Our holiday happy – a week with family in Herefordshire – Mummascribbles

We have just returned from our week’s holiday in Herefordshire, and whilst we didn’t actually have a huge amount of adventures, the boys had so much fun that it would be wrong not to document it with a gazillion photos!

The holiday was Friday to Friday and thankfully school had not only authorised it so it wouldn’t be classed as a fine-able holiday, but they also agreed for us to pick Zach up early on the day we were travelling there because it was such a long journey. So we picked him up at 2pm and set straight off on our road trip.

I totally avoided the motorways – I hate them and get really anxious driving down them. Instead we stuck to the A and B roads the whole way there and it was a really lovely drive. We only hit traffic through Oxford and it wasn’t much, and the whole journey was full of the most beautiful views, especially through the Cotswolds. We stopped off just before we hit Oxford for a toilet break and then carried on until we found a pub about an hour away from the holiday home where we had some dinner.

We then continued for the rest of the journey and arrived at the holiday home at about 8pm. Most of the family had already arrived – only the other half’s cousins were expected the following day.

The boys were so excited when they saw everyone. In total there were 19 of us (including six kids), and they immediately set about having fun and exploring the house – which was of epic proportions! It took a while for them to calm down and we eventually got them to bed at about 9.45pm – probably their latest night ever!

Saturday 15th June

On Saturday morning, we spent time exploring the place, as we had gotten there so late the night before. We took the kids in the swimming pool which they absolutely loved – Zach bombing into the pool which he has never done before and practising all that he has been learning in his lessons.

We spent the rest of the day chilling around the house, and in particular, exploring the garden and play area!

And when the kids were in bed, it was wine time!

Sunday 16th June

Sunday was an important day as it was the day we were celebrating all of the birthdays. Our niece was turning 10 on the Friday, my Father In Law (to be!) is turning 60 in September, and his best friend (almost like a brother) is also turning 60. And of course, it was Father’s Day!

My Brother In Law (to be) had organised for a bouncy castle and bowling game to be delivered and they were there when we woke up, so we had some very excited kids! The bouncy castle was actually a bouncy challenge and they spent so much time on it, in between the showery rain patches we had!

We then had a barbecue, the other half popped in the pool for a bit with the others, then it was cake time and bed time for them! At that point, I went for a no kids swim, hit the jacuzzi and had some time in the sauna. I felt like a new woman afterwards!

Monday 17th June

On Monday we didn’t initially have any plans, and then as I was getting ready, my Sister In Law popped in to ask if I wanted to head out with the ladies while the men looked after the kids. Of course I agreed and so we went into Hay-On-Wye for a wander around the shops (we found the most fabulous chandelier shop!) and a spot of cream tea in none other than Oscars Bistro!

Once we had finished wandering around and the ticket on the car was close to running out, we went back to the men who went on and on about us having abandoned them! In fairness, the other half hadn’t known we were going out (I thought the message had got to him while I was getting ready), and he had to deal with kids that needed lunch and wanted to go in the pool! He managed though, and they had great fun splashing around! The bouncy castle was also still up, so they had more fun playing on that.

We spent the rest of the afternoon chilling out while the kids played, until it was time for the very tired little ones to go to bed.

Tuesday 18th June

Tuesday was the day we went out. We hadn’t intended on spending so much time chilling around the house, but we were in the middle of nowhere, there weren’t really many places to go to, the weather was totally hit and miss, and the kids just enjoyed spending their time running around the place together!

But, Tuesday we went out. There was a National Trust place – The Weir Garden – about fifteen minutes down the road from us, so we decided to head there, knowing that if the weather did change for the worse, we weren’t far away from home.

It was absolutely beautiful there. We spent time following the map and enjoying the stunning views, looking for any nature we could spot, and Zach even found some tree roots that he was convinced were dinosaur fossils.

There was a little natural play area that the boys (and us) had loads of fun playing on, and then we sat by the river and ate the lunch that we had taken with us.

It was when we were sitting down that I could suddenly hear a lot of noise, and I realised that some of the others had come to join us. The kids all played in the play area for a while, and then because they had left their lunch in the car, we carried on following the path back up to the car park.

While they ate their lunch, we went off and explored the Walled Garden, and then just as it started to rain a little bit, we popped back into the car and drove back to the house.

Back at home, the boys were hungry and very tired, so we got them fed with dinner, got them to bed, and then enjoyed another night of wine and a couple of games of pool (which I sneakily won a game of and took the photo to prove it).

Wednesday 19th June

We spent the day chilling round the house again. The kids basically played in the garden, played hide and seek in the house, watched a bit of technology every time they needed a rest, and we took them in the pool for a while where Oscar got seriously brave and started jumping in – first holding hands, then being caught, and then, just jumping in. That boy has no fear!

Owing to this major exertion in the pool, both he and his cousin started falling asleep on the sofa at 4.30pm so we decided to stop that from happening (with him), woke him up, cooked dinner, got him to eat and then got him to bed. Every single day he was exhausted and ready for bed at 7pm!

Everyone had a drink and the grown up cousins had hooked up their phones to their Alexa so we could listen to some music. This started with us reminiscing over songs from the 90’s and playing all the epic tunes – and it turned into a party! There was boozing, singing, and dancing going on, and luckily, the kids were so far away, we didn’t wake them up (or so we thought!). It was so much fun, but at 1.30am, we decided that we should probably go to bed! I knew I would regret the late night come morning, and I wasn’t wrong!

Thursday 20th June

Somehow, I had gotten the raw deal and the other half claimed the lie in. The kids were up at 6.30, so I was downstairs making breakfast and trying to stay awake. Luckily I had stopped drinking way before the previous night ended, and so I wasn’t dealing with a hangover, just 4.5 hours sleep! The kids all gradually came down, so it was breakfast after breakfast being made and I was also cleaning up from the night before – there were wine and shot glasses everywhere!

Eventually, thanks to a loudly banged door from the kids, the other half got up, got ready and relieved me of duties! I slunk into the front room where I tried to have a nap. I find it impossible to nap in the day though, so it was more just a case of sitting with my eyes closed for a while.

I still felt like rubbish when I got up again though, but somehow managed to power through to watch Oscar while Zach went in the pool with Daddy. I didn’t have the energy to go swimming, and Oscar was knackered and refusing to nap and we knew he would be having a late night so swimming would be no good for him. Instead, we spent time in the garden, trying to fly kites, playing football, hide and seek, and cricket – and soon Daddy and Zach joined us too.

It was soon time to get ready for the evening, and we all went to a pub about ten minutes away for a final night meal. One, because it would be nice, and two, so we didn’t have loads of clearing up to do the night before we were leaving.

The boys went straight to bed when we got home, we sat downstairs for a while, and then went to bed ourselves, because we knew we had that epic drive back home to do.

Friday 21st June

It was our niece’s tenth birthday, but we also had the madness of packing up the car, making sure we had everything, and making sure the house was clean. The boys spent the morning playing with their cousins for the last time of the holiday, and then just before 10am, we were taking the big family photo, and jumping in the cars to go our separate ways!

We went the same way home as we had gone – through the countryside on the slightly longer but prettier route. We stopped off at the same set of services to grab some lunch, and then carried on with an hour and forty five minutes to go. Oscar had been moaning that his belly was hurting, and unfortunately, the roundabouts of Aylesbury set off his travel sickness and he vomited all over himself. He had done so well on our travels that I genuinely thought he was sickness free!

We pulled over in a side road (the joys of not being on the motorway), cleaned him up, and managed to get him back in the car again. We were still just over an hour from home. He had perked up though, and whilst still complaining of his belly hurting, we made it back home with no more vomit, arriving at 3.30pm, and very relieved to be back home and seeing our animals who had been wonderfully looked after by our next door neighbour!

And then it was business as usual. Unpacking, popping to the shops for essentials (I had ordered a Tesco shop for Saturday morning while we were away), and then dinner and bed for two children who were on a massive holiday comedown! We were knackered too, so we spent the night on the sofa watching Venom before retiring to bed ourselves.

We really did have a wonderful holiday. The location was beautiful, the house was incredible, and the company was fabulous. We were all really sad to leave, to have to head home back to normality. Although as many of us said to each other as we were leaving – we will be seeing them next year at our wedding – eeeeeek!