THIS HALF TERM….TRY HAPPY HARROGATE!

Read More

We’ve had snow this week and half term is looming.  February is always a funny one, isn’t it?   Unless you’re heading off abroad for winter sun, you know it’s likely to be cold, wet, windy or wintery – possibly all four – and it’s difficult to know where to go.  I think it’s helpful to apply my favourite motto:  Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.

With that in mind, we drove up to Yorkshire this time last year to visit Harrogate, the quaint spa town that had been voted the UK’s happiest place to live in three out of the four previous years.  Despite  the temperature hovering in single figures, we thoroughly enjoyed blissful cycling, mooching through parkland…and plunging into a near-Baltic ravine.

Read on here to find out Yorkshire is a great place to visit whatever the weather.

IS LAPLAND WORTH IT?

Read More
A boy and girl stand next to a white reindeer in the snow in Lapland
SAMSUNG DIGITAL CAMERA

The shops are packed with Christmas bumf and you can’t go anywhere without carols and festive tunes filling your lugs. It can be a magical time of year for kids…but do you go the whole hog and take ’em off to Lapland to meet the real McCoy?

It’s one of those things you reckon has to be on your bucket list.  But does it live up to the hype? I took my youngest two – Rosie, then nine, and Freddie, six – to Finnish Lapland on a three-day ‘dream’ trip.  Read here to see whether it was worth it.

TESTED: FOUR GREAT TRIPS OUT FROM LA CROIX DU VIEUX PONT IN BERNY-RIVIERE

Read More
The view of a fairy-tale castle

We love staying at La Croix du Vieux Pont in the tiny village of Berny-Rivière in northern France.  It’s around 70 miles north east of Paris and just a two-and-a-half hour drive from Calais so it’s easy to get to – and has plenty to do on-site.

It’s open from the Easter holidays until the end of October half term so it’s perfect for an out-of-season break.  You can take your own tent or stay in a mobile home with an outdoor holiday specialist like Eurocamp.

La Croix du Vieux Pont (click here to read more about the parc itself) is a great base from which to explore a stunning and fascinating part of France. Here are some of the best fab trips we’ve tried.

Disneyland Paris

The famous theme park is only 60 miles – or an hour or so’s drive – from La Croix du Vieux Pont FIve children in front of the Disney castleand is a very popular day out for families staying there.

An added bonus is the handy door-to-door coach service which leaves the parc at 7.50am and picks back up at Disneyland at 7.50pm (17 € adults, 14 € children, 10 € children under 2. Advanced booking advisable la-croix-du-vieux-pont.com/en/onsite-services/organised-trips/).

The journey takes around 75 minutes and takes the stress out of driving.. And believe me, you’ll need all your energy for what lies ahead. With just one day there, we opted to avoid the Walt Disney Studios part and concentrate on the Disneyland Park itself (advance Disneyland Paris tickets from £32 for both adults and children).

Continue reading “TESTED: FOUR GREAT TRIPS OUT FROM LA CROIX DU VIEUX PONT IN BERNY-RIVIERE”

SIX GO MAD IN…BERNY-RIVIERE

Read More
A woman and four children laugh at they stand outside one of Eurocamp's Avant mobile home at La Croix du Vieux Pont parc in Berny-Riviere in France

THE roofbox was stuffed to breaking point and the bikes strapped securely on the back. As I coaxed the overloaded car into gear I mentally checked off my must-pack list.

Football. Cricket bat. Snorkel gear. Rugby ball. Table tennis bats. Puncture repair kit. Fishing tackle. Waterproofs and wellies. Favourite breakfast cereals, ketchup, marmite, tea bags. Washing powder. Body boards. Inflatable rowing boat and canoe. Life jackets. Six cycle helmets. Board games…..had I really managed to get all of that plus six people in our much-abused motor?

Meanwhile all was quiet on the backseats as the kids, headphones clamped tightly over their ears, immersed themselves in the latest films. Our summer break was about to start and we were all chilled…despite the fact we were about to embark on a Channel crossing and a journey behind the wheel on the wrong side of the road. There’s something about a self-drive holiday that I find very relaxing. Continue reading “SIX GO MAD IN…BERNY-RIVIERE”

SIX GO MAD ON…LONDON’S NEW ZIP LINE

It’s the tallest and fastest city zip wire in the world….and means visitors can now experience London as they’ve never experienced it before.

Our capital city has just opened a brand new zip line that allows you to soar through the sky against the magnificent backdrop of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, the London Eye and the Shard.

The line is a staggering 35 metres tall – the height of eight double decker buses – and stretches for 225 metres across pretty Archbishop’s Park next to Lambeth Palace on the Southbank, parallel with the Thames.

 

Continue reading “SIX GO MAD ON…LONDON’S NEW ZIP LINE”

TEA OR TOFFEE ANYONE?

Read More

The Tour de France kicks off today.  But it’s a bike race much closer that home that really thrills me.  I love the hugely popular Tour de Yorkshire, a legacy of when the county hosted the Grand Depart of the Tour de France in 2014.

Yorkshire enjoyed it so much – and has such wonderful countryside to cycle around – that they pledged to continue their own mini version.  This year’s ended its second leg in the beautiful spa town of Harrogate, where we spent a glorious few days earlier this year.

It may be famous for tea – it’s home to Yorkshire Tea and Taylors of Harrogate – and delicious toffee but there’s so much more to it too.  Have a look here to find out more.

SIX GO MAD IN…HARROGATE

Read More

IT may be most famous for tea and toffee, but by ‘eck there’s so much more to the elegant Yorkshire spa town of Harrogate.

Harrogate is teaming with quaint cafes, trendy bars, picture postcard pubs, imposing Georgian and Victorian architecture, swanky boutiques, olde worlde shops…and acres upon acres of green and pleasant land.

It’s easy to see why locals have named it the happiest town to live in three out of the last four years, citing its open spaces, culture, friendliness, safety and recreation as key.  And those factors all help make it the perfect place to take the kids for a few days.

We kicked off our trip there with an amble around Harrogate’s buzzing shops. If you’re after sweets by the quarter, handmade handbags, local designers, unique art or interior design inspiration – or a store that sells over 12,000 different buttons – you’re made but you won’t miss out on high street favourites either.

It all feels wonderfully old fashioned but the real attraction is the sheer space.  We lapped up the slower pace with a stroll around The Stray, 200 acres of open parkland right in the hub of the town and popular for picnics, dog walking, kite-flying and ball games. Continue reading “SIX GO MAD IN…HARROGATE”

SIX GO MAD IN…CORSICA

THE Greeks christened it ‘Kallisté’ (the most beautiful) and the French call it ‘Ile de Beaute’ (Island of Beauty) so we weren’t surprised by Corsica’s spectacular scenery.

But it didn’t take us long to discover that this amazing gem – roughly the size of Crete and lying above Sardinia off the west coast of Italy – satisfies every holiday palette as it’s teaming with serene beaches, rugged mountain ranges, chocolate box villages and enticingly warm rivers and sea.

Unlike Italian-owned Sardinia, it is part of France but has its own distinct feel and remains refreshingly undeveloped. We stayed on the east coast near Ghisonaccia town, next to a wide sandy beach called Plage de Vignale and fringed by the Tyrrhenian Sea, its 28⁰C water perfect for swimming or pedalo rides.

Our large holiday parc Marina d’Erba Rossa had a lively hub around its swimming pool and entertainment square – complete with rooftop DJ – but elsewhere it was quiet and laid-back.

Continue reading “SIX GO MAD IN…CORSICA”