Wot I did on my holidays
Friday;
We set off from York at 9:15 and had a really good run. We stopped at Belsay Hall and had a walk round the empty hall, which was great with Alex as he could run riot through all the interconnecting rooms without us worrying about him damaging anything!
We had a good lunch in their tea room then had a walk round the quarry garden. It would be even nicer in the summer when the garden was flowering.
We got to the holiday cottage at 3:30, got in and explored. Its an interesting bungalow, with more ornament the practicality. If there had been a floor plan on the website we wouldn’t have rented it as the family bath room is up a very wobbly spiral stair case in the kitchen. The only ground floor bathroom in the ensuite in Grandma’s room. The bath in the family bathroom is under the eaves, buried in a corner and back wards so you have to crawl over the taps to get in! Bathing Alex is going to be fun. Tesco delivered on time, its a very useful thing when you book a holiday cottage.
After putting Alex to bed we are sitting drinking Julia’s Malaga Dulce. Its very nice, everyone approves.
Saturday;
Alex slept really badly, and Mum’s and our room has a daft, inaccessible mezzanine floor connecting them, so he kept her awake too. He cried most of Saturday morning, and was clearly not well, so we bundled him into the car for a long drive so he could sleep.
On Saturday we set off for Vindolanda. Its been 5 years since I’ve been (on honey moon!) and a lot longer for Grandma. We stopped at Otterburn Mill, which has very good cheese scones and a stuffed sheep, so Alex was happy too! It still has bits of the old mill machinery, including a tenter frame to stretch the wet wool cloth tight and allow it to dry, hence the expression being on tenter hooks!
We got to Vindolanda about 11:30, and had a leisurely walk through the site. There has been more of it excavated since I was there last, including finding a new temple. Alex slept most of the way round, but he did eventually wake up and stuff down some lunch. He had a quick walk round the alters to Jupiter and threw an offering into the beck, then it was back in the car. Mum had to drive down to the museum to pick us up as Grandma could not walk back up the bank and across the bank.
We tried to drive to the Roman Army Museum, but we got turned around and had to go the long way! The museum was interesting from a living history point of view, as there was lots of recreation and a 3D film, but all the artefacts are at Vindolanda. You can handle everything in the museum though, so its probably better for kids, if they are awake and not feeling like death warmed up! Alex did muster himself enough to press a few buttons.
We got home with a very poorly boy, who didn’t even want dinner, sat in the bath for a while and then went to bed. He slept really badly again, but thats not really surprising, as he was ill and slept most of the day. I gave up at 6 and took him into bed with me, then at 6:30 Mum called him and he went in there.
Sunday;
Alex has been a lot happier today, as have I as using a honey drawing plaster I finally got the bramble splinter from Wednesday out of my left thumb! As the Boy was still really tired we took him on his first boat ride round the Farne Island. He loved it, mainly sitting on me and looking out, but he did stand up to watch the seals, which were watching us back. We had lunch just outside Seahouses where we’d caught the boat, then headed off to Preston Pele tower and had a walk round Craster, bought some kippers and had a cup of tea. We then came back to the house, and I ended up sitting outside writing postcards while Alex slept in the car for a while. He woke up badly and spent a while curled up with me on the sofa watching Cbeebies. He actually ate a fairly decent dinner of very fresh salmon, but I suspect if he had the sore throat I am developing that would explain why he didn’t want to eat or drink yesterday! I’m hoping I’m more run down from 2 night’s bad sleep then actually ill. If he sleeps well tonight he’ll hopefully be fully back on form tomorrow.
Monday;
We set off to go to a play barn, but we’d got down to Morpeth only to read the leaflet and find the place was closed on Mondays. We ended up driving down to Tynemouth to go to the Blue Reef aquarium. It was very good, even though I got an odd feeling of Deja Vu, I must have gone there on honey moon! Mind, the weather was better as that was August and not blowing a force 9 gale. There were lots of tanks and interest, we saw the seal being fed and putting on a show, and there were even little step stools inside the door that Alex grabbed and took round with him with great pride! I’ve never seen wolf fish so active, possibly because they were in the dark. They did have otters in doors, which you could smell well before you got to them. The price was pretty reasonable too, especially compared to Sea Life Centres and its about the same size a Scarborough.
After that we decided to drive up the coast back to Thrunton. Alex woke up and started having a screaming fit, so we stopped at Warksworth Castle so he could have a run round. He spent most of it trailing round after me bawling as I refused to pick him up. Eventually he settled down and got a carry on my shoulders. He was a bit cheerier coming home, but we didn’t stop on the way. He wasn’t great in the cottage, I sat him down away from the TV, rather than having his nose pressed to it, and he came at me with murder in his eyes! I faced him down and he changed his mind, but if I hadn’t looked round I think I would have got a kicking. He definitely has my temper.
It would appear most of us are now brewing up a cold, so it might be a quite morning at home tomorrow.
Tuesday;
It rained, all night! It kept waking me up, as since motherhood I have become much more sensitive to little noises and can’t now sleep through anything. Alex got up this morning and proved he has not quite got the hang of hide and seek, as when asked if he was hiding behind the door he giggled and said no!
We went for a walk in Thrunton woods this morning, in the drizzle, just Alex, Mum and I. A 2 mile walk can feel like a really long way when you walk half of it at toddler speed, but he did enjoy splashing down the streams that used to be the path! We didn’t see any red squirrels, but we had to traverse two puddles which could have been classed as ponds.
We got back, put him to bed, had lunch and attempted to go to a rather interested sounding farm shop and rare breeds place, but all the quick roads went to Rothbury, which thanks to the Coquet is flooded. Its probably a good job we didn’t get through! We eventually got to Goats on the Roof to find it was closed. Bum. We stopped for tea at Longframlington Gardens and according to the lady there it shut some time ago. That was a long and pointless drive, though the Coquet was quite impressive. We did see a red squirrel driving back, so that one each day so far.
We’ve spent the end of the afternoon building marble run towers and listening to the rain. We need to find an indoor attraction tomorrow, which will be fun as Northumberland is all impressive landscapes and castles!
Wednesday;
We drove up to Etal castle, which was interesting as 1 flood turned us back and we had to chance one at Heatheredge Mill. We decided as we had a four wheel drive and coudl still see the white lines we’d go for it! Oddly the railway was not open as it runs down the riverside from the mill. Alex enjoyed Etal castle, there was much hiding, jumping out and shouting boo all round. Mum also bought him a rather nice plush purple dragon, who immediately had a mud bath!
After Etal we headed for to the Union Change Bridge and the honey farm. They had vintage tractors and insects = happy Alex.
Then it was Berwick on Tweed, and a walk around the town. The walls are interesting with a misbehaving toddler, so we put him back in the pushchair and headed back to the car before he plummeted off the edge!
After Berwick we went to Foulden Tithe barn, which I can’t recommend as its just a closed building in a church yard, and then Edrom Norman arch, which is an old church doorway tacked onto a memorial behind Edrom church. We found it eventually! Some of the carving was interesting but it was so weathered a lot of the details have been lost. There were some classic skull and crossbones graves, and Alex seemed to like running round grave yards, especially if he could chase his dragon which kept popping up round grave stones. We then took the slow road home and had Craster kippers and potato scones for tea. Very nice!
Thursday;
Today we set off for Jedburgh. We drove over and stopped at the Jedforest deer farm, only to find it didn’t open for another 40 minutes. The whole place was rather scruffy and the poor pigs had not been cleaned out for a while. We decided not to wait.
We went through Jedburgh to the Teviot smokery and water gardens. The smokery had nothing interesting and the water gardens were closed, but we had some nice scones and looked at their fish stocks. We went back into Jedburgh and visited Mary Queen of Scott’s house, which was a nice tower house with a big garden, so we had a look round and Alex and Mum went and played while the rest of us had a look round. We nipped back to put some money in the donation box, and if you put it in one slot Mary got crowned, and in the other she got beheaded, much to Alex’s delight!
We then headed up to the castle gaol, which was quite good and child friendly. Alex was a bit tired when we left but he’d had a good day. We came back via a couple of antiques centres as Libby wanted a big jug for spring water. The 2nd one was selling all sorts of wool tops, so Mum has build up the felting supplies again. They also had excellent home made cakes!
Bathing Alex was once again fun as the bath here is bloody silly, tucked into a corner with the taps facing the wrong way so you have to climb over them to get in and the steps at the back. The family bathroom is also up a crappy wobbly spiral staircase in the kitchen, we won’t be renting this pace again! I did enjoy being in the garden within 2 meters of a red squirrel who hadn’t seen me and was burying nuts.
Friday;
We packed up the car, tripped all the beds, rearranged most of the furniture we'd moved and headed off to Alnwick. The gardens were good, and as I was expecting less from the Poison Garden tour I enjoyed it more. I was also to inform the guide on artemisia absinthium, following my own 'research' at home with wormwood and vodka! There were some big peddle diggers at the base of the grand cascade and we had trouble extracting Alex from them. This may have been a good thing as all the fountains in the serpent garden were turned off for half the time we were there. As soon as they were turned back on Alex went and used several of them as a very posh welly wash! After bimbling round the garden for a while we went to the gift shop, which is a lot more twee and crappy then I remember, sent Lib and Grandma back to the car and had a quick go on the wobbly bridges on the giant tree house. Alex was too tired to be really interested, so we set off for the longest drive home ever! We got stuck in every cue and behind every tractor and caravan going. After 3 + hours Alex was turning cartwheels when we finally let him out at Grandma's. We let him have 20 minutes before loading him back into Lib's car for the final leg. He got the front seat and the promise of seeing Daddy, so he wasn't too bad. Simon met us at the cattle grid and took Alex ditching while Lib and I emptied the car. I was just about to feed him dinner when Janet, Eric, Andrew, Rory and Jack arrived, so dinner was delayed! We eventually got him settled, fed and in bed then went off to the pub for our dinner. It was very good as usual, and the evening was quite pleasant.
Today I've been doing accounts and then had to go to a special events meeting, on a gala, meaning I had to leave the booking office empty, not good. Alex was quite happy playing with his Dad, Grandpa and cousins. We eventually put 3 very tired boys to bed, the others have gone off to the pub, and exhausted by over a week without a good night sleep and the general excitement I am heading off to bed!
We set off from York at 9:15 and had a really good run. We stopped at Belsay Hall and had a walk round the empty hall, which was great with Alex as he could run riot through all the interconnecting rooms without us worrying about him damaging anything!
We had a good lunch in their tea room then had a walk round the quarry garden. It would be even nicer in the summer when the garden was flowering.
We got to the holiday cottage at 3:30, got in and explored. Its an interesting bungalow, with more ornament the practicality. If there had been a floor plan on the website we wouldn’t have rented it as the family bath room is up a very wobbly spiral stair case in the kitchen. The only ground floor bathroom in the ensuite in Grandma’s room. The bath in the family bathroom is under the eaves, buried in a corner and back wards so you have to crawl over the taps to get in! Bathing Alex is going to be fun. Tesco delivered on time, its a very useful thing when you book a holiday cottage.
After putting Alex to bed we are sitting drinking Julia’s Malaga Dulce. Its very nice, everyone approves.
Saturday;
Alex slept really badly, and Mum’s and our room has a daft, inaccessible mezzanine floor connecting them, so he kept her awake too. He cried most of Saturday morning, and was clearly not well, so we bundled him into the car for a long drive so he could sleep.
On Saturday we set off for Vindolanda. Its been 5 years since I’ve been (on honey moon!) and a lot longer for Grandma. We stopped at Otterburn Mill, which has very good cheese scones and a stuffed sheep, so Alex was happy too! It still has bits of the old mill machinery, including a tenter frame to stretch the wet wool cloth tight and allow it to dry, hence the expression being on tenter hooks!
We got to Vindolanda about 11:30, and had a leisurely walk through the site. There has been more of it excavated since I was there last, including finding a new temple. Alex slept most of the way round, but he did eventually wake up and stuff down some lunch. He had a quick walk round the alters to Jupiter and threw an offering into the beck, then it was back in the car. Mum had to drive down to the museum to pick us up as Grandma could not walk back up the bank and across the bank.
We tried to drive to the Roman Army Museum, but we got turned around and had to go the long way! The museum was interesting from a living history point of view, as there was lots of recreation and a 3D film, but all the artefacts are at Vindolanda. You can handle everything in the museum though, so its probably better for kids, if they are awake and not feeling like death warmed up! Alex did muster himself enough to press a few buttons.
We got home with a very poorly boy, who didn’t even want dinner, sat in the bath for a while and then went to bed. He slept really badly again, but thats not really surprising, as he was ill and slept most of the day. I gave up at 6 and took him into bed with me, then at 6:30 Mum called him and he went in there.
Sunday;
Alex has been a lot happier today, as have I as using a honey drawing plaster I finally got the bramble splinter from Wednesday out of my left thumb! As the Boy was still really tired we took him on his first boat ride round the Farne Island. He loved it, mainly sitting on me and looking out, but he did stand up to watch the seals, which were watching us back. We had lunch just outside Seahouses where we’d caught the boat, then headed off to Preston Pele tower and had a walk round Craster, bought some kippers and had a cup of tea. We then came back to the house, and I ended up sitting outside writing postcards while Alex slept in the car for a while. He woke up badly and spent a while curled up with me on the sofa watching Cbeebies. He actually ate a fairly decent dinner of very fresh salmon, but I suspect if he had the sore throat I am developing that would explain why he didn’t want to eat or drink yesterday! I’m hoping I’m more run down from 2 night’s bad sleep then actually ill. If he sleeps well tonight he’ll hopefully be fully back on form tomorrow.
Monday;
We set off to go to a play barn, but we’d got down to Morpeth only to read the leaflet and find the place was closed on Mondays. We ended up driving down to Tynemouth to go to the Blue Reef aquarium. It was very good, even though I got an odd feeling of Deja Vu, I must have gone there on honey moon! Mind, the weather was better as that was August and not blowing a force 9 gale. There were lots of tanks and interest, we saw the seal being fed and putting on a show, and there were even little step stools inside the door that Alex grabbed and took round with him with great pride! I’ve never seen wolf fish so active, possibly because they were in the dark. They did have otters in doors, which you could smell well before you got to them. The price was pretty reasonable too, especially compared to Sea Life Centres and its about the same size a Scarborough.
After that we decided to drive up the coast back to Thrunton. Alex woke up and started having a screaming fit, so we stopped at Warksworth Castle so he could have a run round. He spent most of it trailing round after me bawling as I refused to pick him up. Eventually he settled down and got a carry on my shoulders. He was a bit cheerier coming home, but we didn’t stop on the way. He wasn’t great in the cottage, I sat him down away from the TV, rather than having his nose pressed to it, and he came at me with murder in his eyes! I faced him down and he changed his mind, but if I hadn’t looked round I think I would have got a kicking. He definitely has my temper.
It would appear most of us are now brewing up a cold, so it might be a quite morning at home tomorrow.
Tuesday;
It rained, all night! It kept waking me up, as since motherhood I have become much more sensitive to little noises and can’t now sleep through anything. Alex got up this morning and proved he has not quite got the hang of hide and seek, as when asked if he was hiding behind the door he giggled and said no!
We went for a walk in Thrunton woods this morning, in the drizzle, just Alex, Mum and I. A 2 mile walk can feel like a really long way when you walk half of it at toddler speed, but he did enjoy splashing down the streams that used to be the path! We didn’t see any red squirrels, but we had to traverse two puddles which could have been classed as ponds.
We got back, put him to bed, had lunch and attempted to go to a rather interested sounding farm shop and rare breeds place, but all the quick roads went to Rothbury, which thanks to the Coquet is flooded. Its probably a good job we didn’t get through! We eventually got to Goats on the Roof to find it was closed. Bum. We stopped for tea at Longframlington Gardens and according to the lady there it shut some time ago. That was a long and pointless drive, though the Coquet was quite impressive. We did see a red squirrel driving back, so that one each day so far.
We’ve spent the end of the afternoon building marble run towers and listening to the rain. We need to find an indoor attraction tomorrow, which will be fun as Northumberland is all impressive landscapes and castles!
Wednesday;
We drove up to Etal castle, which was interesting as 1 flood turned us back and we had to chance one at Heatheredge Mill. We decided as we had a four wheel drive and coudl still see the white lines we’d go for it! Oddly the railway was not open as it runs down the riverside from the mill. Alex enjoyed Etal castle, there was much hiding, jumping out and shouting boo all round. Mum also bought him a rather nice plush purple dragon, who immediately had a mud bath!
After Etal we headed for to the Union Change Bridge and the honey farm. They had vintage tractors and insects = happy Alex.
Then it was Berwick on Tweed, and a walk around the town. The walls are interesting with a misbehaving toddler, so we put him back in the pushchair and headed back to the car before he plummeted off the edge!
After Berwick we went to Foulden Tithe barn, which I can’t recommend as its just a closed building in a church yard, and then Edrom Norman arch, which is an old church doorway tacked onto a memorial behind Edrom church. We found it eventually! Some of the carving was interesting but it was so weathered a lot of the details have been lost. There were some classic skull and crossbones graves, and Alex seemed to like running round grave yards, especially if he could chase his dragon which kept popping up round grave stones. We then took the slow road home and had Craster kippers and potato scones for tea. Very nice!
Thursday;
Today we set off for Jedburgh. We drove over and stopped at the Jedforest deer farm, only to find it didn’t open for another 40 minutes. The whole place was rather scruffy and the poor pigs had not been cleaned out for a while. We decided not to wait.
We went through Jedburgh to the Teviot smokery and water gardens. The smokery had nothing interesting and the water gardens were closed, but we had some nice scones and looked at their fish stocks. We went back into Jedburgh and visited Mary Queen of Scott’s house, which was a nice tower house with a big garden, so we had a look round and Alex and Mum went and played while the rest of us had a look round. We nipped back to put some money in the donation box, and if you put it in one slot Mary got crowned, and in the other she got beheaded, much to Alex’s delight!
We then headed up to the castle gaol, which was quite good and child friendly. Alex was a bit tired when we left but he’d had a good day. We came back via a couple of antiques centres as Libby wanted a big jug for spring water. The 2nd one was selling all sorts of wool tops, so Mum has build up the felting supplies again. They also had excellent home made cakes!
Bathing Alex was once again fun as the bath here is bloody silly, tucked into a corner with the taps facing the wrong way so you have to climb over them to get in and the steps at the back. The family bathroom is also up a crappy wobbly spiral staircase in the kitchen, we won’t be renting this pace again! I did enjoy being in the garden within 2 meters of a red squirrel who hadn’t seen me and was burying nuts.
Friday;
We packed up the car, tripped all the beds, rearranged most of the furniture we'd moved and headed off to Alnwick. The gardens were good, and as I was expecting less from the Poison Garden tour I enjoyed it more. I was also to inform the guide on artemisia absinthium, following my own 'research' at home with wormwood and vodka! There were some big peddle diggers at the base of the grand cascade and we had trouble extracting Alex from them. This may have been a good thing as all the fountains in the serpent garden were turned off for half the time we were there. As soon as they were turned back on Alex went and used several of them as a very posh welly wash! After bimbling round the garden for a while we went to the gift shop, which is a lot more twee and crappy then I remember, sent Lib and Grandma back to the car and had a quick go on the wobbly bridges on the giant tree house. Alex was too tired to be really interested, so we set off for the longest drive home ever! We got stuck in every cue and behind every tractor and caravan going. After 3 + hours Alex was turning cartwheels when we finally let him out at Grandma's. We let him have 20 minutes before loading him back into Lib's car for the final leg. He got the front seat and the promise of seeing Daddy, so he wasn't too bad. Simon met us at the cattle grid and took Alex ditching while Lib and I emptied the car. I was just about to feed him dinner when Janet, Eric, Andrew, Rory and Jack arrived, so dinner was delayed! We eventually got him settled, fed and in bed then went off to the pub for our dinner. It was very good as usual, and the evening was quite pleasant.
Today I've been doing accounts and then had to go to a special events meeting, on a gala, meaning I had to leave the booking office empty, not good. Alex was quite happy playing with his Dad, Grandpa and cousins. We eventually put 3 very tired boys to bed, the others have gone off to the pub, and exhausted by over a week without a good night sleep and the general excitement I am heading off to bed!