My youngest has just turned 6 and is gemstone mad. Like his brother I knew he had to go fossil hunting so we found ourselves taking our youngest on the same fossil expedition we took his brother to 3.5 years before. This time the whole family went to the fossil talk and all hunted fossils on the beach courtesy of Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre. It doesn't matter that you hear the same thing again, a refresher is always a good idea; there were certain rocks like beefsteak rocks that I had forgotten about from last time. Now it was the earliest in the year that we have fossil hunted before, and ..read more

Half term is here again, and we wanted to do something with the boys that would appeal to them both (sometimes a difficult feat with a 4.5 year age gap). We saw the Immersive Dali Exhibition advertised and agreed that would be a good thing for the whole family to do. Nicely situated off of Brick Lane in East London, we knew that a day here would be a good day out for food, tasty treats and other shopping delights. We were also accompanied by some friends and their children, which made the day out all the more fun for everyone involved. After an early train into London we decided that we needed ..read more

We love bonfire night and are so lucky to have a wonderful bonfire fireworks where we live that we never really go further afield; that is until we all went down with Covid and missed them. So I did look further afield this year and remembered last year on a night in Winchester whereby we accidentally went out on bonfire night (so engrained it is that our fireworks are always the week before). Not only is this event really, really well run but, it is epic on so many levels. We couldn't make a whole day of it in Winchester as we had commitments but you really could as there is a lot to do and n ..read more

I love autumn, it's my favourite walking time where the days are crisper so you can get a really good stomp on and the sun is still shining and the air feels more breathable. Its also the time when I get excited about soup making, as I can pull these two loves together instead of having a walking picnic. My children are also completely obsessed with Halloween. I do as little as I have to in this regard, as its just such a commercial venture, however I decided for them to learn more about it by looking at Samhain as the origin of Halloween, so they can understand how our Halloween has manifeste ..read more

It was our last two days in Northumberland. Today though it was forecast storms in Kielder Forest so we thought we'd go and take the kids somewhere fun indoors. We found a trampoline park near Newcastle so took a short drive there. Coffee stop for parents and much loved fun for the kids. Afterwards we grabbed some lunch in Newcastle and had a mooch about. However the children were not on their best behaviour since that excitement, instead of being tired and chilled they were wound up and needed the forest again, not a busy town centre, so we didn't stay that much longer after lunch. I don't fe ..read more

As long as I can remember I have wanted to see Hadrian's wall. We had earmarked the best weather day for this walk, so the day before when the weather wasn't so good I had to change our plans as we needed something that was indoor. This is when I found the Roman Army Museum. This museum was great and it immerses the children into the life of a Roman soldier, and actually goes hand in hand with another attraction, Vindolanda which resides next to Hadrian's Wall; it therefore pays to have the discounted joint ticket. We also went to Housesteads Roman Fort. It is an amazing location for a Roman b ..read more

As a space geek and, after reading that Europe's largest dark sky reserve was in our very own country and, north enough to see the northern lights, I knew I had to go here at some point. In fact it is so sought after and unpopulated that the Kielder Forest campsite is booked up more than one year ahead! So I searched around to find the nearest one. This was called Border Forest Holiday Park near Otterburn. The site itself had all the amenities you need but seemed to be popular with more adults. However I think we got to realise why soon enough... Before we got to camp to set up I had a treat i ..read more

We had two days left in the Peak District and today was some searing level heat. We decided we must find somewhere to be still and be cool for the middle of the day and continue to our sightseeing later. I did have a walk planned that ended at Thors Cave, then off to a pub as we were meeting more friends today. But the heat was just too hot for a big walk with the smalls. After some last minute googling we found what sounded like the most perfect place. Padley Gorge. Padley Gorge has ancient oak and birch trees, twisting around moss covered rocks leading to a stream that winds its way through ..read more

Following last years first family climb we knew our next one needed to be at the Peak District, this was also our friends daughters first mountain climb so we picked Mam Tor which I found to be slightly easier than Pen Y Ghent. Mam Tor is a s 517m hill sitting on the outskirts of Castleton so you are in a prime spot for some well earned refreshment after the walk. We were right in the middle of a heatwave but decided to take it slowly, rest often and drink plenty of water, and most importantly, wear hats and sunscreen. The walk up is a nice steady incline that takes you up to Odin Mine, which ..read more

The first week away of our Family Summer Fun is in the Peak District. Another beautiful part of Britain that we haven't seen before and we are also joined this week with some family friends which made it all the more fun, especially at our awesome campsite Beech Croft Farm Campsite. I chose this campsite due to the proximity of the areas I wanted to explore, however the views each morning to wake up to were awesome. The campsite also had a trio of goats that the kids enjoyed feeding on a daily basis and two playgrounds for small children and big children so we felt fully catered for there. The ..read more