The snow came and went far too quickly for our children’s liking and they are still hopeful for some more this winter. They did however get the most out of it while it was here. Sasha was even in the garden in the dark just in case it had gone by the morning!

We enjoyed a fresh but lovely weekend at Burley Youth Hostel in The New Forest at the end of January. The weather was incredibly mild on the Saturday enabling us to have a lovely walk in the forest with the ponies who all seemed to have faired well during the Winter and looked remarkably healthy.

Our Teva’s have been very busy getting muddy and clocking up the miles lately.

I know that the high winds have caused lots of disruption around the country this winter but think of all the opportunities those fallen trees provide!

We have just spent a great weekend up on the edge of the North York Moors at the Youth hostel in Helmsley. We go away in November and January with a large group of friends and hire an entire youth hostel so we can have it all to ourselves.

Last weekend we were treated to a re-enactment of the Battle of Edgehill fought on 23rd October 1642. We are right in the middle of where it all happened so this is an annual event in our village.

We had a lovely surprise on Friday after I had collected the children from school. As we rounded the corner in Kineton on our way home we discovered the centre of the village swarming with people.

In the village of Deddington in Oxfordshire where my husbands’ parents live, they are lucky enough to have a Farmers Market. We try to go when we can, as it is a great excuse to buy local products and everyone goes for a general socialise, including the dog!

Since having children we have, I am sorry to say, become more ‘summer’ campers and our season now runs from May to September. Of course as we all know well, in Britain this does not necessarily mean good weather! After this time we prefer to use bunk houses and Youth Hostels where we can experience the weather during the day but then get warm and dry in the evenings.

Finally some pictures of the great Spotty Otter gear you gave us.

La Rhune mountain by train. Having been tipped off by fellow campers we left the site early and caught the train around 9.30 am for our day out. This was definitely a good tip as the queues on our way out trailed right out into the car park.

We had a great day out at this lake in France (rather unfortunately named Lake Pee but with an accent on the e and pronounced in French it didn’t sound so bad!) It was nice to visit here after the coast, as the little children were safe playing in the water without having to worry about huge waves.

Just wanted to share some of our great holiday moments before we are all back at work and have forgotten them. We have just returned from over a fortnight camping in the coastal Pyrenees area of France not far from the border with Spain.

We have a lovely stately home and park close by called Compton Verney. I feel very guilty to admit that until this summer I have not managed to visit it. Having heard lots of good things about it from friends I decided it was time we paid a visit. Not only does it have galleries open all year round but also there are visiting exhibitions and artists at different times during the year.

As it is the summer holidays we decided to have a day out at a theme park. The prospect of rides is always met with great excitement in our house as neither of our two children aged 3 and 6 seem to have much fear of anything!

During our walk in the Cotswolds at the weekend I was astounded to find loads of wild raspberries growing in the woods.

The birds have had very productive year in our garden this year. We have managed to have nests in various places for 4 different varieties of garden bird. First it was the blue tits in the house wall, followed by starlings under the porch facia. The 2 families of sparrows actually used the nest boxes provided.

We spent last weekend camping at a site called Folly Farm less than an hour from home and very near Bourton on the Water in the Cotswolds. We camp with lots of other friends and often choose a local site so we can all collect from school/ finish work and manage to get pitched before it gets dark.

This week it was with great excitement that we received delivery of our new gas barbecue. Joshua was quite excited to see how it all fitted together and what all the switches and knobs did.

In the heat the other weekend I watched my children and almost wished I was a child again myself.

Our children greatly enjoy swimming but last weekend’s swim has to take the biscuit! We were visiting my Dad’s for a barbecue but the weather was so cold and wet it became an indoor affair. He does however have an outside swimming pool and asked if we would like to have a swim!

Joshua is delighted with his Teva sandals and now thinks he is really cool as he has walking sandals like Daddy’s.

Our beautiful countryside really has a lot to offer. Last weekend we met with my Dad and went for a lovely woodland walk near our home. The woods are on a ridge called Edgehill (you may have heard of The Battle of Edgehill, where the first battle of The English Civil war took place in 1642 between the Parliamentarians and the Royalists).

We visited my brother briefly at the weekend. His 13 year old daughter Josie is very into ponies so our children were really excited at the prospect of having a ride on a pony with big 13-year-old cousin in charge.

If you camp regularly with children I have a top tip for a great children’s dinner to do on the barbecue. When we camped in France last summer we added pizza to our barbecue repertoire.

In our house a child size backpack is an absolute must far as children are concerned. We started out with a ‘Little Life’ one for Joshua who actually had it given as a birth present. Definitely one of the best we had! I have since done the same, buying it as a ‘baby’ present for a friend who is so pleased with it now her little one is mobile.

On holiday we visited the National Parks Centre at Danby on the North York Moors. It had quite a few activities for children, such as a great playground which had things to suit our adventurous 6 year old as well as smaller stuff for Sasha who, although she believes she is 6, can’t quite keep up with her brother.

We have recently purchased a pressure washer, which has been a brilliant buy as Joshua, (probably like many 6 year olds who likes gadgets) wants to use it. He is therefore happy to do all those chores that were previously uninteresting.

Within walking distance of our house is a small wood where we often have family walks. The children love to go and play hide and seek there and it has the all-important ‘stream’.

At the first signs of sunshine and warmer weather my children appeared in the garden wearing their U.V suits requesting that the paddling pool be set up! When I pointed out that it was only March and really wasn’t that warm they were so disappointed that I compromised and out came the pop up tent.

Last weekend we visited Moreton Morrell Agricultural College, which was advertising a Lambing Weekend. We had a brilliant afternoon’s entertainment for a small fee (well worth it). As well as the animals Sasha and Joshua had great fun investigating the various tractors; Joshua was most impressed by the one with wheels taller than him!

We have regular adventures with all our friends at different times during the year where we do a range of things from walking, camping, canoeing etc. One of our weekends this year in January involved us visiting a Youth Hostel in Derbyshire where all the children enjoyed a Sunday morning climb on Stanage Edge.