Some days out are planned weeks and months in advance, some I wake up and decide that’s where we are going today, and others I make a decision in a split second. The Parlamentarium in Brussels certainly falls into the last category. I didn’t know this place existed five minutes before we were walking through the door, and I’m so glad I decided to investigate. Continue reading
That’s it – the summer is almost over and the children are well and truly back into the old routine. Didn’t it go too fast?
Have you had the chance to catch those last heady days of summer before we turn back the clocks and start thinking about pumpkins and bonfires, and dare I say it yet, Christmas?
Yorkshire Water very kindly sent us a brilliant picnic rucksack, so we decided to head up to Tophill Low, near Watton in East Yorkshire to have a spot of afternoon tea on a fine September afternoon.
Tophill Low is owned and managed by Yorkshire Water and is a great place to go for a walk in the fresh air, do some bird-spotting, and of course, have a picnic. Continue reading
The Black Country Living Museum is an open air museum taking you back to the past of the Black Country. It has a mix of original and re-created industrial, commercial, and residential buildings from centuries and decades past. It is hugely educational and a great day out.
With new attractions and improved all-weather facilities, Camel Creek Adventure Park is billed as one of Cornwall’s leading family days out. It’s a smaller theme park suitable, I think, for under 12s. While it’s not on the scale of parks such as Alton Towers, or Drayton Manor, there’s lots to do. We were there for a full six hours, and there was plenty to keep my children entertained.
Bolsover Castle in Derbyshire is about halfway between our home in Yorkshire, and our Easter destinations of Cadbury World and Drayton Manor, and so made a handy stop off point on our journey. It certainly was much prettier than the service station on the nearby M1, and had a lot more room to run around.
As a family of six, we can rarely find a hotel to suit our needs. We end up getting two standard rooms and have to sleep one adult and two children per room. Either that or upgrade to a very expensive suite.
Whenever we go away as a family, we tend to get a self-catering cottage, or we camp. But as much as we love camping, I don’t (and won’t) do it all year round. At Easter, the choice was between two rooms in a Travelodge on the side of the A1 in North Yorkshire, or to try a Youth Hostel from YHA. We decided it was time to give a youth hostel a go, and we are so glad that we did!
And in the blink of an eye, we’re halfway (or more) through the summer holidays. What have you been doing?
We’ve been pretty busy with a trip to Brussels to see the sights and to visit Mini-Europe. Back in the UK, we’ve mostly been hanging out at home, being bridesmaids at the wedding of the year, and prepping for some days coming up, including a trip to Harry Potter studio tours, and a camping trip to Devon. Continue reading
Want to visit all the EU countries in one morning? Well, I think we know that would be impossible. How about all of the EU countries in 1/25th scale? Introducing Mini-Europe, a model village with a difference. It is Brussels’ main tourist attraction, and for a travel sick, Europhilic, geography geek like me, it is wonderful! Continue reading
In July, we went to Brussels. We chose Brussels as it’s somewhere the 12 year old hadn’t been before, and it’s a short two hour Eurostar ride from London. Brussels isn’t that big – it’s not quite as big as London or Paris. It has a very cosmopolitan feel without too many of the big city problems. Even though our trip encompassed Belgian National Day, it wasn’t very busy and getting accommodation and around the city was easy. Continue reading