thanks Trying :) we do have a family railcard already suddenly panicking it's expired but will probably use vouchers to get the next one! :) the prices are still insane but at least it's less because of the railcard.
We've booked the train up there - unfortunately it means we'll most likely be too late for the dinner we've paid for - an advanced deal meant it was £20 for the four of us for dinner at the hotel, but that pales into insignificance compared to the saving made by getting the late train, even when we add in the fact we'll probably get a MacD or something on the way which the DCs will probably prefer anyway. There was a lunchtime train for the same price but DS has fracture clinic in the morning and I don't think we'd be back on time. I'm tempted to use some of our clubcard vouchers (we've still got £49 worth, although some of that I would probably keep for a restaurant voucher for the Friday) for National Express and get a coach back home on the Sunday, but the prices are pretty ridiculous for that as well, I really thought coaches were cheaper! And I'm not sure how well we'd manage a 4hr journey, so I don't know if it's worth it for not that much money saved IYSWIM.
Gah! I dunno, I'm just really stressed out by it all and feeling really stupid/embarrassed that it's ended up costing so much. Compared to the last hotel trip we had, when I was super organised with an itinerary and tickets booked well in advance etc, this is just [puts on Daffy Duck voice] despicable!
It's stupidly busy until we go away too. DH is working 10 days in a row and we have a to do list a gazillion items long. I can feel my anxiety/stress ramping up big time, and a lovely side effect is the fact I am really struggling not to spend money on fripperies to cheer myself up. I say struggling, I actually hadn't even tried to rein it in until a couple of days ago. I haven't felt this need this badly since my youngest was a baby and I was lonely with PND and wandering round town to find nice things for them was the only thing that distracted me. This is Not Good. Really, really not good. Not least of course because of all the things that actually DO need to be spent on at the moment.
Right sorry for offloading such a pile of crap onto the thread! 
Hopefully I will feel more level headed tomorrow, and I can actually crack on with, erm, everything. (Except DD has a gym show rehearsal and then we're all going to her dance ceremony thing where she gets her exam medal and is doing her first ballroom competition... eeek! :) :) :))
Over and out. As you were folks, sorry 