With our trial run over Spring Bank half term saw us head off on our first proper camping trip as a family. This time we didn't have the luxury of our warm dry beds being just 20 minutes away. No, this time it was a proper family holiday. We decided to head up to Derbyshire and after reading about it on a couple of websites selected Callow Top as our base for three nights. I lived not too far from Derbyshire for most of my childhood and there were loads of local places that I wanted to revisit with the family and the convenience of it only being a couple of hours up the M1 made it an ... read more
The Isle of Wight Island Line
Real life has got a bit in the way of writing about our trip to the Isle of Wight last month, but there's still plenty more to share with you. My inner train geek has wanted to go to the Isle of Wight for years for the simple reason of wanting to take a trip on the Island Line. Many people may not realise that the Isle of Wight has its own little railway, but it does. Running from Ryde Pier Head (where you connect with the ferry to Portsmouth Harbour) the route is just 8 and a half miles from there to Shanklin, but the route itself isn't the most exciting bit about this particular train ... read more
A Day at the Needles and Alum Bay, Isle of Wight
When you think of the Isle of Wight, the Needles, the Lighthouse and neighbouring Alum Bay with its colourful sands have to be some of the island's most iconic images. I vaguely remember going on a boat trip around the lighthouse when I was there on a school trip when I was about 8 and I knew it was somewhere that we had to visit again when holidaying on the island as a family. The Needles are right at the far west tip of the Isle of Wight and when you're on the island you always seem to be seeing adverts featuring the Needles themselves, the famous lighthouse and also the cable cars that ... read more
The world’s only commercial hovercraft service
Whilst the kids may have thought the ferry over to the Isle of Wight one of the most exciting parts of our week long holiday there there's actually another way that I want to get to the island the next time we go - hovercraft. The Isle of Wight is home to the world's only remaining commercial hovercraft service which takes passengers between Southsea in Portsmouth and Ryde on the Island. I'd read about this route before we went, but I have to admit that it wasn't until we were in Ryde and found ourselves next to the Hovertravel terminal that I got really excited about it as a mode of ... read more
Our first family camping experience
One thing I've learnt from seasoned camping friends is to do a trial run before a first camping holiday. Something local where you get to test out your tent and other camping equipment and also make sure that the kids don't totally hate the whole concept of camping. With a proper camping holiday planned for part of May half term I figured that we needed something before that so St George's day was booked in as the perfect opportunity for us to have a trial run. Mr C and I have both camped before, but not for years and we don't think we've ever camped together. It was also going to be the kids ... read more
Camping – nearly all the gear and absolutely no idea
I'm sat here writing this on the eve of our very first family camping trip. We're planning to go away in Spring Bank week (end of May) but in an attempt to be really organised when I joined the Camping and Caravanning Club (which lots of seasoned camping friends recommended we do) I also found out where our nearest site was and booked us in for one night. And that night is tomorrow! Argh!!!!! The logic was that I wanted a practice run before our first proper camping holiday. It'll be the first time the kids have ever camped, and the first time we've used our new tent, so we figured that if ... read more
Crossing the Solent to the Isle of Wight
In case you didn't gather before, I was pretty excited about our recently family trip to the Isle of Wight. Not only was I generally looking forward to going there and seeing if the island was as nice as I remembered from a school trip all those years ago, but I was also hugely looking forward to the ferry trip over and the kids' first time on a ferry. I'm not totally sure what the kids expected a ferry to be like, but we'd talked to them a fair bit about what would happen and how we would take our car on to the boat. Master C did keep getting a bit confused and thought we were travelling ... read more
Have tent, will camp
It seems like a lifetime ago that I blogged all about how we were on a quest to buy a tent and become campers. So much has happened since then that it seemed like it was time for a little update. I'm delighted to say that we are now the very proud owners of a family tent - after spending crazy amounts of time researching tents and camping equipment and spending our weekends dragging the kids round camping shops across the south east. The big tent purchase came though after a trip up to the NEC to the Caravan, Camping and Motorhome Show on Mr C's birthday - we know how to celebrate a ... read more
Round the world by ferry
A couple of weeks ago I took part in a twitter party for Discover Ferries. I heard about it by chance as one of my friends was helping to run the twitter party and as I'd just booked ferry tickets for us earlier that morning for a Easter holidays trip to the Isle of Wight it seemed appropriate to take part. Especially as there were prizes to be won. I always love a chance of winning something after all! As it happens I didn't win (damn!) but I did have the most amazing hour reminiscing about various ferry journeys that I have taken over the years. If you'd asked me before hand if I'd ever ... read more
Criccieth Castle
When you think of north Wales castles have to be one of the first things that come to mind. There are apparently over 600 castles in Wales and as you drive around you certainly keep coming across them. The castles, along with the gorgeous scenery and coastline, were one of the big driving reasons for wanting to visit Wales in the first place with the kids. On the first full day of our stay at Haven Hafan Y Mor we decided to get out and visit the nearest castle to the site - Criccieth Castle. Just a few miles along the coast Criccieth Castle is high up between two beaches and has some of the ... read more