Category Archives: Cotswolds

How to find Cheap Attraction Tickets

There are so many things to see and do in the UK and abroad. Sometimes finances can limit our experiences and we have to miss out. We are here to bring you a list of websites that you can visit to help keep these costs down. This post is all about how to find cheap attraction tickets.

We aim to cover a wide range of activities below and pass on information that we have found useful but do please also do your own research. These prices were correct at the time of posting but may be subject to change. Always see the partners website for full terms and conditions and check to see if there are any limitation on dates.

Save money with cheap attraction tickets

By looking for the best deals on attraction tickets, you could find a cheap way to enjoy a day out. Some of these tickets have massive discounts and get you into multiple locations. If you are looking to visit a few different places, perhaps looking to see which passes would cover most of these attractions and enable you to save some money.

A quick search for ‘cheap attraction tickets’ on the web should bring you up with lots of possibilities. We have covered our favourite but there are plenty of others and discounts are always coming and going. Occasionally a newspaper may also offer a discounted ticket if you collect tokens so check with other media formats too!

Free Museums

Natural history museum cheap attraction tickets
Natural History Museum

There are tons of free museums out there that mean you don’t need to find cheap attraction tickets! Just transport to the museum. Most of the Museums in London are free. Have a quick google for ‘free museums near me’ for an inexpensive day out.

  • Natural History Museum -We visited here this week and loved it! We got to see the dinosaurs and all sorts of amazing animals, crystals, insects and even see the scientists working in the labs! 
  • The Science Museum – a hands on experience the kids (and adults) will love! 
  • British Museum – Retracing the history of humans from across the world.
  • Art Galleries – From the Tate Modern, the Tate Britain and the National Portrait Gallery.
  • St Fagans in Wales is a free open air experience where you can see carefully restored buildings representing Welsh history. Over 100 acres of history to explore. (Just a £5 car parking charge).
  • Royal Armouries in Leeds. The UK’s biggest collection of arms and armour.
  • Manchester’s Imperial War Museum
  • Oxfords Ashmolean Museum

Merlin Pass

Cheap attraction ticket Merlin pass
Merlin Pass

The Merlin passes cover over 30 different types of attraction and offers multiple event tickets for cheap. From the London Eye, Thorpe Park, Chessington World of Adventures, Alton Towers, Sea Life Centre’s, Legoland, Blackpool Tower, Madame Tussaud’s, Warwick Castle, London Dungeon and many more!

Standard Annual Ticket – Individual ticket price £139. Family pass £179 (Family is a max of 3 adults and total of 5 people on the ticket – no child price it’s all the same.)

If 2 adults and 2 children were to visit Madame Tussaud’s, Alton Towers, Chessington and a Sea Life Centre just once each, you would have saved £92.06! This cheap attraction tickets benefit is that it will really help you visit more locations rather than pay to enter each one.  

* The Standard Merlin Annual Pass has some restriction dates and is subject to operating calendars.

London Pass

Cheap attraction tickets underground
London Underground

If you live near the capital city or are just visiting for the week – there are several ticket options available.  The London Pass gets you access to 80+ attractions. You can use a digital pass on your app and skip queues with the fast-track entry on selected attractions.

Visit some of the following locations on this cheap attraction ticket!

  • Hop on / hop off bus
  • Tower of London
  • Thames Cruise
  • View from the Shard
  • St Pauls Cathedral
  • Westminster Abbey
  • Hampton Court
  • London Bridge Experience
  • Shakespeare’s Globe
  • HMS Belfast
  • Cutty Sark
  • Wembley Stadium Tour, 
  • London Zoo
  • Kensington Palace
  • Kew Gardens
  • And so many more!

There is a day pass, 6 day pass and a 10 day pass. We recommend the latter if you have the time as there are so many great attractions to see in the city. Plan ahead to fit in as much as you can and use the hop on/off bus to get you to the attractions!

  • 1 Day – Adult £75 Child £55
  • 6 Day – Adult £159 Child £119
  • 10 Day – Adult £189 Child £139

iVenture Pass London

Cheap attraction ticket HMS Belfast
HMS Belfast

iVenture offer deals on passes at home and abroad!

Covering Africa and the Middle East, the Americas, Asia, Australia and Europe, you can save loads of money on these cheap attraction tickets. So what are they? A pre-loaded, pre-paid attraction card to get you into either 3,5,7 or 10 attractions of your choice. Choose from plenty of attractions such as Wimbledon Tennis Museum, Ghost bus tour, HMS Belfast, London Zoo, Westminster Abbey, Tower Bridge tour and Thames Clipper river cruises.

These passes are valid for 1 month from the first use and could save you up to 40%

Choose your packages, Load your card and off you go!

  • Ticket pass Adult Child (4-15)
  • 3 ticket pass £69 £59
  • 5 ticket pass £90 £89
  • 7 ticket pass £129 £114
  • 10 ticket pass £169 £149

English Heritage

tintagel english heritage cheap attraction tickets
King Arthur’s castle in Tintagel

With over 400 historic sites across England ranging from prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts to country houses. English Heritage states that it uses these properties to ‘bring the story of England to life’. If you love a bit of culture and prefer this to theme parks then definitely look into some of these more historic passes.

Overseas Pass

English Heritage do offer an overseas visitor pass. This is specifically for those people travelling to the UK and not for people already living here. This ticket gives you access into 100 sites and these will be disclosed when you receive your handbook. 

  • 9 Day pass 16 Day pass
  • 1 Adult £35 £42
  • 2 Adults £60 £70
  • Family pass £65 £75
  • Family pass includes 2 adults and up to 4 under 18’s at the same address.

UK Resident

For UK residents there are lots of ticket options covering all 400 sites. 

  • Individual Adult £60
  • 2 Adults £105
  • 1 Adult & up to 6 children £60
  • 2 adults & up to 12 children £105
  • Senior £51
  • Children are under 18’s.

There are other ticket options available – Check the website for details.

Historic Scotland

edinburgh castle
Edinburgh Castle

With up to 5000 years of Scottish history you can save money by visiting 3 or more of these sites.  With added benefits with partners Manx, English Heritage and Cadw you can also enjoy half price entry into these sites for the first year and free entry on renewal. Thanks Historic Scotland!

  • Visit over 400 daytime events
  • 20% discount in Historic Scotland shops
  • 10% discount in Historic Scotland Cafe’s

Pricing

  • Individual adult £52.20
  • 1 Adult and up to 6 children £56.70
  • Joint adult £90.70
  • Concession £41.40

*Seniors/ Students/ people on benefits/ Armed Forces

CADW

Cheap Attraction tickets raglan castle
Raglan Castle

The Welsh Governments historic environment service. CADW means ‘to keep’ or ‘to protect’ in Welsh and that is exactly what they aim to do. They are committed to protecting and making accessible the rich history of Wales. We have been lucky enough to visit lots of these locations over the last 18 months and each location is unique. From the oriental looking Castle Coch just off the A470 near Cardiff to the homely Raglan Castle or the fortified town of Caernarfon with its majestic castle on the estuary overlooking the Menai Strait and Anglesey. It’s not all castles though – there are also burial chambers, abbey’s, mines and iron works for example.

We covered some CADW castles in our ‘12 amazing experiences to have in North Wales‘ post

As with English and Scottish Heritage, you can reap the benefits of having half price entry into these sites for the first year and free entry on renewal. 

Prices are based on annual memberships

  • Individual £43.20
  • Senior £28.80
  • Child (5-17) £18
  • Joint adult £66.60
  • Senior couple £47.70
  • SENIOR FAMILY TICKET – If you are in charge of occupying the grandchildren, CADW offer this pass – 2 Seniors and all grandchildren for £56.70!

If you are not sure, or are on a short break to Wales, why not try the explorer passes, either 3 or 7 day options.

Single Adult 2 Adults Family*

  • 3 day pass £23.10 £35.70 £47.25
  • 7 day pass £33.60 £53.55 £65.10
  • *2 adults and up to 3 children/grandchildren under 18.

National Trust Touring Pass

cheap attraction tickets national trust
National Trust

Overseas Visitors

Like the English Heritage pass, National Trust also offer an overseas cheap attraction ticket. Allowing access to 300 stately homes, gardens and castles and film locations.

7  Days 14 Days

  • Individual adult £33 £38
  • 2 Adults £58 £69
  • Family £64 £81
  • A family ticket is 2 adults and ANY children under 18

UK Residents

For UK residents, an annual pass is available to secure your access into all of the National trust locations – even car parks! From waterfall walks in Shropshire, Manor houses visited by royalty to summer beaches and beautiful gardens you will be spoilt for choice.

Annual price

  • Adult £72
  • 18-25 year olds £36
  • Junior £10
  • -5’s Free
  • Joint adults £120
  • Family (2 adults and their children) £126
  • Single Family (1 adult and their children £78

Sea Life Centre

Cheap attraction tickets sea life centre
Sea Life Centre

If you are a hearty sea lover or a family member who can’t stop watching the little mermaid, why not take out a sea life centre membership?

There are lots of options to purchase a cheap ticket to the sea life attractions, from saving up to 20% by booking on line to passes for 1-5 sea life attractions or the annual membership which gives you:

12 Months Unlimited Free Entry into 13 UK SEA LIFE centres and Sanctuaries for you to enjoy. Exclusive Discounts for Annual Pass Holders:One FREE Entry to the UK Resort Theme Parks (Chessington World of Adventures Resort, Alton Towers Resort, THORPE PARK Resort or LEGOLAND Windsor Resort).

  • 20% off Gift Shop
  • 20% off in the Coffee Shop
  • 50% off Guidebook
  • Discounted entry to other attractions and access to special events onsite.
  • This ticket is £75 for an individual and £60 per person for a family of up to 5.

Sea Life Attraction passes

You can add other attractions to your ticket and bulk buy tickets from their website too, for example a 2 attraction pass (sealife and london eye for example) is £40 adult £32 child (3-15)

A 3 attraction pass (Sealife, London Tussauds and London Dungeon for example) is £50 adult and £40 child.

Attraction Tickets Direct.com

Stonehenge scenery cheap attraction tickets
Stonehenge

Rated 5* on Trust Pilot, Attraction Tickets Direct offer cheap tickets for attractions all over the world. Their UK section covers experiences such as a Sushi Workshop for 2 adults for £50, White water rafting for 2 from £109 and a helicopter ride from £39 per person.

Theme park tickets can see you make a big saving too by booking in advance. We found Alton Towers tickets from as low as £33 per adult and £28 for a child compared to the Alton Towers website of £58 and £48 respectively.

Chessington World of Adventures is slightly cheaper booking through this site in advance but only by a minimal amount. The further in advance that you book, the cheaper you can find the tickets usually. 

There is a Stonehenge experience that looks pretty cool! Travel from London on an air conditioned coach to Stonehenge for £53 adule £30 Child (3-16) and £52 Senior.

Picniq.co.uk

Cheddar Gorge cheap attraction tickets

This is the website we used for our Longleat tickets where we got 20% off the entry price when the Longleat website was offering 15%. Check out Picniq. We found it easy to use and they sent the eTicket straight away!

Covering attractions from Disneyland Paris, Dreamwork’s tours: Shrek’s adventures, The Mary Rose Museum, Whipsnade zoo, Crystal Maze live experience, Zip World, Cheddar Gorge, Drayton Manor and so many more! 

Visit Britain.com

St. Paul's Cathedral
St Paul’s Cathedral

This is the official tourism website for the UK. Advising on all types of tourism from how to travel in the UK, How to find accommodation, practical information on transfers, weights and measures, postal services, Pharmacies and mobile phones etc.

Other websites are available and we do suggest that you shop around to get the best cheap ticket for the attraction you want to go to. Every little bit you can save can go towards another event or experience. It really is worth looking at whether you will be visiting a few locations through the year and really making a saving.

Do let us know if you find a great deal and share it in the comments below!

As with all posts – we are not affiliated with any of these websites and receive nothing but pleasure from sharing this information with you.

Snowshill – Cotswold Lavender Farm

This third generation family have been farming Snowshill lavender since 1999 and have achieved great success. Their success is thanks to the naturally draining limestone located 1000 feet above sea level. They now grow over 40 different varieties of lavender covering 140 miles of rows. They have recently started to grow Chamomile. You can also find wild flowers growing, such as Corn Cockles with their bright blue flowers, poppies, daisies and white cornflowers. Lavender is a herb and comes from the same family as mint!

Cotswold Lavender Barn

For £4 adult and £2 child entry fee (and free parking) you can treat the family to a great trip outdoors. You can walk around the Snowshill lavender fields just before harvesting, when the flowers are in bloom and the aroma of lavender flows through the air. The fields are open from mid June but the best time to see them is early to mid July. Harvesting usually starts around the last week in July through to August. There is a distillery on site where you can learn about the fascinating oil extracting process. Lavender must be harvested and distilled the same day and you may see this being done if you are lucky. You can still learn about the process in the distillery.

The site is dog friendly so feel free to take your 4 legged friends. There is no shade in the fields so use your common sense and judge the temperatures.

Cotswold Lavender, Snowshill.

Facilities

Across the road you will find a barn shop and tea room. Please see their website for up to date information on opening dates and facilities. Here you can purchase bath and body scrubs, cleansers, oils, wheat warmers, muscle rubs and more! It’s a little expensive, however you will find some lovely gifts here. You can even purchase your own lavender plants and help our dwindling bee population! They had several variety of Lavender for sale when we visited.

Rows of Lavender

The tea room has some lovely lavender themed food including lavender shortbread, scones and cakes. Their Lavender and Lemon cake is light and fluffy. A firm favourite of visitors. A marquee stands outside with lots of benches providing shade and comfort while you rest after your walk. A perfect place to look back over your photographs of kids playing in the lavender or your loved one striding through the purple rows.

Lavender has been used throughout history for its medicinal properties, including anxiety and insomnia. Antibacterial, analgesic and anti-depressant properties are also found in Lavender.

After your time here you could always visit Broadway village and Tower for a spot of shopping or see other attractions in the Vale of Evesham!

Access to Snowshill Lavender Farm

Cotswold Lavender
Snowshill Lavender

Access to Snowshill Lavender farm is on a single track B road. It has lots of passing places but can be busy in peak season. Please do not be out off by this as there are beautiful views of the landscape all year round, even when the lavender is not in bloom.

The National Trust’s Snowshill Manor is also close by. Charles Wade owned this house and used it to display his collections from toys to armour. Extensive gardens pitted as outdoor rooms, the garden provides an extension of Wade’s modest living quarters in The Priest’s House and the manor itself.

You are only a few miles from Evesham and Broadway so why not explore other gems the area has to offer!

FUN FACTS

Although most Lavender comes in blue or purple there are some varieties that come in yellow or pink!

Romans used Lavender to ward off insects and the Egyptians used Lavender 2500 years ago during the embalming process of mummification.