It has become a kind of family tradition for Oli and I to go on a summer holiday with my parents every year. Last June we went on holiday to Majorca without them, whilst I had a great time with Oli and Leo I did miss having my Mum and Dad there. When it came to booking a holiday for this year we all decided a UK break was the best option and we booked 5 nights camping in beautiful Cheddar, Somerset.
Here is what we got up to on our camping holiday, if you have never been before I really recommend taking a trip to Somerset – the countryside, beaches and people are all lovely and there are so many family friendly things to see and do.
Friday
Cheddar is about a 2 hour drive from where we live, we left about half past3 after the military operation of packing the car up with suitcases, bedding and various other holiday paraphernalia. After an easy drive (we drove past Stonehenge!) we arrived at the Bucklegrove camping park just after 7pm, about 5minutes after my parents got there. The site is situated in the beautiful Somerset countryside and we had a beautiful view of endless green fields and hills from our caravan.
My Dad and Oli spent a bit of time setting up mine and Oli’s tent in the awning while me, Mum and Leo relaxed in the caravan. Once our room was finished we all headed to the on site bar for some food. The play area is right by the bar so we picked a table next to the open patio doors and let Leo have a play while we waited for our food. Of course Leo had a tantrum when it was time to sit and eat, the staff were lovely though and gave him a little activity pack to keep him happy while we ate. At about 9pm we all retreated back to the caravan, put Leo to bed on the sofa bed inside and we sat in the awning for a bit before we all decided it was bedtime. Unfortunately, mine and Oli’s blow up bed had a rip in it and was completely deflated, we spent our first night sleeping on the floor in the tent – not fun!
Saturday
After an awful nights sleep on the floor, we had a lazy morning in the caravan. We ate our first of many cooked breakfasts and made a plan to find a new blow up bed ASAP. Oli’s brother and his two girls were also camping on a different site near by so we arranged to meet up with them in the afternoon. After a quick trip to Tesco to buy a new blow up bed, we headed off to Brean Sands to spend some family time on the beach.
It was a hotter day than expected and none of us were dressed for the beach, I was boiling! Leo and the girls had fun playing together and Oli and his brother had fun running around too. I lay in the sand, soaked up the sun (in my jeans!) and just took in the beautiful sight of my family having fun. I would have loved to have got involved but I was just so hot and pregnancy dizziness and heat don’t go well together. My parents left us for a couple of hours to go shopping in Weston Super Mare. Once the kids started to get bored of the beach we headed to a near by beer garden, we ate ice cream and the kids played in the park while us grown ups (!) sat and chatted in the sun, it was a lovely afternoon. Once my parents got back we headed home to the caravan and sat in the awning, ate some food and then put a very tired Leo to bed. The Eurovision song contest was on so we all picked a letter out of the Scrabble bag and chose a country starting with that letter to win. We all put a fiver in, I picked an F for France and I ended up winning as everyone elses choices were way down on the leader board, yay! My parents and Oli got pretty drunk while watching the contest, the boys drank a whole bottle of rum! I still had a good time, although being drunk watching the Eurovision does make it more enjoyable, I still had fun and I won £20 so I wasn’t complaining!
Sunday
Sunday was my 25th birthday! It didn’t get off to the best start as Oli was being sick from about 5.30am. I was blaming it on the whole bottle of Captain Morgans but it turns he was actually ill as well as being hungover. As everyone was feeling the effects of the night before, except me obviously, we had another lazy morning and ate bacon baps for breakfast. I opened my lovely presents which included perfume, a new bag and some lovely little bits from my parents as well as a Nikon D3300 from Oli and Leo! I knew I was getting a camera but I didn’t think I would get one that good, I love it even though it confuses the hell out of me. Once we were all ready we headed into Cheddar, the town was only a ten minute drive from the camp site. We drove through the gorge and it was really spectacular to look at. I would have loved to walk along the top or gone in the caves but with my Dad’s illness, Oli’s regular stops to be sick and Leo’s craziness, we decided to give it a miss.
After our little drive, we parked up and had a picnic in the little town centre. By this point Oli really wasn’t very well so my Dad took him back to the caravan. While they were gone, Mum and I went for a coffee but Leo was in a pretty bad mood so it wasn’t as relaxing as we had hoped! Once Dad got back we went and played crazy golf, Leo wasn’t a fan of his putter but he did enjoy running around and chucking the ball in all the different holes. Luckily everyone was lovely and no one seemed annoyed by my hyperactive toddler running around. After golf we wandered back through the town (I definitely want to visit again as we didn’t see everything) and then we went back home. Oli was sleeping in the tent when we got back so we just relaxed outside in the sun. Leo was easy going to sleep again and my parents and I spent the evening chatting in the awning. Oli woke up for a bit but he really wasn’t well bless him.
Sunday
Sunday was Oli’s birthday (I know, weird) and he seemed to be feeling a little bit better. We all relaxed in the caravan while Oli opened up his cards and presents, with help from Leo obviously. Mum and I went for a swim in the site swimming pool, it was so warm it felt like I was swimming in a bath. After we got back the boys headed off for 18 holes of birthday golf. Leo wanted to watch Home, so me and Mum sat reading until his film had finished. I had some birthday vouchers to spend and Mum wanted to buy some bits so we headed to the lovely city of Wells to do some shopping. Leo was not best impressed about being dragged around the shops and when we stopped for a cream tea he had a full on meltdown, chucking biscuits around and screaming the cafe down. Mum took him out and managed to calm him down and we enjoyed the last of our tea in the company of a happy toddler.
Once we had exhausted all the shops in Wells we drove over to Clarks Village, a massive shopping outlet not far from Glastonbury. We met the boys there and Oli, Leo and I headed back to the caravan while Mum and Dad did even more shopping. We decided to spend some time in the swimming pool, Leo and his bad mood meant he spent the first 10 minutes screaming – ahh! Once I showed him his feet could touch the floor his mood completely changed, he was loving splashing around, tipping buckets of water over us and blowing bubbles in the pool. After swimming and once my parents had returned we had a yummy birthday barbecue for Oli and ate the last of the birthday cake. The views around the campsite are just gorgeous and I couldn’t resist snapping away.
Once an exhausted Leo was in bed we all sat and played Articulate (so fun!) until I couldn’t physically keep my eyes open for another second.
Tuesday
This was the last full day of our holiday and it was also the first day the weather was horrible and it rained. As you can guess we had another lazy morning just relaxing in the caravan, eating too much food and listening to the rain crashing on the roof. We decided to take Leo on a completely toddler friendly day out and, ignoring the rain, we headed to Animal Farm Adventure Park. Even though the weather wasn’t great, the farm turned out to be a perfect day out for a 2 year old. There are lots of different carousel/ride on type rides, a duck water ride and a giant bouncy castle. I think Leo tried out all the rides and went on some more than once, there were a couple of tantrums but on the whole he loved it.
After all the fun on the rides we headed to the play barn cafe area, Leo had some lunch and the rest of us had yet another cream tea! Leo had fun playing in the soft play and wasting all our money in the arcade. We then went to one of the small barns for the cuddle corner session, me and Leo got to have lots of snuggles with a rabbit called Mabel, she was so adorable. It didn’t take long for Leo to get bored of our new furry friend and we went for a walk around the farm trail. On our way in Oli bought a few bags of animal feed so Leo fed an alpaca and Oli and I gave the rest to some goats and scary looking Lamas. After a few more rides on the go kart and tractors it was time to leave, I think we were the last ones there!
As it was our last night we decided to go out for a meal to finish off our lovely family break. Oli treated us all to lots of yummy food at Frankie and Bennies and Leo enjoyed playing with his stickers, eating his pasta and doing a funny dance for us all; I think it is safe to say our boy had a really great day. Leo was asleep by the time we got back so he went straight to bed and we spent the evening playing lots of games of Articulate.
Wednesday
I woke up on Wednesday morning feeling sad as I didn’t want to go back to the reality of life at home – washing/cleaning/nothing to do. We made the most of our last lie in and none of us really got up until half9 – including Leo! Oli and I wandered over to the pool with Leo and had another splash around, we had the place to ourselves and Leo was much happier this time. After all the watery fun we headed in to Cheddar to get some food for lunch, I got us croissants and Jam so we could pretend we were in France (we usually go there on our camping holidays). After lunch it was time to say good bye to my parents, who were staying a couple more nights, and head back home to Hampshire.
We all had a really lovely time in Cheddar, even though poor Oli was ill for most it! I never realised what a lovely part of the country Somerset is, we will definitely be coming back again sometime soon to explore it all some more. If you are planning a trip, here is a great guide of things to do while you’re there. If we had a bit more time I would have loved to have gone to Wookey Hole, explored Glastonbury Tor and discovered more cute little towns and gorgeous beaches. It really was a lovely holiday though, lots of relaxing, fun and quality time spent with family – what more could you want?
Have you visited Cheddar or any other places in Somerset before? What did you think of it? How about camping with kids, do you find it fun or stressful? I would love to hear all about your holiday plans for this year, hope it’s fun wherever you go :).
Sounds like you had a really great time, well, apart from Oli being ill! I would’ve been the same as you and blamed it on him being hungover! Lovely collection of photos too. x #TheList
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Haha, I know it was so easy to blame it on the drink, I was calling him birthday ruiner for about 2 days until we realised he was actually ill! Thanks, I had way more photos but it would have taken forever to upload them all 🙂 xx
Wow. I love how many great pictures you shared. Thank you. We love to tent and were unable to go last year. This post really inspired me to want to go again. Thank you for this, it is exactly what I needed after a long day at work.
Jen @Practical, By Default recently posted…What’s For Dinner? Kitchen Superstar: Food Storage Containers!
Sorry! forgot #KCACOLS ^ for the above comment!
Jen @Practical, By Default recently posted…What’s For Dinner? Kitchen Superstar: Food Storage Containers!
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🙂 xx
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Aww you’re welcome :). I hope you manage to make it away in your tent this year, there’s nothing like a camping holiday is there?xx
This sounds a lot like our caravan holidays – lots of food, drink and fun. Sorry to hear Oli was ill – that sucks on holiday, especially in a caravan. However, it sounds like you still made the most of it. We went to Cheddar and did the gorge quite a few years back. It’s not so far down the road since we’ve moved to Devon so we’ll have to go back! #KCACOLS
Claire at Tin Box Traveller recently posted…7 happy memories: our first family trip to London
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Haha, I am glad we are not the only ones who spend the whole of a camping holiday pigging out! You’re so lucky to live in Devon and to be so close to lots of beautiful places 🙂 xx
It looks like you packed so much in even though poor Oli was poorly. #KCACOLS
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I know, trust him to get ill on holiday! We had a great time anyway, we just had to make lots of sick stops for Oli haha xx
If you get a chance please join me for #CountryKids too, so much outdoor fun here.
Fiona Cambouropoulos recently posted…Alvin and the Chipmunks : Summer of Sport
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Ohh, what day does the linky run? I’d love to join in 🙂 xx
Hi! I think it’s my first time here. This post must have taken you ages to put together! Loads of pictures and a lovely detailed account of your adventures. Mabel the rabbit is MASSIVE! I love that picture of Leo’s delighted face as he paddles. We love our caravan holidays but sadly we have outgrown our touring caravan as our daughter is too tall for the bunks! Thanks for sharing #fortheloveofblog
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Hello, thanks for popping over :). Haha, Mabel was huge, I think she must have been one of those giant rabbits. Aww what a shame your daughter has got too tall, maybe time to upgrade the caravan?!I love camping holidays 🙂 xx
The scenery looks splendid, what luck you hit such a good camera for your birthday. I am dreading going on holiday with my baby, but this camping trip sounds so relaxing. Glad you had a good time and Happy Birthday. #bigpinklink
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The views were just gorgeous. I know, I was so happy with my new camera. I would recommend roping in family to help if you’re taking a little one away, it makes everything so much easier if there are people to help and you get to have a break, it feels more like a holiday that way xx
Wow it looks amazing! I am so glad you had a lovely time and I love your new blog design huni. Thanks for linking up to #TheList x
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We had a great time :). Thanks lovely, I am pleased with how it looks at last! Thanks for hosting xx
Lovely picture. Looked like you had a great time though poor Oli! Wouldn’t have been nice to be sick while on holiday. We’ve never camped in a caravan before – it does look much better than camping in a tent. That will be on my bucket list for sure. Thanks for linking with #Bigpinklink….Happy Birthday!
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Oh my gosh, I can’t believe you’ve never been on a caravan holiday, definitely one for the bucket list! It was a shame Oli was ill but will tried to make the make the most of our trip anyway. Thanks for hosting xx
Ooh this looks absolutely gorgeous! Look at that view – you lucky things! So sorry to hear the little one was poorly though, such bad luck on holiday! Love the pictures and I’m glad you managed to have a nice time anyway. Thanks for sharing with us on #fortheloveofBLOG – you have inspired me to maybe try camping again now! x
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The views were amazing, just miles of beautiful green hills and fields, I loved it. Oli is my husband – gosh it would have been a nightmare if Leo was ill too though! Ohh yes you should go camping, it’s so fun 🙂 xx
What a shame your tot was poorly. Looks like you lucked out with the weather. We used to camp a lot when I was young and I remember a lot of rainy days and soggy campsites.
#fartglitter
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It was my husband who was ill but it was still a shame, would have been much better if he hadn’t spent nearly 3 days running to the toilet every 10 minutes. Haha, I have had camping holidays like that too! A rainy day seems so much worse when you’re stuck in a tent. Thanks for hosting xx
I suddenly miss Cheddar Gorge! We live near there too but we seldom go. I hope we can visit.
You have been busy & you really went to a lot of place. I live in SW so a lot of these places are near me.
#mywildones #whatevertheweather
Merlinda Little (Glimmer of Hope) recently posted…The Wild Walk
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You are so lucky to live near there, it is such a beautiful part of the country. Hopefully you get to visit Cheddar Gorge again soon 🙂 xx
I’d love to go to Somerset but it’s so far from here! Also, omg I forgot there was a place called Chedder. I need to visit all the cheese related places in the UK! #kcacols
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Haha, yup..and the cheddar cheese there is amazing haha. Aww, maybe you will visit one day, you never know xx
Awww I love it! That is proper old school fun and it looked like you had a blast. Who needs foreign holidays and technology galore when you can do all this!!
Thanks for linking to #ablogginggoodtime
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Aww thanks :). It really was a lovely holiday, I love camping. Thanks for hosting xx
I love Somerset! I’m glad you had a good holiday and some birthday fun, despite the illness! Hope you can return there soon.
x Alice
#kcacols
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Ah I know, so typical Oli got poorly. We had a lovely time though, I now Love Somerset too 🙂 xx
Looks like you had loads of fun despite illnesses and dodgy weather towards the end. Anyone who camps for more than a night gets my respect – especially with kids! #KCACOLS
Becky @ Educating Roversi recently posted…To the Elderly Lady in the Shopping Centre…
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Haha, camping can be hard work – we were lucky my parents were there too help! We really did have a great time thanks 🙂 xx
DSLRs have that effect on everyone who tries them first. I remember the first time I had trouble with mine, not knowing where the settings were. After a couple of hrs of exploring, we get the basics down. By the way, Happy birthday! And the who trip seems like a lovely gift. You’ve got such a lovely family.