When my eldest was about to start university, my emotions were all over the place. I was delighted and proud that she had a place on the course and in the city that she’d chosen. With memories of my own time as a student in my mind, I was happy to think of the life […]
What to do when your teenager doesn’t want to go on your family holiday
If your teen happily goes along with all of your family holiday plans, then move along now, there’s nothing for you here. If you have younger children, and can’t imagine them not wanting to travel with you, then make the most of it. They may laugh at your jokes and think that you’re beautiful, wise […]
5 of the best: UK castles for family stays
My favourite game as a child was Kings, Queens and Princesses. This involved lots of dressing up, flouncing about and bossing around imaginary minions with my brother and sister for hours on end. My sister’s and my bedroom was our castle, but we’d have loved to have stayed in a real one. Here are five […]
Football family holidays
My youngest lives and breathes football. This is positive in many ways – he’s getting fit and learning about teamwork when he plays, he enjoys reading about the sport, loves going to matches with his Dad and actually wants to go to school on the days when it’s his turn to play football at lunchtime. […]
Turkish chocolate pudding
The youngest loves cooking and wants to make Turkish Chocolate Pot this weekend – I’m in. I adore chocolate. I especially need some as a van crashed in to my car today and I’m feeling a bit pathetic. (I reckon J.K. Rowling was spot on when she gave Harry Potter chocolate after he encountered […]
Top 5 family trips
Since we got back from our half-term trip to Turkey, Bella and I have been thinking about where we’d like to go next year. Here’s a round-up of five new family trips we like the sound of. (I’d love to go on any of them. Bella fancies Sri Lanka). Mountain Kingdoms www.mountainkingdoms.com is offering a […]
National Trust family working holidays
My husband had a wonderful time yesterday afternoon outside clearing up leaves and attacking shrubs with the hedge trimmer. At Easter we were guests on a National Trust family working holiday to Stackpole in Pembrokeshire which I wrote about for The Independent. The youngest loved the day our group spent chopping down shrubs in the woods […]
Horrible Histories Magazine – Issue 1
The kids were delighted when the first issue of the new Horrible Histories magazine www.hhmag.co.uk came through the letterbox for us to review. Bella won the fight to have first read, but chucked it over to her brother after a few minutes – even though they both love the books http://horrible-histories.co.uk and TV series she said she […]
The best flight ever
We went to the Dionysos estate in Turkey with Exclusive Escapes for the October half term holiday. I’m writing about the trip in print, but wanted to write here about how we got there because it was my best experience of air travel since my first plane journey 25 years ago. When I heard that […]
The Story Museum, Oxford
Oxford’s Story Museum aims to celebrate and promote children’s literature, and is due to open in the city centre in 2015. It should be a great success if its patrons are anything to go by: the fabulous authors Philip Pullman, Michael Rosen, Michael Morpurgo and Jacqueline Wilson. At the moment the museum runs outreach programmes in […]
