We have embraced life here in the UK which includes the festival mentality. Many Brits I know have never been to the continent but they have been to a festival!!
What we haven't embraced is NOT traveling around Europe and the UK. One of the things we love dearly is being so close to so many awesome places, both here and there!! Last year, our big summer trip was to Ireland and it.was.awesome. Earlier this year, we went to Uganda (wondering now why I didn't post about that but maybe I'll go back to it later?) so that was our big trip for the year.
We had zero intention of going anywhere this summer, except a family festival, which we did in July. It was a beautiful time for our family together at Naturally Supernatural with our extended church family. My husband loved it so much he went to go work at another two Soul Survivor festivals. However, given the make up of our family, if he was to be gone for 2 weeks, then we needed childcare! My parents graciously flew from the States to hang out with our kids and shuttle them to swimming and on adventures. Since they've only really experienced the city with us, I decided we should steal away for the bank holiday weekend and go on an adventure (sans, my husband).
This last weekend, we packed up the minivan and, despite it not starting when we were all in the car and ready to go, only a 2 hour delay hindered the trip and we were off and running! We drove most of the M4 and in a short 2 hours, we were in beautiful Wales! Our destination was near the area of Tenby, Wales in Pembrokeshire which is in the far southwest corner of Wales. But for the last year, the boys have been asking to go to the seaside and I'm not one to want to disappoint!
I booked us in to a little cottage in a place called St Florence. It's a quaint little town about 10 minutes (or less) outside Tenby and to be honest, I'm glad we were a bit away. Since it was a holiday weekend, the town was bursting with people but my little crew needs their rest so being a bit outside and making sure we all got our sleep was vital!! We stayed in a place called Ivy Tower Village Cottages which can be booked through multiple sites, but our specific one was the Corn Store booked on AirBnB. It's a grouping of 15ish townhome like cottages in a peaceful setting that has a little indoor pool, gym, sauna, ping pong table, tennis court, play area, and mini golf course. The cottage was just what we needed. Nothing spectacular about the set up or furnishings but absolutely perfect. Ours was 3 bedroom/1 bath (you could find some with more/less), a full kitchen and a nice little conservatory to eat in. It came with beach chairs, golf clubs/balls for the mini golf, some sports balls, and a drying rack for all those wet swimsuits! Oh, and did I mention pets are more than welcome?
The first night in Wales, we got in, got settled, and let the boys have a swim straight away. Four hours in the car and they needed to get rid of some energy! We all had a lovely time in the pool and then we got ourselves together and headed into Tenby to check out the town. It is so beautiful! The stone walls, forts, restaurants, and beaches, make this little fishing village one of much character! Parking was not a problem as there were multiple lots and multi-story car parks that are so reasonably priced and very nearby the main area! We ate and then had a stroll on beach where the boys explored some caves in the rock cliffs. We meandered back to our car and headed back to St Florence for a restful night of sleep.
The full day we had there we decided to spend on the beach. We left the cottage at 9am and headed to the Tenby South Beach Car Park which is right on the edge of the beach with no stairs or cliffs to navigate. Parking for a full day there was only £3.50. We lugged our cooler and chairs and beach tent out to the massive, beautiful beaches of South Tenby and got ourselves settled before the lifeguards had even arrived. We were practically the only ones on the beach and, despite it being a bank holiday weekend and a beautiful day, it was like this until 11am! Even when it did fill up, it didn't feel crowded because of the expanse of the sand! And unlike most British beaches, we actually had mostly sand with a little bit of pebbles instead of the other way around! That evening, we headed back to our cottage and the boys had yet another swim. We made tacos for dinner and crashed after a long day of sun and surf.
The following (and our final) day, we had to check out by 10am but the pool opened at 9 and we had yet to check out the mini golf on site! The boys headed out around half 8 to hit up the mini golf and then abandoned ship as soon as the clock struck 9. This was the prime time to get the car packed and any last minute necessities ready for check out! They were back by half 9, everyone changed and we were in the car a few minutes before 10. Thankfully, Carew Castle was a mere 7 minutes away and it opens at 10 so we were there soon after the doors were unbolted.
The castle was a spectacular sight and there were so many things for little boys (and girls) to love. There was a knight school (no, they didn't flunk out of day school) where they learned how to properly sword fight, they did archery (with real bows and arrows as Jack said) and watched a falconry demo. There were other activities like painting a crest, learning calligraphy, and playing court jester games, we just didn't have the time to partake in any of those. We loved going up the stone steps to the different levels and imagining life as we stood amongst the ruins. I was very impressed with our little miss who was only a year old last summer when we explored all the Irish castles but this year was right behind her brothers up and down the steep spiral staircases! With a little cafe and a long walk around the tidal mill (and an actual mill to explore) we literally could have been there all day! There was something for everyone and I have to say from ages 2 to 68, we all really loved it.
But alas, it was time to get back in the car. Mummy had to go to work on Tuesday and life needed some sense of normalcy again. So we set off, praying for traffic to not be miserable and it took us just about 4 hours of driving to get home again with the only real traffic being back near London on the M25.
Amazing time in Wales! Highly recommend it for a long weekend trip!!
What we haven't embraced is NOT traveling around Europe and the UK. One of the things we love dearly is being so close to so many awesome places, both here and there!! Last year, our big summer trip was to Ireland and it.was.awesome. Earlier this year, we went to Uganda (wondering now why I didn't post about that but maybe I'll go back to it later?) so that was our big trip for the year.
We had zero intention of going anywhere this summer, except a family festival, which we did in July. It was a beautiful time for our family together at Naturally Supernatural with our extended church family. My husband loved it so much he went to go work at another two Soul Survivor festivals. However, given the make up of our family, if he was to be gone for 2 weeks, then we needed childcare! My parents graciously flew from the States to hang out with our kids and shuttle them to swimming and on adventures. Since they've only really experienced the city with us, I decided we should steal away for the bank holiday weekend and go on an adventure (sans, my husband).
This last weekend, we packed up the minivan and, despite it not starting when we were all in the car and ready to go, only a 2 hour delay hindered the trip and we were off and running! We drove most of the M4 and in a short 2 hours, we were in beautiful Wales! Our destination was near the area of Tenby, Wales in Pembrokeshire which is in the far southwest corner of Wales. But for the last year, the boys have been asking to go to the seaside and I'm not one to want to disappoint!
I booked us in to a little cottage in a place called St Florence. It's a quaint little town about 10 minutes (or less) outside Tenby and to be honest, I'm glad we were a bit away. Since it was a holiday weekend, the town was bursting with people but my little crew needs their rest so being a bit outside and making sure we all got our sleep was vital!! We stayed in a place called Ivy Tower Village Cottages which can be booked through multiple sites, but our specific one was the Corn Store booked on AirBnB. It's a grouping of 15ish townhome like cottages in a peaceful setting that has a little indoor pool, gym, sauna, ping pong table, tennis court, play area, and mini golf course. The cottage was just what we needed. Nothing spectacular about the set up or furnishings but absolutely perfect. Ours was 3 bedroom/1 bath (you could find some with more/less), a full kitchen and a nice little conservatory to eat in. It came with beach chairs, golf clubs/balls for the mini golf, some sports balls, and a drying rack for all those wet swimsuits! Oh, and did I mention pets are more than welcome?
The first night in Wales, we got in, got settled, and let the boys have a swim straight away. Four hours in the car and they needed to get rid of some energy! We all had a lovely time in the pool and then we got ourselves together and headed into Tenby to check out the town. It is so beautiful! The stone walls, forts, restaurants, and beaches, make this little fishing village one of much character! Parking was not a problem as there were multiple lots and multi-story car parks that are so reasonably priced and very nearby the main area! We ate and then had a stroll on beach where the boys explored some caves in the rock cliffs. We meandered back to our car and headed back to St Florence for a restful night of sleep.
The full day we had there we decided to spend on the beach. We left the cottage at 9am and headed to the Tenby South Beach Car Park which is right on the edge of the beach with no stairs or cliffs to navigate. Parking for a full day there was only £3.50. We lugged our cooler and chairs and beach tent out to the massive, beautiful beaches of South Tenby and got ourselves settled before the lifeguards had even arrived. We were practically the only ones on the beach and, despite it being a bank holiday weekend and a beautiful day, it was like this until 11am! Even when it did fill up, it didn't feel crowded because of the expanse of the sand! And unlike most British beaches, we actually had mostly sand with a little bit of pebbles instead of the other way around! That evening, we headed back to our cottage and the boys had yet another swim. We made tacos for dinner and crashed after a long day of sun and surf.
The following (and our final) day, we had to check out by 10am but the pool opened at 9 and we had yet to check out the mini golf on site! The boys headed out around half 8 to hit up the mini golf and then abandoned ship as soon as the clock struck 9. This was the prime time to get the car packed and any last minute necessities ready for check out! They were back by half 9, everyone changed and we were in the car a few minutes before 10. Thankfully, Carew Castle was a mere 7 minutes away and it opens at 10 so we were there soon after the doors were unbolted.
The castle was a spectacular sight and there were so many things for little boys (and girls) to love. There was a knight school (no, they didn't flunk out of day school) where they learned how to properly sword fight, they did archery (with real bows and arrows as Jack said) and watched a falconry demo. There were other activities like painting a crest, learning calligraphy, and playing court jester games, we just didn't have the time to partake in any of those. We loved going up the stone steps to the different levels and imagining life as we stood amongst the ruins. I was very impressed with our little miss who was only a year old last summer when we explored all the Irish castles but this year was right behind her brothers up and down the steep spiral staircases! With a little cafe and a long walk around the tidal mill (and an actual mill to explore) we literally could have been there all day! There was something for everyone and I have to say from ages 2 to 68, we all really loved it.
But alas, it was time to get back in the car. Mummy had to go to work on Tuesday and life needed some sense of normalcy again. So we set off, praying for traffic to not be miserable and it took us just about 4 hours of driving to get home again with the only real traffic being back near London on the M25.
Amazing time in Wales! Highly recommend it for a long weekend trip!!
