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
Category Archives: Days Out
6 things to do at Tophill Low, East Yorkshire
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
Black Country Living Museum, Dudley, West Midlands
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.
Camel Creek Adventure Park, Wadebridge, Cornwall
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, Derbyshire
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.
YHA Grinton Lodge, Richmond, North Yorkshire
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!
Mini-Europe, Brussels, Belgium
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
National Media Museum, Bradford, West Yorkshire

This post is part of our FREE Family Days out in Yorkshire series
The National Media Museum in Bradford, West Yorkshire is yet another brilliant FREE museum managed by the Science Museum Group. This one is dedicated to all things media and it’s a great place to go if you’re interested in TV, AV production, animation, and computing. Continue reading
A day trip to Doncaster with Smiggle
We were invited to go and visit Smiggle’s newest store – in Doncaster’s Frenchgate Centre. We were given a £25 voucher to treat ourselves to some new stationery kit and so we could go and see their brand new store for ourselves. We love Smiggle, so decided today was a good day to have a girly shopping trip to Doncaster.
Playing Happy Families with Go For It Games
Happy Families have been reinvented by Go For It Games, and we have been sent a pack to try out. Sadly, our surname is not one which is yet catered for, but we love playing card games, and these little packs are just perfect for a travel game for children and families. We were sent the Harris family pack to look at. Continue reading