So we had a free weekend without anything planned and instead of having a relaxed two days without doing much or even starting to get packed for our holiday in 3 days time, we decided to have a cheeky little two days away in the Lake District. It’s been quite a few years since I’ve been and we thought the kids would enjoy it, so we packed up on the Friday evening while the kids slept at my mam and dads. (A full rare night of sleep – hallelujah!). We picked them up and set off around 9am and headed to Windermere. We parked up and had a little stroll around the town before stopping for a quick lunch at a lovely little cafe. Ava enjoyed her bacon sandwich and Tom had a pouch. 

 

  

 
David and I shared a sandwich and a scone with cream and jam, which was delicious. Our bellies filled we walked down the hill to Bowness and then decided to jump on one of the boats over to Brockhole, which is the Lake District national visitors centre. The boat was lovely and Ava and Tom were both in good spirits. 

 

  

  

  
Daddy and Ava saying hello to Molly the horse

  

  

When we arrived at Brockhole we had a short walk to the adventure playground which Ava declared to be the best playground ever! If was a lovely sunny day and both Ava and Tom loved every minute of it. I took Ava on the big slide which went a lot faster than I was expecting! Next to the play area was a large Treetop nets area. It was basically a load of trampolines and connect walkways suspended up in the trees which looked great fun for adults as well as kids. You had to be three years old to enter and it looked really busy so we decided to leave that til next time. There was loads to do inside Brockhole though from boat hire, bike hire, mini golf, pony rides a cafe and a shop none of which we had time to sample on this occasion. 

We hopped on the boat back to Bowness via Ambleside and then headed for an early dinner to The Swan hotel in Newby Bridge. I’d read about this pub/hotel on Trip Advisor and had booked a table to give it a try. It was in a gorgeous location right beside the river and as it was a lovely sunny evening it looked very pretty. The interior was lovely too