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Celebrating Christmas with Friends at Luminate – Walton Hall and Gardens Light Trail in Cheshire
We were meant to be exploring the Luminate light trails twice, once at Southport in Lancashire and then again in Warrington in Cheshire. However Storm Arwen put a stop to our first visit. Then we did start to wonder if our second would be rained off too. Thankfully though, it went ahead and we were able to visit with our friends this weekend. Luminate Cheshire Location Luminate in Cheshire is at Walton Hall & Gardens close to Warrington and really easy to get to from the M6 and M56. We met with the friends that we made at Spike’s baby group when she was tiny. In total there were three…
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Arnside Knott at Twixmas – a December day looking over the Bay
We spent a lot of time between Christmas and New Year out and about in nature. But lets face it – there wasn’t much else we could do was there? Those few days were some of one of the few recently where were weren’t in strict lockdown. Therefore, technically, we were able to travel slightly over the county lines to enjoy a walk. So we headed to Arnside Knott. Finding Arnside Knott Arnside Knott has been on my walking wishlist for some time. Its only about half an hour or so from our home so it was easy enough to get to. What wasn’t so easy was finding the route…
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Being prepared on a day out – dealing with the inevitable with a little help from Safe and Sound Health
This post was written in collaboration with Safe and Sound Health, but all words and pictures are my own. Spike is so accident prone. She falls on also every day out we have. So in addition to the standard lunches and water bottles, I like to be prepared with the essentials like kids plasters whenever possible. Our trip to Grizedale Forest Last week we made the most of the sunshine and headed to our nearest Forestry Commission Forest, Grizedale. We’d spent New Year’s Day here and loved it. We spend a lot of our weekends travelling out to places like thi. Spike loves to explore and me and T like…
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Our favourite child friendly walks in Lancashire and Cumbria
We’re an outdoorsy family. Choosing to spend time outside whatever the weather. We always go for long child friendly walks on weekends and when we aren’t working and have done for years. For a while we had to limit what walks we were doing due to pushchair use and when Spike stopped using the pushchair longer walks were harder. But even then, we still went out when we could. Walking in Lancashire and Cumbria The North West has some fantastic walking routes so we are lucky where we live. Lancashire has loads of walks across its 1,000 square miles. The Lake District in Cumbria is only a half hour drive for…
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Our favourite North West Days out around Lancashire and Cumbria
Lancashire and Cumbria are awesome places to explore and while a lot of attractions are currently closed, it still has a whole host of places to enjoy for walking and playing in nature. We’ve been talking a lot about our favourite attractions and walks in and around Lancashire lately, to put onto our Lockdown wishlist and I thought it would be good to do a little round up of some of our favourite Cumbria and Lancashire days out! Free days out I’ve a whole blog post about free Cumbria and Lancashire days out from a few years ago, but to be honest we hadn’t even gone that far when I…
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Our Post-Lockdown Wishlist – Days out and things Spike is looking forward to when we can start the new normal
Early on in Lockdown Spike was asking a lot of questions about the things that we could not do. It was devastating to hear her ask to visit people, see friends and go on her favourite days out and have to say no. While the questions have stopped, the wishing has started. Spike refers to the lockdown period we are in as the ‘Nasty Bug Days’. She often wishes to do things as soon as these days are over. I have told her we’ll keep a list of all the things she wants to do and try and get to them as soon as we can. Here’s just a few…
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Getting lost in the maize – Our experience at Lakeland Maze Farm Park
I’ve wanted to go and do a Maize Maze for as long as I’ve known about them. Living in the north west we have a few to choose from. But I’ve heard good things about Lakeland Maze, so we decided to catch it at the end of the season on what will probably be the last nice day of the year! About Lakeland Maze Farm Park Just south of Kendal, not far from the motorway, it was really quick and easy to find Lakeland Maze farm Park. It has play areas, outdoor trampolines, soft play, animals and an incredible Maize Maze. The maze chances every year and this years theme…
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Finding our favourite Paw Patrol characters – The Brickburn Paw Patrol trail
This bank holiday we were lucky enough to spend time with our friends in the sun. Looking for something exciting to keep the kids entertained we thought the ‘Brickburn’ Trail would be fun! What is Brickburn? Featuring Lego built statues from kids hit show Paw Patrol, the World’s First Paw Patrol Brick Trail takes place this week, for one week only, in Blackburn town centre. Pick up a map, and head to the 15 locations, following the trail to answer the questions about the statues. Submit the answers, along with the Paw Patrol Quiz, and be entered into a prize draw! What the kids thought With our group we had…
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“Haha! I’ve gone all funny mummy!” – Introducing Spike to the weird and wonderful at Camera Obscura and World of Illusions
Last weekend we were very lucky to be gifted entry to the fantastic Camera Obscura and World of Illusions in Edinburgh. We were on a mini break on the Berwickshire coast. With it having such good links to Scotland’s capital, and the forecast looking a little grey, we thought we’d take a jaunt into the city. We knew Camera Obscura and World of Illusion would be a great family day out. However, we didn’t know it would be as amazing as it was! Funny mirrors As soon as you reach Camera Obscura and World of Illusions on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile, you are treated to magic mirrors. They are on the…
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A trip into the hills – The Pendle Sculpture Trail
So this post has been a while in the making. Truthfully I’ve wanted to write it for ages but kept forgetting about it when I was sat down to write! However with #NationalWalkingMonth upon us I realised it was the perfect time to talk about amazing walks me, T and Spike have enjoyed. The Pendle Sculpture Trail is high on the list. We took to this trail on New Years Day. I always love to go for a walk on New Years Day, it starts the year right and clears your head. This trail was no different. It was harder than expected but with such a mild day to enjoy,…
