Holidays

We've just got back from our annual holiday with AD's family.  Munchkin is fast asleep, which is par for the course after she's been partying with Sweetpea, so I'm taking the opportunity to do some writing before I wake her up for tea.

We spent the week in a farm cottage on the Lancashire/Yorkshire border.  The complex had won an eco-tourism award and I'm not sure if that enhanced or detracted from our experience.  The tap water came from their own bore hole, and stank of sulphur.  The owner had to drain the hot water system to clear the pipes so that Munchkin and Sweetpea could have a bath without chunks of sediment floating in it.  The decor also seemed a little tired and dusty - perhaps that's more environmentally friendly than regular painting and dusting.  That said, there was an on-site indoor swimming pool that went down rather well.

We've visited some lovely kiddy-friendly tourist attractions this week, and also had a fantastic meal out for our wedding anniversary:

Tourist Attractions:

1. Skipton Castle - Munchkin has wanted to go to a castle for a while.  This didn't disappoint.  There's just enough information to keep very small children interested.  The castle is sufficiently small for toddlers and people with limited mobility to walk round without getting exhausted.  We came home with the obligatory toy sword!  The best thing is, it's free for under 5s!  (Adults are £7.50 and older children are £4.70, though a family ticket is available.)
2. Thornton Hall Country Park - A farm park with some extras that we hadn't experienced before.  The girls collected eggs (though Munchkin was expecting them to be chocolate!), fed animals, and went on a barrel ride.  There was also a toddler music and yoga group there, which Munchkin enjoyed whilst Sweetpea staged a walkout.  Munchkin said her favourite things were bottle-feeding the lambs, and milking the pretend cow.  We attended mid-week toddler sessions, which were £5 for one child and accompanying adult, and £5.50 for each additional adult.
3. Bowland Wild Boar Park was on a similar theme, though some of the animals were more exotic, and the play equipment was more varied, albeit outdoor.  Munchkin milked another pretend  cow, and cuddled a chick.  She declined to feed the lambs - I think they were more boisterous than the Thornton Hall ones.  This was probably our most expensive trip at £23 for a family ticket (2 adults and 2 children) plus £6.50 for each additional adult.
4. Settle Play Barn - When we arrived, we were a tad put off by the industrial nature of the Play Barn.  It seemed a bit "rough around the edges".  This was soon forgotten when Nana Pat arrived!  A former playgroup leader, Nana Pat runs children's craft sessions at the Play Barn once a week.  We stayed all morning, and the soft play was barely touched.  Pat got the children making fathers' day cards and gifts.  Our two sat and made gift after gift.  Pat even stayed late so Sweetpea could make an extra item.  The children also went outside to watch the steam train that runs past the centre's backdoor.  The soft play is nice enough - we've probably been to better, but the activities make up for that, and the food is pretty good too.

Fine Dining
For our anniversary meal, we went to The Box Tree in Ilkley.  The food and the service were brilliant.  If it wasn't at the wrong end of the country, I'd love to go back.

I must go and wake up Munchkin now.  There's another blog in my head that needs to be written... Hope to find time soon.

Ireland with Munchkin

I'm finally getting back into the swing of things after our family holiday, my 40th birthday and my step-sister's wedding.  Maybe the blogs will be a bit more regular now... Or maybe not!  Munchkin's potty strike is over, though she hasn't done anything other than sit on it recently.  The journey back from Ireland wasn't as bad as expected, normal service has been resumed!  I think part of the problem on the journey there may have been teething.  Munchkin is still teething, but it was molars on the way to Ireland.  Now it's canines and they don't seem to be as bad.

We spent our holiday in County Monaghan in the Irish Midlands.  I got confused, and told everyone we were going to County Meath!  We stayed in self catering accommodation just outside the small town of Ballybay.  We had a great time, though I wouldn't call the area a tourism hot spot.  On the first two days, we visited small tourist attractions where we were the only guests and were given personal tours by the owners!  The Wildlife and Heritage Centre is worth a visit, though I was initially put off going by the emphasis on its collection of stuffed animals.  We managed to avoid most of them and concentrated on the live animals and birds.  The following day we went to Sam More open farm (so small it doesn't even have a web site!) where we saw lots of animals and birds, went on a buggy friendly walk, and Munchkin played on the vast array of bikes, toy cars and toy tractors.

We were close to the border with Northern Ireland and visited the north twice.  There's no form of border crossing and two things gave away that we were in Northern Ireland: the British road signs and fortified Police stations (:-().  We were there in marching season and there had been trouble in Belfast, so we gave it a wide berth.  Thankfully there was no trouble elsewhere (to be honest we weren't expecting any, so the idea of going to Northern Ireland didn't bother us at all).  We made use of our National Trust membership and went to The Argory.  Our walk around the gardens was enjoyable but I don't recommend the house for small children.  Admission is by guided tour only.  The tour is long, and at entirely the wrong pace for a toddler; she was bored and tearful and we eventually asked if we could leave.  It didn't help matters that the guide was a little nervous and forgot what she was saying every time Munchkin cried!  Our other NI visit was to Enniskillen.  This was much more successful.  We took a boat tour departing from Brooke Park, which has the best toddler playground I've ever seen.  The tour took us past Enniskillen Castle and several other sites of interest before stopping off at Devenish Island, where we saw the remains of a monastic site.  We took the first tour of the day, which I would definitely recommend as the later tours appeared to be packed.

There was a brilliant soft play close to where we were staying.  GR8 Entertainment in Castleblayney is free for children under 2 and has special offers for repeat users in the school holidays.  We also took Munchkin to the beach for the first time, at Blackrock near Dundalk.  The beach is sandy and child friendly, but not really suitable for swimming since the tide goes out a really long way.  All in all, it was a successful holiday and we'd like to go to Ireland again.