Easter family holiday ideas
Easter is a great time of year to take a family holiday in southern Europe. It’s generally warm enough for playing at the beach (and even a quick dip in the sea) but cool enough…
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A trip aboard the Paddle Steamer Waverley …
Ever since taking a tour of London’s Tower Bridge, my six year old son has been desperate to see the bridge lift, ideally from a boat-based vantage point. So a few weeks ago, thanks to…
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10 reasons to visit Le Marche in Italy …
We spent a fantastic week in the Italian region of Le Marche this summer staying in a villa with friends in the countryside not far from the beach resort of Grottamare. I love Le Marche,…
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Milestones Museum Hampshire
Housed in a former aircraft hanger, incongruously located next to a bowling alley and cinema complex in Basingstoke’s leisure park is one of my family’s favourite rainy day haunts: Milestones Museum of Living History. Here, toddlers can dash across a cobbled…
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Slow travel on the Basingstoke Canal
Being stuck in a confined space with your family, in a waterway named after the town of Basingstoke, with a mediocre weather forecast isn’t everyone’s idea of a good day out. Nevertheless, my extended family agreed to my…
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Mt Etna: visiting an active volcano
Volcanoes have all the elements you need to engage children’s imagination: smoke, fire and huge scale destruction. As geography lessons go, volcanoes take some beating. With this in mind, I knew we would have to explore Mt Etna when I was…
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A villa holiday in Le Marche, Italy
This summer, we spent a week with friends in Le Marche, a region which stubbornly remains off the radar to most non-Italian holidaymakers in spite of it offering everything a family could wish for from a…
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Frascati: the perfect summer base for Rome
Rome is hot in the summer and I didn’t think I’d ever willingly choose to pay it a visit at the end of July. However, flight prices to our chosen summer holiday destination of Le…
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Tips on road trips with kids
In April we took our children on their first road trip, around the fantastic island of Sicily. Our boys are aged five and three so we ensured their first experience of being on the road…
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Free and cheap days out in Hertfordshire …
Like most parents, I’m always keen to avoid spending a fortune over the summer months on days out with my children. So I’ve compiled a list of some of the free and cheap destinations near…
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