Newcastle to Amsterdam ferry with kids and a car
A cabin with bunk beds, dancing on board, the ferry mascot and balloon animals, and the Dutch coast in the morning. This is how we came home from our three-week UK road trip.
Bamburgh Castle - cannons, armour and a North Sea beach
Cannons pointing at the sea, rooms full of armour, winding stairs and grassy slopes the kids rolled down. Bamburgh was the last castle of our UK road trip.
Hadrian's Wall and Loch Lomond - from England to Scotland with kids
We squeezed through stone gaps on a Roman wall, built a dam in a stream on Loch Lomond and met the Scottish midges. Plus a flat battery and tropical glasshouses in Glasgow.
Ullswater and Aira Force - a tent in the mud in the Lake District
Lunch with an old work friend in Macclesfield, a tent pitched in the mud like Shrek's swamp, and the 20-metre Aira Force waterfall in the Lake District. This is how our day in the Lakes went.
Wales in the rain - a playground in a church and the longest place name
Rain in Snowdonia, slides inside an old church, a photo with a 58-letter name, and in the evening a campsite that turned out to be a patch of grass by a go-kart track. A Welsh day full of surprises.
Puzzlewood - a magical film forest and bingo at Whitemead campsite
Mossy rocks, roots that look like dinosaurs and numbered points to find: Star Wars was filmed in Puzzlewood, and our kids turned the walk into a big treasure hunt. In the evening, bingo and an Olly Murs tribute concert at the campsite.
St Michael's Mount with kids - a causeway at low tide and crabs under the stones
You can only walk to this island with a castle for a few hours a day, when the sea goes back. We crossed the causeway to St Michael's Mount and found crabs under the stones on the sea bed.
Land's End and Porthcurno with kids - at the very end of England
You cannot go any further west in England. An evening at Land's End, the turquoise bay of Porthcurno below a theatre in the cliffs, and a night when the wind almost blew our tent down.
Lady's Mile in Dawlish - a campsite with a pool for rainy days
Rain every day, narrow roads and a dialect we could not understand. We stayed at Lady's Mile in Devon twice, and now we know where to hide with kids from the British weather.
Stonehenge with kids in the rain - how the visit works
Stones from the postcards, hoods up and a bus across a field. Stonehenge in the rain was a little disappointing, but the Stone Age houses and a huge stone to pull were great fun for the kids.
Windsor Castle with kids - the guards' march and the Changing of the Guard
Red uniforms, tall black hats and a march through town that you can watch from the pavement. In Windsor we saw the Changing of the Guard and then visited the oldest occupied castle in the world.
Brooklands Museum - London buses and an aircraft factory near London
A ticket for a red bus, a pilot's seat in the Sultan of Oman's plane and a worker card stamped at 12:49 in an aircraft factory. Brooklands Museum turned out to be one of the best places near London for kids.
