Family Holiday to The Bay of Arcachon France 2004

With 4 boys and a disabled daughter finding holidays that suited our budget and the wide range of kids needs we spent a lot of time in France for our holidays, usually in Brittany taking an overnight ferry from Portsmouth on a Friday night so we could sleep on the journey, arriving in San Malo with a short car trip to reach our Gite for a week. As our daughter doesn't travel well, doesn't particularly like the beach and wanting to take the boys away for longer and to enable them to have some quality time with us, we opted not to take her on this trip and travelled further a field to spend 2 weeks in Andernos Les Bains in the Bay of Arcachon.

We rented a 3 bed self catering chalet and loaded the car with the bikes and 4 excited boys 

aged 5, 9, 12 & 15

11 years on we only have fond and happy memories of this holiday and it is one that the boys talk about often, however for me as I look at the photos I remember the arguing in the car, the fighting over who wasn't sharing a room with whom, the hours spent looking for a child who has stropped off and the afternoon spent at the police station when the 15 year repeatedly splashed a small child by running through the water despite us and the child's dad asking him to play elsewhere until eventually the dad hit him as he ran past for the 100th time.

There was plenty of beach time as well as bike rides round the local area and the kids were dispatched every morning to the local bakery to purchase fresh breads for breakfast.

We had picnics in the day and in the evenings hubby and I took it in turns to prepare dinner while the other supervised the kids at the pool.

One evening whilst I was preparing dinner, hubby took the 3 older boys for a walk and left the youngest with me playing outside.

5yo: Mummy I'm duck

Me: You're a duck 'quack quack'

5yo: No mummy I'm really duck

Me: Yes I know 'quack quack'

5yo: Mummy I'm duck, you know I can't say my S's

Me: Removes child's stuck head from A frame of bench

There were many trips exploring the local area and while hubby took the 3 older boys to the Great Dune of Pyla at 3km long, 500m wide and 100m high, the tallest of it's kind in Europe, to run and slide up and down, I spent the afternoon with the youngest at the local zoo.

We found a local fun fair one evening where the boys spent most of their pocket money.

A day trip into Bordeaux

An afternoon and evening in St Emilion and the boys loved the cellar tours.

Hubby and the older boys spent a morning at Bisc'Aventure for fun in the tree tops and zip wires

And we all spent a day at AquaPark Biscarrosse

My favourite photo of the holiday and in fact probably my favourite photo of our youngest was taken on the beach at Biscarrosse, the waves were pretty fierce and the youngest kept walking up to the shore line then running away squealing as the waves approached him.

This turned out to be our last family holiday in France as the following years we went further a field, to Turkey, Tunisia and America. 

Walking in the tree tops at Celtic Manor, Newport



As you know I've been in the UK a while now, visiting from South Africa. The last few weeks have been spent at my parents where my 20yo nephew is also staying until he starts his new job in 2 weeks.

We've spent a lot of time together in the house and apart from the odd bit of running around we haven't actually done anything together. But what can a 42yo Aunt and a 20yo nephew actually do together?

We went to the pictures on my last visit, grabbed lunch out, but he has his mates, his golf and his video games and I'm not a big fan of the films he likes to watch.

So today, my last day of the trip we went to Forest Jump at The Celtic Manor in Newport. Home of the 2010 Ryder Cup.

After we had run through the safety checks and the instructors were happy that we knew what we were doing, I climbed a ladder as tall as a 2 storey building, stood on a platform that was moving in the breeze and announced to my nephew 'I can't do this' well by the 5th platform it was all systems go and we gained ground on the rest of the group finishing a good half an hour ahead of them, by whizzing down the zip wire. Click here for the videos. The whole course took just over 2 hours to complete.

I would recommend you wear a long sleeve top as I've a few rope burns and a pair of cycling gloves as my hands are blistered from clinging onto the ropes for dear life and I'd certainly recommend a padded bra.....you have been warned.

This was a perfect day out for all, there were children as young as 12 up on the high ropes and adults easily in their 60s. There is a low rope course for younger children and there were a few dads joining in and having a great time with their kids.

I'd certainly do it again and at *£19* per adult which included all the safety gear, demonstration and 2 hours of fun, it was worth the money.

I wouldn't mind exploring the fitness centre on my next trip to the UK or maybe a few golf lessons and a chance to play on the 2010 Ryder Cup course with hubby.

*I received 2 complimentary tickets from Celtic Manor*

 Sam demonstrating the safety gear to the others

 Once you connect the first safety clip, to secure it, you slot it into the yellow device and it locks in place, whilst then releasing the lock on the other clip. Ensuring that at all times you are secured to the equipment.