Category Archives: Camping

Yorkshire is Great plus Sand le Mere holiday offer

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Being an ex media teacher I am a sucker for a good advert.  I’m off on my hols to Yorkshire and the recent TV ads Have a Brilliant Yorkshire got me even more excited. Maybe it’s because it has chips, snogging and pillow fights in it.

Unfortunately that ad isn’t available to embed, but this one takes my breath away and is worth a click, I think it makes perfect background music to this post:

I’m a Northern lass, I’ll always have an affliltation with Yorkshire.  I was born in Yorkshire, although I’ve never lived there. When I was 18 something pulled me back,  I went to Uni in Hull. I had an awesome time.  More recently I had the most amazing holiday near Malham Tarn with my parents shortly after L was born.  I went camping with my friends from Uni in Scarborough when I was pregnant with G. Last year we took our caravan to North Yorkshire. I love the mix of sea, hills and interesting stuff to do, it makes holidaying with kids so easy.

So when I was asked if we would review a trip to Sand Le Mere holiday village in North Yorkshire, in a holiday home, I said yes please. I reckon their £5 million pound redevelopment with a swimming pool, kids’ club and entertainment is going to make family holidaying in Yorkshire even easier. Plus Mr A has been nostalgic for the holiday park experiences of his childhood. I’ll admit they were never part of my holiday experience growing up, but that’s part of the reason I’m keen to try it.

The new pool design at Sand le Mere Holiday Village

We’re going in August and I will be sharing how we get on.

Special offer

There are money-saving offers available at Sand Le Mere. These include 10% off breaks taken during the school holidays, between 1-9 June, 20 July to 1 September and 26 October to 2 November. To claim the saving, you need to use the offer code EB10 and book on the website www.sand-le-mere.co.uk. I also spotted a 30% discount today on the website, for holidays at other times.

The Have a Great Yorkshire ad, if you want a look, is here

Disclaimer: I will be taking a 4 night break August 2012, in return for sharing and reviewing my experiences at Sand Le Mere.  This post does not constitute a review.

Camping in North Yorkshire – Robin Hood’s Campsite, Slingsby.

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Robin’s Hood Campsite, Slingsby, isn’t actually in a forest but it is well sheltered and makes a perfect hideaway for the modern Robin Hood looking to go camping in North Yorkshire.  Snuggled up next to some pine trees our pitch was a real sun trap.

The village of Slingsby is beautiful and sits under the watch of a tumbledown castle which, due to conservation and safety you can only admire from afar. I think this adds to the village’s allure. While we were there the scarecrow festival was on and we spent a wonderful afternoon scarecrow hunting round the village and rummaging for bargains at the carboot.  (And scouring the rightmove app on our iphones to see if we could afford to move there, camping in North Yorkshire gave a us a huge taste for Yorkshire life.).

Nearby Dalby forest is great for walking and cycling. The visitors centre has a range of trails ranging from a 4km suitable for children’s trailers and tailgaters to extreme mountain biking tracks. The bike hire place even fixed my bike for nothing. We enjoyed testing out our bikes and trailer and crashing on the giant outdoor beanbags at the cafe with ice lollies.

Scarborough is small and compact enough for our 2 and 4 year old to manage a funfair ride, boat spotting in the harbour, arcades, chips, viewing the lifeboat, a play on the beach all well within our three hour free parking on the seafront, and without the pushchair.

Howard Castle is beautiful. It was a sunny day so we paid for the garden only, although the owners make it clear that children are warmly welcomed into the house. The 2 yo was very excited about the tractor train ride down to the adventure playground. In a clearing in woodland by the lake, the playground is imaginative with wooden houses and musical equipment. We had a cup of tea from the cafe and enjoyed the sun. We gave the 4yo the map and she took her role very seriously. We found the atlas fountain and the secret garden before stocking up for a BBQ at the farm shop.

Robin Hood’s Bay is absolutely beautiful, it is a long winding walk down hill to the sea so we were glad we packed light. There were lots of distractions on the way so we managed, much to our surprise, to get both kids down and up again, without the pushchair or too much fuss. We timed it badly as the tide was coming in and it was a busy Bank Holiday Sunday but it was still worth braving the crowds for a short visit as the 4yo managed to catch a crab in her bucket and the 2yo caught a bear fish.

Catch of the Day at Robin Hood’s Bay

Scampston Hall near Malton was perfect for little ones. The nature trail had them utterly captivated and the 4yo was soon calling out instructions from behind her clipboard and busily crossing off things she had spotted. Finding Scamp the Mole’s house was a real highlight. But the insect hotel and the boat also caught their imaginations. The cafe had beautiful food and cakes.

Insect Hotel

While I went to a friend’s Royal Wedding party in another part of Yorkshire, my husband took the children to Playdale Farm Park near Scarborough. There was lots to keep them occupied inside and out.

Camping in North Yorkshire is hugely varied and has lots to offer.  If we had more time…

We forgot the pushchair so didn’t brave York. A friend suggested using a caravan site just out of York, near to a park and ride which sounded like a great way to explore York which has loads of child friendly museums.

We also ran out of time to do the North Yorkshire Moors Railway where Goathland Station became Harry Potter’s Hogwarts station.

We would fully explore Whitby.

We would do the coastal cycle path.

Facilities:

The children’s playground is very new and has swings, springy animals and a large climbing structure.
Tent camping is next to the playground, caravans are further away.
Toilets, showers and wash cubicles were always clean, and hot water plentiful even over a bank holiday.
Shop sells snacks, papers, odds and ends and alcohol. A fish and chip van visited while we were there.
Owners are helpful and friendly.
A clean, roomy and well sheltered site, a great base, really well situated for moors, forest, city and sea.

Heaven is being stuck in a tin can, in a muddy field, with my family

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Five of my very favourite things.  Can you spot them?
We went away in the caravan this weekend.  It rained nearly non stop, probably because it was half term.  But we had a great time.  It was a weekend of simple pleasures.  I love our caravan, it’s where we go to recharge and reconnect as a family and escape suburbia.  I know there are cynics who say being trapped in a tin box, with your nearest and dearest, over a wet weekend, sounds like hell.  But it works perfectly for us.  In fact I think it has made a huge difference to our life as a family.

Looking for the blue sky
After a day out exploring somewhere new, I love being tucked up under my tartan rug with three of my favourite people, admiring the view out if the window or listening to the sound of rain on the roof.  Small pleasures that go a long way.  We have tried tent camping and a campervan, but with small children, and the amount we wanted to get away, a caravan was the ideal solution.The caravan has brought us closer as a family.  When you are living in a small space you talk about things more, you are physically closer, you notice the little things about each other’s lives and you have to be more patient.  You have to be organised, but then possessions are minimal and so much less distracting than at home.  Being in the outdoors recharges your batteries, as does a simple change of scene.  Caravan living is a learning curve and it takes adjustments to make the most of it, but I think it is a very worthwhile mindset.This weekend we got together with family at Titesworth Reservior.  After a long lunch in the cafe overlooking the reservoir, the rain finally gave in and the sun came out.  All six kids, dressed for mud, ran round chasing balls, rolled down hills and collected sticks to make pretend campfires.   There’s a different mentality when we are caravanning, we have more adventures, explore more, we say ‘pah’ to bad weather stopping us from playing.

Initially I posted the picture above of Mr G and the window pane, as my Silent Sunday.  But then I decided this one sums up my Sunday better.

cat girl
Ok I admit there was a simultaneous tantrum when they both got back to the ‘van cold, wet and muddy, but how much did they enjoy snuggling back under the blankets again when we got back.
Ok, so it’s not quite the vintage Cath Kidson caravan of my dreams yet, but it’s so cosy.

Lo and behold I just visited Tara’s The Gallery and the theme this week is simple pleasures.  It depends which side of the camping fence you sit on, but for me it’s full of simple pleasures.

The Gallery: How to celebrate your birthday while pregnant.

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It’s always difficult to know what to do on your birthday when you are pregnant or breastfeeding.  At least for me, prior to kids, birthdays and alcohol went hand in hand.My Uni friends and I have a camping weekend every May bank holiday, which is also my birthday. I missed a few due to pregnancies and births, but the year after Mr G was born I was fed up to the back teeth of low key birthdays.  The girls suggested camping in our back garden as I was still feeding the boy who would have nothing to do with bottles.  At the last minute I decided to do something special to thank them for giving up on a more exciting location and hired a tipi. The Cowgirls and Indians theme followed.

I love this shot as my good friend N is so “in role” both as man and cowboy.  There’s a kind of moody smoke haze from the chimenea (yep I only learnt that words in my thirties) but easy relaxed smiles of good mates catching up too.

Earlier in the day we staged a cowboy raid on the “Native American village” in which baby G was “stolen”.  I have no idea where this idea came from although I have googled this and found a couple of Native American legends about stolen babies, so there must be some kernels of truth in our narrative.  As you can see we stayed in role brilliantly, no one had the giggles and no baby was harmed in the making of this legend.

The wonderful Anji from The Tipi Hire Company came and put it up in the garden, at very short notice, and supplied us with cushions and mats and fairy lights.  Tipis are magical and very cosy, later we gossiped into the night watching the stars through a flap in the roof.
It was the best low alcohol birthday celebration, although I just remembered hiring a motor boat on the Thames for my birthday while pregnant with Miss L which rates highly too:
Me and Miss L as a bump at the wheel
Mr A
Looking forward to sharing in everyone else’s celebrations this week. Why not visit The Gallery?
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