Half Term in beautiful North Yorkshire.

I haven't published any content in a few weeks! This is for a couple of reasons, I have been super busy and life has just taken over and the blog has taken a back seat, also we were away for half term in Yorkshire and I barely picked up my laptop - it was great! It felt blooming good to just chill, spend time with the kids and simply watch TV in the evening. I did spend a bit of time over on Instagram  sharing some of our adventures. That's what I love about Insta you can dip in and out as you please. I am back now and easing myself back into writing ready for Christmas! I've got a few lovely posts in the pipeline so watch this space, it's just taking me a while to get back into the swing of things and I'm just getting over a nasty cold/cough/virus thing, hazard of my job but it's knocked me for 6. Anyway, so I'm looking back to our lovely week away in North Yorkshire for half term, it's somewhere I love to go and as a child I hold wonderful happy holiday memories. We tend to stay in the same place, Helmsley a lovely little market town in close reach of lots of places to visit and the seaside aswell. 

It's a lovely little break away, we did cram it full of things to do and we tried to do a couple of things we hadn't done with the kids previously which was nice. The last few years we've been to Flamingo Land but we decided against that this time as we had Legoland booked the week after we got home so knocked that idea on the head.

So what did we get up to?

Sunday - There is 2 things that we wouldn't get away with doing and the 1st is the National Centre for Birds of Prey. Located at Duncombe Park just a walk away from where we stay it's a great little place to spend a couple of hours, plus the cakes in the cafe are delicious! I thoroughly recommend watching one of the flying displays, the staff are very knowledgeable and the birds are beautiful. 

Monday - After a restful sleep we decided to start the week with a visit to Yorkshire Air Museum at Elvington. I've always wanted to revisit here after visiting years and years ago, the kids weren't sure to begin with but after a while loved seeing all the different types of planes. The best bit for me was seeing the small exhibition about Nursing during war, anything about nursing history and I'm riveted. Quite pricey to get in but if goes to maintaining a history museum I don't mind. If you are in to your military and aviation then this is a must.

Tuesday - Train Tuesday....of course! We couldn't hold off much longer from taking Alfie to the Railway Museum in York, an absolute must for any train geek. Best bit is it's actually free to enter (although donations are appreciated), we usually give a decent donation as spend quite a bit of time here. From the Mallard to the Eurostar to the Flying Scotsman aswell as the Royal train collection, it is a really great day out. 

We only stayed for a couple of hours as I wanted to go and do something else while in York. We went for lunch and then made our way to York Castle Museum which is another place I'd visited when I was much younger and wanted to visit again, I couldn't really remember much of it so wanted to visit again. It cost £22 to get in and kids went free, it was great for us but I would think twice about visiting with young children (ours are 3 and 6), there was only a small amount of things to keep them entertained. There was alot to see and myself and my husband really enjoyed it, the Victorian street replica is incredible, so much attention to detail, the trenches was very interesting and the dungeons steeped with history and quite spooky. Overall a fantastic museum but not so with young kids.

Wednesday - Our quiet day, we needed to break up the week but didn't want to over do it so we went for a (very) long walk through Duncombe Park and by the river. It was actually quite warm and a beautiful day to enjoy the gorgeous Duncombe Park. We finished the day off with a beer and g&t in the local brewery/pub - was a lovely day.

Thursday - We went to another new place! Piglets Adventure Farm, we really enjoyed our day here. Even though there were some things closed and not as many animals as expected it was good value for money and the kids loved all the different adventure play areas and go karts, the haunted themed mission was also great and I have to admit I jumped a bit! We would definitely visit again, it wasn't bad value for money and it really was good for the kids. 

Friday - Our last day, boohoo! We wanted to do something close to where we  were staying and after much research and chatting to my Mum we decided to go to the Sutton Bank National Park Visitor Centre with a cafe, little outdoor adventure playground (which is lovely) and without a doubt THE best views across North Yorkshire it is wonderful. You have to pay for parking which is fairly steep BUT you can spend the whole day there if you want. We walked a fair way and the views really are spectacular, the cliff walk is quite open with no fencing but it really was a fantastic way to spend our last day, we finished our visit off with coffee and hot chocolate, perfecto.

Saturday - Time to go but we awoke to snow!! Crazy weather, it was actually coming down fairly fast so we made haste and got ourselves in the car to come home. The snow didn't last long and was nowhere to be seen when we got home but it just goes to show just how quickly things can change up North! 

We had an absolutely fantastic time while we were away, although it was pretty full on we had some very relaxed evenings and made lots of memories which is exactly how it should be. Till the next time North Yorkshire!