Featured Post

Dear Daisy, It is your first day at school...

Showing posts with label staycation. Show all posts

Days out: Powis Castle (National Trust)

We are lucky in that we have several lovely day trip options pretty much on our doorstep or at least a short drive away anyway. I thought I may start to share some of the photos we took at them and our mini reviews incase anyone else is looking for a day out!!

Powis castle is somewhere we have been several times and actually has become quite a special place to us after we took Daisy there in her first week of life and then did the same with Alex. 

You'll have seen me talk about this place a few times if you've followed my blog a while so I thought it only right that I would give it its own post! 

Powis Castle is a beautiful medieval castle, and grand country mansion in PowysWales. It's a National Trust property and is known for its terraced gardens with views out to the local surrounding hills. 







You'll see from the photos that it is a beautiful building and the grounds are stunning, we actually have never ventured in to the venue before as we've just made the most of the gardens in the good weather that we've been lucky to catch! 

The grounds are fairly large and have various levels and little areas to explore and enjoy. The only downfall for us personally is all of the steps you have to navigate with the pushchair,  I'm not sure I would manage going on my own with the babies! But of course the steps are part of the character and architecture so I wouldn't wish them to change or anything drastic like that, it's just something to bear in mind when visiting. 

They do have a little route that includes no steps but it is a steep bank and you actually miss half of the terraces and the views you get from there. 

Daisy loves it here and often visits with her grandparents and picnics in the garden. She even has her own little friend here, Alan the peacock!

Hayley xxx


Our first Center Parcs break: Whinfell Forest March 2016

Last week we decided to take a break and have a little holiday at Center Parcs, we decided on Whinfell Forest, Cumbria. There are various locations to choose from all over the UK but my husband thought he would tie in some walking up mountains so the Lake District was the right choice on this occasion! We really fancied going to Longleat to start with but mainly to visit the safari park that is close by, sadly that wasn't open until Easter so maybe next time.

I will share a few photos later in the week but for now I thought I would share a little video I have put together of our stay!

We were really impressed with the parc and the facilities they offer. Having visited Bluestone before and loving it, we wondered how it would compare or if it would be similar. They have their similarities but on the whole Center Parcs is much larger (or this site was!), but we loved both so hopefully one day will return. You can find some of our Bluestone posts here and here.

The accommodation was a similar style of modern lodges in the forest with everything you would need for a young family.

The facilities are great for all of the family, with activities such as the soft play (in most restaurants!). the tots zone, mini golf, the huge swimming pool, high ropes etc there was always something for us to do. Sadly we didn't get to do everything we wanted to do, we missed out things such as the bowling and going on the boats as we just ran out of time!

I do wonder how busy it would be in the peak of summer and how manic some of the areas such as the play parks and soft play would be, with school age children tearing around the toddlers but I am sure it would be just as good!




Enjoy!

Hayley xxx