Visiting the Adventure Playground & Outdoor Play Areas at Wallington Hall

Wallington Hall is a National Trust property in Northumberland. We've visited lots of times now but always tend to stick to the areas around the parks. They're just so tempting with kids and you're really spoilt for choice with not one, not two but three play parks within easy walking distance of the entrance. I'm hoping to explore the wider estate soon but this post is going to focus on Wallington Hall's wonderful parks. 

Theme Park Reviews & Tips

Merlin Attractions & Theme Parks 

• Visiting Alton Towers with Children who are 1.3m tall (2019)
• How to Spend 48 Hours in Blackpool with Merlin Annual Pass (2019)

• LEGOLAND Windsor Review (2018)
• LEGOLAND Discovery Manchester Review (2018)

• Madame Tussauds London Review (2016)

• Blackpool Tower and Circus Review (2015)
• Madame Tussauds Blackpool Review (2015)

Other UK Theme Parks 

• The Big Blue Hotel and Blackpool Pleasure Beach Review (2018)
• West Midland Safari Park Review (2018)

• Twinlakes Park Review (2017)

• Fireworks at Lightwater Valley (2015)

• Paulton's Park and Peppa Pig World Review (2014)
• Thomas Land in Summer (2014)

Worldwide Theme Parks 

• Efteling Fairytale Forest (2019)

• Puy du Fou Review (2018)
• 11 Things to do with Kids at Disney Springs, Florida (2018)

• How to Relax in Florida (2017)
• Top Family Highlights from our Trip to Florida

Theme Park Tips 

• What to Pack in your Theme Park Bag

• Merlin Annual Pass (pay monthly) - All You Need To Know 
• The Best Theme Park Hotel Rooms for Families

• Top Insider Tips for Visiting Orlando with Kids

10 reasons I love my Family & Friends Railcard

This is an advertisement feature 

I've bought a Family & Friends Railcard for the past 7-8 years. I love travelling by train and generally find it a lot less stressful than driving. I love not having to faff about trying to find parking spaces or being stuck in traffic jams and a train journey will normally get us to our chosen destination a lot more quickly than a car. A Family & Friends Railcard offers fantastic savings to families across a full year and costs just £30. For more information about the Family & Friends Railcard visit www.familyandfriendsrailcard.co.uk. Here's why I love ours: 

Dining with Kids in London | Bubba Gump Shrimp Leicester Square Review

Whenever we visit London, I'm always overwhelmed by the choice on offer and struggle to narrow it down and pick somewhere for us to dine. This is even more difficult when dining with kids. We don't visit London too often and I feel like the pressure is always on to pick somewhere that both us grown-ups and the kids will enjoy and I also try and pick somewhere that isn't available in the North East too.

Experience Northumberland's Dark Skies with a Stay at Hesleyside Huts

*This post was an advert first published in October 2018 and was last updated in September 2023.

You'll find Hesleyside Huts in Northumberland National Park, just outside of Bellingham and under Northumberland's Official Dark Skies (the largest area of dark skies in Europe). 

The group of 5 Luxury Shepherd's Huts feel like they have been picked up and dropped in the middle of nowhere but are actually just off the A68 and not difficult to find at all. 

Each hut is furnished to a super high standard and provides everything you need to relax, unwind and switch off from the world for 48 hours.

A lovely pub lunch & a trip to Corbridge Roman Town with kids

Last weekend, we decided to rejoin English Heritage. We've been members on and off over the past 10 years and decided it was time to rejoin. We're planning a couple of UK road trips next year and being English Heritage members will hopefully allow us to visit plenty of castles and historical sites along the way. It's £99 per year for a family to join and if you pay by annual direct debit you'll receive 3 months free. 

3 of our favourite child-friendly restaurants in Santa Ponsa

We love dining out on holiday and I always spend lots of time researching the best restaurants to visit when we travel to new destinations. Santa Ponsa is a bit of a weird one as there are a lot of typical pubs serving Full English Breakfasts and Sunday Dinners and cheap eateries serving up three courses for less than a tenner. This is fine if this is the kind of food you like, but for us, we always like to hunt out gems which are unique to the destination and offer either local food, gorgeous views or something we'll remember rather than a typical burger we could get from pretty much any pub in Newcastle. There are also some real gems in Santa Ponsa and dining out with kids was an absolute breeze. We stayed all-inclusive for the second half of our week so only managed to dine out on three evenings - if I was to have my time again, I'd probably stay self-catering for the full week as a few other places caught my eye too.