The perfect gift

Despite working in retail, I've managed to have a great Christmas. We all received some lovely gifts and created even lovelier memories. But beneath all that was the fact that it was the first without my Dad. As much as I reflected on that very fact, I tried not to dwell on it... he wouldn't want me to!


One of the gifts we jointly received as a family was an annual pass to the Yorkshire wildlife park. We are blessed to have something like this on the doorstep but I wont lie, costs have stopped us visiting as frequent as we would like. In winter we don't venture to the peak district on weekends as much so this really was the perfect present for our outdoor family..i mean, yesterday we watched lions at sunset!

I didn't really photograph the animals as such, I usually take hundreds and never use them so I spent that extra time mainly just feeling content. I cant wait to go back and create endless memories again there already! Family time really is everything.

My boys and the bluebells! - Renishaw Hall

Since going back to work we're finding it hard to have family days out at the weekend. Craig often works Saturdays and working Sunday is part of my contract. So when we do get the chance, like this bank holiday weekend, we really do like to make the most of it!

Regular readers of my blog will already known that we like to explore and discover new places but we actually stumbled across Renishaw Hall on google maps, of all places! And within about 20 minutes of being there it became one of our favourite places, one I know we will revisit over and over again as a family like we do with Potteric carr etc.

We were lucky enough to visit when the bluebells were in bloom and my gosh was it a magical sight.

The walks/garden weren't the most pushchair friendly in places but as this is an award winning garden we didn't expect them to be. There was something new to discover around every corner and I have a feeling we didn't even find half of it.

The courtyard, shops and café are so quaint and totally me. So much so I let my healthy eating guard down and had a slice/slab of coffee cake..it didn't disappoint!