So, school summer holidays, what plans do you have?

[imaginethemdragons]

Days out? Where are you off to?
Holidays away? Where to?
Survival tips…bring them on!

Just nosey that’s all.

Well it can’t be worse than last summer when my country was in lockdown and I spent 22 hours a day in the apartment ( no garden) with only robucks between me and insanity. This year my two are doing a lot of sports and Multiactivity camps and then we’ll just go to the beach etc. Where I live isn’t really awash with attractions/ museums and stuff and we can’t leave due to re- entry restrictions.

They go back end of august ( finished end of June)

We have booked a caravan holiday for two weeks, a few days in holiday club, a week at a drama club and a few days at Nanny's. May book a few day trips and there is always soft play!

18/31 days of August DS is doing his sport all day. The other days he will need to do some work towards an entrance test he has in January and after that we will be generally pottering about.

He finished last week (as did DH) so these 3 weeks of July he is having a rest and he and DH are going on day trips (water park, surfing, cinema etc).

DS is in day camp Mon-Thurs first 3 weeks, DD doing a climbing course 3 days in first week, then in theory going to a residential camp for nearly a fortnight, but I think all these could be disrupted by COVID. Just waiting on test results for DD and I and kind of hoping we have got it so we can get on with our summer!

Just one week's holiday, fortunately towards the end of the holiday - by accident rather than design but glad we didn't plan it for start of hols. 3 nights camping then 5 at airbnb in Devon then Dorset - hoping airbnb host doesn't pull a fast one like many others I've heard about and try to cancel our booking for more money!

Have one day out planned to Audley End with kids and end of this month.

I think for other activities planning to do things that are outdoorsy and not contingent on a certain location being open and I'd recommend everyone does the same. Because, let's face it, the whole period is going to be complete madness with people being ill/isolating all over the place and shows/restaurants/anywhere that needs staff to open will be constantly having to shut due to lack of employees!

We have a week away in the lake district right at the end of the holidays.

My DC are older, so happy with a lay in and a slow start in the mornings. We tend to head out after lunch which keeps £ down.

We make a list of all the things we want to do and try to plough through it.
So far we have
Fruit picking farm
Pottery making
IKEA trip and reorganising a room
Canoeing
Natural history museum
Re do a garden border
Cinema
Footgolf
Library reading challenge
And we also have a separate list of new places to take dog

A week with each set of grandparents
Cricket camp
Thats it so far....

We have merlin passes so we have most of the London attractions booked and Chessington. We also have the natural history museum booked and I’ll try and book for the science museum too. Lots of days at various parks too I imagine.

A fortnight in a holiday cottage by the sea.
Camping at a ‘festival camp’ in Wales.
Staying with friends in the Cotswolds.
Visiting BIL’s smart new cottage in Gloucestershire ( children- touch nothing with your sticky fingers, dog- no chewing or vigorous wagging).

Music workshops organised by the county music service.
Forest school and bushcraft organised by the local wildlife trust.
Days out with friends.
Play dates and helping friends out with childcare ( I don’t work over the holidays)
Dog walks, beach trips, picnics.
Staying a few nights with grandparents in Norfolk and London
Visits to museums, open air theatre, boat cruise in London. They want to go to the operating theatre museum at St Thomas’s hospital 🤢
Visiting Dippy the Dinosaur at Norwich cathedral.
Wild swimming ( their new ‘thing’), freeloading in friends with a pool when the novelty wears off.

Only thing we normally do that we won’t be doing is going to France 😔 But it’s been a tough old year and I’m determined to make it a lovely, busy summer break.

Probably quite a lot of other outdoorsy English Heritage places come to think of it, as we are members.

We have 2 weeks holiday planned - go to Bath just overnight then down to south Devon hotel with swimming pool for 3 nights overnight in Penzance. Then helicopter over to Tresco stay in Tresco (Isles of Scilly) and see tropical gardens and spa, boat trip, fly back on small plane St Mary's to Lands End then a week in a castle with a swimming pool on North Devon coast. Will swim with seals, visit Lundy, boat trips, canoeing.

Other than that DD has UKMT Maths summer camp for a week and visiting friends in London and some studying as she just changed schools. If its allowed and viable DH and possibly all of us will visit his 88 year old Mum in France who he hasn't seen for 1.5 years.

Also some sorting the house out as we sold old property and still have some boxes around. Cat needs her vaccine. DD goes to orthodontist.

A week in Dorset,
Day trips to worthing/littlehampton.
Shreks adventure.
Theatre.
Rhs Gardens.
Fruit picking.
Trail walk.
Lots of bbqs and play dates!
That's it for now. I'm really excited.

Kids in holiday club. One week in Northumberland, maybe trips out at weekends.

We've having a garden party for the dc and friends on the first Saturday.

Few days away in the first week to go to Harry Potter Studios and Whipsnade.

Festival for a weekend in the middle of summer.

A week camping at the end of summer.

The dc are also going on 2 other camping trips with their youth group plus about 5 days out.

It's turned into a busy holiday - seems like everyone is trying to make up for last year!

A week in Wales. A weekend in the Cotswolds. And fingers crossed 2 weeks in Italy visiting our family for the first time in nearly 2 years.

I have next week off so me and Dd will hang out while DH works, trampoline park, days out, bike in the park, that kind of thing.

Then back to work for me and DD has a place at the Outdoor Pursuits Centre holiday club for the next 5 weeks. So I'll be driving her there every morning, doing conference calls on handsfree on the drive then straight onto the laptop and the same at pick up time.

A couple of days out in London
A couple of restaurant trips
Teaching ds to ride a bike
Lots of library trips
Family film nights
Baking
A day in the forest
Lots of Lego building.

We’ve booked four days in the highlands of Scotland. Really need a stop over on the way because it’s a six and an hour trip from us. We are planning to do Edinburgh on the return for an additional three days.

Really looking forward to it. Not been away overnight since early September when we stayed in a caravan in wales.