Tuesday, 19 June 2018

A home away from home - Room2 Hometel

Review Post*

I think travel is so important for families and can be such a great experience for everyone involved.
But it can also be a very stressful experience, especially for parents.

One of the key factors of any part of travel is where you stay. Where are you going to rest your head at right, and wake up in the mornings. Your base location. For families, it's vital to have a safe, secure and homely environment, to help create a stress-free trip or break.

And let's be honest. The traditional hotel just doesn't cut it 90% of the time. You see parents hiding in the bathroom whilst their kids settle down for the night. Or limited space because the cot or trundle bed have taken over half the room. And to be frank, most of them really don't look amazing. They're pretty generic with rules on what you can and can't have in the rooms, and limited additional facilities.

So when Room2 got in touch with their brand new concept, and invited me to their launch event*, I knew I had to go and get the down-low, because this has family travel sorted.

Farm Play - The Ordinary Moments

It's no secret that we love the farm. I mean we have an annual pass for our local farm.

Henry is a huge fan of a farm and chattering to and about all the animals, in fact it's one of his strengths and something that his nursery mentions all the time. His knowledge of animals is pretty amazing for his age, which I imagine is partly down to all our farm visits!

When we were in Poole last month, we hadn't really planned much for our days, but were given a brochure from the caravan park about local attractions, and included on it was Farmer Palmer's Activity Farm. As it was so close and the weather was on our side, we decided to go over in the morning as it opened and let Henry have a run around.

Oceanarium Adventures - The Ordinary Moments

There's something about being surrounded by water that is just so soothing, and Aquariums are the perfect place for exploring, learning and chilling all in one place.

We've taken Henry to a few aquariums/oceanariums over the last couple of years. They're perfect for a winter escape, and make a great sensory experience too. Henry has always loved them, and now he's getting older, he's getting even more benefit from them.

On our way to Poole earlier in the month, we decided to stop off in Bournemouth and have a little explore and show Henry another seaside.

Being typically British, it was absolutely freezing and blowing up a stiff wind by the water, so we headed indoors to Bournemouth's seafront Oceanarium.

Why I love a caravan holiday, and how to make it work for you

I love travel.
I'd travel all the time if I could.

And that doesn't just mean jetting off to foreign lands in search of golden sands and sunny skies (although they are both very much welcome).

In fact the majority of my previous travels have been city breaks and adventures with lots of history thrown in, think Rome, Florence and Barcelona to name a few.

But with a growing family, we've had to adjust what a holiday looks like. It's less about exploring old ruins and learning history (though we will be coming back to this when everyone is a bit older) and more about fun adventures exploring new places and trying new things.

With Henry still being pretty young, and me expecting our second boy, we've kept with staycations for the last two years, and utilised the good old British staple of a caravan holiday.
And they've been pretty great so far.

Yes we've had to deal with the not-at-all consistent English weather, which included one complete wash out of a holiday last year, but over-all they've been a great adventure and a good way to get Henry used to travel and new places.

Dinosaurs arent just for Christmas - Wookey Hole Dinosaurs

OK that title was more for fun than anything as this post has literally nothing to do with Christmas, but there are dinosaurs... I promise. I pretty much just wanted an excuse to share some of the photos we took when we went to Wookey Hole at the beginning of the month, and share a little bit of our experience there.

I went to Wookey Hole for the first time back when I was a kid. I think I was about 11 years old, so we're talking 16 years ago, and although I had some pretty good, though vague memories about the place, I knew I wanted to go back, especially as we were already in the area.

I have to admit, the place has been updated a lot since I was there last, but I guess after 16 years, you kind of have to expect that.

Nothe Fort: Weymouth

When I started researching places to visit for our trip to Weymouth, Nothe Fort came up many times in the top 10 places to visit, so of course it had to be added to my list.

We finally got a break in the rain and decided to drive over for a late morning/lunchtime visit.

I wasn't 100% sure what to expect as we haven't visited a fort before I don't think, and the last castle I visited was back when I was in school.

Weymouth: Sealife Adventure Park

As part of our trip to Weymouth last month,we decided we absolutely had to visit their Sealife Adventure Park. The theory was that it would be fun for the whole family as both Dann and I love aquariums and it would be a good sensory experience for Henry too.

It also absolutely poured it down on the day we visited (we booked tickets online as they are far cheaper) so it was nice to be indoors for most of the day.

What was super surprising about Sealife Adventure Park is that it is a series of smaller buildings which are numbered and you moved around them following the map. There's lots of outside space, including splash pads, splash pools and an outdoor play area, as well as the normal aquarium attractions and an interaction rock pool area where you can touch starfish and crabs.

Holiday weaning with Vital Baby

Holidaying with a baby can be a bit of a tricky one. Especially when they're weaning.

We've been over to Weymouth for five days in a caravan with a nearly one year old and we took with us a little weaning kit from Vital Baby* to help us whilst there and out and about.

I love anything that makes bringing up a child a little easier, especially on holiday when I want to relax and enjoy myself too.

Durdle Door - Dorset (yes it rained!)

On our way over to Weymouth a couple of weeks back we decided to break up our journey with a little stop off at Durdle Door, Dorset.

I think the location is fast becoming a blogger cliche (not that I care in the slightest - give me all the blogger cliche shots) for the South Coast, but it such a beautiful nature spot.

Of course in typical British fashion it absolutely poured it down whilst we were there, and I was definitely wearing the incorrect shoes which are now totally ruined (not just from this trip but a week of rain and as they got wet first I figured I might as well just ruin them and by new ones fresh) but it was totally worth it for the views and the photos!

A weekend in the countryside

I'm trying to get back into using my blog as a diary as much as a platform to share thoughts and ideas. With Henry growing up SO fast I really want to make sure I record as much as possible on this blog so I have it to look back on - plus it really motivates me to take lots of photos (in keeping with my 2017 resolutions!)

At the weekend we decided to go back up to Buckinghamshire as Dann had some annual leave to use up and had a random Friday off work. We both love going back up to Danns home village. It's the perfect quintessential place and is like the village that time forgot (apart from the cars, and the broadbadnd - though thank goodness for the wifi as the only signal is in the middle of a field!).

We're really making sure this year to go and visit family as much as we can, and to go out and do things as a family with Henry, especially whilst I'm still in maternity leave!

So I've out together a little photo diary for you, and well, for me too! (warning - this is very photo heavy, like you;d expect anything less!)

TRAVEL: A day in Amsterdam

On our little winter cruise we stopped off for a day and a bit in Amsterdam.
It's a place I've heard so much about and have wanted to visit for a while so this mini trip was a great starting point.

The evening we arrived we took a wonder and took in all the pretty Christmas lights and worked our way around the city.

We took a much longer stroll and cruise around to see the beautiful sights. The canals give you the best view of the place and the tour takes you through the history of the canals and the river, as well as the buildings lining the way. And the whole place has an amazing history.

Unfortunately as we weren't there for too long and we were on a fairly tight budget we didn't book any excursions, but we did hear good things about Anne Franks house/museum.

However we did take a wander to the Flower Market which was so pretty and stopped off at many cheese shops along the way. Dann ate many many samples! Sheep cheese being his top choice!

We definitely hope to visit again in the future, maybe in the summer time.

Here's some photos...

TRAVEL: A mini cruise in November

If you've been keeping up with my social media you may have seen that I went away for a mini break at the end of November.

We try to go away/abroad at least once a year (I've been abroad twice now this year) so booked a mini cruise to Amsterdam and Brugges with P&O cruises. As they sail out of Southampton it only made sense to try out a cruise. We started out small as neither of us had been on one before, and opted for an adults-only break.

We set out on the Arcadia, a medium sized ship for four nights away.

Unfortunately due to the terror alerts in Brussels we couldn't stop in Brugges which was understandable though a shame, and due to the weather and time frames couldn't stay in Amsterdam or stop at another port. I'll be doing another post on Amsterdam shortly but in the mean time here's what you need to know for a cruise.

Due to the weather our first night was rough and made for an interesting nights sleep. Our extra day at sea also wasn't the smoothest which wasn't ideal but manageable.

The evenings were so much fun, as there was a dress code each night. The best night had to be the Black Tie evening where everyone was beautifully dressed up and Dann busted out his James Bond Tux. The menus in the restaurants were amazing every night, but they went all out on black tie night with a special four course dinner. Even if I did miss dessert from feeling a little under the weather. We went to the theatre (actually we went to the Theatre three out of four nights) where they put on an amazing dance show themed on Queen. It was 100% my favourite night, even if a little poorly for some of it.

Here's some photos from our time on the ship!