Category Archives: Travel

Travel and holidays

My family holiday legacy from the 1990s

08 Monday Dec 2014

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French holiday

If there’s one thing I want to pass onto my children as they grow up, it’s the memory of summers spent as a family, exploring somewhere new. This is a legacy that comes from my own parents who took me and my sister on long adventures every summer, travelling to every corner of France.

Growing up with two teachers as parents meant we were lucky enough to have a full six weeks to play during the holidays. We took our first trip to France when I was around six years old, heading to a campsite in Brittany. I can still remember the excitement waking up on the back seat of our car, wrapped in a sleeping bag, looking out of the window to see a huge ferry waiting to take us away to somewhere new.

Over the years we built up traditions associated with our holidays. The family dance around the kitchen while chanting, “HOLIDAY! HOLIDAY! HOLIDAY!” on the last day of term. The sleepy 4am wake-up, when me and my sister would be scooped from our beds still in our pyjamas, before being deposited on the back seat of the car ready to wake up properly at the ferry port. And that first trip to the supermarket to stock up on our favourite French treats (Orangina out of glass bottles – bliss). Continue reading »

How to win parent points: Peppa Pig’s Big Splash Live Tour

26 Friday Sep 2014

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Commissioned post 

Peppa Pig

My four year old is OBSESSED with Peppa Pig. I thought it might be a passing phase – something she’d get bored of by the time she was three – but her Peppa loyalty knows no bounds and her love of the feisty pig is as strong as ever before. So strong, in fact, that she invited Peppa Pig to her fourth birthday party back in June.

It was my sister, pictured above (not Peppa – the other one), who first told me about the tour Peppa fans are currently going crazy for. Peppa Pig’s Big Splash Live Tour is the stuff that my four year old dreams of. Frog can’t wait to visit her aunty again because she now knows my sister lives near Peppa Pig World. But if she knew the tour was rocking up in her aunt’s home city? She’d go MAD. Continue reading »

Newquay: not just for summer

19 Friday Sep 2014

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Newquay in the autumn

I always think October half term is a brilliant time to get away. A break gives you something to look forward to and aim for after the first bit of the new school term. Plus, autumn is a lovely time of year to be outdoors walking through crisp leaves and letting the cobwebs blow away on a gusty beach.

A few years ago we spent a wonderful October half term in a little apartment in Lymington as a mini honeymoon before we went abroad a few months later. It reminded me the seaside is certainly not just for summer. In fact, it can be an even better place to visit once the hordes of tourists have packed up and gone home. Which is why Newquay would definitely be on our list of places to return to out of peak season.

We’re no strangers to this part of Cornwall. We only live an hour and a half away, up the road in Devon, plus I spent a year down there doing my Journalism Post Grad training. But we’ve also had two wonderful holidays in Crantock, just a mile or so outside of Newquay. These were both August breaks, so the place is a very different one to visit just a few months later.  Continue reading »

A Family Babymoon in Cornwall

18 Monday Aug 2014

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A Cornish babymoon new

Back when I was pregnant with Frog, four years ago, we didn’t have a “babymoon”. The idea of going on holiday just before we were about to face the rather large expense of a baby seemed like too much of an indulgence. Plus, we had so much to do!

This time, however, things are a little different. In the autumn our family of three will become a family of four. Although this is hugely exciting, it’s also a tiny bit scary. Our family dynamic will totally change and things are likely to be even more hectic than normal. So we considered a family babymoon this summer a necessity rather than an indulgence. Our destination? Cornwall.

Crantock Beach

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What we loved about Cornbury Music Festival

29 Tuesday Jul 2014

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Cornbury Festival

Back at the beginning of July, we were invited to Cornbury Music Festival with Microsoft for the launch of the Lumia 930 mobile phone handset. Set in The Great Tew Park in Oxfordshire on the 4th, 5th and 6th of July, I’d heard of Cornbury before as it’s not too far from where we used to live. Although Devon to Oxfordshire’s a long journey, we never turn down the opportunity to go to a festival, so off we went.

Cornbury Music Festival

With a child with a broken leg, we decided not to camp but to stay in a hotel instead. I LOVE camping and, usually, would scoff at anyone who went to a festival and didn’t camp… but broken legs and tents and midnight toilet trips in plaster didn’t appeal. Luckily, choosing not to camp didn’t ruin the experience at all. Continue reading »

Dreaming of Paris

23 Friday May 2014

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Paris Panorama

Photo Credit: Panoramas via Compfight cc

When I was 18 I went on a short break to Paris with my mum, dad and sister. It was amazing. We went to art galleries, ate in lovely cafes and I discovered the best bookshop in the world – Shakespeare and Company.

Since that short trip I’ve been dreaming of going back. I’ve never been to the French capital with my husband, but I know that if we were to go, we would have the best time. Living in the countryside means we love the odd break to a city (we honeymooned in Havana) and Paris is a city and a half. We also love a nice hotel, and a quick look on Hotel Direct shows there’s no shortage of those in Paris.

Last year the NLM’s cousin moved to Paris for work. Ever since then a mini break there has been even more real, as it might finally give us the kick up the backside to organise ourselves. Continue reading »

Can you help us plan our Cornwall Adventure?

20 Tuesday May 2014

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Cornwall Adventure

A couple of years ago we had an incredible family holiday in Crantock, just outside of Newquay, at a place called Trevella Park. It was a special holiday for all sorts of reasons, not least because our hypermobile two year old had only recently started to walk. Watching her tottering around on the beach, running towards the sea, is a moment I’ll never forget.

Two years on and we’re returning to Trevella. Last time we stayed in a safari tent. This time I’ll be coming up for eight months pregnant, so as much as I loved the safari tent, I’d rather be near my very own toilet for those frequent nightly toilet trips. We’re staying in a luxury holiday home which has a loo, proper bedrooms and a kitchen and living area. I’m a fan of camping, but the comfort of a static caravan rather appeals to my pregnant side. Continue reading »

Going out is better than staying at home

25 Tuesday Mar 2014

Posted by in Motherhood, Play, Travel

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Pennywell Farm

Up until last week, the sofa has held us captive. There’ve been so many afternoons when it’s all I could do to drag myself to the kitchen and the thought of actually leaving the house seemed impossible. Morning (or “all day”) sickness does that to you.

Last Friday was the first one in ages that has been both free of commitments and morning sickness. So I decided to celebrate by taking Frog on a mum / daughter day trip to a local farm that’s been recommended by countless people.  Continue reading »

An afternoon in Brixham

23 Sunday Feb 2014

Posted by in Family, Seasonal, Travel

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Brixham

For the first time in ages we had a free day together as a family – and it was sunny. The day stretched before us like a blank piece of paper, full of possibilities and blue sky.

But first we had to do the boring stuff, like a supermarket shop, meet a couple of work deadlines, do a load of washing and (the biggest challenge considering our daughter’s current phase) get our three year old dressed.

Once that was all dealt with it was 12pm and the clouds had gathered. Ignoring the impending rain we bundled into the car and set off for Brixham, a little seaside town about half an hour from our village on the edge of Dartmoor. We bickered part of the way, then got lost looking for a car park, then realised we had no change for said car park. But, finally, we were there.  Continue reading »

Moments that mattered

29 Wednesday Jan 2014

Posted by in Family, Motherhood, Travel

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With my three year old starting school later this year, I’m more aware than ever of time slipping through my fingers.

It may be that I have spent the last two years working and rushing around non-stop, so it’s only now that we’re more settled I can fully appreciate the need to savour all the little moments. This time last year I spent so many of my days exhausted and powering on until bedtime that I’m not convinced I made the most of every second.

It’s a bit of a paradox, this time thing though. When you become a parent you’re constantly told, “Make the most of it, they grow up so fast”. And you can see it yourself, when you blink and your newborn is suddenly a chubby toddler. But at the same time as wanting to savour those moments and feeling them slip away all too quickly, you’re trying to stop ketchup being smeared up the wall and fighting an exhaustion that will only be quelled by sleep. Your days both zoom past in the blink of an eye and drip along in a slow trickle, like a smear of thick treacle.  Continue reading »