Tag Archives: lake district

It doesn’t matter where we go!

Posted in Parenting by
The River Lune

We went on holiday over Easter. We hadn’t been on holiday in what seemed like forever and I was looking forward to it so much. The Lake District was our destination of choice and the children had requested their favourite things to do whilst we were there. Walks along the river, trips to the park and lunch in a cafe were among the top requests. The car was tightly packed with more stuff than we actually needed, the children were buckled in, the sat nav indicated a straightforward journey and we were off… “muuuuum, she stuck her tongue out at me”, “muuuuuum, he hit me”, “muuuuuuuuuuum, she is a poo head”.

We hadn’t got 2 minutes down the road before the arguments started. We had an hour and 40 minute journey ahead of us and I wasn’t sure that all 5 of us would make it intact! One of us was going to lose their hearing from the screaming or at the very least lose their mind from the constant bickering. I don’t know why, but my children can’t seem to be in the same space as each other without an argument starting out of thin air! Many threats of informing teachers and grandparents of this behaviour, a few bribes of sweets upon arrival, numerous cries of “I need a wee” and 1 projectile vomiting incident later and we were finally there. I don’t think that I have ever needed a large gin more in all of my life.

When we go up to the Lake District, we stay in a 1 bed flat owned by a family member. We realise how lucky we are to have access to this place in such a beautiful part of the world but being a family of 5 in a rather confined space has its downsides. For instance, all of us sleeping in 1 room! It sounds kind of fun when you first think about it. It feels like a bit of an adventure when you first do it. However, when you end up having to go to bed at the same time of the children so as to avoid WW3 and when you are still muttering “FFS, will you please go to sleep” at midnight, it soon loses its appeal. Another issue we had was trying to get the children to understand that the people who lived in the flat below did not wish to hear thundering footsteps and banshee wailing at 6am. I seriously spent most of the time that we were indoors telling the children to stop running or to stop screaming or to stop jumping off the bed. It was exhausting.

Now don’t get me wrong, the whole holiday wasn’t awful. We did have nice walks along the river and trips to the park. We even managed lunch in our favourite cafe without too much arguing or misbehaving. However we also had tantrums whilst walking around the gorgeous grounds of Allan Bank (even though we were doing a fabulous Easter trail at the time), cries of “you are the worst Mummy ever” because M couldn’t have my phone to watch YouTube whilst we were admiring the stunning Coniston Lake and the surprise of the RAF jets that roared above it and more threats than I can count of “if you dare do that again we are packing up and going home”. I could sit here and show you the Instagram worthy pictures of a family having fun and make you think that we had an idyllic break away from everyday life. Or, I could tell you that our holiday was just as stressful as being at home, just in a prettier location.

At first I was disappointed. I had been looking forward to our holiday for a long time and had built this perfect image in my head. But I soon realised that I was putting too much pressure on myself and the children. I had forgotten that my children were not going to magically change their normal behaviour just because we were in a different location. I am not excusing their behaviour by any means (there is a reason that I am the worst Mummy in the world and it usually comes in the form of a technology ban) but just because we were on holiday it didn’t mean that they were automatically going to get along with each other and turn into angels. I had to let go of my vision of the perfect family get away and make do with the fact that it doesn’t matter where we go, my children will still behave like they always do. I could take my children to paradise and one of them still wouldn’t like the way another one looked at them!

Next time we go on holiday I demand an all inclusive hotel with a kids club!!

Do your children behave better than usual when on holiday?

Summer of Fun

Posted in Parenting by

  

So the summer is almost at an end. I mean it has technically already ended now that schools are back and so I’m back at work but the odd day of sunshine means that I can try to drag it out a bit longer. I sat looking through some of our pictures of this summer and so thought that I would write a little post about what we have been up to.

One of my favourite parts of this summer has been trips to the park. Baby boy has started to confidently walk and now loves to run around on the huge open lawns at our local park. He is getting so quick now that me and my pregnant tummy sometimes find it hard to keep up! I think one of the reasons he loves the park so much though is that he is sometimes treated to an ice cream. Gone are the days when he would be content to share one and have me hold it. Oh no, now he wants to hold it himself! It goes everywhere!

  
We are very lucky to have access to a flat in the Lake District and so we have spent a few weekends up there with baby boy exploring different places. One of the best days we had was at Sizergh Castle. We have a lifetime membership for the national trust (which we really need to use a bit more) so we can visit some lovely places. We stayed in the gardens this time and let baby boy run around. He loved it. We were chasing him everywhere. Afterwards we went to Lower Sizergh Barns for lunch and then took baby boy to see the animals. The chickens were not particularly impressed when he tried to give them a cuddle! Baby boy was in his element when he found a tractor to sit on. What is it with little boys and tractors. He would have stayed on it all afternoon if we had let him.

  

A lot of time this summer has been spent in the garden playing on the swing and picking strawberries. We were quite disappointed once the last one had been eaten.

All in all it has been a great summer. Next year we will have 2 children to have fun in the sun with!

What have you been doing this summer?

Spa day *Review

Posted in Lifestyle by

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I have just had a completely relaxing day. It involved a delicious lunch, full body massage, scrumptious tea and a beautiful hotel suite. All of this has taken place at the Swan Hotel & Spa at Newby Bridge in the Lake District. Situated beside a picturesque river with rolling hills as a backdrop, this hotel really is a beautiful place. For anyone thinking right now that I am being sponsored in any way to write this post then I will state categorically that this is all off my own back and I am just extremely impressed after a fantastic day.

Before I even begin to describe my day in detail I am going to recommend the Swan Hotel & Spa for anyone visiting the south lakes area. I will probably recommend it again before I finish. I will also say that I don’t often wax lyrical about hotels but I am honestly impressed with this place after today and am not afraid to say it.

I arrived at the hotel with a friend at lunch time and after checking in and a quick nosy around the hotel we took ourselves into the bar for a bite to eat. The bar itself is a lovely room with mismatched chairs and solid wooden tables all of which give it a homely feel. I would describe the menu as traditional pub lunch with a twist. I chose the ham tartine which came with fries and when it arrived it was huge! And delicious!

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After lunch we headed up to the Vu Spa. I chose to be pampered with a full body massage. I’m not used to such luxury these days, a bubble bath without yellow ducks being a treat, and it was lovely. I almost fell asleep! I came out of the room feeling refreshed, if a little light headed from completely zoning out.

Late afternoon we went for a wander around Grange over Sands before picking up my friend’s grandson from nursery. He is staying with us for the night at the hotel. On this note I will point out that the hotel is completely child friendly. There is a lovely lounge downstairs filled with books and toys, an adventure trail by the river and at night complementary milk and cookies (in the shape of swans).

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My tea of choice was a burger. Homemade and juicy! I don’t know how this place sells any deserts because the mains are just huge! I also allowed myself a cheeky glass of wine – it would have been rude not to!

I am now snuggled up in a warm, comfy bed in the Beatrix Suite ready to settle down for the night. I have really enjoyed my day. I would love to visit again, this time with Mr K and baby boy. The hotel is lovely and the staff are fantastic. If you are in the area then please visit, if only to enjoy the view with a cup of tea and a piece of cake. You won’t regret it.

Image credit – http://www.swanhotel.com