The weekend just gone saw this family head to our happy place of the Yorkshire Coast to spend some quality down time in the breathtaking Broom House on Egton Bridge as part of the Dorset Cereals Dorset B&B Awards campaign.
As you get older and perhaps a little wiser (or in my Dad's case, sillier, much, much sillier-it can go both ways) you start to realise what really matters in life.
I think having kids can do that to you, that whirlwind of new love for the kid you made merged with the mammoth overwhelming weight of responsibility (no more spontaneity in life is pretty sobering) and puts everything that came before, and after it, into sharp perspective.
You don't need to have a kid for this I should add. Yay for being wiser without having to actually use your cervix! Life experience, travel, pets, nurturing plants, charity work, whatever it is that takes you out of yourself, can be enlightening,
It got me thinking about all the tiny touching moments that make up the bigger picture, the intricately woven happy-making little things I reflect on right before I go to sleep or if I'm away from my kids, missing them madly, or my zone out to more joyous times when I find the children fighting over toys/films/my affection and I need a happy place pronto.
Last weekend saw us pack up our bags and wrap up warm for two nights at Cowslip Cottage in the quaint village of Sleights, one of many luxury cottages within the Gorgeous Cottages portfolio.
We feel truly lucky to have had quite a few fabulous, memorable holidays both here or abroad since the kids have come along mostly in Europe and the Med with some closer to home in Yorkshire and Wales. Long haul flights pre kids have taken a back seat but fun and often lots of sun has never been compromised (not counting our holidays to Wales)!
Since our break to the Yorkshire coast last month we were keen to return to the prettiest countryside and coastlines we've ever seen in the UK.