A Norfolk Staycation with Kids

February 8, 2021February 8, 20212 Comments

It seems 2021 will be the year of staycations and so I thought it was about time I shared our wonderful trip to Norfolk last summer for those wondering where to go this year. North Norfolk is home to miles of beautiful sandy beaches, some surrounded by woodland and sand dunes, some easily the most stunning beaches I have seen in the UK. I found everywhere to be so family friendly – and also doggy friendly too if you have a pet you like to take along on trips! There is so much to do with kids with lots of natural outdoor places to explore and miles of untouched sandy beaches that we could have easily spent longer than a week here. Cornwall always seems to be the most popular place to go for a UK summer staycation but Norfolk is much less crowded and seems to be a little peaceful corner of the UK that no one yet knows about. I am even considering going back again this summer myself!

So here are all the best things to do in Norfolk with kids (there are many) along with the best places to stay in Norfolk.

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48 Hours on the Suffolk Coast with Kids

August 24, 20203 Comments

Our holidays this summer are a little different to usual seeing as we can’t go abroad, but going on a UK staycation and exploring more of our own country has been a really wonderful adventure. Our roadtrip took us from Kent all the way up the coast through Suffolk and onto Norfolk. I don’t like being stuck in the car for too long when it’s just me and Evie (there’s only so much playing eye spy and listening to the Frozen soundtrack I can handle), so Suffolk was added into our itinerary as a brief stopover on our way up to Norfolk. But we ended up having so many fun adventures here that I hadn’t even anticipated for that I even changed some of our plans to stay in this part of the UK for a bit longer.

The coastline has some stunning child friendly beaches and traditional seaside towns as quintessentially English as can be. There is also the countryside to explore with its many farms, wildlife, nature walks and fields of gold to frolic in, as well as plenty of entertaining attractions for the whole family.

So here are my recommendations on what to do on the Suffolk coast with kids if you only have a couple of days:

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Glamping along the Garden Route with Africamps

May 7, 20192 Comments

I’d road tripped along the Garden Route several years ago and fell in love with its rugged natural beauty back then, so I couldn’t resist seeing it again on our recent visit. This stretch of wilderness along the South African coastline east of Cape Town is full of wildlife, lush green national parks and pristine beaches. Here, you can get away from the noisy city, towering buildings and the plush hotels of Cape Town. We would be getting out into nature so it only seemed fitting that we should stay in a more rural style of accommodation to match our surroundings.

Africamps offer glamping in several working farms in South Africa, providing guests with a completely natural setting but with the benefits of a boutique style of camping. As we were road tripping along the Garden Route over several days, we stayed at two of Africamps locations during our trip – Plettenberg Bay and Wilderness – both wonderfully peaceful retreats that gave us a true feel of wild Africa. The accommodations are down winding gravel tracks, far away from the road and civilisation with no chance of traffic noise – or noise of any sort for that matter except the tweeting of birds and the chirping of crickets.

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Child Friendly Wine Estates in the Cape Winelands

April 1, 20192 Comments

Yes, you read that title right! There are a huge amount of wine estates in Cape Town and the surrounding Winelands, and clearly they know that parents ~~want~~ need the occasional glass of wine as the majority of them cater so well to children and families. So of course we had to include several in our itinerary and our road trip through the Winelands became one of the best parts of our trip.

South Africa’s Winelands are just beautiful, all with spectacular mountain backdrops and lush green vineyards that fade off into the distance. Even if you’re not a wine drinker I would still highly recommend visiting at least a couple – for the picture perfect views as well as the variety of other attractions that can often be found on the estates aside from the wine tasting. I didn’t used to be much of a wine drinker but then I had a baby who turned into a toddler so now I am very fond of a glass (or two)! Travelling with an almost two year old I did wonder how well she would fare while us girls were all enjoying our wine but everywhere was so completely child friendly that actually the wine was just one of many reasons to visit. Each wine estate we stopped at had so much more to offer providing copious amounts of fun and activities for children, from playgrounds to animal parks and even non-alcoholic tastings for the little ones and those who don’t drink

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A Return Visit to Our Favourite Staycation Spot

October 17, 201810 Comments

It’s not often that I return to somewhere I’ve visited previously, but Clavertye Shepherd’s Huts is a place that I just couldn’t get out of my head from our girly getaway last October. So as autumn started creeping up on us again this year, I couldn’t resist planning a trip back.

This visit would be slightly different to last year though when Evie was just a tiny seven month old baby who didn’t do much more than sleep, giggle, try new foods and sit nice and still for all the photos mummy wanted to take. Whereas this year my extremely active little toddler is now walking, talking and has a huge personality that never stops.

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4 Fairytale Day Trips from Munich

June 28, 2018June 28, 20188 Comments

Apart from being a wonderful city in itself, one of the things I liked most about Munich is that there are so many other incredible locations close by that make easy day trips if you want to get out of the city and explore the region a bit more.

Bavaria is a beautiful part of Germany – so beautiful it makes me wonder why it took me so long to visit! The south eastern part of the country is full of traditional pretty little towns, picturesque mountain landscapes, lush green countryside and magical castles. Every place we visited just made me fall in love with this part of the country more and more so here are some of the best day trips from Munich that will have you feeling like you stepped straight into the pages of a fairytale.

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A Girly Getaway to Clavertye Shepherd’s Huts

November 6, 2017September 13, 201818 Comments

It’s no secret that I love a road trip and when we’re not travelling abroad I like to make the most of exploring a bit closer to home. Even though I passed my driving test well over ten years ago I have only just got my very own car last month and this was just the excuse I needed to plan a mini adventure with just me and my girl.

Clavertye Shepherd’s Huts was the perfect place. Set on a huge farm in the countryside near Canterbury just over an hour from home, meant that it wasn’t too far for me to travel alone with a (possibly screaming) 6 month young baby. Luckily for me Evie slept away soundly in the back of the car for the entire journey so when we arrived at the farm nice and relaxed and I spotted our tiny little hut far away in the distance at the top of the valley, I knew this was going to be a wonderful getaway.

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A Big Sur Escape at The Blue Dolphin Inn, Cambria

February 19, 2017February 20, 201711 Comments

Although our American trip was almost a year ago now, we had such a brilliant time that I still have so much to write about even so long after. I still haven’t written about all the amazing sights on our road trip through the Big Sur, I’ve not told you about everything there is to see in Vegas even if you don’t like gambling, and I’ve still not shared the details of our funky campervan adventures, so I thought it was about time the blog got back onto the USA.

One of my favourite parts of the adventure was our road trip along the stunning Big Sur coastline so I thought I’d start off by sharing one of the best places to stay along this part of the Pacific Coast Highway.

We had spent the previous night in Carmel-by-the-Sea, one of the prettiest little towns in California. There is so much to see and do through the Big Sur, from national parks and magical waterfalls to famous bridges and sandy beaches, plus more viewpoints along the coastline than I can mention in one blog post, each with a more gorgeous view than the last. We knew it was going to be a long day and wanted to take it slow so we would have time to fit everything in, so we decided to spend the next night in Cambria, a little beachfront town at the southern end of the Big Sur. The Blue Dolphin Inn was right on the seafront broadwalk, just steps away from the sand of Moonstone Beach, and I loved the idea of going to sleep and waking up to the sound of the waves.

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A Camping Weekend in Yosemite National Park

October 28, 2016October 28, 201619 Comments

One of the stops both Mr Ayla and I were looking forward to most on our American adventure was camping in one of the United States’ most incredible national parks. Yosemite is a four hour drive from San Francisco so, once Mr Ayla had got the hang of a slightly bigger drive than he was used to, we headed out of the city in our absolutely awesome campervan courtesy of Escape Campervans.

After driving along the windy tree filled roads, we arrived late at night and made our way to the Upper Pines Campground, right in the heart of Yosemite Valley, where we would be setting up our camper for the next couple of nights. It was pretty difficult but equally fun to set up the bed in the dark, find the bear locker to store our food in (no bears would be getting to my leftover cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory!), and find the toilets, all the while trying to be quiet so as not to wake the other campers nearby.

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25 of the Best Songs for an American Road Trip

June 3, 201614 Comments

With sunglasses on and the wind in our hair, a fold out map covering the dashboard, a giant pack of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and a huge $1.99 cup of Dr Pepper filling the car for snacks , and the wide open road ahead of us. Our great American road trip was everything I had imagined it to be and more.

I love the freedom of a road trip – being able to go wherever we want, whenever we want (as long as it fits in with my planned out itinerary of course!). We hopped out of the car to see the stunning blue coastal views along the Big Sur; grabbed lunch at quirky Route 66 roadside diners; came across the most random attractions like Bubblegum Alley in San Luis Obispo and added our own bubblegum to the wall (a gross kind of abstract art). We stumbled upon the coolest places to eat and drink; posed in front of wacky street art; hiked mountains and dipped our toes in the ocean. But most of all we did lots and lots (and lots) of singing.

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