Our Week in Selsey with Seal Bay Resort

I was looking for somewhere to take the children away to over the Easter holidays that wasn't too far to drive from us and I came across the recently renamed Seal Bay Resort in Selsey near Chichester. We are fans of a mobile home style holiday because as a larger family they are usually well set up for us to have our own space and all be together and there seemed to be plenty to do, so with only a couple of weeks until the children broke up, I booked our stay.  Ed unfortunately had to work, but my sister had volunteered to come with us and the children were so excited to spend some quality time with her.

I had seen that Seal Bay was big, but I hadn't realised it was quite so huge, with over 3,500 mobile homes across three sites that were all linked by a complimentary bus service.  Our three bed caravan was on the White Horse Site, only metres from the new White Horse Complex which had an outdoor pool and splash zone, a huge arcade, bowling alley, soft play, restaurant, pottery painting shop and a massive theatre which had bingo and shows on every night.  The children would have happily spend all day in the arcades and we attended the silent disco by the outdoor pool mid week which was a big hit.

The busiest park was West Sands, which is right on the seafront and you find yourself on the beautiful pebble beach as you step out the door.  The complex here also had a huge arcade and theatre as well as the indoor pools (which included a pool for lanes, a shallow kids pool, a beach pool and two water slides), a gym, restaurant and café, crazy golf, a wave rider and more.  

During our stay we tried out the Cove club for kids where the children got to take part in crafts as well as go on an immersive adventure (Sophie was the team member running these on our trip and her energy was incredible).  We also watched the 'Fun Factory Live' each evening which is an interactive show and all four of my big kids were at the front each evening hoping to get called up for the games.  Every evening there was a fun filled line up including 'Bonkers Bingo' and musical shows.  The Rock Show was a highlight of the week for all of us and we were so impressed with all the entertainment.  Every caravan park we have stayed at has had entertainment for children (and adults) but I was blown away with the quality at Seal Bay with so much to see and do.

During our stay there was an Easter circus which I had booked and the children found it hilarious.  I didn't think it was as impressive as other circus shows we have been to, but the two clowns were brilliant and the focus on humour definitely engaged the children more.  There was an adult only circus available too but we didn't visit that.

I had made a list of things to do in the area but other than the day we had booked to go to Southampton (around a 45 minute drive) to do the Ninja Warrior course, we didn't want to leave the park!  There is plenty to see locally though including Chichester town, Arundel Castle and the South Downs National Park.

I didn't take nearly as many photos as usual to share, but you can see more of our adventures over on this Instagram Highlight.  It was Rex's first holiday and I think he loved it!

A few bits of practical information

• There is a shop on site but there is also an Asda (and Costa) three minutes drive from the park if you want to fill up the fridge.
• The swimming pool requires one adult per child for under 1s and one adult per two children for under 10s (we may have added a few months on to Archie's age as I was confident he is a capable swimmer).
• They don't sell food in the theatres but you can bring in your own food. We ordered from the fish and chip shop and the Papa John's situated just outside the main complex doors and could take our dinner in to the table with us.
• There was a big screen outside the restaurant/bar when the football was on if you don't want to miss your game (West Sands)
• We found three playgrounds in total, one on our site near the circus, one on the West Sand's site that was at a bus stop and the largest one was down by the playing fields. They weren't all obvious on the map.
• There are so many activities you can pay to do as extras.  Some sounded brilliant but on a budget trip (or if you have lots of children and don't want to pay out) you can find so much to do without spending too much extra. Everything is bookable through an easy to use app.
• This advice does not include the arcades.  We spent all our money there as you have to walk through them to get to everything else!

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Days out in Kent // Walmer Castle

We have had English Heritage passes before, but until recently we have never visited Walmer Castle.  Situated along the Deal Coast, Walmer Castle is a smaller castle with beautiful grounds and a fantastic place to visit with young children.

There is parking on site, although it was closed the day of our visit, and there is a car park opposite the entrance and free parking on nearby streets.  You enter through the castle and have a choice whether to explore indoors first or head outside.

The castle was built during Tudor times to help protect the country from perceived threats coming from France and Spain.  It's history involves stories about William Pitt, The Duke of Wellington, Winston Churchill and other Lord Warden's of the Cinque Ports, and was visited every year by Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother in her later years.  The interior of the castle was fascinating to explore (more for older children and adults than younger ones) and there were plenty of staff on hand to share knowledge with us.  Upstairs in the castle we could go out and see the cannons as well as looking out to see the coast of France.

The children's favourite part of our visit was the woodland walk. The natural play trail means you don't have to walk far before finding something new to climb on, swing from or play.  The beautifully designed areas kept the children entertained and we loved the information about birds along the way too, written in a way that younger children can easily take in and helping us to spot and listen out for them.  

The castle's grounds also include an incredible cloud yew hedge, shaped in the most interesting way, a kitchen garden where food for the café is grown and the QEQM garden.  Even on an overcast day, it is a beautiful area to walk around and there were plenty of picnic areas and large open spaces to enjoy over the summer too.

We visited the café which served sandwiches, sausage rolls, soups and cakes alongside hot and cold drinks. I was impressed with the options including vegan sandwiches and sausage rolls. 

Walmer Castle is a lovely afternoon out and situated close to the town of Deal, opposite a pebble beach and walking trails and a short walk or cycle to Sandown Castle.  Our children enjoyed exploring and have all requested we head back to the nature trail again soon.

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Five Days in Bournemouth with Kids

I feel like I barely got my camera out during the five days we spent in Bournemouth and it was lovely. After our week in South Wales which was all about the natural beauty and outdoor adventures, Bournemouth offered a different kind of holiday (still very beautiful).  We stayed in a Daish's hotel, something I have done before with the children.  They are quite old fashioned and designed mostly with an older generation in mind, but they also offer packages for families and include breakfast and dinner each day as well as prime seafront locations so it seemed a great choice for us.

We had to get two separate rooms (the downside of being a larger family) but they were next door to each other.  We were right on the Westcliff, only a stone's throw from the sea and had two of our meals each day covered.  The children loved the hotel and choosing their beds and it had everything we needed for a comfortable and enjoyable stay.

We didn't explore as far on this trip, making the most of everything that was within walking distance.  We visited the aquarium which was at the base of the pier, walked through the beautiful gardens and explored the shops.  We swam in the sea and played on the beach and found ourselves down on the sand every evening after dinner, running off the last of the days energy.  We walked down the pier at sunset to go on the helter skelter and I went running along the flat promenades which stretch for miles.

We spent a day at Adventure Wonderland, a small theme park for younger children (I exchanged Tesco Clubcard vouchers for tickets) and despite me being a bit apprehensive on arrival, we didn't leave until they were shutting the gates as the children were having so much fun.  There were a selection of rides, a soft play, playground, small pony area and a brilliant maze and it is a fun day out, probably best suited to children aged 3-8.

We also decided to spend a day exploring on public transport and Bournemouth had an open top bus route with plenty of places to get off and explore.  I grew up holidaying in Christchurch every year and I wanted to take the children to some of the places I remember from my childhood.  We stopped at Mudeford Quay and watched people crabbing, enjoying the beach and played in the fantastic playground.  We went along to Boscombe pier where you can play crazy golf with a ball made of fish food and shoot it into the sea at the end.  There were big rocks on the beach which they all loved climbing on and jumping off.

Bournemouth is a beautiful place to explore and there is so much for families.  We all agreed that it was friendly and somewhere we would go back to.  There is so much we didn't get to fit in but the slower pace suited us all and the evenings spent on the sand are some of my favourite summer memories.

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Exploring the Brecon Beacons with Kids

When we made our plans to visit Wales, I knew that this needed to include the Brecon Beacons.  We chose to stay just south of the area in Merthyr Tydfil and it proved to be a great base for exploring. We spent time in four different areas in the Beacons, all close to the southern border and we would love to go back and see more as it was a real highlight of our trip.

The Brecon Mountain Railway

I came across the Brecon Mountain Railway when googling the area and found it was actually due to reopen on the day after we arrived in Wales.  I thought it would be a great way to get a feel of the area and the novelty of an old fashioned steam train would be fun for the children.  The website suggested that we could get off and spend time at the two stops and even included walks that could be done in the areas, but the reality was that you had limited time at each one (ten minutes at the first stop) and then had to be back on the train.  I don't know if this was just due to covid or not, but it changed our plans as we had hoped to explore on foot as well. 

The children loved the train though and the scenery was stunning. We passed a beautiful lake and our second stop was at a little cafe with a playground (unfortunately the whole train wanted coffee so the entire stop time was spent queuing to get a drink.  The children loved the playground though and there was plenty of seating for the more organised travellers who had packed their own drinks.

The mountain train offered us a great introduction to the area and made us even more keen to discover more of the Brecon Beacons.

Garwnant Visitor Centre

After our trip on the mountain train ended earlier than we expected, we drove twenty minutes to the Garwnant visitor centre which I had been recommended many times.  The only entry cost was parking and the site had a lovely cafe with hot and cold food, an information centre and plenty of toilets as well as a brilliant playground.  We decided to start with the carved animal trail as it was only one kilometre and it looked an easy route, but the children were soon keen to go off the beaten track and walking through the woodlands.  We spent hours exploring, taking in the flowing water, the lakes, the hills and nature and it was such a beautiful location.  We did find many of the animal sculptures and it would be a lovely trail for children, but there is so much more to the area and we preferred exploring in our own way.  We popped back to the cafe in the middle for an ice cream break but ended up staying in the area for several hours.

By the time we left the children were wet, muddy and exhausted and I would highly recommend a visit to the Garwnant visitor centre.  Well behaved dogs were allowed on leads, parking was reasonable (I think £5 for the day) and the cafe had a mix of hot and cold food including vegan options.

Henrhyd Falls

We had seen a waterfall on our trip to Devon and the children were amazed so I was keen to fit some waterfalls into our Wales trip.  My brother suggested Henrhyd Falls as the batcave was filmed there for the Batman movies.  It is also the highest waterfall in South Wales at 90ft. We haven't watched them yet but I assumed it would be impressive and it definitely was.  The car park is around a 15 minute walk from the falls and there is a burger van there if you need snacks pre or post walk.  

The walk wasn't too tricky and you could get down to a great view of the falls.  That wasn't enough for my gang though and we knew that you could walk behind the falls.  To get there you have to walk across the rocks which are slippy because of the spray, but the children were all more than capable in their trainers (as was I at 5 months pregnant).  We got soaked by the water but there is something so exhilarating about getting behind a waterfall.  If you want to see a waterfall without a big trek, then this one is definitely worth a visit.

The Four Waterfalls Walk

We had enjoyed our waterfall taster but after reading about the best falls to see, I had come up with the four waterfalls walk and I was excited to see how we would get on as a family.  It was definitely one of the highlights of our trip.  The walk is beautiful and the paths between falls are easy to navigate.  When you are approaching the falls, it gets a little trickier and we were climbing up and down rocks for some as well as a 180 large stair walk to get to another.  To get up close you do need to be wearing solid footwear (we were all ok in trainers) and not be afraid to get very muddy! The children all loved the challenge and nothing was too much for them to get closer to the water.  We went with my brother and his family too and all of the little ones loved getting stuck in exploring.

We walked miles, we left the car park as the sun was setting but amazingly all the children kept up, even Cora at 5 with her little legs, probably encouraged by the excitement and adrenaline.  It is a fantastic walk and the falls are just beautiful.

The Brecon Beacons are such an amazing place to go exploring and there is so much more than what we could fit in to our short trip.  The wildness and beauty was both wonderful to photograph and an ideal location to let our adventurous children discover Wales.

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A Week in South Wales

We have been wanting to visit Wales for a long time, but there always seemed to be somewhere a bit further away that got prioritised so it has taken until 2021 for us to get here.  Covid has made international travel more expensive and more difficult and there has never been a better time to explore the United Kingdom.  I found the dates I wanted to travel and we knew we wanted to go to Wales but that was about as far as we got, so I went on Airbnb and looked up the prices and availabilities of different areas.  Merthyr Tydfil came out the cheapest by far, and whilst I could see that it wasn't the most pretty or interesting part of the country, it also looked like a well positioned base for exploring and so I booked a three bedroom house near the high street and started looking at what we could fit into a week there.

It turns out, a week isn't nearly long enough for exploring South Wales and choosing what to miss out on became harder than picking what to include.  There was so much we wanted to do and I wanted to get a feel for how much the country had to show us.  I booked a couple of attractions and came up with plans for the rest of the week knowing the weather (specifically the rain) can mean flexible plans are the best.  We actually ended up sticking to our plans pretty closely and were so lucky with the rain, that our raincoats were used mostly to protect us from waterfall spray than anything else.

I have always associated Wales with rolling green hills and so spending time in the Brecon Beacons was something we couldn't miss.  We ended up doing two full days there spread across four different areas.  We booked the Brecon Mountain Train for our first day thinking it would give us great views and a bit more awareness of the size and beauty of the area and the views were pretty spectacular.  Due to covid restrictions, we couldn't actually go out and explore at the destinations though, so we drove over to Garwnant Visitor Centre afterwards for lunch and to explore the area on foot.  The children loved being able to roam freely and as much as they enjoyed the animal sculpture trail, it was the wildness and getting off the paths that really excited them.  I saw the energy that they had for this beautiful part of the country and knew we had to spend more time here.

Our second day in the Brecon Beacons came later in the week and we headed up to Waterfall Country.  Last year they climbed up to see Canonteign Falls in Devon and I remembered the amazement so I wanted to fit in some of Wales' offerings.  First up we visited Henrhyd Falls where the Batcave was filmed in the Batman movies.  They couldn't have had bigger smiles as they scrambled over rocks and got the chance to walk behind the falls, getting soaked as they did.  After a quick picnic we drove over to the Four Falls Walk which takes in four waterfalls and is a much longer walk.  I was impressed at their stamina and energy and they loved being compared to mountain goats as they took in the more challenging climbs with ease.  It was about 7.30pm before we got back to the car and everyone had tangled hair, rosy cheeks and muddy legs but big smiles.  

We couldn't visit this part of the country without checking out the capital city.  I wasn't quite sure what to expect from Cardiff but we had booked Techniquest the Science Museum to start the day and it was a fantastic hands on museum that was perfect for my little whirlwinds who don't cope so well in a traditional museum.  Walking round the Mermaid Quay was pretty and then we walked up to the city centre, not realising it was actually quite a stroll! (We got the bus back down the other way).  The city is vibrant and colourful and full of lovely places to eat.  We visited the castle right at the top of the High Street but stuck to the grounds rather than going inside.  Back down at the Bay, we admired the brilliant Millenium Centre from the outside and spent money in the funfair just in front of it.  I would love to revisit Cardiff without the children and explore the shopping arcades and bars more.

With my maiden name being Gower, it was important that we made it to the Gower Peninsula at some point during the week, but we decided to stop at The Mumbles on the way and almost didn't make it any further.  We walked down to The Mumbles Pier for some lunch and to play on the arcades and got stuck enjoying the crocheted wonders all around, playing on the rocky beach and searching for Joes Ice Cream which we had heard so much about (and didn't disappoint).  The Mumbles was such a lovely town and we could have spent all day there.  It was later than I was hoping for when we left and headed to the Gower Heritage Centre so we could park up and find one of the famous beaches.  It was around a 20 minute trek to Pennard Castle ruins at the top of the hill and then we clambered down the cliff to find the most stunning and completely deserted beach.  It was a little windy and cloudy but still warm enough to run around (and for the kids to get fully in the water).  Our beaches at home are full of man made structures, piers and shops so it was different to find the beauty so raw and untouched.  There was so much space to run and explore and we had to drag them away at the end of the day, using the light on our phones to safely get back to the car.  I had hoped to get to Rhosilli but that will be something for another trip, for now, I can't imagine much better than Three Cliffs Bay.

Our week was adventurous, outdoors and focused mostly on the natural beauty of the country.  Our final full day saw everyone a bit more tired so we decided to stay closer to home and spend some money in Merthyr.  We did crazy golf, the arcades and the cinema and the kids loved it all.  They were so used to late nights because we couldn't stop exploring though, so we drove to Dare Valley Country Park because we heard the park there was great and it gave them some space to run out the last of the day's energy.  To keep up the pattern, we were dragging them away as the sun was going down.  I don't think I have ever had such easy bedtimes with them as they were asleep within seconds each night!

Our week in South Wales gave us a taste for what this part of the country has to offer and my list of places that we didn't make it to is at least another week, so I imagine we will be back before long!  The people are friendly and welcoming, the scenery is beautiful and all the adventuring tires out the children.  There were lots of adventurous activities that the children were either too young for, or I wasn't able to do pregnant that I would love to come back for too.

The 'Heart of Merthyr' was a few metres from our Airbnb

Merthyr Tydfil may not be a classic holiday spot but it proved to be a great location as everything we wanted to see was an easy drive and our airbnb was perfect for accomodating us.  If you are looking for family accomodation in Merthyr then this was our location 

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