Two Days in Venice on a Budget.

Venice has been on my bucket list for as long as I can remember and I recently had the opportunity to visit.  I had been keeping an eye out for cheap flights and managed to find some bargain options so I packed a small bag and flew out early one Thursday morning, returning late Friday night.  We found a B&B on the island with breakfast included and I will leave costs below if you are looking to plan something similar.

Our 6am flight meant we were in Venice by 9am and we (I travelled with two friends) got the bus over to Venice island.  The buses stop just as you arrive as there are no vehicles allowed on the island, boats are the only way to get around other than walking.

Breakfast views from our B&B

We spent two days exploring on foot and boat.  We bought a 24 hour boat pass which meant we could go over to Burano Island -famous for the super colourful houses, and Murano -known for being the island where glass is blown and the best place for shopping for glass.  We could also get the boats all over the island and down the grand canal with this.

As we were travelling on a budget, we did forego the 80 euro gondala rides and opted for the 2 euro version which took us across the grand canal.  It was a much shorter trip but still fun to be rowed on a gondola on the Venetian canal.

Our 2 Euro Gondola ride

Other free activities we did were visit the famously quirky Libreria Acqua Alta - a bookshop with some brilliant book steps and a gondola boat out one exit. We also booked the free rooftop viewing terrace on top of the DFS building which has incredible views out over the city.  It does need to be booked 21 days in advance and you get a 15 minute slot but I would highly recommend it.  There is so much to see by just walking around the island and my favourite thing was to get lost in the streets.

Views from the free DFS viewing terrace

We ate all the gelato, pizza and pasta and I can recommend Farini for cheap but delicious pizza on the go and Suso for incredible gelato.  Whilst you can spend money on a nice restaraunt, there are plenty of more budget friendly options and we didn't find food too expensive. We stayed in a a b&b in the Cannaregio district and there were some fantastic bakeries in the area.  We flew back around 9.30pm on Friday night.

Whilst you could pay a lot of money for a romantic break to this incredible city, it can also be seen on a budget and still enjoyed.  Take comfortable walking shoes and avoid buying food and drink in the main square and next to the Rialto bridge.

I paid

£58 return flights

£50 for a room in a B&B with breakfast (based on 3 of us sharing a quad room)

£30 for a nice meal out with a cocktail in a beautiful courtyard restaurant.

£4 a slice of pizza bigger than my head.

£25 for a boat pass that gave you 24 hours unlimited travel

£15 return bus from the airport to the island.

£2 for a gondola ride across the canal.

Have you visited Venice before?

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A Weekend Glamping with Featherdown Farms

We arrived at our Featherdown Farm canvas hideaway in Layer Marney, Essex, in the rain.  The older two children were sceptical, the younger ones unsure.  We played some games, ate dinner and eventually settled for the night in the (incredibly) comfy beds. The next morning I was prepared for cries of 'I'm bored' and 'there is nothing to do', and I definitely heard those from the tweens who are used to technology and activities all the time. I knew I needed to keep going though so I offered suggestions and let them work it out. 

It didn't take long at all until things changed. Before long their fingernails had turned brown, their hair looked like they had been climbing through hedges and the light of the campfire danced in their eyes. I had looked at what was around locally but that list went unused, we had everything we needed on site.  It was such a wonderful opportunity to do very little, but in the best way.  I don't know how long I have got before my elder ones take too long to revert to this childhood wildness so it felt like a really special chance to spent this time with them.  It was a detox from technology and modern life and a connection with nature that we all needed more than I knew.

We stayed at the Tudor site Layer Marney which is a small site with six canvas hideaways (named after the six wives of Henry VIII).  In the mornings we met the farmer at 8am to change the goats hay, feed the sheep and collect the chicken eggs and the children all loved getting stuck in with this.  For the rest of the day we alternated between cooking outside of our canvas hideaway, playing table tennis by the wood stores, going to the playground and back to see the animals and sitting around the fires.  The children were convinced their food tasted better after being cooked outdoors - even more so as the eggs came from the chickens on the farm.  They loved watching the fires, collecting more logs and of course roasting marshmallows over them.  They played together, they made friends with the children staying in the other canvas hideaways and they were wonderfully wild for the duration of our stay.

Our trip had been timed to coordinate with the Tudor Fayre being held at Layer Marney tower on the Sunday and there was a pass for the tower in our guidebook for everyone to use. The fayre was fantastic, with so many people dressed up demonstrating Tudor crafts and skills like weaving and arrow making.  There was live music, lots of games for the children to try out and birds of prey to admire.  All the children played 'the game with no name' with a Tudor man and raced wooden horses. I was delighted to see how reasonably priced the gift shop was as we love to bring home a souvenir and they enjoyed choosing something each.

Our canvas hideaway was a great size for the six of us (Due to work commitments it was just the five children and I).  It is divided into three rooms, one with a double bed, one with bunk beds and then the cupboard bed which was a brilliant den in the day if they wanted to chill out.  All of the beds had incredibly comfortable mattresses and warm duvets provided.  As we had booked with a baby we had a cot set up in my room too.  We had a toilet in our canvas hideaway and running water in the kitchen area, a table with enough chairs for us all, a sofa and a log burner in the middle of the room which we used to warm the hideaway and to boil the kettle.  Outside we had a private hot shower, a fire pit and a wood stove which we cooked on.  The hideaways were well spaced out so we had lots of privacy.

We arrived home late on Sunday evening smelling strongly of smoke with a bin bag full of dirty clothes, dirty fingernails and with a sense of contentment from a weekend well spent.  There are Featherdown Farms all over the UK with availability for this summer (and dates released for next summer too). I thought this would be the ideal getaway for my animal loving seven year old but it was exactly what my tweens needed too. Rex at 20 months was just delighted by the freedom and space as well and we definitely plan to visit again in the future.

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