A trip to Dunstaburgh Castle & Craster

We decided to take a family day out to Dunstaburgh Castle during our trip to Northumberland.

The castle is north of the village of Craster.  We parked in a car park in the village (£2 to park all day) and took a lovely walk to the castle.  It was a glorious day so put lots of sun cream on Baby M, put him in his pushchair and got walking.  We went with my mum, dad and their dog Maddie too.  A true family day out.

The walk to the castle is lovely, through fields along the coast line.  The fields had sheep and cows in, they didn't seem bothered by people walking by.  Dogs must be kept on their leads

Dunstaburgh Castle was the focus of fighting during the War of the Roses.  It was build in 1313 by Earl Thomas of Lancaster.

You don't have to go into the castle grounds to admire its wonder however as English Hertiage members we got in for free.  Adult tickets cost £4.30, Child £2.60 and under 5's are free.

There were nesting sea birds (which were creating one hell of a racket) but it was great watching them flying to their nests.

It takes about 35 minutes to walk around the ruins of the castle and the views into the sea are amazing

You can also walk up into the 2 turrets of the keep.  The steps are spiral and get tighter as you go up so I only went about half way as heights aren't my thing

We then decided to walk to the beach.

If you do go to the castle and then the beach don't do what we did and forget the baby carrier.  It was really difficult along parts of the path with the pushchair and my dad and Mr M ended up lifting it over rocky parts.  We then got to the point where Mr M just carried Baby M and we folded up the pushchair.

It was worth it though as the beach was lovely.  Plus saying it was the school holidays and a glorious day it wasn't that busy either.  We had a lovely picnic.

This was the first time Baby M had been on a proper sandy beach.  It was also the first time he stood in the sea.  My parent's dog loved it too

We walked back to Craster and had a lovely cup of tea and cake in the Shoreline cafe, whilst we were in the cafe the local Sea King flew by and the crew gave us all a wave.

I would definitely recommend this as a day out for the family.  There is so much to see and do.  We walked 10 miles, according to my Fitbit.

We had a great time


This post has been added to Coombe Mill's #CountryKids link and Red Rose Mummy's #WHWH.  Go check what other families have been up to for great ideas for days out.

A trip to Alnwick Garden

We had a lovely visit to Alnwick Garden. 

My folks caravan is in Rothbury and every time we visit we drive through and also stop in Alnwick but we've never been to the Garden. 

You can park in Alnwick, spaces can be sparse due to the fact it's free or there is parking specifically for the venue which costs £3 for the day

We weren't really sure what to expect.  We decided just to go to the Garden however you can also get a joint ticket to visit Alnwick Castle too.  As a MASSIVE Harry Potter fan I was really tempted as the castle was used in the films for many scenes set at Hogwarts but the tickets were a little pricey (£26.25 per adult) so we decided to go to the Gardens this visit and do the castle another time.

A ticket for the garden costs £13.75 per adult (£13.06 if you buy online before you go).  We used English Heritage membership cards which gave us a 20% discount so our tickets cost £11.  Baby M was free although he got his own ticket which I loved.

You get a map of the garden (which we gave to Baby M and it ended up lost) but we decided to walk in an clockwise direction around the garden.

The first thing you notice when you walk into the garden is the impressive water feature.  It's beautiful.  we were also surprised at how big the garden was.

We started our walk around the garden and first we came to the Poison Garden.  This section is behind a gate and you can only enter with a guide.  This is included in your ticket price. 

We went on a really hot day so were informed that it gets hot in the garden so to take shade when we could during the tour.  We were surprised how many plants that they had in the garden that we have in our own garden!! It made us even more aware that you need to watch kids in the garden to make sure they aren't eating things they shouldn't.  They also had a cannabis plant which they have a special license for and is in a cage.  Most surprisingly the guide told us that they had a group of children in the garden recently who didn't know what stinging nettles were, or that if you are stung you should use a dock leaf.  I found this slightly depressing.

We then continued our walk round and went through the cherry tree grove.

Next we came to the Oriental Garden, which was stunningly beautiful

We then stopped for lunch.  There is a cafe in the garden and ice cream and fish and chips eateries just at the entrance but we took a picnic.  We found a shaded area in one of the ornamental gardens. 

We had great views down the water feature

We then went down the other side of the garden visiting the Bamboo Maze and Serpent Garden.  No snakes in sight but lots of little water features.  There is a big one that shoots up water and due to the hot day there were lots of children running around in this feature enjoying a chance to cool off.

The garden was so much bigger than we expected and we had a wonderful day. 

This post has been added to Coombe Mill's #CountryKids and Red Rose Mummy's #WHWH, check out both blogs for other great days out and see what others have been up to

Old Holly Farm

We have been looking for places to take Baby M locally that won't cost us a fortune to go.

We discovered Old Holly Farm which is a fully working farm that is open to the public.  Even better it's FREE!!  They ask that you don't bring your own food and therefore buy food (if you want to) from their cafe.

Baby M is fascinated by both our cat and family dogs so we thought we would love the farm.  We were interested to see what his reaction would be to all the different animals.

At first we had Baby M in his pushchair but we decided to take him out so he could get a better view of the animals

 There were a variety of different animals including cows, sheep, chickens, goats, horse, donkey and alpaca.  There were also some calves in a shed area that you could feed (and wash your hands after).

Due to the farm being a working farm there is a dairy on site and they make their own ice cream - it looked delicious.  We opted for a lovely lunch and scones instead.  Seeing as you can't being your own food I expected the prices to be a little high but they are really reasonable for the portion size you get, which is very generous.

There is also a play barn next to the cafe.  Children under 1 get in for free so we thought we would take Baby M in as it was quiet.  We had gone on a week day so there weren't too many people there, I can imagine it gets very busy at the weekends.  Baby M went on a toy tractor and had his first experience of a ball pool.  I think Mr M had more fun in the ball pool though - he's a big kid!

We had a lovely time and will definitely be going back again very soon.  I think as Baby M gets older he will enjoy visiting the farm more and more.

The farm is just off Junction 33 M6 so is easy to get to even in your don't live locally.  

This post has been included in this weeks #CountryKids over on Coombe Mill's blog - go check out other great ways to get out and about as a family

This post has also been included in Red Rose Mummy's #WHWH - go check out What's Happened, What's Happening.

Party in the Park RAF Leuchars

Last weekend we were in Scotland visiting Mr M's family.  His dad (Gramps) is serving in the RAF at Leuchars and they had a family day/concert as the base is closing this year and going to be used by the army.  The 'Party in the Park' was a way for current and previous families to celebrate their time on the base.  Mr M had worked on the base as a civilian when we lived in Scotland.

The line up looked good.  Gramps was looking forward to Big Country

Although it was a free event we all had to wear our wrist bands.

Now the one thing you can't guarantee in Britain is the weather.  The Friday had been glorious and the Sunday was forecast to be hot (which it was and we had a family BBQ - fantastic time was had by all).

As we started to walk to the venue we could feel spitting - it's ok it'll pass.  As we got to the venue the heavens opened!

Baby M was fine as he was in his pushchair cosy under his waterproof cover.  We got the brollies out and do what the British do best - go to the bar!

The setting was beautiful - the weather not so much.  It kept raining heavier and heavier.

Unfortunately due to the weather both flying displays were cancelled.

Once Big Country had played the fireworks started and the day ended an hour early.

If the weather had been better it would have been fantastic but everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and there was a great variety of families and some with 3 generations like ours all enjoying a day together



I've linked up with Coombe Mill's #CountryKids, go check out what others have been up to

Sunny visit to Brockholes Nature Reserve

My brother & I love wildlife so whilst he was visiting we decided to take a trip to Brockholes Nature Reserve. The reserve is run by the Wildlife Trust

Brockholes can be found near Preston off Junction 31 of the M6.  I felt like we were going on a magical mystery tour to get to the entrance, the signs seem to be leading you in a circle once you leave the motorway then the entrance to the reserve could be easily missed.  Thankfully there were 2 of us to look out.

We had a look at the map on our arrival and decided on the route we would take.

We decided to walk from the car park and turn right, walking all the way round the reserve.

The views were great

We continued to follow the path round, through some lovely shrubs, trees and gates

We walked through a wooded area where there appeared to be a few bird watchers gathered, we couldn't tell what they were looking at though.

We then came to Nook Pool.  Here we saw a Heron and lots and lots of dragonflies.  We also saw what we thought was a Glebe but later we weren't actually sure that's what it was.

We continued round and saw more dragonflies and a Kestral hunting.  We stopped and watched this for a while.  We then walked round to the main water area, there are 2 hides, one is a family hide so you can sit and watch the birds.  We saw swans, Canadian geese, Greylag geese and coots.  We even saw a family with 3 baby coots - too cute!!

We finished our walk with a quick visit to the floating visitors village

They have a shop, conference centre (where you can get married if you so wish) and a restaurant.  We had a quick walk around then returned to the car and it was getting really hot and Baby M was getting a little grumpy.




The reserve is free to walk around, you just have to pay for parking.  A camera registers your car registration as you enter so as you leave you go to one of the parking machines, enter your registration then pay the required fee.  We were there for just under 2 hours and paid £2.70.  The machines accept cash or card which is great.

No dogs are allowed due to ground nesting birds.

We had a lovely time and will definitely be returning again in the near future with Mr M.  I think as Baby M gets older he will be able to take part in the different events that take part too.


I've added this post to Coombe Mill's #CountryKids, go check all the other great posts for ideas for days out