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
10 Top Tips for Travelling with Children
It's time to dust off the passports here in the Carr household as very excitingly I managed to win some holiday vouchers at the start of the half term holiday - just hours in fact before we headed off on our first family holiday in ages! Having now tested the theory that we can get further than the local supermarket with two children and all their kit I'm determined that this is just the start of our family holiday adventures. But, as any parent knows travelling with children isn't always straightforward so here are my top ten tips for making it as stress-free as possible. 1. Plan, plan, ... read more
Ten things to take on a self-catering holiday
Self-catering holidays always seem to involve a lot of planning - especially with regards to what to take. Having just returned from our self-catering family trip to Coombe Mill in Cornwall here are my top ten things to remember when you're going self-catering. 1. Towels Even if all the bedding is included where you're staying it doesn't necessarily mean that towels will be. It's certainly worth checking - for both bathroom towels and a tea towel. Don't forget that you may also want to take a bath mat too. 2. Tea bags If you're a complete tea addict like me then you'll definitely ... read more
Summer 2014: Day 10 – Travelling to Cornwall
Finally the day was here - holiday time! Now, this year was our first real holiday with both children and the first proper holiday we've been away for in years, so we were pretty determined to make it memorable. Not feeling brave enough to fly with the kids again yet we instead went for a UK holiday and after seeing so many rave reviews online we opted to stay at Coombe Mill in Cornwall. If you've not heard of Coombe Mill, let me set the scene. Imagine a small farm, run by a family, where children are at the centre of the holiday. The whole site is set up so that they have an absolute ball, ... read more
Summer 2014: Day 9 – Getting ready
It's a bit strange writing all this in the past, but I'm determined to record all this summer properly, but I was also determined to enjoy our holiday without spending all my time tied to a laptop. Day nine of our summer was one of those days which in a way seems like there's no real point in recording it. It was the day before we set off on holiday so most of it involved trying to look after over excited children whilst also trying to remember everything that we needed to take away with us, buy a few last minute bits, and trying not to let the kids unpack as fast as I could ... read more