The best holiday destinations for families to visit in the South of England
Why you should escape to the South with your family
Holidays
How to get the most out of staying at Hemsby Beach Holiday Park
Hemsby Beach holiday park is a classic British seaside holiday for families.
Family Travel: Top 10 Things for Families to do at Busch Gardens
The most amazing rollercoasters, and incredible animal encounters
Travel: How to Create a Love of Adventure in your Kids
so they can go on to create a lifetime of memories
Beaches Resorts Negril: coming home
Coming home from Jamaica last week was hard. Not because of the sudden shift in temperature (Jamaica rests at around thirty degrees celsius most of the year – a glorious climate!); not due to the nine hour overnight flight with two children either – that was a breeze with Virgin; nor was it down to mine and my daughter’s complete diabetes failure, as both of us exited the plane without her ‘sugar bag,’ which contains the sugar and insulin she needs round the clock (oops). No, for the first time ever, I left my holiday haven feeling actually homesick. The Beaches Resorts …
Travel: Top 10 activities at Duinrell holiday park
Our summer holiday this year took us on a family week to Duinrell holiday park, in the Netherlands. We’ve done a lot of campsite holidays, and several with Canvas, but this was probably the most successful of all of them. And it wasn’t due to the weather! Duinrell is a bit different in that – once you’ve paid for your accommodation – you have a range of rather unusual on-site activities included in the price, including access to a full-scale theme park! We honestly could have spent the whole week on site. Here are our top 10 things to do …
Travel: A Very Clever Beach Towel – Hammamas Towel Review
I’d never heard of a Hammam beach towel until Hammamas got in touch to ask me to review theirs. If you’re also in the dark, read on to find out the benefits of a cotton Hammam towel that’s lightweight and small enough to save luggage space, but absorbent enough to do the job! Ad: Hammamas gave us four of their adult-sized towels for this review. All opinion and images are our own. Why Hammam beach towels are perfect for a holiday Every now and then, when you’re reviewing products on a blog, you find one that you love so much, …
Travel: Sandbanks – Possibly the best beach in Britain
Is this the best beach in Britain? Yesterday we were in Poole, awaiting a ferry to visit family in the Channel Islands. With the ferry scheduled to leave first thing in the morning, we decided to skip the early start and head down to Poole for the night, to enjoy the harbour and the wonderful beach there. We spent a happy couple of hours wandering round the gift shops and staring open-mouthed at the enormous boats in the Sunseeker boatyard, before heading over to Sandbanks to relax at the Sandbanks hotel. Sandbanks is a 1 kilometre stretch of sand which …
Travel: Canadian Road Trip for Dinosaur Enthusiasts
Once upon a time a boy met a girl. The girl loved travel, and the boy loved adventure. They fell for each other and set about a series of road trips in their holiday time. Cool open-top cars drew them along gorgeous coastlines, and through stunning landscapes. They stopped in cities for cocktails, on beaches to see whales, and in rocky mountains to watch bears and breathe the freshest air. Then they got married and had children. The end. Except it wasn’t. Sure, they travelled short-haul for a few years, while they worked up the nerve to fly further afield …
Expressions #19
I knew if I took a break from Expressions for a couple of weeks I’d come back with something worth posting. Of course, it’s not difficult to take beautiful photos when you’re sitting around a pretty French harbour drinking the first Orangina of a family holiday. More on that another day, but this is my favourite shot of the holiday. I rarely get a totally natural shot of the Bug, given as he is to wild grins or teenaged glares when the camera appears. But this is him happy. We left that hat in this café, and he’s been sad …
Chilling out on Fistral Beach
I love this photo. I know so many things about it that quite simply aren’t visible to everyone else. That my daughter, who loved pink, and once selected outfits on the basis of how twirly they were, now prefers blue. That blue, especially this periwinkle shade, is so totally her colour. It’s the colour of her eyes when she was a newborn – indigo eyes, black hair, hard to believe now. You can’t see it in this picture, but this colour brings back the flecks of that baby in her eyes and I remember… Or that this messy hair isn’t …
I’m a convert! Tips for a successful family ski trip.
According to The Bug… You may recall that I was a reluctant skier. I was totally happy to sip a hot chocolate while my sister did the energetic bit. But my Dad insisted, and so my Mum set about getting me ready for our first family ski holiday. We spent last week in Val d’Isère with Mark Warner, and the person least inclined to come home when it was all over was me. So how exactly do you prepare a child to enjoy his first ski trip? Tips for a successful family ski trip: Book Lessons: I had several lessons at …
Our 5 family travel tips.
By GG… With the news this week that baby George, the future king, is off on his first holiday I decided it was high time I shared the benefit of nigh on 10 years of travel experience with children. As we pack for our forthcoming Mark Warner trip, I am reminded of the stressbucket that used to be my mother, and I savour a proud smile at how far she has come since our first holiday as a family. As an aside, I’m also going to tell you how bloggers can win a Mark Warner holiday themselves, as well as …
Why I MUST take my family skiing! #MarkWarnerMum
TWO SKI HOLIDAYS A YEAR! It’s non-negotiable! You knew that when we got married! It was inevitable that I would become a skier. It was in-utero that I heard these words, flung down the stairs in frustration and anguish. Daddy was having to come to terms with the fact that I would turn 9 weeks old as the ski season began, and Mummy was not as keen to hurtle down the black runs as she used to be. He couldn’t fathom it. I think the words “baby-backpack” were used… Apparently this was acceptable attire in the 90’s. Don’t worry, I’ll …
Letting go: good clean fun with Persil’s small and mighty kids campaign
This post is sponsored by Persil. It is our summary of a fabulous week outdoors in the sunshine 🙂 Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is the best thing in the world. Strange statement, I know, for a post about good dirty clean fun outdoors, but bear with me. 15 years ago my regular night-time pattern was to sleep until 2am, wake for 4 hours, then drift off to sleep around 6, ready for the alarm at 7. Every single night. For more than 10 years. I was a wreck. I survived on coffee, and moaned about everything. CBT changed all that, and …
Homework: Wot so Funee?
My daughter is a funny writer. When she puts her mind to it, she can write witty commentary filled with wonderful adjectives and characterisation. But she’s easily bored, and – if I’m going to be more honest than a loving mother ought to be – a tad lazy. Her teachers, enjoying what she writes when inspired, have always seen fit to encourage her into increased written productivity. It hasn’t always worked. Creative writing: This year she has a lovely teacher who has ventured into the dangerous waters of loosening the reins on her creativity. For our recent holiday to Florida, …
Our dream holiday, and when lying to your kids can only be a good thing…
We’re going on holiday. It’s rather cold for our annual trip to Guernsey, so I’m a bit ‘meh’ about the prospect of donning my sandals and swimsuit. Only it turns out M&D have been telling us fibs: Right then, I’ll start packing…
I believe… please help: Wot so Funee?
Four years ago me and the Bug, plus M&D went on holiday with some very good friends. We had the most fabulous holiday, and the presence of my friend’s Mum was a huge advantage, given that she is the best natural family photographer in Hertfordshire! I got this as a housewarming gift later that year: This was followed by a beautiful book of images that we treasure, laughing as we recall a game in the shallow water, a mocktail on the beach, or the sandcastle moat competitions organised daily by our fathers. Oh how we loved that holiday! And how …
A half-term family holiday in France is closer than you think
It’s snowing. Again. I’m bored now, and instead of the excitement of a glittering white blanket of silence outside, all I see out of my bedroom window is another long day indoors. I might momentarily relish the slothful prospect of staying in pj’s, but such thrill soon dissolves, to be replaced by sibling quarrels as dirty as the grey slush which lines the gutters. What I need now is a holiday, or at least the delicious anticipation of spending my half-term break somewhere warm, with a great pool, lots to do, and close to a fabulous beach. The May half-term …