Half Term Activities in Surrey 2027: Outdoor Days, Spring Bank Holiday and Where to Actually Go
Surrey's May half term 2027 runs from Monday 31 May to Friday 4 June for community and voluntary controlled schools, with the Spring Bank Holiday falling on Monday 31 May. Add the weekends on either side and the family window stretches from Saturday 29 May to Sunday 6 June: nine days of long light evenings, roses coming into flower, strawberry-picking just starting, and every farm, wildlife park and theme park in the county running its main-season timetable.
That is the good news. The rest is that the popular places sell out. Chessington's Sunday and bank holiday Monday slots are gone a fortnight ahead. Bocketts Farm is standing-room-only from 10am. Book what you can book, and know where to go when the sun turns up unannounced. This guide sets out where Surrey parents and carers reliably go for May half term, with postcodes, honest notes on parking and crowds, and a plan for the weather that half term always throws at us: a hot Monday, a wet Wednesday, and one glorious Friday.
When exactly is Surrey's May half term 2027, and what does that mean
For community and voluntary controlled schools, half-term week is Monday 31 May to Friday 4 June 2027, published on the Surrey County Council term dates page. Monday 31 May is the Spring Bank Holiday, so schools are already closed then and it counts as one of the two national bank holidays in May 2027 (the other being Monday 3 May). Academies, voluntary-aided schools, foundation schools and most independents set their own dates. In practice, the great majority of Surrey secondaries and academies use the same week, but always check your school's calendar. Nurseries and childminders often stay open through half term, which affects the toddler slots at farms and soft plays.
The Saturday-to-Sunday family window is 29 May to 6 June 2027. Nine days is enough to try one big day out, one free-and-easy park day, one soft-play morning for the rainy one, and still have time to see grandparents. That is the shape of a good May half term. Days are long: sunrise around 4:50am, sunset close to 9pm, so evenings at Virginia Water or a paddling pool at Stoke Park are back on the menu.
Quick comparison: where Surrey families actually go for May half term
The table below is the shortlist. Prices are indicative; confirm on the venue's own booking page before travelling.
| Venue | Town / postcode | Ages | Rough cost | Honest note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chessington World of Adventures | Chessington KT9 2NE | 3-14+ | £40-55 pp online | Peak; book the arrival slot two weeks out |
| Bocketts Farm Park | Fetcham, Leatherhead KT22 9BS | 1-8 | £14-16 per child | Standing-room by 10am; go 11.30 or after 1.30 |
| Hobbledown Epsom | Epsom KT19 8PT | 2-11 | £18-24 per child | Big outdoor climbers; better on a dry day |
| Godstone Farm | Godstone RH9 8LX | 1-10 | £14-18 per child | Toddler-friendly; easy from M25 J6 |
| Painshill | Cobham KT11 1AG | All | £11 adult / £6-7 child | Woodland walk with follies; picnic-friendly |
| RHS Garden Wisley | Woking GU23 6QB | All | Adults £18 / U5 free | Family trail through the gardens; big lawn |
| Painshill, Loseley, Wisley | GU/KT | All | £6-18 | The three we most consistently recommend for a picnic day |
| Hobbledown Epsom, Bocketts, Godstone | KT/RH | 1-8 | £14-24 | The three best rain-or-shine farm days |
| Guildford Spectrum | Guildford GU1 1UP | All | £5-8 per swim | Wave pool, ice rink, ten-pin; the classic rainy day |
The activities in this guide have been included based on parent recommendations, Google ratings and publicly available information. KidzRGoGo has no commercial relationship with any provider listed and does not approve, inspect or endorse them. Always check directly with the venue before booking, particularly for current pricing, availability and safeguarding policies.
The five big outdoor days worth planning around
May half term is the first properly warm week most Surrey families get. Choose one or two of these and build the rest of the week around them.
RHS Garden Wisley, Woking
RHS Garden Wisley at GU23 6QB is where the county unofficially opens the summer. By half term the roses are coming into bud, the alpine meadow is at its best, and the family trail through the gardens is running. The Glasshouse is worth the visit in itself: warm, humid, and full of the plants that never stop being interesting. Under-fives go free with a paying adult. There is a good playground near the entrance and the picnic lawn behind the Glasshouse takes small children well. Parking fills by 10.30am on the bank holiday; go earlier or after 2pm, or come mid-week.
Painshill, Cobham
Painshill at KT11 1AG is the 18th-century pleasure garden every Surrey family should know. The Crystal Grotto is unmissable, the Gothic Temple looks like a stage set, and the woodland walk around the lake takes small legs about 90 minutes with stops. May is when the rhododendrons and azaleas in the American Roots section peak. Bring a picnic; the tea room is fine but the lawn under the Gothic Tent is where most families end up. Buggies manage most of it, though there are one or two slopes.
Loseley Park, Guildford
Loseley Park at GU3 1HS opens its walled garden and grounds for the summer season around May half term. The moat walk and rose garden are the draw, but the children's playground and the lawns around the house are what actually pin down a family day. Loseley is the quieter alternative to Wisley, and you rarely queue and rarely feel rushed. Best on a sunny weekday.
Hampton Court Palace
Hampton Court Palace at KT8 9AU is technically over the river but it counts as Surrey's family palace and it is a straight run down the A308. The gardens are free-flowing for children; the maze remains the shortest amount of money that produces the biggest half hour of the week. Historic Royal Palaces membership pays for itself quickly if you have more than one child.
Windsor Great Park and Virginia Water Lake
Windsor Great Park and Virginia Water Lake at Egham are the biggest free walk in the county. The lakeside path is buggy-friendly for the first mile from Savill Building; the totem pole and cascade are worth the walk. Parking is paid but the walk itself is free. This is the best Sunday of the half term when the weather is warm and you want to move slowly. The Savill Garden costs extra and is worth it once for the water gardens.
Farms and animal parks (rain-or-shine)
May is when farms are at their loosest and prettiest. Chicks are hatching, the calves are curious, the lambs are teenagers now, and the goats are dependably naughty.
Bocketts Farm Park, Fetcham
Bocketts Farm Park at KT22 9BS is the county's most-used farm and the review count (over 2,700) tells you why. Two proper indoor play barns, outdoor climbers, tractor rides, feeding sessions, and a decent tea room. The trade-off is honest: it fills up. If you can go for the 10am opening and eat lunch before noon, it is the perfect farm day; if you arrive at 11.30 you will queue for everything. Great for one to eight-year-olds.
Hobbledown Adventure Farm Park and Zoo, Epsom
Hobbledown at KT19 8PT is what you visit when the children are a bit older and want bigger climbers. The outdoor adventure area is genuinely impressive, and the small zoo (meerkats, wallabies, alpacas) hits the age range where farm animals alone are not enough. Best on a dry day; it is much less good in the rain because so much of it is outside. Book slots ahead.
Godstone Farm, Godstone
Godstone Farm at RH9 8LX is the M25 J6 farm for families with toddlers. Smaller than Bocketts, more manageable, easier parking, and the play area under the trees is a good bad-weather refuge. Two-year-olds thrive here. The soft play barn is small but useful.
Chobham Adventure Farm
Chobham Adventure Farm in Woking is the newer, sports-day-feel option. It leans harder into the giant slides and outdoor kit than into the animals. Big children love it, small children can be under-served. Book online for the discount and the arrival slot.
Discovery Land at Priory Farm
Discovery Land at Priory Farm at RH1 4EJ near Redhill sits inside the wider Priory Farm site. The farm shop is excellent (a working part of the visit, not an afterthought), and the maize maze, when it opens later in the summer, is one of the best in the South East. May half term is quieter than August and easier for a first-timer with young children.
Birdworld, Farnham
Birdworld at GU10 4LD is a Farnham institution with over 4,600 reviews. Penguin feeds, flamingos, the walk-through parakeet aviary, a small farm section and Jenny Wren's Farm Adventure playground make a full half-day. Older birdlife enthusiasts get the most from it; a curious four-year-old will happily do the whole loop.
The rainy plan: soft play, trampolines and indoor days
One in three May half terms produces a proper wet day. These are the reliable answers.
Chessington World of Adventures, Chessington
Chessington World of Adventures Resort at KT9 2NE runs its full main-season timetable through the whole of May half term. The Sea Life aquarium inside the resort is included with theme park entry; the standalone Zoo Days ticket is cheaper if you skip the rides. Sundays and the bank holiday are the busiest days of the week; Wednesday and Thursday are the least busy. Book online for a real saving and pre-select the arrival slot; walk-up prices are painful.
AirHop and Jump In trampoline parks
AirHop Guildford at Ladymead Retail Park, Jump In Camberley and Jump In Esher at Sandown Park run their busiest sessions of the year over any half term. Book the toddler-only slot for anyone under five; general sessions are chaotic. Grip socks add £2-3 and are compulsory.
Gym Jams Soft Play, Guildford
Gym Jams Soft Play in the Slyfield Industrial Estate is the small independent that punches above its weight. The under-fives area is genuinely separate. Parking on site, cafe on site, and the review score (5.0 with 21 reviews) reflects the fact that parents keep coming back.
Guildford Spectrum
Guildford Spectrum at GU1 1UP is Surrey's proper indoor multi-sports centre: wave pool, ice rink, ten-pin bowling, indoor bowls and a play frame. It is not the newest facility and the changing rooms show their age, but no other single site in the county gives you as much to do under one roof on a rainy day.
Adventure days for older children
If your children have outgrown the farms, half term is when the bigger physical days come into their own.
Go Ape Alice Holt
Go Ape Alice Holt near Farnham is the treetop course that most Surrey families visit. Minimum age varies by course (Junior from four; Tree Top Adventure from ten), so read the age bands carefully. Book weeks ahead for half term.
The SHAC, Betchworth
The SHAC (Surrey Hills Adventure Company at The SHAC Lagoon) at RH3 7BG runs paddleboard, kayak and open-water swimming sessions at Buckland Park Lake near Betchworth. Family paddleboard sessions from around eight upwards; the site has a proper changing area and a small cafe. On a warm May day, this is the standout thing you can do in Surrey with a nine-year-old.
Mizens Railway, Woking
Mizens Railway at GU21 2JW is the Woking Miniature Railway Society's site: a working miniature railway with steam and diesel locomotives running open days on Sundays and bank holidays through the summer. Cheap, unhurried, and completely absorbing for train-obsessed four to eight-year-olds. Check their site for the specific open days over the half-term week.
Wild Wood Adventure, Guildford
Wild Wood Adventure at GU1 1HB runs holiday sessions in a Guildford woodland (fires, dens, forest games) for children who want to be out all day. Ages roughly five to twelve. Book direct with the provider.
Adventure golf
Jungle Island Adventure Golf in Epsom and Safari Adventure Golf in Hersham are the two dependable rainy-hour options for families with children between five and eleven. Both are covered enough to work in a shower and open in the sun.
Free-and-nearly-free days
Half term is expensive if you let it be. These are the days that cost the price of a picnic.
- Lightwater Country Park in Lightwater has an excellent adventure playground, a heathland walk suitable for buggies, and a small cafe. No entry fee, parking small charge.
- Newlands Corner at Guildford GU4 (near Merrow) is North Downs viewpoint with a decent visitor centre, ice-cream van almost daily in half term, and a proper hill for running down.
- Nonsuch Park at Epsom KT17 3AB is 300 acres of shared parkland; the playground near the mansion is the anchor.
- Runnymede Pleasure Ground at Egham has a paddling pool that reliably runs from late May, a splash pad, and a very good ice-cream kiosk.
- Horton Country Park at Epsom is next door to Hobbledown but free to walk in. Good buggy tracks.
- Frensham Great Pond and Common near Farnham GU10 3BT is the sandy-beach lake day; May can be too cold for swimming but the beach and the walk round the pond work.
- Stoke Park in Guildford has the paddling pool and playground the town uses. Free entry.
- Box Hill with the National Trust runs family trails through the summer; parking is the only cost for members.
Museums, theatres and gardens for the wet afternoon
For an hour or two when nothing else works, these do the job.
- Brooklands Museum at Weybridge KT13 0SL: hands-on aviation and motor racing history. Concorde is walk-through. Under-fives free.
- Watts Gallery at Compton GU3 1DQ: small, calm and beautifully done. Children's trails and a proper garden.
- Rural Life Living Museum at Tilford GU10 2DL: outdoor open-air museum with a miniature railway that runs on bank holidays and Sundays.
- Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in Guildford, New Victoria Theatre in Woking, G Live in Guildford and Farnham Maltings all run family shows over half term; check schedules six weeks out.
- National Trust Polesden Lacey, Claremont Landscape Garden, Hatchlands Park and Winkworth Arboretum: all four are within thirty minutes of most Surrey towns and all run family trails through the summer.
Strawberry picking, farm shops and the start of PYO season
Late May is when PYO strawberries begin. Garson Farm Pick Your Own at Esher is the biggest and best-known Surrey PYO (over 3,000 Google reviews) with an established programme through the summer. Their Garsons Garden Centre on the same site keeps a young child engaged if the picking loses its charm. Priory Farm Shop at Redhill is the shop half of the wider Priory Farm; you can combine it with Discovery Land in one visit. Strawberry fields typically open from around the last week of May but the weather that spring dictates the exact date every year; check the farm's Facebook page in the week before you go.
Planning the week: bank holiday Monday, midweek, weekend
- Saturday 29 May and Sunday 30 May: warm, crowded, book-ahead territory. Chessington and the big farms will be full. Best used for a free park day or a home garden.
- Monday 31 May (Spring Bank Holiday): the busiest day of the whole half term. If you have booked, arrive early; if you have not, avoid the biggest attractions and pick a country park, a coastal day out or an early museum.
- Tuesday 1 to Thursday 3 June: the sweet spot. Chessington and the farms are noticeably quieter mid-week; ticket prices are often lower too. Book Wisley or Painshill for the sunniest of these days.
- Friday 4 June: the quietest day of the school-holiday week, since schools are back on the following Monday. Excellent for a longer day out.
- Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 June: schools are back on Monday; the "half-term crowd" starts to thin.
Booking, parking and accessibility
The pattern that trips up first-time visitors is turning up on the bank-holiday Monday to a full car park and no walk-up tickets. Book the arrival slot at Chessington, Hobbledown, RHS Wisley and Painshill at least ten days ahead. Bocketts, Godstone and Priory Farm do not require a slot but a pre-paid ticket usually saves money and speeds entry.
Free parking is on-site at Lightwater, Frensham, Newlands Corner, Horton Country Park and most council parks (though may be paid on weekends). RHS Wisley, Chessington, Windsor Great Park and the National Trust properties are paid parking. National Trust members park free at NT sites. Blue Badge parking is available at Wisley, Painshill, Chessington, Hobbledown, Bocketts, Godstone and Brooklands Museum; ask at the entrance. Step-free routes are complete at Wisley, Painshill (with limited exceptions on some woodland paths), Hobbledown, Bocketts, Godstone, Brooklands, Chessington and most of Hampton Court's gardens. Sensory-friendly and quieter sessions are worth asking about at AirHop, Jump In and Gym Jams; they are often first thing on a weekday morning.
Frequently asked questions
When exactly is May half term 2027 in Surrey?
For Surrey community and voluntary controlled schools it is Monday 31 May to Friday 4 June 2027, published by Surrey County Council. Monday 31 May is the Spring Bank Holiday. Academies, voluntary-aided and independent schools set their own dates and may differ; check your child's school calendar.
Is Chessington World of Adventures open every day of May half term?
Yes. Chessington runs its main season from March to early November and operates every day of May half term including the bank holiday. The bank-holiday Monday is the busiest day of the whole spring; the mid-week days are less busy. Book online at least ten days ahead for the discount and the arrival slot.
Which Surrey farm is best for toddlers in May?
Bocketts Farm Park in Fetcham (KT22 9BS) has the most family-tested toddler setup: indoor barns, tractor rides, an under-threes soft-play area and covered picnic space. Godstone Farm (RH9 8LX) is smaller and easier for a two-year-old to manage in one visit. Both fill up by 10.30am on bank holidays.
Is strawberry picking on in May in Surrey?
Yes, though only for the last few days of the half-term week in most years. Garson Farm Pick Your Own in Esher opens its strawberry fields from around the last weekend of May, weather permitting, then continues through June and July. Check the farm's own Facebook page the week before you visit; the actual opening day depends on that year's spring weather.
What free days out work with a toddler at May half term?
Lightwater Country Park, Nonsuch Park in Epsom, Stoke Park in Guildford and Runnymede Pleasure Ground are the four most reliable free days for a toddler. All four have proper playgrounds, buggy-friendly paths and either a paddling pool or an ice-cream kiosk within walking distance. Newlands Corner is a good midweek alternative if a hillside walk is what your child needs.
Where can we go if it rains all week?
Guildford Spectrum, Chessington's Sea Life aquarium, AirHop Guildford, Jump In Camberley, Jump In Esher, Gym Jams Soft Play and Brooklands Museum all work as full rainy days. Farms with big indoor barns (Bocketts and Godstone in particular) are the honest wet-weather compromise; Hobbledown is much less good in the rain because so much of it is outside.
Are the National Trust properties in Surrey a good half-term day?
Polesden Lacey, Claremont Landscape Garden, Hatchlands Park, Winkworth Arboretum and Box Hill all run family trails and outdoor programmes through half term. Polesden and Hatchlands have big, calm grounds for a picnic; Winkworth is at its best for rhododendrons and azaleas in late May; Box Hill has the best free view in the county. NT members park free.
What is on for teenagers over Surrey May half term?
The SHAC at Buckland Park Lake in Betchworth runs paddleboard, kayak and open-water sessions from around eight upwards. Go Ape Alice Holt is the treetop course closest to most of Surrey; Junior courses from age four, Tree Top Adventure from ten. Chessington and Thorpe Park are the theme-park choices. Adventure golf at Jungle Island (Epsom) or Safari Adventure Golf (Hersham) works as a shorter afternoon.
How do I plan the bank holiday Monday and avoid the crowds?
Book everything you can book by the second week of May. If you have not booked, avoid Chessington, Bocketts, Hobbledown and Wisley on the Monday, since they will be full. A quieter Monday looks like this: early start at Windsor Great Park or Lightwater, picnic lunch, ice cream at Newlands Corner, home before the traffic. Save your booked day for Tuesday or Wednesday.
Do Surrey nurseries and childminders stay open in half term?
Most Surrey day nurseries stay open through half term but with reduced sessions for older siblings; many childminders take the week off. Term-time-only Ofsted-registered settings will be closed. Ask your provider in April; they typically publish their half-term schedule six weeks out.
Find more Surrey activities
The full half-term Surrey guide covers the October week 2026 and there is a February half-term Surrey guide for the winter break too. For a broader picture of what runs through the summer, see our Holiday Clubs category and the town pages for Guildford, Woking, Farnham and Epsom.