How to enjoy your staycation with the kids

Today I am delighted to welcome a guest post from Cat, with some fantastic tips for avoiding the hassle of travelling with small children and enjoying a staycation at home.

Before I had kids holidays were all about long lie-ins and lounging by the pool with a book. Taking a whole evening for dinner and wine or dancing the night away has given way to more family friendly activities. When you combine the practicalities of travelling with children with the pressure on everyone’s finances at the moment it’s no surprise that more people are opting to have a ‘staycation’ or holiday at home, but can that ever be as much fun?

Here are a few steps to make sure it is:

1 – Adopt a ‘holiday’ frame of mind

It’s not going to seem like a holiday if you are occupied with all the usual boring things so try and get any chores finished of beforehand. Get the shopping done along with any cleaning or washing to stop it hanging over you so you can enjoy your break. To make sure you stay in your ‘holiday bubble’ try and ignore things like your social media accounts, the news and the papers. Why not go the whole hog and tell people you’re going away if you really want some peace and quiet?

2 – Make a Plan

On a normal holiday you can take each day as it comes, planning outings or lazing around. If you don’t make plans for your staycation, however, you’ll just end up slipping into your normal routine and where’s the fun in that? Try to schedule one or two things a day so there is always something to look forward to and you don’t end up stuck in front of daytime TV or cleaning the kitchen.

3 – Investigate local attractions

We often forget about the things we see signs for everyday and go for ages without visiting the attractions right on our own door step. Take some time before your break to look into events scheduled during your holiday. I’m sure there will be some big permanent attractions like zoos or National Trust properties near by but also think about temporary things like exhibitions or theatre shows that may be coming up. There may well be some regular scheduled events at your library or community centre. How about something as simple as visiting a ‘pick your own’ fruit farm or finding a little bit countryside for a picnic which can be a fun day out for all ages.

4 – Do something unusual at home

They say a change is as good as a rest so why not try spending the day at home but doing something unusual? How about a Film Day? Rent some DVDs and get comfy with popcorn, pick ‘n’ mix or some nachos. You could even set the kids to work making some tickets for everyone to allow them entry to the living room.

Maybe a ‘Books in Bed’ Afternoon? Head off to the library so everyone can choose some new books or gather up their old favourites at home and then don some PJs and squish into bed together to enjoy them. Take it in turns to read out your favourite parts and to talk about what is happening or why you like the characters.

Gardening can sometimes be a chore but what about getting some cheap plastic pots for the kids to decorate and fill with bedding plans or herbs so they can watch grow for the rest of the summer. Kids will love a chance to play all the board games that you’re normally too busy for or to make their own pizzas with their chosen toppings. I’m sure you can come up with lots of ideas once you get started.

5 – Remember little things can be treats too

One of the nicest things about being little is that it only takes a tiny treat to make your day and, let’s face it, when they’re happy we’re happy so remember the little things. How about letting them choose their favourite dinner or getting a tin of special chocolate biscuits for an afternoon snack. One favourite in my house is letting the boys have a bath in the middle of the day. Instead of waiting until the evening when you’re all tired and focussed on getting them into bed why not do it during the day to make the most of all those toys and bubbles (and don’t worry about the splashing). So have a great staycation this year. Who knows, you may never want to go away again!

Cat is a married mum of two small boys who, after a career in health service management, now works as a freelance writer as well as blogging about parenting and family life at Yellow Days.

A trip to London

Last weekend we left Mia with my wonderful, accommodating parents and treated Harry to a couple of days in London. We have taken him before, but this time managing without a pushchair made a huge difference to our visit. Harry is also that bit older now, with a longer attention span and more stamina. We came back actually feeling that we had been on a holiday for once, instead of an endurance test with small children!

We stayed for one night in the brand new Premier Inn Waterloo, having managed to find a special Sunday rate. It was very nice, absolutely spotless and in a fantastic location for the London Eye and nearby attractions. We were on the 6th floor and we could see the top of the London Eye, the rooms on the 14th floor must have an amazing view! Best of all, Ram and Harry shared the double bed and I had the single sofa bed all to myself - my best night's sleep in years without a toddler waking me up throughout the night!

The view from the window

We began our visit at the Natural History Museum, starting with the dinosaurs. Harry was absolutely fascinated by the dinosaur skeletons, although not very sure of the moving, roaring Tyrannosaurus Rex at the end! We picked out a few other galleries to interest him. To be honest many of the exhibits were aimed at children a little older than Harry (he's 4) but he really enjoyed the Mammal hall and the Earth exhibits. My favourite area is Human Biology - most of the exhibits there are exactly the same as I remember them from visits throughout the years!

In the Mammal hall

Then we took the tube to the hotel, checked in, and walked over to the London Sea Life Aquarium, chosen because it is included on our Merlin Passes. It's a really good aquarium, very large and with plenty to see. It was pretty busy even later on in the afternoon, but we were able to have a good look around. Something new since our last visit was the penguin experience which was set in a really well themed Antartic area.

We had our dinner at Pizza Hut. We've eaten at Pizza Hut a few times before, but we've always managed to hide the Ice Cream Factory from Harry, so he was thrilled to discover an ice cream machine that he could use to serve himself as much ice cream as he wanted. I even treated myself to a dessert - well it was Mother's Day!

First ice-cream factory

In the early evening we went on the London Eye, another Merlin pass attraction. We've been on it a few times but never at night, and luckily there were clear skies so we had some lovely views. It was also pretty quiet too so we had plenty of room to move around in the capsule. Harry loved it, he enjoyed explaining to me how it all worked.


The London Eye by night

The next morning Ram popped out and brought us some breakfast back to eat in the hotel, then we checked out to be at the Science Museum as it opened. We ended up staying much longer than we expected - over 4 hours! In my opinion it is the best London museum for very young children. It has several areas to interest and entertain them - the Launch Pad, the Garden in the basement and the Pattern Pod, as well as lots of rockets, cars, planes and interesting models.

Harry spent most of the time in the Garden which is an area in the basement aimed at children ages 3-6. The star attraction is a large water table with boats to float around, along with jets of water and currents to push them into. I think he would have stayed there all day if he could, but it was time to return to Victoria Station for our train home.


Hope Mum and Dad built it properly!

We both found it very relaxing to be away with just the one child, especially when it was the less demanding older one. Of course we all missed Mia, but I knew that she was having just as much fun with Grandma and Grandad - riding on buses, tiring them out at soft play, and enjoying plenty of individual time. It meant that we could be led by what Harry wanted to do, rather than having to cut things short because Mia needed attention.

So, enormous thanks to my parents for letting us indulge ourselves and Harry for a couple of days!

No disclosure necessary, this was a trip we paid for ourselves.

Center Parcs Longleat

We've had some fantastic holidays at Center Parcs since Harry was born. We find that it suits us really well, with nice accommodation and enough to keep us busy for a few days. We've always visited Elveden Forest before, which for some reason is always cheaper. However this time the price at Longleat was comparable, and as this is likely to be our last visit we decided it was time for a change. Why our last visit? Well, Harry starts school in September, and whilst a mid-week break in January doesn't break the bank for us, the amount that prices rise during the school holidays is truly shocking.

The biggest difference I noticed between Elveden and Longleat is that Elveden is completely flat whereas Longleat is very hilly. We also managed to end up in the only villa that I saw with steps down to the front door. I feel that I've had a good workout this week marching up and down a huge hill several times a day!

On this visit we also broke our rule of not paying for any activities (which are also shockingly priced). On the recommendation of a friend we did the Mini Bowling (half price before 10am) which Harry really enjoyed, and even Mia played along for a bit before wandering off.

For the first time we were able to visit the swimming pool (aka the Sub Tropical Swimming Paradise) without having to worry too much about timing it carefully between snacks, naps and attention spans. We visited every day and spent almost two hours there, with everyone having a great time. Despite never having had a swimming lesson, Harry is becoming really confident in the water and can paddle about easily with arm bands. Mia has hardly ever even been swimming, but she was happily going down the slides.

We did struggle slightly with bedtime. For the first time, Harry and Mia were sharing a room with twin beds. As I blogged recently, Mia has just gone into a proper bed, and so it's all still a bit of a novelty. The first hour after 'bedtime' every night was spent returning her to bed after she had climbed out to play with the Groclock, play with the baby monitor, tickle Harry, try to climb into bed with Harry, run and hide in the corner of the room or open the bedroom door and run out. Fortunately after the first night Harry was so exhausted from the swimming and scooter-ing up hills that he fell asleep almost immediately, despite the havoc that was being created around him.

We had a lovely break. It certainly felt a lot more relaxing than some holidays that we have been on with the little ones, and that is definitely down to the fact that it is becoming easier as the children get older. I even had several long stretches to sit down quietly and do a bit of my cross stitch!

I've written about Center Parcs a few times before - here you can find my review of a stay at Elveden and here are some things that you can do for free at Center Parcs Elveden Forest.

I would also love to hear any tips that you might have for holiday destinations that don't increase prices to stupid levels come school holiday time!

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Islands of Adventure, Orlando

Universal Studios Resort in Orlando is a large resort, which includes two theme parks - Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure - as well as hotels and various other entertainment venues. We visited them both some years ago, but since our visit the new Wizarding World of Harry Potter has opened. I really wanted to go, so we set aside a day of our Florida holiday before Christmas to visit. Because Harry Potter was the main draw for us, we opted to just spend a day at the Islands of Adventure theme park and to miss out the other areas on this occasion.

Even though it has been open for a couple of years, the Wizarding World of Harry Potter is very popular. We visted on a quiet weekday in early December, so the crowds weren't too bad. The main attraction is Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. It's a new ride, set inside Hogwarts Castle, and it combines actual ride movement through moving scenery with simulator type experiences in front of large screens. I've not experienced anything like it before, the advanced technology used really is amazing.



Me outside Hogwarts!

A large part of Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey is the queuing area. If you arrive early to beat the queue to the ride then you can miss a lot of what is going on, so it's worth either visiting again later or taking your time as you walk through the castle. You see prop replicas and scenery, combined with very clever video footage of the characters from the films performing little scenes, and even paintings on the wall holding conversations. I believe that if you don't want to go on the main ride, or if you have children that are too small, you can just do a separate walkthrough of the castle.

The two other rides in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter are both old rides that have been re-themed. There is a small rollercoaster - The Flight of the Hippogriff - and a larger ride with two intertwined rollercoasters - Dragon Challenge.

The other attraction is the town of Hogsmeade - a large reconstruction of Hogsmeade with lots of little shops, including Honeydukes sweet shop, Ollivanders wand shop and Zonko's joke and toy shop, between them selling a vast range of merchandise. You can also buy real Butterbeer which we enjoyed very much, although it was very sweet! It wasn't cheap, and I bought mine in a souvenir mug which made it a bit more expensive, but I don't think there is anywhere outside of Hogsmeade that you can drink Butterbeer!



Ram in Hogsmeade

If you enjoy the Harry Potter books and films then I'd really recommend a visit if you can. There is a huge amount of attention to detail, and because JK Rowling was fully involved in all aspects of the creation of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter it really is a faithful representation and exactly how you would imagine it to be.

We spent quite some time in the rest of the Islands of Adventure park too. There are some big rides there, like the Incredible Hulk Coaster which seems to go on and on and up and down and around for ages. We also love The Amazing Adventures of Spiderman. It was very new on our first visit some years ago and it hasn't dated at all. It has been updated since we last rode it, and the technology really is amazing as you go on a 3D animated journey with Spiderman.

Islands of Adventure isn't really aimed at young children, and we didn't see nearly as many pushchairs as we did at the other Orlando theme parks. However there are lots of attractions there that young children would enjoy, and in particular the Seuss Landing area has several rides which very young children can go on. On this visit we avoided all the water rides in the park, because we knew from previous experience that they do leave you absolutely drenched!

You can't take bags or any loose articles on to most of the big rides at Islands of Adventure. Free lockers operated using fingerprints are provided, and the length of the free period is determined by how long the queue for the ride is. The locker areas can get very congested and it does take time to leave and retrieve things. If you want to spend the day riding all the big rollercoasters it's worth trying to avoid taking any kind of bag with you, and instead wearing clothes with secure zipped pockets for phones and wallets etc.

When it comes to buying tickets you can save a small amount booking tickets in advance on-line. However because we just wanted a day ticket, and because of the unpredictability of small children, we bought our tickets there on the day. The ticket window opens before the park gates do, so you don't need to waste any time queuing.

A one day pass covering both Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure currently costs $123 for an adult. What they don't advertise very clearly at the ticket office is that you can purchase a day ticket for just Islands of Adventure (or indeed Universal Studios) for $88 for an adult. The cashier tried very hard to persuade us to buy a day ticket covering both parks, saying that we would have finished Islands of Adventure by 2pm as it was a quiet day. She was right, but we knew that we wouldn't have the stamina for a full day anyway (as well as the fact that the price difference is significant!) so we were glad that we just stuck with our single day ticket for Islands of Adventure. Full ticket details can be seen here, and you also have to pay $15 per car for parking at the park.

Some tips for visiting Disneyworld, Orlando with small children

We were lucky enough to take the family to Disneyworld, Florida a few weeks ago. Before we went I was rather daunted at the thought of taking two small children (1 and 3) on such a big holiday but I am so glad that we did, we all had a fantastic time. I've put together a few tips that made our holiday much more pleasant for us all!

• My most important tip - arrive at the parks early! You should be in the queue at the turnstiles before the park opens, which means allowing time to get from your car to the entrance (especially at Magic Kingdom where you need to take the monorail from the car park) and to get through the security bag check. Arriving earlier makes it so much easier to do the rides before the queues build up.

• Take a pushchair even if your child doesn't still use one at home. You can rent them in the parks, but that still leaves you some distance from your car to the entrance, so it's much easier to have your own or you can buy a very cheap basic one locally from Walmart or Target.

• Tie something recognisable to the pushchair as you will have to leave it outside all attractions. They may be moved around but we never felt that security was an issue, but obviously take all valuables with you.

• All the toilets that I saw had a small changing table and a large cubicle that would accommodate a pushchair, each park also has a Baby Center with more changing and nursing facilities.

• You can take food into the parks without any problems, we took sandwiches, drinks, and lots of snacks.

• There are plenty of places to sit down and rest in the shade.

• The larger adult rides operate Rider Switch passes so that adults can ride if your children are too small. As you are about to join the queue, tell the attendant that you want to use a Rider Switch pass. One or two members of your party can join the queue to wait as normal, then the second adult will be given a pass which allows up to four people to return to the ride using the Fastpass queue.

• Don't try to do a full day at Disney. The parks are huge, there is lots of walking, the weather is likely to be warm and the crowds build throughout the day. Arrive early, see as much as you can, then return to your accommodation for lunch and a rest. If you are up to it, return to the park later in the day.

• Take some familar food items with you from home if you have fussy children. For our family, this means Weetabix, Marmite and baby biscuits. 

I hope that these tips are helpful! If you have any more please do add them into the comments!

SeaWorld Orlando

On our recent trip to Orlando, we spent a day at SeaWorld. Although we've been to Orlando before, this was our first visit to SeaWorld Orlando. We knew that the park was very big and we wouldn't be able to do everything in a single day, but we had a good attempt!

The first thing that we did was to obtain a show schedule and plan our day. We didn't want to see all the shows, mainly because Mia is still quite small and doesn't really have the patience to sit still for too long. But there were a couple that we knew we didn't want to miss.

First we saw the lovely Blue Horizons show, a mixture of dolphins, tropical birds and costumed performers.

Then we joined everyone else in the park heading to the One Ocean show, also known as the Shamu show. It was only on twice, with the second show at 5.30pm and too late for us, but luckily it is held in a big theatre as it's very popular. It was amazing watching the huge killer whales performing in a number of different themed segments, including one where the sole purpose was to drench as much of the audience as possible!

We also watched Clyde and Seamore Take Pirate Island, We weren't so sure about this show, the performing animals were a bit thin on the ground and we were probably the wrong demographic - I think that older children than ours might have appreciated it more.

In between the shows we had a good look around the other attractions. Turtle Trek really stood out for me - after viewing some turtles underwater you watch a short film in a 3D, 360 degree dome cinema. It was quite an intense experience but a brilliant use of technology. We also enjoyed Shark Encounter, with an underwater tunnel through the shark tank.

We spent quite a bit of time in Shamu's Happy Harbour, which was a children's area perfectly suited to our little ones. There was a little train, some spinny rides and lots of things to climb on and slide down.

Finally my son enjoyed The Polar Express Experience, based on one of his favourite films. There were two ways to enjoy the experience, a walking one and a moving one. Unfortunately like most of the children he was too short for the moving experience (you need to be 42"/107cm), but luckily because it was all enclosed he didn't realise he was missing anything! We watched a short version of the film, then walked through some snowy scenes to see Father Christmas and various polar animals. It was very busy inside. Harry loved the actual Polar Express train that was outside!

We also let Harry have the chance to press a penny in one of these machines that are all over the place at the theme parks. I have lots from a trip when I was younger that he plays with at home, so I thought it was only fair that he have a go. He was delighted!

 

There are some Seaworld attractions which are firmly aimed at the grown ups. We decided against a boat ride on Journey to Atlantis - it was an overcast day and we didn't fancy getting soaked! The Kraken rollercoaster was great, but the highlight for us was Manta. From the description we were expecting something similar to the face down rollercoaster Air at Alton Towers which we love. However it was way more intense (in a good way), you could really feel the g-forces as you dived down headfirst and then swooped about, we thought it was amazing!

We had a great day at SeaWorld, and although we didn't see every single thing we felt that one day was enough for us to experience it. I'd definitely recommend a visit with the family!

We received complimentary tickets to Seaworld (but we paid for the rest of the holiday ourselves!)

Our brilliant Orlando holiday

We are back from an exhausting two week holiday to Orlando in Florida. We had a brilliant time, and I thought that I would share some of our highlights. Before we went I did have some reservations about whether our children were too young for such a big and busy holiday. I was particularly worried about the long flight and the time difference. Given that we have poor sleepers anyway, I was sure that we were in for about a month of no sleep! In reality it wasn't nearly as bad as I expected. They both adjusted really well, and we tired them out so much during the day that they went straight to sleep at bedtime!

The main reason for our visit was to go to Disneyworld, so we bought 14 day passes which could be used across the four parks - Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingom and Hollywood Studios. We had timed our trip so that most of the New Fantasyland at Magic Kingdom was open. Although the official opening was towards the end of our trip, in fact everything was already open for a soft launch. My biggest tip for a visit to Disneyworld is to arrive early so that you can enter the park as soon as it opens, you can get so many more rides done in the first couple of hours than you can later in the day. We were able to do all the rides in Fantasyland (which was the area most suited to our family) without much of a wait on several days.

Harry and Mia loved Disney. We spent most of our time at Magic Kingdom, but there is so much to do across the four parks that there was no chance of running out of things to see. All the parks except Epcot also had a daytime parade and all the parks except Animal Kingdom had an evening parade/show/fireworks. Because it is a relatively quiet time of year to visit (after Thanksgiving and before Christmas) we found that we never had to queue for too long.

We tried to spread things out as much as possible, generally visiting for a morning then returning to our villa for lunch and a rest, then either going out for a meal or back to one of the parks later in the day. Although it was tempting to try and stay for a full day we did find that it was too much for the little ones.

We stayed in a villa a few miles away in the Emerald Island Resort, which actually wasn't as expensive as you might think. It even had a pool which Harry loved! We booked directly with the villa owners in the UK because this worked out cheaper than as part of package, and also meant that we knew the exact villa that we would be staying in. The villa was lovely and had everything that we needed.

We also fitted in a day trip to Seaworld and a visit to Universal's Islands of Adventure to visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter - I'll be writing more about those over next few days if you are interested!

We even made time for a bit of shopping - I have come back with some nice new clothes and some crafty bits.

And finally, it wouldn't be a holiday for me and Ram if it didn't involve pizza. We first discovered the Tostada pizza from California Pizza Kitchen on our first trip to the US a few years ago and we always make the effort to hunt a branch down on holiday. The Tostada has black beans, tortilla strips, lettuce, cheese and ranch dressing - it sounds strange but it's delicious, and I can't believe that this chain hasn't made it to the UK yet!

If you are thinking about planning a holiday to Orlando and have any questions please do get in touch, I'd love to help if I can!

You can read my other posts about our Orlando holiday here:

SeaWorld Orlando
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Islands of Adventure
Some tips for visiting DisneyWorld, Orlando with small children
Flying long haul with two small children

Flying long haul with two small children

Here is what I have learned about taking a long haul flight with two young children:

Daytime flights

• Don't bother browsing the excellent selection of films available to view. You have no chance.
• Each of the carefully planned activities you have brought along will occupy your child for approximately 30 seconds.
• You will spend a large portion of the flight retrieving things from the overhead locker.
• Nappies will be filled constantly.
• Probably because the only way to keep little ones quiet is to fill them up with snacks.
• These snacks will be scattered around the cabin because throwing them about keeps them just as entertained as eating them, and as long as they are happy and quiet you won't be stopping them.
• Avoid eye contact with fellow passengers so that you don't see the disapproving looks when your toddler spends the whole flight clambering about over the seats and armrests and whinging when you try and make her sit still.

Night flights

• Ensure that you tire your child out during the day so that they go to sleep immediately on the plane. Warning, this one is very difficult to time correctly and can lead to an overtired child that will spend an hour jumping on the seat, then scream for half an hour before finally giving in.
• The toddler will pretend to fall fast asleep, wait until everyone around is fast asleep, then start screaming.
• The toddler does look really sweet when she's asleep though, so all is forgiven.
• Keep your fingers crossed that the flight isn't full, enabling you to secure an extra seat in order to make a proper little bed for the toddler.
• You'll spend ages trying to get to sleep yourself, then when you do finally doze off an uncanny sixth sense will awaken you just in time to catch the toddler before she rolls off the seat - no chance of getting back to sleep after that!
• You will encounter turbulence at some point, which will require the contented, comfortable, sleeping toddler to be awoken and wrestled back into a seatbelt.
• You need to have everything that you might possibly need within arm's reach because you don't want to risk waking up a child to retrieve something.
• Similarly, make sure that you have been to the toilet before anyone goes to sleep.
• The bag containing the favourite stuffed animals has equal importance to the one containing the passports.

We had a fantastic holiday, the flight wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been and I will be back soon to share what we got up to. As soon as I've had enough sleep to let me see straight!

Diwali craft - How to make a simple salt dough diva for Divali

I decided that Harry is now old enough to start learning a little bit more about his cultural heritage, customs and traditions. He already understands a little bit about geography, different countries and languages, and so I thought that now was the perfect time to teach him what I can about Diwali.

Diwali is one of the largest festivals of the year for Hindus, and is also celebrated by Jains and Sikhs. It is commonly known as the Festival of Lights. The Diwali legends vary across different areas of India, but in its essence it is about celebrating the triumph of good over evil.

In 2012, Diwali will be celebrated on the 13th November. The date is set by the Hindu calendar and changes every year according to the position of the moon - it usually falls in October or November in the English calendar. You can find future dates for Diwali here.

I'm going to be doing a series of posts on my blog covering the various different Diwali crafts and activities that we'll be doing which are suitable for young children. I'll also be collecting these and other resources together over on my other blog, Toddler Things, so pop over there if you want some more detailed information about Diwali aimed at little ones.

Our first craft was making a salt dough diva. A diva (also called diya or diwa) is a small lamp, traditionally made from clay and containing oil and a wick. The lamps are lit to celebrate the triumph of light, and along with leaving open doors and windows, they are also lit to help the Goddess Lakshmi (the Goddess of Wealth) find her way into people's homes.

We made our divas from salt dough, making them large enough to hold a tea light or votive candle.

My simple saltdough recipe: 1 part salt, 2 parts plain flour, 1 part water, mixed together to make a dough.

I used about half a cup for each measure and this made enough salt dough for two divas. I divided the dough into two and made it into a ball. Then we flattened the balls and used our fingers to mould them into a small bowl. I pinched at one side to make a spout. They can be left to air dry naturally for a couple of days, or cooked at a low heat in the oven (about 100 degrees) for an hour or so, just keep an eye on them so that they don't burn.

When fully dry, we painted them. They can be any colour that you like, as long as it is nice and bright. When the paint was dry we covered them in glue and added plenty of glitter and sequins.

If you are looking for some more Diwali crafts, then you might like these pages:

Diwali crafts round-up
How to make Rangoli using dyed rice
Homemade Diwali cards

If you are teaching your young children about Diwali, here are some books that they might enjoy:

Diwali (Bright Baby Touch and Feel)- A wonderful very first Diwali book for babies with bright colours, textures to touch and simple Diwali images.

Lighting a Lamp: A Divali Story (Festival Time)- A first introduction to Diwali for very young children, following a family as they prepare for and celebrate Diwali.

Diwali (Holidays and Festivals (Heinemann Paperback)) - A more informative book about the Diwali festival, with more educational resources.

Diwali (Celebrations)Aimed at slightly older children, lots of photographs and ideas for Diwali activities.

(Affiliate links)

Flamingo Beach Resort, Lanzarote

We've just returned from our second stay at the Flamingo Beach Resort in Playa Blanca, Lanzarote. We had such a lovely stay first time round that we returned for a second visit, and after contacting the manager to request a room in the same area as on our previous trip we were allocated the same bungalow! We just had a basic room, although there is an option to upgrade to a Select room. The only real difference we could see was that the Select rooms have a nicer television, with a DVD player, and bathrobes and slippers. We visited this time for a week with a 3 year old and a 1 year old. The bus transfer from the airport is about half an hour, and we didn't have to stop at any other hotels in either direction to pick people up.

The bungalows are located slightly apart from the main entertainment areas in the resort which I think makes them quieter, they are also single storey so you have no-one above or below you. From what I could see, all of the accommodation is reached by steps although once out of your room you can reach everywhere else via ramps.

The front of our bungalow with terrace

The rooms at the Flamingo Beach Resort were large and kept extremely clean, it was even tidied for us most days and fresh flowers put out. The sofa bed in the living room has a pull out bed underneath, so can be made up into two separate single beds. We had a cot for the baby. One thing that I wasn't totally comfortable with was that the children were sleeping between us and the main door, so we actually put the coffee table in front of the door at night and kept the door to the bedroom open. At one end of the main room is a small kitchen, then a separate bathroom and main bedroom at the back with shuttered window looking out over one of the small children's pools. There was plenty of storage space. Our television had BBC1 and BBC2 as well as a children's channel, and you can pay extra for more channels, wi-fi access and air conditioning.

The sofa pulls out to make two single beds

The kitchen contained a large fridge freezer, toaster, kettle, coffee maker and microwave as well as two hot plates. I think that most visitors will be all inclusive like we were, and the kitchen wasn't particularly well equipped if you were cooking a meal every night. Some of the furnishings were a little dated, but that didn't bother us. On the terrace was a table and four chairs and a drying rack which was very handy. The view from the terrace was lovely, we could see right across the sea to nearby Fuerteventura.

Small kitchen and seating area, with plenty of space for a cot

The hotel itself has a variety of pools of different depths and sizes, and an activity pool with a couple of small slides. There seemed to be plenty of sunloungers although we still saw people reserving them early on despite signs warning that towels would be removed! There is a deeper, rectangular pool for swimming lengths although there were lessons and activities taking place for much of the day which limited it a bit.

The Kid's Club activities from age 3 and above seemed varied, although parents are not allowed to stay and we didn't think that our son would be up for being left. There is also a creche for babies (at extra cost) which we didn't use, but every evening from 5-6pm it was opened up for a play and stay session which both our children really enjoyed. It was perfect timing too, at the end of a long day to keep them going until dinner time.

We were all inclusive, so all our meals, snacks and drinks were included. The restaurant was a buffet, with a large selection of hot and cold food. We eat mainly vegetarian so our selection was a little limited, but there seemed to be varied meat and fish options. There was also child friendly food, with chips, pizza and burgers every day, along with salad, soup, different types of bread, plenty of fruit and cakes and icecream. To be honest the food did get a little samey after a while, but I would imagine that is the same with any all inclusive resort. You can easily take a pushchair into the restaurant and there were plenty of Ikea Antilop highchairs, although they don't have trays which can make it a bit difficult for babies to feed themselves. Luckily the waiters were very efficient and kept it all very clean and tidy.

The only thing that we had to buy was milk for the little ones. Milk was provided at breakfast but it was long life milk. It was easy enough to buy some, although perhaps they would have provided it if we had asked.

The resort also has three restaurants, and a meal in each was included which was booked at reception. We gave El Duque Tapas (carvery dining) and Tex Mex a miss as they didn't have any suitable vegetarian options, but we enjoyed the Italian restaurant La Bambola very much.

We found that the evening entertainment wasn't really geared up to children as young as ours, and also it was far too late in the evening for them. Because it was just the two of us we also didn't get to see what was happening later on, but it seemed to be mainly bingo. This entertainment (along the Kid's Club above) was organised by First Choice. On our previous visit we stayed in January when a different tour company was running the entertainment, and although it was all in Swedish we felt that it was much better for young children, with a clown, magic tricks, nursery rhymes, songs and so on.

Paved, flat walk along the coast to the harbour and into town

The resort is in a great location. It is minutes walk from the beach and there is a wide paved path leading out along the coast to a lighthouse in one direction and into the harbour, the town of Playa Blanca and beyond in the other. The harbour is about ten minutes walk away, and there is a regular ferry service to Fuerteventura. My son was fascinated by the car ferry, he would stand for ages watching it load and unload. Flamingo Beach is lovely. It is man made with lots of lovely yellow sand and concrete blocks have been placed to enclose it and make it safe for swimming. There are sunlougers to hire and a small cafe, as well as some shops and restaurants on the front. The beach at Playa Blanca itself is not nearly as nice, and the next pleasant beach is quite a walk down the coast. Having walked along the coast in both directions for quite a way, I think that the Flamingo Beach Resort really does have the best location if you are coming for a beach holiday. Some of the resorts further out of the town are a long walk from a beach.

Flamingo Beach

On our previous visit we hired a car locally for a couple of days so that we could explore some of the rest of Lanzarote. There are some interesting things to see - the National Park has a bus tour around the volcanos and there are some caves to visit. Of course there are plenty of bus and boat trips available to book locally.

Obviously we wouldn't have returned to the Flamingo Beach Resort if we hadn't enjoyed our first stay here. When booking our holiday this year we struggled to find anywhere else that was so reasonably priced, and we found it much less stressful with small children returning somewhere we had been before. We booked through First Choice. If you've booked, it's worth sending the manager (Angel) an e-mail beforehand if you have any special requirements, we found him very friendly and helpful to deal with. You should be able to find his e-mail address through Tripadvisor, where he is very active at responding to reviews.

Our summer holiday in Lanzarote

We've always been used to taking our holidays out of season, so I don't know how we're going to cope when we have little ones at school and have to brave holiday resorts in the school holidays, along with the associated higher costs. We've just got back from a lovely week in Lanzarote, at the Flamingo Beach Resort. It was actually our second visit to the resort, we stayed there in January last year when Harry was just 2 and I was pregnant with Mia. It suited us so perfectly and was so reasonably priced that we couldn't find anywhere better when we were looking for our next family holiday. I also found preparing for the holiday much less stressful knowing that we were going some familiar, especially as it was our first trip abroad with the two of them!

We contacted the manager in advance to ask for a room in a similar area as the one that we had last time and he allocated us the same room which was a bit surreal, as everything was just the same yet very different! The holiday was all-inclusive with a fair choice of food, but our little ones are so fussy that they wouldn't touch most of the food, they spent the week surviving on bread and butter, bananas and ice cream! The buffet restaurant did mean that we spent most of the meal taking it in turns to go and fetch food rather than sitting down together, and I had to comfort Mia everytime Ram left the table as she would cry hysterically until he came back! The breakfast was the best meal of the day, with plenty of goodies to fill you up, and the waiters were very polite about the amount of mess that Mia left behind, as the highchairs didn't have trays so most of the food ended up on the floor.

Lovely view from our terrace!

They were both really good on the flight, it did get a bit desperate at times trying to keep them entertained, but we didn't have any major grumpiness and I actually managed to get Mia to sleep for a while each time by rocking her about a bit.

Mia loved her first proper beach experience, we plonked her down on the sand and she crawled about like a mad thing. She did a few face plants and ended up with mouthfuls of sand, but it didn't seem to bother her. Harry was scared of the sea to begin with, but they both became bolder as the week progressed - Harry went in up to his waist and Mia was quite happy crawling about in the shallow bits. Flamingo Beach is directly opposite the hotel and it is a man-made sandy beach sheltered with concrete blocks so that you can swim without the waves being too big. I loved standing in the water and watching all the fish swimming about. We bought a net to try and catch some but failed miserably until the last day when Ram found some rockpools to trap them in (I am assured that he caught some in the sea as well after I had taken Mia back to the room!).

Loving sitting in the sea!

I wasn't pregnant this time so I was able to enjoy the all-inclusive alcohol, although a couple of peach schnapps with lemonade (my drink of choice in my younger days) was enough for me. We tried some of the cocktails but they reminded me a bit of the ones that they used to make up at university in bins and ladle out into plastic cups.

The evening entertainment wasn't that great and wasn't really aimed at ones as little as ours but that wasn't really a problem as they are used to going to bed early so we just stuck them in bed and sat quietly in the bedroom - I got through several books on my Kindle. We made an exception on a couple of evenings and put them to bed in our room so that we could sit up together in the living room - well we didn't want to miss Eurovision!

We didn't pay the extra for wi-fi access so we had an internet free week (apart from when Ram went internet hunting with his phone and managed to connect briefly and download the news headlines and his e-mails). We did have a television with BBC1 and BBC2 though, as well as a children's channel which was most useful. I actually didn't miss my phone as much as I thought I would, even less so when I returned to check my e-mail and found that I hadn't missed anything at all anyway! I've still got a lot of blog reading to catch up with though. My biggest problem was that I discovered that I rely hugely on the clock on my phone, so I never had any idea what time it was!

Harry spent more time out of the pool than in it, pouring water down the drain

We went down to the beach everyday and in the swimming pools most days, as well as chilling out in our room during the hottest part of the day. I was even able to spend lots of time just reading and relaxing.

Taking the credit for someone else's impressive sandcastle

The little ones went straight to sleep each night, they must have been shattered. In fact on our last evening, Mia fell asleep in her highchair at the dinner table, poor thing! They also slept somewhat better than they usually manage at home, clearly I need to be making them run about more at home and not letting them nap!

I might look silly but at least the sun wasn't in my eyes

You can read a full review of the Flamingo Beach Resort here in case you are looking for a family holiday destination because we really would recommend it. It's not the sort of holiday that we would have considered before children at all, but with our new family unit, for the next few years at least this sort of thing seems to suit us perfectly.

See you next week!

We're off on holiday! We are braving a four hour flight with a baby and a pre-schooler and heading for the sun, sea and sand!

We won't have any internet access at all, and I'm quite looking forward to having a whole week as a family without the constant distraction of a smartphone, tablet or computer.

Of course, being me, I have prepared some distractions for the plane journey. I'm not expecting Harry to be too much trouble as long as he's kept entertained (perhaps I'm a little over optimistic) but I'm a bit concerned about how to entertain Mia, especially as she won't have her own seat. I'm hoping that plenty of snacks will do the trick, and I really hope that she will sleep on the plane. Harry wouldn't when we flew with him before and he screamed for quite a lot of the return journey, not something that I particularly want to repeat!

Here's what is in my bag of tricks:

• Gruffalo and Smartest Giant activity books - I bought these some time ago on special offer and have been saving them. They are small and light with plenty of stickers.
• A blank exercise book, colouring book, crayons and pens.
• Some foam stickers and normal stickers.
• A small jigsaw.
• Finger puppets (will these amuse Mia for a minute or two? I hope so!). Ours are from Ikea.

We will also have various electronic devices that can play videos, this will keep Harry quiet but Mia isn't really one for sitting watching things. Hopefully with lots of raisins and biscuits we can do it!

Mazzard Farm Holiday Cottages, Ottery St Mary, Devon

We've just got back from a lovely little break at Mazzard Farm, near Ottery St Mary in Devon. We visited in January, so it was pretty cold, but we still had a great time. Harry was just 3 and Mia 8 months. I've put some notes together in case anyone reading this was thinking about a stay there.

The Cottage

We stayed in Medlar Cottage, which sleeps 4 and is one of six cottages available. The cottage was lovely, nice and warm with everything that we needed. We were also able to borrow some of the bulkier baby equipment like a steriliser, baby monitor, potty and changing mat, so that saved us some space in the car.

Our favourite thing about Medlar Cottage was that it had large double doors leading out onto the main courtyard. The courtyard is closed to vehicles and we were more than happy to let Harry run around outside while we were able to keep an eye on him from inside (it was pretty cold!).

The courtyard, our cottage was on the far right

Around the farm

Mazzard Farm isn't a working farm (although there are plenty in the area). The cottages are situated around a central courtyard (they don't all have direct access to the courtyard but it's only a short walk around), with gardens, an orchard and a large area of woodland to explore. There are some chickens and guinea pigs to feed and plenty of space to play outside with two play areas. On one side of the courtyard was a garage which was full of outdoor toys and ride-ons. Harry was particularly taken with a digger in the garage, and he spent a lot of time trying to transfer pinecones from the floor into the trailer of a tractor, then driving the tractor around outside. There were also toys and DVDs which you could borrow to take back to the cottage, which we appreciated very much on a couple of rainy afternoons when Mia was asleep and Harry couldn't play outside. The phone reception wasn't good, but the free wi-fi meant that we weren't completely cut off, quite sad how we've become so used to our internet access now that it would be hard to do without it!

Playing with the digger, Harry's favourite part of the holiday

Our last day was a bit rainy, but we hadn't really had chance to explore the outside areas so I stuck Harry into his wellies and we went out for a walk. Sometimes it's nice for us to spend some time together, just the two of us. We followed a little path out into the woods. Harry is a reluctant walker, so I wasn't sure how far we would get, but as usual, when he wants to walk he can go for quite a distance and we had a lovely long walk. At the bottom of the hill we found a choice of bridges across a small stream. I let Harry choose, and luckily he chose the one with the netting around the edges! We've not really walked out much in the forest before with him because of the difficulties in taking pushchairs about, so this is definitely something to do with him again when not encumbered by a baby.

Exploring in the woods

Local area attractions that we enjoyed

We tend to take holidays out of season, and unfortunately as we have discovered in the past many attractions do close or have limited opening in the winter. There were a couple of places that we would have liked to visit which were not open. However one thing about Mazzard Farm was that there were so many things to do in the local area that if we had visited in peak season I think that we would have been spoiled for choice!

We enjoyed a morning at Escot, which is open all year round. It is really an outdoor attraction, so best saved for a dry day, although there is a large indoor play barn for little ones. We were also lucky enough with the weather to be able to spend some time on Sidmouth Beach. The tide was in so it wasn't as sandy as we had hoped, but we are used to pebbly beaches down here and Harry was perfectly happy. It was also nice to walk along the seafront with the pushchair and Harry on his scooter.

We visited the Donkey Sanctuary, which was very well run with plenty of opportunities to meet the donkeys. A couple of rainy hours were spent at the Playdome indoor soft play centre, which both little ones enjoyed very much.

I'd fully recomment Mazzard Farm for a family holiday. For lots more information about their cottages and the facilities, do see their excellent website.

The Donkey Sanctuary, Sidmouth

Today we spent a nice morning at the Donkey Sanctuary in Sidmouth. It's free to visit, although donations are welcomed. There were several different enclosures where you could see the donkeys, and you could get really close to them. It was pushchair friendly, which was good as Harry can be a bit of a reluctant walker.

As well as seeing the donkeys we also enjoyed the pushchair accessible maze, Ram took Harry and I took Mia so that we could see who found the way to the centre and out first. Of course, the girls won!

Escot Gardens, Ottery St Mary, Devon

We're currently having a short break at Mazzard Farm in Devon, and having a great time. Today the weather was cold but sunny, and so we went to Escot Gardens, Maze and Forest Adventure which is just down the road.

It was a cold day, but luckily even though it was out of season everything was still open. You can take a trail through the woods, which passes lots of interesting small attractions. The first place that we stopped was the Maze, which we quickly realised was a serious affair. I waited outside with Mia while Ram ventured in with Harry, but he soon found out that bridges were involved, which wasn't going to work with a pushchair. He hadn't got far, but I still had to climb up onto one of the bridges and direct him out. Probably a good job that I did, it wasn't a good place to get stuck for hours with a whingy toddler!

A bit further around we encountered the drop slide, which I was very excited about, having seen some video of it on the website. I must admit that after climbing all the way to the top, when I found myself sitting on a narrow ledge above a steep vertical drop, I very nearly came straight back down again, but I resisted the fact that every fibre of my being was screaming at me not to, and launched myself straight down. Well it was fantastic, and I couldn't wait to go back for another go (and this time I even kept my eyes open!). I probably could have stayed on it all day if I didn't have the family to attend to!

Yep, that drop is vertical, and a lot more scary in real life

Next we found a big outdoor play area for Harry. Sometimes it surprises me that even though he's quite small and not particularly athletic, he loves climbing on things and can manage pretty well, even on quite high or narrow equipment. Most of the play area was really aimed at older children, but with my help we had a pretty good go at it.

Mia was getting a bit crotchety by this point, so after we'd had a good look around the other outdoor areas we went to the indoor play barn to give her a break from the pushchair. The play barn was a good size, with plenty of equipment for all ages. I know that not all parents are fans, but I've always found soft play areas great for Harry and he loves them. There were a few seats around the edge and vending machines for drinks and snacks. We had brought our own food, and it was a nice warm place to get some lunch inside the little ones.

Another rare photo with me in

Mia is growing up so fast, and every day she is interacting with us all, and especially Harry, more and more. They had a great time going down the slide together and he was delighted that she was joining in with something that he was doing.

We had a great time at Escot and would fully recommend it. We spent a morning there, but on a warmer day or with older children you could easily spend longer. I did feel that it was a little pricey for out of season, when there are no special events on and your activities are limited by the weather, but if you live nearby there are season tickets available which would work out to be really good value.

Center Parcs Elveden Forest for Christmas

This December marked Harry's fifth trip to Center Parcs Elveden Forest, and our first trip with Mia, as well as being the third time that we've visited just before Christmas. We are lucky because we can visit in term time, which means that the cost of the holiday is fairly reasonable. This time, because of the new addition to our group we upgraded to a three bedroom villa - a new style executive three bedroom lodge. This Christmas we were visiting with an almost three year old and a six month old.

Among other benefits, executive lodges have free wi-fi, a daily maid service, whirlpool bath and sauna. The fully equipped kitchen was provided with a small amount of washing up liquid (you'll probably need more), dishwasher tablets, sponge scourer, cloth and tea towel. The bedrooms had televisions and hairdryers and there was a DVD player in the living room. Although towels are provided, you'll want separate ones for the pool.

Our lodge, number 655

The lodge came with a sturdy and clean highchair and cot (you need to supply your own cot bedding). Unfortunately we have yet to find a satisfactory location for the cot in any of the lodges we have stayed in - it will only fit in the largest bedroom, and you need to either rearrange the furniture to squeeze it in beside the bed, or push it into a corner where it blocks the entrance to the bathroom. In our lodge one of the bathrooms had a toddler step which was very useful, and Harry was also particularly taken with a large chalkboard on the wall and coloured chalk.

Drawing on the chalkboard

There is a well-stocked grocery shop on site, and the prices are pretty reasonable, certainly comparable to one of the big supermarkets (although they don't carry the special offers that we tend to base our weekly shop around). If you are looking for more choice there is a good sized Sainsbury's on a retail park minutes up the road in Thetford.

You can enter the village on the morning of your holiday from 10am, but you can't take your car onto the site or enter your accommodation until 3pm. You can use the Subtropical Swimming Paradise from 2pm. Try not to arrive at 3pm on the dot as you will get stuck in a queue to get into the park - arriving just half an hour later can make a big difference.

We've found Center Parcs to be a fantastic place for a holiday with our young family. The lodges are comfortable and well equipped. It's great to be able to spend so much time out in the fresh air, and we've always found plenty to keep us busy. Center Parcs is also a really good place to holiday with extended family or friends, as everyone can have their own space yet still spend plenty of time together.

Walking through the forest

Harry loved the Subtropical Swimming Paradise this holiday, especially the childrens' pool with two slides and an area for splashing around and playing with sand. The changing areas however can get quite busy. Visiting during term time means that there are lots of babies and very young children, resulting in queues for the family changing cubicles which include a baby change table. You need to leave your pushchair in a large communal area outside, not a problem for us with our scruffy thing but might be a concern for some.

One criticism we have of Center Parcs is that additional activities can be very expensive compared to equivalent activities outside the park, although this doesn't seem to deter people. The prices are clearly displayed around the village and on the website, and they can be booked online before your visit or during your stay (subject to availability). We've managed to holiday here a number of times without paying for any extra activities (well, apart from the Aqua Sana - but that's a special treat!) so look out for my other post listing of some of the things that you can do around the village for free.

In addition, don't necessarily expect a peaceful and quiet woodland holiday here - the military airbase nearby means that there can be quite a lot of aircraft noise, including first thing in the morning and sometimes also into the early evening.

I'm not complaining though, visiting at Christmas in particular is a really magical experience, and you can take advantage of a few extra free seasonal attractions, such as the singing reindeer and a firework display. For an additional cost, to get into the Christmas spirit you can visit Father Christmas in his grotto, go ice-skating or take part in a variety of festive themed activities and crafts.

I'm sure that we'll be back!

Pre-Christmas break at Center Parcs, Elveden Forest

We're currently coming to the end of a short break at Center Parcs in Elveden Forest. We like it here very much, and this will be the third year running that we've visited just before Christmas. It's a great time of year to visit with pre-schoolers, because being term time the prices are reasonable, and they really do go to a lot of effort for Christmas. We're always reluctant to spend any more money than necessary, and Center Parcs is not known for cheap activities. So look out for a couple more posts over the next few days, including one aimed at other cheapskate parents on ways to entertain yourself for free at Center Parcs.

Seconds before a rescue was required

Harry has had a great time, he has especially enjoyed the swimming pool this year (sorry...Subtropical Swimming Paradise). Mia has enjoyed a brief swim, and many walks through the forest. We have upgraded our accommodation choice to give us a bit more space, and the weather has not been too bad.

I'll leave you with a photograph of what has to be one of the highlights of the Winter Wonderland - the extremely well spoken singing reindeer. Video to follow!

The posh singing reindeer

Croft Farm and Celtic Cottages in Pembrokeshire, Wales

We've just returned from a great family holiday at Croft Farm and Celtic Cottages in Pembrokeshire, Wales. We had such a good time here that I wanted to write a general blog post about all the fun that we've had, in case it might be helpful to anyone else looking for a farm holiday with little ones. We visited for a week in September/October 2011 with a baby (4 months) and a toddler (2 1/2). See my previous blog posts beginning here for more details about the attractions that we visited locally.

The Cottage

We stayed in Talar Aur. It is a lovely cottage, with the unusual feature of having the bedrooms on the ground floor and living areas above. It is beautifully presented and absolutely spotless, with the fully equipped kitchen containing everything that we needed and more. It sleeps six, so we had plenty of space and the little ones could have separate bedrooms. The only additional thing that we would have liked was a hair dryer. We were able to request a travel cot and high chair, and stair gates were available. The cottage has a fully enclosed private garden and first floor balcony with views across to the swimming pool (to check how busy it is) and over the farm.

Most mornings we ordered baked goods from a local baker. If you place your order by 8pm, either by phone or text message, it will be delivered first thing the next morning. We tried many things from the menu and they were all delicious, varying from croissants and cakes to pizza dough.

Outdoor activities on the farm

We made the most use of the outdoor facilities, as we were very lucky with the weather. Every morning we went to feed the animals, and you could return to visit them whenever you wanted. We kept our scraps of food for the pigs, and there was sometimes a bucket of windfall apples to give to them.

There were always plenty of eggs to collect from the chickens which you can take away. The kitchen was well equipped with various cake tins and kitchen scales, so if you are a baker you might like to bring cake making ingredients.

There is a large, fenced trampoline, football pitch and childrens' play area (currently being renovated but still usable). There is lots of open space for running about, and of course lots of animals to see.

Indoor activities on the farm

The playbarn is a fantastic indoor space for people of all ages. It is open all the time, great if you have little ones that like to get up early. One end is fenced off for ride-on cars and trucks. There are three little pretend buildings (a cottage, sweet shop and garage), a slide, large sandpit and chalk board. At the other end of the barn is an air hockey table, football table and table tennis table. To one side are the hutches for the rabbits and guinea pigs, which you can go and visit whenever you like. When we visited, one of the rabbits had just had babies, which were so sweet!

There is also a second small indoor play area adjacent to the swimming pool. This has some soft play style equipment, a pool table and some Lego.

The swimming pool area is spotless and includes a sauna (which costs £1) and spa pool. It has showers but it was warm enough for us to just wrap in towels and walk back to the cottage. Below is the swimming pool viewed from our balcony.

Attractions in the local area that we enjoyed and would recommend

We found plenty to do in the local area. The beaches are fantastic and the scenery is beautiful. As I mentioned though, we were very lucky with the weather, and these are mainly outdoor activities.

Castell Henllys Iron Age Fort
Gwili Steam Railway
Cardigan Island Coastal Park
Cilgerran Castle

Beaches - we visited Poppit Sands, Mwnt and Aberporth - all are within easy driving distance (albeit rather narrow roads) and have plenty of parking (although we did visit out of season). Poppit Sands has a large free car park with easy pushchair access to the beach. Mwnt Beach is accessed via steps down and the car park is owned by the National Trust, so there is a charge for non members.

I've written about the places that we visited in my previous blog posts this week starting here.

We would fully recommend Croft Farm for a family holiday, and would love to return!