Sheffield

 We had a day out to Sheffield not too long ago. We picked things that are unusual so there's more to Sheffield than this! Everything that we did was within the town centre too and we didn't venture out of the town centre.

The first place we headed too was the National Emergency Services museum. You had to pay a visit but the ticket is valid for a year. This was a museum dedicated to emergency services such as ambulance, police, fire, etc... It us set upon 3 floors and was very interactive for all ages. My teen really enjoyed the museum. You can climb several vehicles which adds it to the charm. It also has lots of information about the history behind each emergency services so we also learned a lot while playing around. There was also arts and crafts to do which my son really enjoyed! It is a must-visit museum for all the family.

Our next stop was the National Videogame Museum. Again, this is a paid museum and will need to book either the morning or afternoon session which lasts for 3 hours and we fully made the 3hours count. My son was in gaming heaven and even I, a very basic gamer, was thrilled to see some childhood video games and had to play them. You can play all the videogames that are displayed in the museum. In addition to all these games, there was also fun arts and crafts to do! This was such great fun. I thought I will have to sit on a bench for 3 hours and just watch the kids play but no, I was so busy playing vintage games which was great bonding time with each of my kids! This is now my son's favourite museum! Another must-visit museum in Sheffield!

We then walked around the Sheffield Town Centre and ended up in the beautiful Pleasure Gardens which had lots of water features! Not too far from it was the Winter Garden which is free to visit and a nice green space to visit. It also had art exhibitions too.

That was our day and where after such a long time, no one complained at any point! So Sheffield was a huge kids with the kids! It will not disappoint you!

Lewes

Such a small town but it kept us busy for the whole day. The history was quite fascinating to me as the town was founded by a Baron and his wife. The whole town was made by them! All the attractions were in walkable distance of each other so very easy to get to. You can also buy combined tickets to most attractions. Our first stop was Ann of Cleves house and museum. Do check opening days as there are not opened all week. Ann of Cleves never lived in the house which was a gift from Henry VIII after his short-lived marriage to her. It had plenty of things to keep the kids entertained even though it was not an impressive house. It had a lovely garden too. 

Our next stop was the Lewes Priory which was the wealthiest monastery in the country. You can see the ruins and I find them absolutely fascinating! There was still a working kitchen garden. It also had a nice view of South Downs National Park when you walked up the hill.

Then, we walked to the town centre through the beautiful gardens of  Southover Grange. It was a very beautiful garden with a cute little cafe. 

We reached Lewes Castle and Museum which was a small castle but a cute one. During holiday times, they got children activities. The views are absolutely stunning from the top of the tower. There's also a play area for kids in one of the towers. The tower stairs are quite narrow so do be careful! The museum was very educational with the whole history of Lewes explained. There were also a whole collection of artefacts and a huge mode; pf the town which was truly magnificient! 

It was a day well spent with beautiful views all around!

Ciao Nord Italia

We have been planning to go to Italy for 2 years now but last year, our flights got cancelled last minute and so, I had to make it happen this year because that's all I could think about. There were many instances that looked like it wasn't going to happen and up until, we landed in Italy, I was anxious that something bad was going to happen! You won't believe the relief I had when the Italian sun hit me and the stress just evaporated!

When you plan, it is important to know the following things:

- Book everything in advance including trains so you can save a bit of money especially when you go to touristy places. Booking in advance also guarantees you fast-track entry. 

- If you are planning to visit churches, you have a dress code to adhere to so please be mindful. No sleeveless tops/dresses, or shorts/short skirts. It's ok if you forget, as they'll provide you with a cover up which costs extra. Thankfully, I knew of this and packed clothes appropriately and always carried a scarf should a need arise to visit a big church!

- The way meals are served is very different. They get starters and starters but what I learnt was they get primi piatti (first plate) which is the first main course consisting mainly of carbohydrates and then there's the secondi piatti which is the second main course consisting of meat or fish! 

- Its nice to learn a couple of phrases in Italian as it will enhance your experience.

- Children under the age of 14 do not need to pay for national rail services. It is way cheaper than the British transport.

- Children under 10 travel for free on the metro and other mode of city transport system.

-It gets very hot between 12-2pm so always carry a bottle of water, a hat and plenty of suncream! There's water fountains everywhere so you can easily refill your water bottle.

- If you are travelling by public transport, depending on how much you travel, you can either get a single Metro ticket, a week's ticket (be careful - this applies to Monday to Sunday so if you buy a week's ticket on Saturday, it will only be valid under end of Sunday) or you can get a ticket that will get you 10 rides. You can use this metro on buses and trams too! 

- There's lost of stairs and pedestrian areas so wear adequate shoes. I always wondered how Italians seem to eat so much and had great bodies and now I understood. I didn't feel guilty stuffing my face with so much pasta and gelato because we easily hit a 10km step everyday.

- For big cities, there's usually a city pass which you can buy if you are planning to visit a lot and only worth if you are staying in a city for a couple of days.

- Nothing runs on time! The national rail services always were delayed!

- There's lots of mosquitos so pack mosquito repellent or long pyjamas.

We stayed in Milan in the outskirts of Duomo. The area was not touristy so we got to live and shop around like a local! It reminded me a lot of being in Paris, outside the city centre. We had the metro and trams on our doorstep which was very convenient because we were always travelling. 

We visited 5 cities in 6 days and here's how we done it (bearing in mind my kids are 10 and 14) :

- Bellano, Lake Como - I try to avoid touristy places as much as I can and so I didn't want to visit the regular Lake Como places. I also wanted to see a waterfall and stumbled upon this town called Bellano. It was further up the lake but so well worth it as it was less crowded and a beautiful charming town. The train journey was so scenic. Everything was within walking distance. We first headed to Orrido di Bellano, the waterfall, which is set between gorges and has a small entry fees but it was well worth it as it was beautiful.  We then had a nice stroll by the lake and had a nice refreshing swim in the lake. There was a playground by the beach too and plenty of nice places to eat! 

- Sirmione and Gardaland, Lake Garda - Another beautiful lake which I found out through reading a book.  However, I found it less charming and more touristy than Lake Como. Sirmione is really beautiful. There's a castle and grottos with a beautiful beach, Jamaica Beach to swim in! We then headed to Gardaland which is a theme park and got some really great rides that we all enjoyed which was opened till 11.30pm so plenty of time to try out as many rides as possible. There's a free shuttle bus from Peschiera del Garda station.

- Genoa - what a beautiful, beautiful city! You can easily do a couple of days here. Everything is within walking distance and you always seem to stumble on a palace. We first headed to the Maritime Museum which was such a good museum, very interactive and with so much to do and learn. As part of the Maritime Museum, you can also visit an actual submarine which was moored in the harbour. An actual submarine. It was so cool! My kids loved the submarine as much as I did! Next we walked to Christopher Columbus house as Genoa as this is his birth city. There's a museum to go with it with a small entry price. We then walked through Piazza De Ferrari which is an iconic square surrounded by beautiful architecture and water features. We then walked back to the harbour to visit the biggest aquarium in Europe and it was fantastic where amongst the usual stuff, we saw dolphins, seals, and manatees which we never seen before. Next time, we will stay a couple of days there as there is so much to explore!

- Venice - this was my daughter's favourite city. Thanks to Shakespeare, she already was in love with it and now that she visited it and more in love with! And what's not to love??? Cute bridges, charming stores, little roads everywhere until you get to St Mark's Piazza which was absolutely mind-blowingly stunning! You got St Mark's Basilica with its stunning facade, the numerous museums and library and not to mention the fascinating Doge's Palace. St Mark's Basilica is free to visit but the queue was too long. When you buy Doge's Palace tickets, you get to get the Archeological museum, Museum Correr, and Marciana National Library on the same day too! There are no words to describe what we've seen as it was just amazing! I spent more time admiring the architecture then seeing what was around me! Truly speechless. We then took a vaporetto to go to Murano as Laksha wanted to see glass blowing and for a very s,all entry fee, we were able to see an actual glass blowing demonstration. We were enthralled by the experience. We then walked around see the many glass shops along the canals. Another city, where you need to stay a couple of days to explore everything it offered!

- Milan - A small city which doesn't have much to offer so can easily do it as a weekend trip, except the Duomo Cathedral. You can go to the terrace which is the highlight! It's just so beautiful! There's a castle, Castello Sforzesco, turned into a museum. It is free to enter and visit the ground but not the museum.  Behind  the castle, is the Sempione Park. There are lots of museums but my kids didn't want to do any regular museums that they could do back in the UK so we skipped then. We also did a waterpark, Aquapark which was on the outskirts of  Milan and gave us so many slides over 3 floors but also other attractions both indoors and outdoors!

 Out of everywhere we ate, we only found authentic food in non-touristy areas so bear that in mind. I had a load of dream about amazing food but in the touristy places, the food was average. Always find, family run businesses or restaurants on quiet alleyways/roads. 

 We didn't want to leave Italy at all! We absolutely fell in love with Italy. Time flew so quickly!

Winchester

 On an extremely rainy bank holiday Monday, we headed to Winchester. Our first stop was to see King Arthur's Round Table which is held in the Great Hall. There's a small entry fee. The Great Hall has a gallery and the main hall, although small, it holds the Round Table with a small garden in the back. 

We then headed to the Town Centre with plenty to see and places to go. There's also a shopping centre which is the home of an immersive experience called 878 AD focusing on Anglo-Saxons Winchester. It took about 45minutes and quite basic which we were all a bit disappointed. 

We then walked to Winchester Cathedral and quickly went in to see around. Next, we headed to Wolvesey Castle with a beautiful walk along the river. The Castle (its ruins) is free to explore and was beautiful. I love ruins! There's something so majestic about visiting ruins and all the history that it holds.

Finally, we then visited the Water Mill, as part of the National Trust, which is free to visit. We really enjoyed visiting the Mill and reading about the history. It also had lots of interactive stations for the children. We could also go down to the river level and see the actual mill which my eldest liked a lot!

Overall, it was a nice day trip for a family with older children.

Day trip to Guildford

 Mahi was learning about Victorian workhouses this term so after some researching, I found one in Guildford. We never been Guildford so I wanted to explore the area too.

Our first stop was to walk around the vibrant town centre which for some reason had a festive feel.

We then walked to Guildford Castle which I wasn't expecting much but the grounds was beautiful with flowers in full bloom. We had a little picnic on the grounds. The castle was small but with the grounds it was beautiful. You had to pay a small entrance fee to explore inside the castle and go to the top of the castle to see views of the castle.

Next and final stop was the Spike Heritage Centre which is the Victorian workhouse. It was just outside Guildford. We had a great guide who explained everything about the workhouse. It was fascinating to see actual cells and how people lived in workhouses. Mahish had many questions and he loved to see an actual representation of what he learned at school in real life. There was also graffitis left by residents still on the door which had  some swear words much to Laksha's delight! I would highly recommend a visit and it is also reasonably priced.

It was a short day trip but a good one!

Scotland

Can you do half of Scotland in 4 days? Yes, you can! We were also blessed with sun, rain, hail, snow and wind! But we had a wonderful time and I cannot recommend it enough. The kids didn't want to visit any museums and castles and so this was a very outdoorsy trip. We stayed with friends so we barely spent any money on travel while we were in Scotland. We did a lot so here was our itenary:

Day 1 - Arrived at Edinburgh and travelled to Perth which is were we stayed. We took a hike to Kinnoull Hill Woodland Park which had stunning views and was an easy walk! We then just relaxed for the rest of the day.

Day 2 - This was my favourite day and involved a beautiful12 hour road trip across most of the North of Scotland. We went to a few waterfalls (as that's my weakness) along the stunning A9. We stopped at the idyllic village called Pitchlory where we saw the dam and Lady Bruar Falls! We then headed to Aviemore to explore Cainrgorm Mountain which was breathtaking with the snow covered mountains. You can get a furnucular to go on top of the summit but otherwise they were plenty of walking routes too! Next, we headed to Inverness with lots of stops on the way to see the many waterfalls we came across. Inverness = Loch Ness Monster which my son was dying to see! Loch Ness was just stunning. My son was trying to spot the monster and thinks he saw an outline of something! We then drove around the huge Loch Ness and headed to Fort William to see Ben Nevis. I cannot describe what I saw and how majestic the sight of Ben Nevis is. We had beautiful nature colours with the still water and the vibrant gorse... oh wow! It was a sight I will never ever tire of! We then drove back through Glencoe and it's numerous snow covered mountains! It was a day that I will forever cherish!

Day 3 - We had a slow day as we recovered from our busy day the day before. We went into Perth City Centre! There were a couple of castles which we saw from the outside. We also visited a couple of parks by the river.  There is an ice rink and a leisure swimming pool if you wanted to do some more things!

Day 4 - Our final day! We headed to Edinburgh by train from Perth! We got off at Haymarket as I wanted to visit Dean Village (thanks to Instagram) which was cute. We then walked from Dean Village to Edinburgh City Centre which was scenic as we walked around Edinburgh Castle! Once we got to the city centre, we headed to the Camera Obscura and World of Illusions which we all enjoyed so much. Because it was Easter, there was easter themed egg hunt trail around all 6 floors! The Camera Obscura was so good and it also provided us a quick historic tour of Edinburgh without us leaving our seat! Our next stop was a Ghost Tour with Mercat Tours because we love a good ghost tour to listen to some gory stories. It also took us underground to see The Vaults. Unfortunately, Mahi got a bit scared so me and him had to get out. Laksha stayed on and told me it was the best ghost tour she went on. She said it was eerie, dark but most of all the history of the place was well told! Once that was done, we walked around the city going through the Princess Street Gardens and Scott Monument. Please book in advance 

Before we knew it, it was time for our train home. We were exhausted but it was one of our favourite trips. Scotland had so much to offer and I can't wait to explore more!

St Albans

 What better way to spend a day in Easter eating hot cross buns where it originated? Yes, hot cross buns originated at St Alban's Cathedral! Unfortunately, we didn't have time to eat one when we visited the Cathedral as the cafe was so busy. The Cathedral was the home of the first British saint, St Albans and can see his shrine. The Cathedral also had a children's corner with dressing up costumes and arts and crafts. It is free to to visit too.

After lunch at a cute local cafe, we went to visit The Verulanium Museum which had an entry fee. The museum was well maintained and very child friendly with great exhibits for big and small! The kids thoroughly enjoyed looking at the artefacts and learning the history of St Albans. There was arts and crafts but you had to pay a small fee however, in the main hall, you can recreate your own mosaic for free. A great visit.

Right down the museum, there was a wildlife garden which was little but cute with a little pond and various habitats for insects!

The museum is conveniently located in the stunning Verulanium Park with its beautiful lakes! They had a splash park with a a very large play area! Plenty of space to bring your own games and run around too!

Overall, we had a great day and were blessed with great weather. A day well spent!

Durham

 First blog of 2023 writing about our first trip of 2023! We went to Durham for a couple of days during February half-term. We chose Durham because of its UNESCO World Heritage Site status and it was a budget-friendly tour where most of what we did was free! The few days we were there were sunny and quite warm for February. We stayed walking distance from the city centre and thankfully everything we wanted to see was walking distance so we didn't spend anything on transport except for the day trip to Newcastle (a mere 10mins on train).  if you are travelling by car there's much more you could do outside of the city centre such as Beamish (my kids are now happy not to do any living museums). I would recommend going when the children are older though because of the history and there's wasn't much to do for younger kids. 

We initially took a tour of the city centre, exploring the cobblestoned streets, taking in the beautiful sights along the river and just familiarising ourself with the city. This is what we did during our trip in Durham:

        - Durham Cathedral - it was beautiful. I loved looking at the stained windows while the organ was playing.  We can go up the tower too to see the view of Durham but there was a cost to it but otherwise it was FREE.

     - On the same square, you have Durham Castle (also student accommodation of Durham University). You have to book a tour to visit the castle which was in the single digits for the 3 of us. It is a small castle but the tour guide was great at explaining the  history of the castle. There's a trail activity that kids can do!

     - Museum of Archeology - a small museum about things found in Durham and its sources. There was kids' dressing up area as well as arts and crafts. FREE.

      - Cosin's Library - as a bookworm I love visiting libraries and this was a small, cute library with the beautiful smell of old books. I loved spying the bookshelves to see what books there were. FREE but only opened from Wednesday to Sunday

   - Town Hall - only open on Saturdays for the public so we missed it. I hear it is very beautiful and FREE

   

As previously mentioned, we also did a day trip to Newcastle. We mostly walked everywhere so we can sightsee all the popular stuff such as the bridges and the Newcastle Castle. and this is what we've done where we walked everywhere:

    - Discovery Museum - The kids really enjoyed this museum. They have so many different sections with lots of different activities to do! I wasn't expecting much but we were pleasantly surprised at how much time we spent there and how interactive it was. FREE

 - Seven Stories - if you have little bookworms then this is the museum for them. There's 4 floors dedicated to stories and authors. My kids were a little old for this but they did find things they enjoyed here and there. FREE

- Will we go anywhere without seeing a waterfall? Just outside the city centre, we went to visit the Jesmond Dene waterfall. Set amongst a woodland park, it was small but such a pretty city. There were stepping stones so the kids can hop across the banks. There was an old disused watermill which bought more charm to the place. 

In terms of eating out, Durham had so many choices so you don't have to worry about that!

Overall, it was a relaxing break from the hustle and bustle of our daily life and great to have done another relatively free holiday!