Somerset and Bath - Luna stays with family
6-13 August 2027 · One base in Wookey Hole · About £3,488 including care contingency
This plan has the deepest potential dairy day if Yeo Valley releases a suitable 2027 Farm to Fridge event. Wells, Bath, Brean Down, Wookey Hole and six distinct indoor cards make it the most weather-resilient branch. It is selectable only after the Birchington care plan and backup pass their checks; otherwise use a complete bring-Luna plan.
Nothing is booked. The Airbnb was observed for the exact dates and three guests.
The week
| Date | Main plan | Approximate driving | If the main plan fails |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fri 6 Aug | Ely-Birchington handover-Wookey | 5½-6¼ hr plus charge | No arrival activity |
| Sat 7 Aug | Wells and cream tea | 20-30 min total | Works in mixed weather |
| Sun 8 Aug | Bath Soft Cheese farm/café and Kelston | About 1½ hr total | Wookey if first severe day |
| Mon 9 Aug | Roman Baths and anniversary meal | About 1½ hr total | Indoor day |
| Tue 10 Aug | Brean Down | About 1½ hr total | Next unused reserve card |
| Wed 11 Aug | Wookey Hole | Local | Next unused reserve card if Wookey was used |
| Thu 12 Aug | Yeo Valley Farm to Fridge, only if released for Thursday | About 1 hr total | Next unused reserve card |
| Fri 13 Aug | Wookey-Birchington-Ely | 5½-6¼ hr plus charge | - |
Stay and sleeping
Use Garden View, Wookey Hole, observed at £808 total. It publishes one double, two singles, kitchen, patio and parking. One adult and Ada use the double; the other adult uses a single. The property disallows pets, so the plan depends on completed care.
Luna care and the decision
The provisional care period is Friday 6 August around 10:00 until Friday 13 August around 12:00, with authority to extend through Sunday 15 August if travel is disrupted. Leave Ely around 07:30, make a 30-minute Birchington handover, take lunch/charge on the onward journey and expect Wookey around 16:00-17:00. Reverse that pattern on Friday 13, leaving Wookey about 08:00 and aiming for Ely by 16:00-17:00.
By 6 July 2027, the signed care sheet must contain exact meal times/quantities, daily Apoquel time and dose, walk/toilet pattern, the sleeping place and responsible adult, vet/insurance details, emergency authority, the delayed-return plan and best-effort daily-photo agreement. Shelly's brother/relatives must confirm the whole period.
The known family friend is a two-night backup candidate, not a trusted confirmed backup for this trip; dates and transport/handover must be agreed. She is not a whole-week solution. Yappy Days, Westgate is the licensed professional candidate, currently listed by Thanet with five stars and a licence through 31 December 2028. It remains unvetted until Luna completes a satisfactory trial and the family confirms Apoquel, adult-sleeping needs, exact dates, collection/transport, emergency cover and rate. If the family arrangement, two-night candidate and professional longer-gap option are not all usable by 6 July, select Cornwall or Dorset before commitment.
Each day
Friday - Kent handover and Wookey
Follow the 07:30/10:00 working sequence above. This is an exceptional travel day, not a day trip. Use a planned motorway lunch/charge, check in without an attraction and use cottage food, takeaway or an early Wookey Hole Inn meal only if it is effortless.
Saturday - Wells and cream tea
Leave about 10:00 for the short drive, explore central Wells and the cathedral setting, and have a proper cream tea/afternoon service at the Loft Café. Return by about 16:00 and cook an easy dinner.
Sunday - Park Farm and Kelston
Leave around 09:30 for roughly 45 minutes each way. Use Park Farm's animals and cheese shop/café, have lunch there, then walk the selected Kelston Roundhill circular: 4.7 km, about 172 m ascent and normally 1½-2 hours, classed moderate. Confirm its public-footpath access, parking and terrain before travel; shorten by turning back at 45 minutes if the farm visit has already used too much energy. Do not book the formal cheese tour, which is explicitly 12+. Return by 16:30. If the route is unsuitable, retain the café/farm stop only if family visitor access is confirmed; in severe weather remove that main day and use the first usable unused indoor replacement.
Monday - Roman Baths and anniversary
Leave around 09:00, use a sensible daytime Roman Baths slot, have a Bath counter/café lunch and return to Wookey by 16:00. Book the child-friendly Wookey Hole Inn for 17:30; its current official site publishes menus and says it is child- and dog-friendly. Confirm Monday service in 2027. The named fallback is a preordered Tuckers Fish & Chips, Wells collection eaten at the cottage, after confirming its order window.
Tuesday - Brean Down
Leave around 09:30 for about 40 minutes each way. Use the selected OS Maps loop from the Brean Down car park: 4.9 km with about 157 m ascent. It begins with a steep exposed climb/steps and continues on downland paths, so allow 2½-3 hours including stops, carry lunch and turn back before the summit if wind, heat, ground condition or family state makes the full loop poor value. Return by 16:00. If unsuitable, remove Brean and use the first usable unused indoor replacement. Never schedule Wookey twice.
Wednesday - Wookey or the next unused reserve
The default is the local Wookey Hole cave/heritage day, with café lunch and a return by mid-afternoon. If Wookey was consumed on any earlier day, use the next usable unused reserve card-not automatically Haynes. Haynes is about 40 minutes each way with an indoor attraction/café; Museum of Somerset is about 55 minutes each way; SS Great Britain uses the Bristol timing/checks below. Pack most clothes, medicines, chargers and Luna handover paperwork before dinner, leaving only Thursday-use items out.
Thursday - Yeo Valley or the next unused reserve
Use Yeo only if a 2027 Farm to Fridge event runs on Thursday 12 August and accepts Ada. A Tuesday or Wednesday release is treated as unavailable for this plan rather than displacing Brean, Wookey, packing or the reserve order. For a valid Thursday, leave around 09:15 for the 10:00-16:00 event. Its current form includes production explanation, lunch, farm walk, garden and tea/cake; it is the plan's only major fixed commitment. Return for a simple cottage supper, load the already packed bags into the BMW, set out breakfast and departure medicines, and finish by 20:00.
If the event/date/age rule fails, use the next unused reserve card described below. Do not repeat Wookey or improvise an unnamed Mendip day.
Friday - collect Luna and go home
Leave around 08:00, collect Luna around noon, review medication/food and continue after a meal/charge. Use the prepared freezer meal at home.
If several plans change
The reserve cards are Wookey Hole → Haynes Motor Museum → Museum of Somerset → Brunel's SS Great Britain → We The Curious → M Shed and Bristol Aquarium, each used at most once. Wookey is normally Wednesday. Before assignment, remove any card known to be closed, sold out or otherwise failed. When a main day fails because of weather, closure, Yeo eligibility or a Roman Baths booking failure, use the first usable and unused card and drop the failed main day. If Wednesday's Wookey was brought forward, Wednesday uses the next usable unused card.
| Material sequence | Complete assignment |
|---|---|
| Sunday uses Wookey | Sun Wookey; Mon Roman Baths; Tue Brean; Wed Haynes; Thu Yeo. Park Farm is dropped. |
| Sunday uses Wookey and Tuesday is also poor | Sun Wookey; Mon Roman Baths; Tue Haynes; Wed Museum of Somerset; Thu Yeo. Park Farm and Brean are dropped. |
| The preceding case and Yeo also fails | Thu is SS Great Britain, with a Bristol lunch and return by about 17:30. |
| Roman Baths booking fails | Monday uses the first usable unused reserve but the 17:30 anniversary meal remains; every later failure advances one usable card. |
| Yeo is known to fail before travel | Mark Thursday as the first card still unused after the rest of the forecast allocation. |
| Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Thursday mains all fail after Wookey is displaced | Use Wookey, Haynes, Museum of Somerset and SS Great Britain on the first four failed/default days; Thursday is We The Curious 10:00-16:00 with its café and a return by about 17:30. Each appears once. |
| One of those five assigned cards then fails after commitment | Advance the remaining unused cards while preserving the terminal Bristol pair for Thursday; if the failure is Thursday, use the pair directly. Leave about 09:00 for roughly 50 minutes each way and use M Shed 10:00-12:15 with M Café lunch. For the Aquarium, park once near the harbourside and make the nearby direct walk for a 13:15-16:00 visit. For the no-booking Bristol Museum replacement, retrieve the BMW after lunch, allow about 15 minutes to West End car park, BS8 1EH, walk about five minutes and use the museum 13:30-16:00; leave by 16:10 and expect Wookey about 17:15-17:30. Count the second parking charge inside incidentals. If two separate cards fail after commitment beyond this six-card depth, use one deliberate recovery/safety day only after the run of indoor outings: stocked cottage meals, Ada's brought activity kit and packing, with no live venue search. |
Museum of Somerset currently opens Tuesday-Saturday 10:00-17:00 with a café. SS Great Britain is the fourth substantial indoor family day and We The Curious is the fifth. M Shed currently opens Tuesday-Sunday 10:00-17:00 with M Café, while Bristol Aquarium currently opens daily and 10:00-18:00 in the summer period; together they are a substantial non-military sixth day. Before payment, recheck Aquarium's 2027 release and cancellation/transfer terms. If it can sell out, hold Thursday 13:15 when inventory opens; count the whole family price inside the activity allowance if only non-refundable. If no usable Aquarium entry is available, the no-booking fallback keeps M Shed 10:00-12:15 and M Café lunch, then uses free, walk-up Bristol Museum & Art Gallery from about 13:15-16:00. Recheck these venues' 2027 openings, parking, family totals and timed-entry terms. If confirmed failures leave fewer usable cards than needed before payment, use eligible Dorset, otherwise eligible Cornwall, or make no payment. After commitment, advance the six-card order rather than attempting a late accommodation/care switch.
Meals and cost
Breakfasts are cottage food. Lunches: planned motorway stop; Wells café; Park Farm café; Bath counter/café; Brean picnic; Wookey/Haynes café; Yeo included lunch, Museum of Somerset café, We The Curious café or M Café before Bristol Aquarium. The anniversary meal is the week's main sit-down dinner.
| Category | Allowance |
|---|---|
| Accommodation | £808 |
| Kent detour and charging | £180 |
| Food | £750 |
| Attractions and Yeo | £450 |
| Anniversary meal | £100 |
| Luna supplies/contribution | £150 |
| Professional emergency boarding/transport contingency | £750 |
| Incidentals | £300 |
| Total | £3,488 |
Before paying: recheck official school dates; complete the care record, two-night backup candidate and professional trial/rate/date agreement; recheck the Airbnb and its observed 1 August free-cancellation point; confirm Yeo's release and Ada eligibility; use a movable Roman Baths booking; recheck all six reserve cards, including the Aquarium hold/no-booking Bristol Museum fallback; and confirm the Wookey Hole Inn/Tuckers meal pair.
Bring Luna's labelled care pack; Ada's self-contained activity kit; cool bag; walking shoes and rain layers; coast/cave layers; ordinary medicines; chargers; and freezer meals for home.
Photograph
The carved west front of Wells Cathedral under a blue sky, Diliff, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
