Our family adventures in the UK.
Days out, weekends away and holidays in our lovely home country.
We love to explore our beautiful island and create memories for our little boys to cherish.
We have a little caravan called Dolly and we take her here there and everywhere on little camping missions.
Plus my big — man shaped — boy and I have always been huge festival lovers. We love nothing more than packing up our van and heading off to four days of music and fun. It plays such a big part in our lives — and it’s been lovely to introduce our little sons to the excitement of festival season.
The ‘Adventures In The UK’ section of my blog covers all of our experiences on our amazing home island.
There’s nothing lovelier, in the run-up to Christmas, than going to fetch the Christmas tree or visiting a Christmas market. But if you want an extra special treat, why not book a trip to Blenheim Palace Christmas Lights trail. We went for the first time in December 2020. It was the first time we’d been out of our village as a family …
Looking for an honest review of Montcalm East, Shoreditch? A couple of my friends — Amy from Everything Mummy and Sarah from Extraordinary Chaos — and I had been invited by Mumsnet to do a little filming job at their Workfest event, which took place last weekend in London. Although Workfest was on Saturday, with …
Have you ever wondered if we celebrate Grandparents Day in the UK? It’s on the national day calendar, but it’s not something we generally celebrate in our family. It’s the kind of thing that I feel is an American marketeer’s creation; a ‘Hallmark holiday’ if you like. But, when we were given a Land Rover …
Occasionally, you go somewhere and for whatever reason — sometimes good, sometimes bad — it sticks in your head and you can’t shake the memory of it. I’ve had this with The Queens Head Troutbeck for the last twenty years. My boy and I had gone up to the Lake District for a wedding and …
It’s that time of year again; festival season is in full swing folks! And just 6 sleeps until Kendal Calling 2019! We’ve been maniacally checking the weather report, planning multiple outfits; for rain, sun (and everything in between) and getting generally over-excited about the prospect of hanging out in a field with likeminded people — …
AD | I have been (or could be if you click on a link in this post) compensated via a cash payment, gift or something else of value for writing this post. See the full disclosure policy and privacy policy for more details. For the last four years — during the last week of July — we’ve made our …
Last weekend we finally got around to celebrating Mr D hitting a massive age milestone. His actual birthday was back in March; but our idea of a little wild camping party with friends wouldn’t have been such a success with the temperatures in the minuses, and snow on the ground. That said, a couple of …
As I’m typing this, the rain is hammering down on the roof of my office and the skies are an ominous gunmetal grey. It’s a far cry from last Friday, when we were visiting the British Airways i360 experience in Brighton. We had the bluest, clearest, skies last Friday; which was perfect for a little …
The best way to treat holiday blues? Suffolk Secrets have a brilliant rage of gorgeous holiday boltholes; even beach huts!
Ever planned a staycation in Cornwall? So once again, the Met office are forecasting an unusually warm spring. Of course, The Sun have reported this as ‘a three month heatwave’ — with 26°C predicted next month’. Never let it be said that they don’t like to make a juicy headline out of the British weather. …
‘This honest ford Kuga review is in paid partnership with Vertu Motors. However all thoughts, words and images are entirely my own.’ Although we’ve never pushed gender specific toys on the twins — always offering them a choice — like an inherent magnet, they’re inexplicably drawn to cars and trains. Ever since they were very …
Summer 2018. Since I began this blog, it’s been my life’s mission to capture as many family moments as I can; to preserve them for when the boys are old enough to read and understand just how much they mean to their daddy and me. What began as a cathartic exercise — and something that …
We went away for a night at the Wood Norton Hotel and it made me think… every once in a while, getting away with your significant other and rediscovering ‘why’ you got together in the first place is a wonderful thing. And before you get carried away with the smutty references; I wasn’t *necessarily* referring …
Is Lapland UK worth the money? I thought I’d write my Lapland review for any parents looking to book tickets. There’s no denying that it’s expensive — but is it worth it? Read on… ‘Twas the night before Christmas when all through the house,Every creature was stirring,As they’d all been kept awake by two very …
When you think of Cornish holiday cottages, what’s the first thing that springs to mind when it comes to decor? Blue. Whitewashed wood. Seaside themed accessories. Certainly not punchy brights, designer prints and funky furniture then? No. Me either. I must admit, they certainly wouldn’t be top of my ‘Cornish cottage decor’ list. So when …
When we celebrated my mum and dad’s golden wedding anniversary in Sherwood Forest, our Encounter with Owls at Center Parcs experience was definitely one of the most memorable parts of the weekend. I can’t actually put into words just how brilliant and worthwhile this was. If you’re looking for an experience for the whole family, that …
I’ve read many reviews for Hucks some positive, some negative.
I thought I’d share my thoughts of eating out at Huck’s Center Parcs Sherwood.
‘This is an unpaid Land Rover Discovery Sport Review. Disclosure: we were given a Discovery Sport HSE LUX to test-drive for a long weekend, in order to give an honest review. The Land Rover Discovery Sport HSE LUX might look like a total babe but it doesn’t just have a pretty face; it definitely has a …
Disclosure: we test drove a Discovery Sport HSE LUX for a long weekend, to celebrate the launch of The Discovery Adventures Podcast. This is an unpaid post. Recently I received an email to ask if we’d like to try a Land Rover Discovery Sport for a weekend, to celebrate the launch of The Discovery Adventures …
On Saturday, as part of our Landrover Discovery Adventures, we took the boys to The Chiltern Open Air Museum for the afternoon. It’s a really fascinating family day out I’d highly recommend it, if you’re looking for something a little different to do. Founded in 1976, with the aim of rescuing threatened buildings; more than …
After our St Mawes adventure in February, we followed it up with another trip down to Cornwall in May. This time to Bosinver, near St Austell. I wrote a little post saying that we’d booked to go, back in September of last year, and we’d been looking forward to it for the best part of 8 …
I thought I’d write down my thoughts about our stay at the Bath Spa Hotel, whilst I remembered. Last Friday evening, my boys and I had just checked in there; courtesy of our lovely friends at Joules. We’d had such a fun day with them at Badminton Horse Trials and they’d kindly arranged for us …
I think it’s fair to say that — for me — the last eight weeks have been tinged with frustration and a little bit of boredom. It’s unlike me too; I don’t get bored easily. If I ever feel my attention waning — and inertia setting in — I tend to just change direction and do something else. But …
February. A very short and very memorable month for me and mine. We’ve done some decorating. Been planning and getting very excited for our upcoming ski trip with Mark Warner. And, of course, we celebrated our wedding anniversary down in Cornwall; at lovely Dreamcatchers; courtesy of St Mawes Retreats. It is definitely one of the most …
At around twenty past two on the third of this month my boy and I had been married for sixteen years. The happiest times of my life have happened with — and as a result of — this amazing man. I love him more than words can say. I’ve written about our wedding day before. It’s bizarre that it was …
This is an unpaid post for Dreamcatchers at St Mawes Retreats but all thoughts, words and images — as ever — are entirely my own. Many thanks to Amanda and the team at St Mawes Retreats for generously allowing us to come and stay and sample the delights of Dreamcatchers for the purposes of this review; …
Back in October we celebrated my mum and dad’s golden anniversary weekend at Center Parcs Sherwood Forest FIFTY YEARS!!! Such a huge milestone! They had decided ages ago that they wanted to take us all away for the weekend. We wanted somewhere that would appeal to all ages and — as my heavily pregnant sister wasn’t able to fly …
Since we’ve been a family of four, all of our holidays — apart from our amazing first family abroad to Sardinia in July — have been in and around the UK. Luckily, Britain is such a beautiful island and, arguably, there’s nowhere more picturesque than Cornwall. So much to do — sweet little fishing villages to explore …
We’re off to Camp Bestival 2016 and just wanted to share a couple of reasons why you should buy a ticket for this year’s festivities!
What makes the perfect family holiday? Even though the boys will be 3 years old, in less than a month’s time, I don’t have much to reference in terms of our ‘perfect family holiday’ as we haven’t actually had one yet. And don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a pity party, we’ve had some lovely, lovely weekends …
Are you looking for an honest and independent review of The Hare & Hounds, Tetbury? We stayed here for our 15th wedding anniversary and I was so impressed, I thought I’d share my thoughts.
Disclosure: I was an official Camp Bestival blogger for 2015. My family and I were given tickets in return for our coverage and honest opinions of the festival. As ever, all thoughts, words and pictures are my own. So there we are. All the excitement, planning, packing and anticipation has been and gone. And my head …
A couple of weeks ago we visited the Bluestone Resort in Pembrokeshire and whilst we were there, had a day out at an amazing tourist attraction called Folly Farm. It’s located close to Tenby so brilliantly close to Bluestone and a must-see if you’re ever down in that neck of the woods. Whilst it’s name would suggest …
It’s always so exciting to go on holiday. Even more so when you arrive, to find that your accommodation is lovely! We were booked in to stay at Caldey Lodge, Bluestone and it totally surpassed our expectations. Caldey Lodge Bluestone We had no idea what to expect when we opened the door to Caldey Lodge at the …
These captured moments were taken last year. It was July and we’d taken Dolly The Vintage Caravan to a farm nearby our home; for a camping weekend with a couple of other families. It was a baking hot weekend and our friends were due to arrive, from London, later on in the day. We’d finished setting up …
