Tag: staycation

An Enchanted Tradition

We recently returned from our annual trip to the Enchanted Forest in Pitlochry, which has been our tradition for over a decade.

The theme changes every year, and this year was called Luminara, which tried to capture the interconnection, balance and harmony between nature and technology. We have been to a lot of light shows around Scotland over the years but the Enchanted Forest is easily the most ambitious and technologically impressive. There were a few parts that were stunning, but overall this wasn’t our favourite theme as it felt less cohesive and a bit more spread out than previous years.

We stayed at a lodge just a few miles outside of Pitlochry and it was ideal, cosy with slightly more space than a caravan. We took a trip into Pitlochry again the next day to visit the Christmas Emporium to let our daughters choose ornaments for their Christmas tree and a lollypop from the sweetshop, before we ate a simple but tasty lunch at Hettie’s Tea Shop.

It’s always interesting to chat to the locals while we’re in the area, who have a bit of an ambivalent relationship with the Enchanted Forest as it brings a huge amount of tourism and money to the local economy, but locals always complain about a month of parking restrictions and none of the locals we spoke to had been to the show themselves.

We stopped at Active Kids Adventure play with the kids on the way home, our girls had a hoot climbing up and sliding down the indoor tree house, then we went outside for trampolines, go karts and crazy golf. I think this might become part of our annual tradition too while the kids are young.

This was our last trip for the year, we’ve been so lucky to have had some lovely holidays from our visit to Northumbria in Spring, our Summer holiday in St Andrews, our glamping trip in September and finally The Enchanted Forest. Every time I’ve loved seeing the kids’ excitement about staying in a caravan or lodge, exploring somewhere new or returning to a favourite place together.

Have a lovely week. X

Glamping Anniversary Trip

To celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary (and 17 years together! 😱), we decided to take a family trip glamping on a farm just outside Edinburgh.

We used it as an excuse to visit two of our favourite attractions that were nearby, our youngest wanted to go to the zoo so we had a day at Five Sisters Zoo, where we were lucky to see the adorable otters gambolling around, eurasian lynx, lions, say hello to the new black bear and clouded leopard, and learned about the snow leopard and conservation efforts to save this beautiful creature which is struggling with the impact of climate change in the wild.

Our oldest daughter had asked to go back to the World of Illusions in Edinburgh which is full of interactive exhibitions that the kids loved exploring and playing with from kaleidoscopic mirrors to plasma balls, and of course the mirror maze and the vortex bridge.

The pod we stayed in was small but very cosy with an en-suite. The girls were happy to play on the swings, chute and toy cars scattered around the farm, and enjoyed toasted marshmallows in the firepit, while my hubby and I loved soaking in the private hot tub once the girls were asleep.

View from the pod and toasting marshmallows

We finished our weekend away with a trip to Dalkeith Country Park, which is one of our favourite places to take the kids. The kids spent the morning jumping and flopping on the bouncy pillows, climbing the forts and riding the flying foxes.

Though it was a busy few days, we all really appreciated some time together after so many changes to our family routines lately. Have a lovely week. X

Summer Holidays

This is a big week for our family as our oldest daughter starts school tomorrow, and as the summer holidays draw to a close, I’m reminiscing about one of the highlights of the summer, our family holiday in July. This year we booked a caravan in St Andrews, which is not actually that far away from where we live, but further away than we’d take the kids for a day trip.

The caravan park we stayed at was beside the Fife Coastal Path meaning we were a short walk from East Sands beach. We had the most incredible view from the caravan, and I loved seeing the sun set over the iconic sites of the Cathedral and Castle ruins every evening, and the sun burning through the mist in the morning.

We spent a good bit of time exploring local sites and attraction from Craigtoun Country Park, which has lovely grounds to wander and adventure playparks but also a variety of paid activities from mini golf and go karts to tractor rides and mini train, and bouncy castles through the summer. We visited the Aquarium, which is small but packed full of interesting creatures including axolotl, meerkats and a colony of Humbolt penguins. We picked strawberries and cherries at Cairnie fruit farm, where the kids also enjoyed trampolines, sandpit, go-karts and slides.

We drove up to Dundee for a day trip to see the RSS Discovery museum and the V&A Dundee. We’d visited the Discovery once before and it’s absolutely fascinating learning about Scott and the brave explorers in the Antarctic, there were plenty of interactive parts for the kids too, though they were a bit less awed by it.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from the V&A Dundee as I’ve only ever seen photos of the exterior, but it exceeded all my expectations. There were stem puzzles, games and blocks for kids to play with at the entrance, plus dress up areas upstairs, and there’s also a free exhibition of Palestinian embroidery (Tatreez) running from June 2025 to Spring 2026 to celebrate the 45th Anniversary of Dundee twinning with Nablus in the West Bank.

We spent a bit of time at the beach every day too, splashing in the waves, digging in the sand and building sandcastles. We also visited Jeanetta’s Gelateria almost every day for ice cream.

I don’t always feel we get the balance right between relaxation and activities, and as fun and exciting as our holidays are, it is always good to get home and settle back into our routines, but this was a really lovely break.

Have a lovely week. X

Spring Break

March has flown by and just finding some time to share a post about a little weekend away we had.

Our previous two summer holidays were in East Lothian but we decided to travel a little bit further down the East Coast and cross the English border into Northumbria on this trip.

It was the longest journey we’ve taken with the kids in the car, and we decided to break up the journey by stopping off at East Links Farm Park for lunch. We’d visited East Links on our summer holiday last year, but now that our youngest is bigger and more mobile it was even more fun. We had a great time riding on the little train that circles around the farm with sheep and lamas coming up to say hello, racing around on go karts, exploring the fort and tumbling around in the soft-play barn. Then it was back into the car for the last leg of our journey.

We stayed in a caravan park, on the edge of a little lake that had swans, ducks, coots, and geese waddling by our decking to our daughters’ delight.

It’s still early spring, and the weather did dictate our activities a bit, but still managed to find plenty to do. One of the highlights of the trip was a visit to Northumberland Zoo, a small family run zoo, where the capybaras, armadillos, Arctic fox and tiny harvest mice were the unexpected stars of the show.

I also couldn’t resist a visit to Barter Books, somewhere I’ve wanted to visit for ages, which is a huge second hand bookshop built in Alnwick’s old Victorian railway station, where we all found a book.

As is often the case with UK holidays, the sunniest day was on our way home so we decided to take advantage of it to visit one of our favourite beaches, Coldingham Bay in the Borders. My husband and our oldest daughter went searching for critters in rock pools, while I built sand castles with our youngest, before we regrouped to climb Homeli Knoll and collect sea glass on the rocky beach on the other side.

Our holidays are always fun, but never the relaxing or peaceful break we imagine with two little rascals pulling us in all directions. After our travels, there’s something really comforting about returning home and settling back into our familiar routines, but we’re already thinking about our summer holiday.

Have a lovely week. X

An Enchanted Adventure

October has been a beautiful month with the trees all putting on a glorious show of colours before they shed their leaves. One of the highlights of the month for us is always a trip up to Pitlochry to wander around our favourite light show, the Enchanted Forest.

This year has been particularly hectic for my husband and I with lots of work changes and stresses, so instead of a single night, we decided to make a weekend of it and booked a lodge at Moness in Aberfeldy. Of course, travelling with two little kids is never as peaceful or relaxing as we imagine, but we all had fun.

The Enchanted Forest is such a long standing tradition of ours and we’ve had so many different experiences here at different points in our relationship from getting engaged here 11 years ago, returning as newlyweds a month after our wedding to now sharing the excitement with our little daughters.

The Enchanted Forest was really wonderful this year, the theme was Symphony of Nature, and it had some really beautiful and impressive features. It was a late night for our little girls but both really enjoyed it, especially with the treat of chips for dinner and a toasted marshmallow afterwards.

In contrast to last year, when the kids didn’t really want to stand still and preferred the interactive parts, our favourite parts of the show were the sections over Loch Faskally with a display projected over the water, and another part with beautiful fountains of water all illuminated. Our youngest also loved wandering across the sparkly bridge and finding all the frogs hiding in the forest.

Moness Resort was a great place to stay, we woke to the excitement of ducks quacking at our windows demanding breakfast every morning, before enjoying an early swim in the pool we early risers had all to ourselves. It was a lovely weekend adventure, but I’m glad to be safe and cosy at home while the winds howl, rain patters against the window and Storm Ashley rages outside. Have a lovely week. X

Summer of Sand and Sea

There’s been a slight crisp coldness sneaking into our mornings foreshadowing autumn, and after a very overcast and rainy summer, I’m ready for the change of season. Despite the weather, the highlight of my summer was our family holiday, when we returned to East Lothian again though a different caravan park this time around, right beside the seaside.

There’s something so wholesome and nostalgic about the simplicity of spending days at the beach paddling in the sea and filling our pockets full of shells then returning to a cosy caravan in the evening.

The weather was patchy with the best days on the days we arrived and departed, and mostly overcast with showers in between but it didn’t stop us from doing everything we had planned. We are none of us very good at relaxing and usually squeeze a lot of activities and sightseeing into our holidays, and this trip was no exception.

We enjoyed a morning in Edinburgh visiting the Camera Obscura and World of Illusions, which exceeded all expectations and was really fun with so many interactive displays that the kids loved. Our favourite parts were feeling (and bumping) our way through the mirror maze and the Vortex, which is an optical illusion with a bridge through a revolving tunnel that had us all clinging to the barrier convinced we were going to be tilted and turned upside down.

We also returned to one of the beautiful beaches we’d discovered on our holiday last year. Coldingham Bay is a beautiful beach with colourful beach huts and crashing waves favoured by surfers and bodyboarders. My husband and our oldest daughter went splashing in the waves while I built sandcastles for our youngest to smash. We all took a wander along the hill and found a rocky little shingle where the kids entertained themselves stacking pebbles, before returning to the main sandy beach for one last splash in the sea before heading home. It was definitely one of my favourite parts of our holiday.

As much as I love our little family holidays and look forward to so many more as our girls grow, after a few days living in close quarters in a caravan, it’s always good to return home to be reunited with our cat Mara who stayed home with my dad pet-sitting while we were away. Now we’re looking forward to autumn and another wee break away. X

Capturing Castles and Spotting Seals at Culzean

Back at the end of September, we took a wee day trip to Culzean Castle to make the most of a mild and sunny day. Culzean is just a few miles south of our favourite beach, Croy Shore, but is only somewhere we’ve visited a handful of times, though I can see it become another family favourite because there’s so much to see and do. It’s an NTS property so entrance is free for members, but for everyone else it’s £18.95 to visit the Castle and grounds, or £13.95 for the grounds (free for under 5’s), which is what we chose as with the adventure playpark, woodland walks, private beaches and gardens to explore, you could easily spend a whole day there.

Our first stop was at the Adventure Cove, a huge wooden fortress fulls of slides and places for children to climb and explore. During the summer holiday, I imagine this place is mobbed, but it wasn’t too busy when we visited.

We made our way through the woods to the beach, and it was really lovely to see clear views of the Isle of Arran and Ailsa Craig across the sea but from a different angle than we’re used to. While we were trying to work out what the stretch of land between Arran and Ailsa Craig was on the far horizon (our best guesses were either the Campbelltown Peninsula or Ireland?), we spotted a couple of seals swimming much to our delight – though annoyingly I didn’t have my camera with me so could only get a few zoomed-in, blurry shots with my phone.

Afterwards, we headed back towards the main entrance and the castle itself. Culzean Castle is perched on the cliffs and always reminds me of Manderley from Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca. I would’ve liked to visit the gardens in front of the castle but by this time the little one’s energy and patience were flagging so settled for a quick glimpse through the ruined arch, then a break for refreshments at the Home Farm Cafe before the journey home. It was a really lovely day and somewhere that we’ll definitely return to. Have a lovely week. X

Summer Scenes and Moments

Taking some time to reflect on some of the highlights of a lovely summer as the season draws to a close before we step into autumn.

We’re an outdoorsy family and have enjoyed lots of time outside in both sunshine and the rain, with a surprisingly fun showery day at Mugdock Country Park, wrapped up in waterproofs and wellies feeding ducks in the pond, splashing in puddles and wandering the forest trails.

We made another visit to our favourite beach, this time chasing the waves at high tide with our fearless daughter charging into the sea up to her waist.

We spent a very changeable day at the Kelpies that began with us appreciating the statues from every angle, then having ice cream and hot chocolate in the drizzle, before the sun came out again and we wandered along the canal path admiring the narrowboats, my husband and I reminiscing about a narrowboat holiday with friends several years ago and daydreaming about possible future family holidays.

There have been afternoons spend in the garden, keeping cool in the paddling pool with ice lollies or thick slices of chilled watermelon, or the little one foraging for strawberries and blueberries in our little food forest, or zooming around our cul-de-sac on her scooter and bike while we chat to our neighbours.

While playgroups and sensory have been off for summer, we’ve spent sunny mornings at the park, swinging, sliding, trampolining and chasing our shadows. Oddly, these morning visits to the park reminded me in an unexpectedly nostalgic way of my maternity leave during lockdown when the parks were all that was open to us. There was also an early morning visit to the skate park at Kelvingrove where the little one rode her balance bike up and down the ramps before the older skateboarders, roller skaters and biking kids arrived.

There was another visit to Five Sisters Zoo, this time with my husband’s family to celebrate a birthday. We spent most of our time shepherding three exuberant little cousins, but still managed to catch glimpses of the red panda in the treetops, beautiful newly arrived Cheetahs, and the rescued lions – which I only recently realised are male having misread the sign the first time I visited (they were castrated when very young and never grew manes). It’s seeing the animals – especially those that were rescued – so healthy and content that makes Five Sisters Zoo such a special place to visit and a zoo that I’m happy to support.

We also had a walk around Rouken Glen Park recently too, seeing the river and waterfalls a mere trickle of what they usually are, but the woods still lush and green. We are really lucky to have so many lovely places to explore nearby.

Even though we didn’t go away for a holiday this summer (we’re saving our annual leave and money for my maternity leave later this year) and the weather has swung from scorching heatwaves to thundery downpours, we’ve had a summer full of fun, laughter and made some lovely memories together. Have a lovely week. X

Midsummer at the Beach

A mercurial spring has finally given way to a warm and sunny summer, and a couple of weeks ago we had a long overdue visit to the beach. When it was just the two of us, my husband and I would always visit in January (if not on New Year’s Day itself) for a bracing walk along the shore letting the icy winds blow away the cobwebs of the year before and sharing a flask of hot coffee while we chatted about our hopes and plans for the year ahead, but this year was half gone before we found time to visit.

Croy Shore is a beautiful beach with incredible views of the Isle of Arran across the sea, but lacks the amenities of other beaches along the Ayrshire coast such as cafes and ice-cream vans or public toilets (closed during the pandemic and never reopened) which mean our visits here always require a bit more planning like toilet breaks on the way and packed lunches.

My husband had checked the tides before we arrived so we knew that it would be out allowing us to explore the rockpools that are usually hidden underwater at high tide, and after scrabbling across some very slippery seaweed covered rocks we found crabs, an eel and starfish.

Our toddling daughter was fascinated by all the aquatic critters but she probably had just as much fun digging in the sand and splashing in the sea.

After a lovely afternoon of picnicking, walking barefoot in the sand, paddling in the sea and exploring rockpools, we were all tired but refreshred and ready for dinner, showers and baths to wash the sand from between our toes, and an early night. Have a lovely week. X

High and Low Tide at the Beach

With the exception of a week of thunderstorms and torrential rain, we’ve had a wonderful summer of blue skies, sunshine and warmth, and we’ve been making the most of the good weather and our freedom after all the travel restrictions and lockdowns last year. We’ve had a couple of very different trips to our favourite beach recently, arriving at low tide one day, then high tide just a few days later, something we always forget to check before visiting.

When our visit coincided with low tide, we had a quick picnic lunch before exploring the rock pools that are normally submerged while the tide is in. My husband (an astrological crab) set about trying to find the biggest crabs he could, and found a couple of very aptly-named, red-eyed and fairly hostile, Devil Crabs, while I searched for starfish. Our daughter was fascinated by it all, pointing at rocks for us to turn over and giggling whenever we held up the aquatic critters we’d found for her to look at.

Just a few days later, we returned while the tide was in and spent an afternoon walking barefoot in the sand, paddling in the waves and letting the little one dig in the sand. We’re used to having the beach to ourselves most of the time, but this was the busiest we’d ever seen it with dog-walkers, swimmers and paddle-boarders, families picnicking and even someone trying their luck with a metal detector.

Whatever the weather, and regardless of the the tide being in or out, Croy Shore is always one of my favourite places to visit, and it’s been lovely to spend a few days there this summer. Have a lovely week. X