Half term fun and ice skating at the Eden Project

Autumn half term is a much needed break for both children and adults in our house. The kids are exhausted from being back at school and the run up to Christmas is punctuated by Hallowe'en, bonfire night and for us Diwali. I have spent the last few weeks collecting leaves, pine cones and conkers with Blue Bear, he loves taking them into pre-school to show his friends.

The other thing that happens during this half term is we celebrate our wedding anniversary and this year we decided to go away for a few days and for the boys to stay with grandparents. In the past we've taken the boys to Coombe Mill - our favourite holiday destination - and spent a week in Cornwall, but this year we wanted to go it child-free. There are a few highlights that are worth knowing about if you are planning a UK break.

Lappa Valley: 

We visit Lappa every time we go to Cornwall, the boys just love it. By the boys I also mean Hubbie. It truly is the best family day out with steam, diesel and static trains (a cafe on sleepers is the latest addition). There is also a boating lake, crazy golf and a large playground and indoor play for the days when it's a bit too chilly to play outside. Not that anything stops our boys from wanting to go outside and play. There are seasonal events so this half term there is the Halloween Spooktacular and at we've also been at Christmas and seen Father Christmas there.

Eden Project: 

My first visit was when Eden first opened over 15 years ago and I was captivated by it then. I went back after a long time when we brought Brown Bear to Coombe Mill for the first time in July 2014. I had wanted to go back to Eden for years, but with it being so far from home I hadn't had the chance. Now I visit at least once a year if not more. That first year we took Brown Bear to Eden for Christmas and saw the best Father Christmas I think I've ever seen. He was so convincing I had to pinch myself.

My favourite thing to do in the colder months (apart from skiing) is ice skating and the rink at Eden is fantastic, set in a biome of its own outside the rainforest and mediterranean zones. I've taken Brown Bear skiing with me and he loved going round with Pedro Penguin. This visit was my first skate of the year and it's always the same - starts off with me looking like a foal finding it's feet and by the end I'm convinced I'm at an Olympic standard. I'm not. If you can make it to the end of the 40 minute session there is a snowfall that will leave visitors young and old with a magical feeling about the experience.

In my wildest dreams I imagine that I will study / volunteer at Eden and be a regular visitor here pretty much forever. I can hope can't I ?

Fishing villages: 

There are some beautiful places to visit and we have only been to a handful of them so far. The ones I'd recommend visiting with children are:

Mevagissy is a really pretty vilage which has a model railway that Brown Bear loved visiting and there is a traditional sweet shop that drew my eye as well. If you fancy seeing some more here is a list of the top ten fishing villages of which Mevagissy is one: http://www.cornwalls.co.uk/top_ten/fishing_villages.htm

Padstow is pretty well known and hardly qualifies as a village any more, so it's often busy in the summer months. We still love visiting for the great fish and chips and ice cream that makes the boys' tongues go blue. This visit we went to Rick Stein's seafood reastaurant for our anniversary which was a treat. Not something that we would do with the boys - well not at this age anyway.

Beaches: 

We love taking the boys to the beach and even in the Autumn there is plenty to see and do. In the Summer I took Brown Bear surfing at Polzeath beach. We both loved it and while you can still surf I'm not keen to get in the water when it's cold. Instead we like to walk and explore the rock pools. We've usually been lucky with sunshine even on the coldest days in Cornwall. Trebarwith Strand offers a lovely coastal walk to Tintagel and on the afternoon we visited the boys had a lovely time playing with boats and making footprints in the sand.

I can't imagine a time when we won't enjoy going to Cornwall as a family or as a couple. Not when there is so much fun to have and so many adventures yet to enjoy.

Disclosure: We received complimentary entry and ice skating from the lovely folks at the Eden Project. 

My favourite family friendly things to do in Cornwall

Since we discovered Coombe Mill a few years go we've been on all our family holidays to Cornwall with one then two boys. It was my dream to holiday in Cornwall for years having spent the odd day there when I was touring the country for work. I stayed in St Austell, Wadebridge and Padstow - all for a day at a time - and I really wanted to visit again and stay longer.

The main reason I like visiting Cornwall is because it's so beautiful and there is so much to see and do. Yes it's a long drive, but we've done it so many times now that the kids are used to it and Hubbie is well practised on the route by now. We pack the car, plug Brown Bear into his tablet and Blue Bear watches DVDs of Paw Patrol and we're off. There is one stop just outside Exeter for lunch and loo breaks and we usually arrive late morning or around lunchtime.

A younger brown bear feeding the animals

Coombe Mill is the perfect holiday destination for our family. Fiona and her lovely family are so welcoming and they really know how to make families with young children happy. The boys have plenty of room to roam, there's outdoor play, indoor soft play, trampolines, den building, a fairy garden, the evening mini train ride and the famous morning feed run with children taking turns to drive the tractor with Farmer Nick. My boys take part in everything and we have stayed in a riverside lodge, a Scandinavian lodge and a cottage on our numerous visits. One visit we stayed in Eden and would take it in turns to see whose windows the llamas were outside each morning - the boys loved it when it was their windows.

Our llama neighbour

We spent Christmas at Coombe Mill a few years ago and it was wonderful and so special with a festive themed train and a house party hosted by Fiona and Nick on Christmas Eve. I can highly recommend it and we even take turns to go to the gym to get away from the kids for a while. This summer we even took advantage of the offer of babysitting and went out for the evening which was a great treat for us as it was the first time we've done gone out by ourselves on holiday. On the basis of that I'm sure we will be willing to do it again in future.

This time we travelled on Ruby 

When we are staying there we have a few favourite activities that we like to do with the kids. The all time big hit is Lappa Valley where you arrive via steam engine (usually Muffin or Zebedee, but this time it was Ruby) and can ride an Intercity 125 and take a ride through the countryside on another steam train. There is a boating lake which is great fun with the kids, crazy golf, a massive playground and this summer a new cafe as well as the cream teas and ice cream we have grown to love having while we're there. The cakes are homemade and the staff are so friendly and helpful. When we visited once and a childrens' entertainer made a balloon sword for Brown Bear and it burst he ran over with a replacement one just before we boarded the train to leave. Lappa is a firm fixture in our holiday itinerary and I am dreading when the boys will be too old to want to go any more.

The boys play golf and practise driving - it's all go.

My personal heaven in Cornwall is the Eden Project which I first visited over a decade ago when it had not long opened. It has been wonderful to visit in recent years and see how much it has developed and we even went to the Eden Sessions in July to watch the Manic Street Preachers perform there. When we stayed at Christmas we also went ice skating at Eden and met Father Christmas - who I swear was the real deal. Look at the photo of him and tell me you don't agree - I dare you !

It's Father Christmas ! 

Ice skating with Pingu

I've taken the boys to hear stories, to take part in activities and showed them round the biomes, but however much I try I cannot get my boys to enthuse about it as much as I do. I could happily spend all day there and when we visited this summer I did as I went on my own and enjoyed taking my time. I even fulfilled my ambition to climb to the top of the rainforest biome and conquered a fear of heights while doing it. The best way to keep the boys on side is to keep them well fed and it's easy to do at Eden as the food is made fresh and the kids' meals include a packed lunch with extensive choices of contents. I usually share my meal with the kids as portion sizes are so generous and the cakes are amazing. It was a real treat this year to visit on my own and savour a cup of tea and a cake without having to wipe anyone's face or take anyone to the toilet.

I'm at the top of the rainforest ! 

Many years ago I booked a surfing course on Fistral Beach which I then bottled out of doing. I have made so many excuses in the intervening years including, "I'm unfit," "too fat," "we are nowhere near the coast." Finally this summer Brown Bear was old enough to take lessons so we went to Polzeath Beach and booked him in with Surf's Up school. He only agreed to do it if I did too, so I finally got to learn, despite having a wobble about parading on the beach in a wetsuit. Fiona's children have all learned to surf with them and if you are staying at Coombe Mill they offer a discount. We had a lesson with Shaf and Harry who were great teachers. Harry was with Brown Bear the whole time helping carry the surf board and assisting him with trying to stand up. I was so proud of how well he did and we both had such a blast. I certainly intend to go again and hopefully Blue Bear will want to try when he is older too.

Me and my surfer dude !

When I tell people that we are going on holiday to Cornwall I'm not sure they really know how special it is to us. There is so much to do and I haven't even mentioned the beaches !

Beach babies 

I want my sons to have great memories of family holidays and having fun with us - I hope that they remember Cornwall with as much fondness as I do when they are grown up.