I was challenged by Stagecoach to spend £40 on a family day out.  I wasn’t sure if it would be possible given the cost of petrol and parking. However, Stagecoach buses are really making a difference helping families still enjoy their leisure time even on a budget. So I was excited to be part of the Stagecoach Bus Trip Challenge and quickly headed off to the Stagecoach website to look at their Journey Planner and make plans for our family adventure.

Incredible Value

I was impressed that it only cost £10 for the four of us to travel on a Stagecoach Gold bus with our Merseyside Plus Group DayRider ticket. I really thought I would have blown most of my available budget on transportation. Better yet you can even travel as a family of five whether that’s two adults and three children or one adult and four children, so it really is amazing value. I think its good that the offer accommodates larger families rather than sticking to the traditional two adults and two children.

We decided to head into Chester for the day on the 1 bus route. You can go as far as Liverpool in that bargain price! Our £10 seemed to stretch really far with the ticket rather generously covering most Stagecoach buses in Merseyside (Liverpool, Wirral, Sefton, Knowsley and St Helens), Halton and Cheshire West & Chester areas.

A Luxurious Experience

The luxury Stagecoach Gold bus service benefited from hand stitched Italian leather seats, plenty of legroom and free Wi-Fi. My eldest said how comfortable he found the seats. Whilst my husband was relishing not driving. He felt really calm just enjoying taking in the surroundings rather than focusing on the road and busy traffic.

It’s great we could still enjoy a little luxury even with everything getting more expensive. £10 is very affordable especially if you consider we could travel on our route as much as we wanted that day.

How we spent our day

With our remaining budget we bought tickets for the Sick To Death history of medicine attraction. We have been before as a couple however we wanted the boys to have a chance to experience it too as we found it so interesting. It cost us £19 for the four of us and we spent about an hour there. The boys liked making their own pomander. Back in the day they were believed to protect against disease on top of dispelling foul odours.

It was quite educational for the boys learning about some of the issues people had to face in the past. For example, in overcrowded cities toilets could be shared by 100 people and sewage would spill out into the streets! I think it made them more grateful for modern plumbing and pleased that we now have toilet paper rather than having to use hay, grass, straw or moss! I think we were also more thankful for modern medicine. Some of the treatments used to do more harm than good.

Chester Walls

We also had a walk on the Chester Walls. The full two mile circuit of defensive walls are well worth a trip and offer great views of the city. Some parts are almost 2000 years old making these the oldest city walls in the UK.

It was good to get in some fresh air and exercise. Especially as it’s something free to do to fill the day and stay entertained on our budget.

Plus, it then meant we didn’t feel guilty stopping off at Planet Doughnut for an indulgent handcrafted treat before we caught our return Stagecoach bus home.

We bought a gooey doughnut each costing £11 in total. Although I can’t quite believe a snack for the four of us cost more than our transportation for the day! That just goes to show what excellent value Stagecoach has to offer.

This post is a collaboration with Stagecoach, but all thoughts and experiences are my own.