5 Books that inspire kids to get outdoors

*Contains affiliate links  We all know how important it is for both mental and physical wellbeing to spend time outdoors especially as the world seems to be filled with more screens than ever. My boys love our daily walks and outdoor adventures but even they need some inspiration to get them going especially as we head into the colder months, so I thought I would share my 5 favourite books they help inspire us to get outside and having fun. 1. The Lost Book of Adventure   This is our current favourite and is packed full of beautiful illustrations and outdoor inspiration and makes us want to get our sleeping bags and tent and head out the door each time we read it. From tips on putting together your own survival tin, campfire cooking, wild garden camping, navigation, how to plan a bike ride, it's stunning adventure manual that is easy and accessible for both children and adults to use. 2.  Let's Go Outside - Jennifer Ward This book contains over 50 outdoor activities and p......

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Sugar Loaf Mountain Wales - Family Friendly Hikes

The Brecon Beacon National Park is well known as an adventure destination in the UK, with an array of hikes, waterfalls, rivers to canoe and mountain summits to tick off, you can easily see why. I feel incredibly grateful to live less than an hour away and it's a place we spend many weekends exploring. As my kids start to get older we are embarking on slightly more demanding adventures and as always love to share and encourage others to get outdoors and embrace all that the UK has to offer. If you're looking to take on a few mountains this year, with your kids in tow, The Sugar Loaf in Abergavenny is a great place to start. The Sugar Loaf is one of the highest peaks in the Black Mountains, standing at 596m (1955ft) but it's also very family-friendly and you often see very young children walking up with their parents. My eldest who is 9 wanted to have a bit of one to one time with me so despite it being a pretty chilly day we headed to The Sugar Loaf as despite the......

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Easter Adventures to be had across the UK

The days are getting longer, and the kids are on their Easter holiday break so if you’re stuck for ideas when it comes to keeping the kids entertained over the school break, don't worry, I have it sorted. There are eggs-cellent events for families taking place across the Easter school break all over the UK – and they don't all involve eating chocolate! Whether you want to take the family to an Easter-egg hunt or take a trip to a museum, check out my top Easter activities for kids in the UK. Whether you want to take it slow, wake up, get the waffle mix out and whip up a batch of waffles and have no plans or you want to pack as much in as possible, here are a few ideas.  RHS Flower Show Cardiff 12-14th April For the past three years I have taken my boys to the RHS Flower show and have always had a blast as there is an array of things to see and do and makes for a great day out. Located in Bute Park in the heart of the city, it the perfect way to get some garden insp......

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Ideas For Family Days Out In The UK

Blink and it’s half-term. At least that’s how it most of the time, as soon as we get back into a good routine we have another week or two off. I'm not complaining, my boys and I love any excuse to have an adventure however of course our budget won't extended to a holiday further afield every half term that comes around. Luckily there is plenty to do right here in the UK even with it's ever temperamental weather. So if your at a loose end or just need a little bit of inspiration then check out these couple of ideas. Kidzania – Westfield, London Have you ever told your children that money doesn’t grow on trees? Tired of feeling like a bank? Here’s your chance to not only give your kids a fantastic and fun day out, but maybe teach them a little lesson about work and earning their own money! A unique concept in children’s entertainment, Kidzania is an indoor city run by kids. Blending learning, fun and reality into a four-hour play session, your little darlings get to ch......

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5 reasons to visit South Devon

We recently had the chance to explore South Devon, a destination that has been on our radar for a while and I wanted to see why it's such a great place for a family weekend away and in all honesty we were really spoilt for choice in terms of family friendly things to see and do. As we only had three nights in the area we wanted to make the most of our time without it being too much and thats really something one has to bare in mind when travelling with young children, you need to go at a slightly slower pace. We also wanted to explore as much of the outdoors as possible take in all that Devonshire countryside and coastline. I can safely say that South Devon is a great option for a quick getaway and here are 5 reasons why you should consider it for your next weekend break.  1. Powderham Castle Powderham Castle was around a 10 minute drive from our apartment at Cofton Holidays  and was one of the first places we decided to check out as it had come high......

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Exploring Rhossili Bay

A place I instantly fell in love with on our recent trip to Swansea and The Gower is Rhossili Bay and I cannot believe we haven't been to this beautiful beach and cliffside spot before. As soon as you pull up into the National Trust carpark you are hit with the most fantastic view across the bay and coastline. You have a few options when it comes to what to see and do here - you can walk down to the long sandy beach, popular with surfers or you can head out for a hike on the Rhossili headland which is what we decided to do, water bottles in hand, eager to build up our appetite for lunch.  As you start out on the headland path you can see the small tidal island of Worms Head out in front of you,  you can walk all the way to worms head if you plan the timing right as it's accessible for just over 2hrs during low tide but beware many have found them stranded here. The walk along Rhossili headlands is simply breathtaking with sheer cliffs along one side......

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Gratitude List and Being Mindful

Every month or so I like to go back through my Instagram which works as a bit of a memory capsule of what we have done over the last couple of weeks and reflect on these moments. In the run up to Christmas I have felt like many very rushed, stressed and short on time, we made big plans for everything we want to do and sometimes just due to not having enough hours in the day those plans don't quite turn out how you would like. However in context to others who are facing real hardship at this time of the year, despite my own personal ups and downs it's really important to remind yourself of the small moments that have made up the month and be grateful for those times. Here is my little list of things I am currently really grateful as well as trying to seek some mindfulness in the festive rush 1.  Despite the sudden drop in temperature we have been making the most of each weekend and heaving out to some of our favourite places. This was taken at Dyffryn Gardens , a beauti......

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Embracing a No-spend Weekend

As much as we love to explore further afield it can become pricey so during our down time we love to embrace simple weekends staying close to home and taking advantage of all the amazing things on our doorstep here in South Wales. Living a stone's throw away from the city can mean that even local days out can end up costing a fair amount so taking steps to be more frugal especially on the weekends is important. Luckily we have plenty of outdoor places to explore in and around Cardiff which makes a great base for low-cost days out. We had recently been set a challenge by Scottish Friendly to get as much out of a weekend for as little as possible and who doesn't like a challenge? I thought the main thing we would struggle with was the little extras we pick up when we are out and about, such as coffee, a cheeky piece of cake or a sandwich. I always pack some apples, snacks and water but as we are often out over lunch time we do end up spending on food. This usua......

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My MacBook Battery Exploded and other Life Stories

So you may have noticed it's been a little quiet on the blog of late, this is purely down to the fact earlier this month I was sending a couple of emails from my MacBook, having a work catch-up session, minding my own business when suddenly my laptop started hissing quickly followed by loads of black smoke and fire. According to the repair technicians my laptop suffered a catastrophic technical malfunction, basically the battery exploded and caused unrepairable damage to MacBook, melting a few of the keys, scorching the back and battery acid going everywhere. Many asked me if it was plugged in at the time, it was not,  it also had not been on very long and there was no warning - it literally burst into flames. It was on my lap at the time and luckily I threw it off me straight away but that meant our carpet was burnt and scorched! You can see where it melted and burnt our carpet The thing is it couldn't of happened at a worst time! It took two weeks to sort a repla......

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