Our Family Road Trip: West Midlands to Edinburgh and Back

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The Journey North 

On Monday the 20th of April 2026 we set off from our home in the West Midlands at 11.30AM, even though we did actually want to leave a lot earlier like 8 or 9AM. We did last minute packing and loaded the car really late into the night which meant we only got about 4 to 5 hours sleep.

I did about half the journey until we arrived at Tebay service station at about 2PM to have some lunch, stretch our legs, pray and let the kids loose after being stuck in the car for about 2.5hrs. The service station wasn’t your ordinary corporate motorway stop but one that felt authentic with local and handmade produce and products. It’s called the Farmhouse & Kitchen service station owned by the Westmorland Family.

In the past we had visited the Gloucester Farmhouse & Kitchen which had a better indoor and outdoor play area for the kids and also a good outdoor walking path. We will be going past it when we visit Cornwall in September so keep an eye out for our blog post and Youtube video then.

We ended up staying at the service station for about 2.5hrs so at least we had a good break before we had to be confined to the car again for about 3hrs. I did have to get some petrol because I only had a quarter of a tank left. I wasn’t too happy with the £1.88 per litre motorway petrol price. What I really should have done was go 5 to 10 minutes out of the motorway to get petrol for the normal price of about £1.50 to £1.60 per litre which could have saved me about £10 to £15.

With a full tank I set off at 4.30PM. The children were tired and fell asleep for most of this half of the journey. Surprisingly I didn’t feel tired yet or ask my wife to drive the other half so I just kept going. Maybe it was the adrenaline of the excitement that kept me going.

I took the scenic route to Edinburgh via Moffat and it was a very nice drive. I was unable to enjoy the views because I couldn’t really look to the right of me while driving except for a few glances when I had the chance. For this part you are better off being a passenger to take in all of the beautiful landscape. I spotted a layby and contemplated parking my car there to get out and appreciate the views but I was very determined to get on with the journey because my ETA was showing 7:07PM and the children would wake up soon, probably feeling cranky, hungry and asking for food.

The hardest part of the drive wasn’t even feeling tired but the crying and screaming of our youngest son who woke up towards the last hour of the journey. It was a bit difficult to ignore but eventually he did calm down after giving him a snack.

We eventually arrived just before 7.15PM at my brother’s apartment. My oldest son needed the toilet desperately at this point so I asked my brother to take his nephew to his apartment as soon as I parked up. My brother and his wife greeted us with a nice dinner.

After that I unloaded the car and my brother told me that between 8.30AM and 6PM I must have a guest permit that costs about £3.50 per 30 min which is extremely expensive. So I made sure to park the car about 10 minutes away at a free spot to avoid the hefty daily charges. We were going to use the tram anyway so we didn’t need the car.

By 10PM the tiredness suddenly hit from all of that driving and I was ready to hit the sack. To date this was my longest journey I had ever done driven. Prior to that the longest I had done was Cornwall.

Have a look at are Youtube video to see how the journey to Edinburgh was.

The Journey Home 

On Friday our trip had come to an end. We packed up the car and set off just before 1PM. At about 2.30PM I was thinking of making a stop for a break and lunch but the kids had just fallen asleep so we agreed to just keep going until we reached Tebay service station again at about 4PM. The Southbound Farmhouse and Kitchen had a better play area for the kids than the Northbound one. This time we only stayed for a short time and at about 5.20PM we set off again.

This time I made sure not to make the same mistake again about getting petrol at the service station. For the 2nd half of the journey I had planned to get off the motorway to get reasonably priced petrol for £1.54 per litre instead of £1.88. The kids were starting to get very hungry towards the end of our journey and we had to dish out lots of snacks to keep them going until we arrived home just before sunset at 8.30pm.

Have a look at our Youtube video to see how our journey back home was.

The Bottom Line: Fuel Costs

I spent about £171 worth on fuel for this whole trip which was about 600 miles of total driving. This is equal to about 2 full tanks to the brim for my Toyota Estima. If it was just me and my wife without the kids I would have probably taken a flight for £80 each but with kids you have to pack so much it made sense to use the car.