Review: The Rough Guide to The Lake District

It seems ages ago I was telling you all about my budget holiday, and I suppose it was - way back in February, what with moving house and work and blogging it has just flown.

This week I've got a few days off coming up and we've been trying to work out where to go and so I dug out my holiday stuff, guide books, maps things like that and remembered I'd not told you about a lovely book DK sent me in February.  I'd mentioned to them about going on holiday when they send me the fabulous Factivity books to review and they tucked some bonus treats into the box for me and the kids, among these was "The Rough Guide to The Lake District".

This book was so helpful both planning on holiday, as it is set out in a really easy to read format and covers all the popular touristy parts of the Lakes.

Our #budgetholiday ......... Keswick

Gosh my holiday seems so long ago now but I just remembered I barley made a dent in telling you all about it.

So Saturday, when we went to Grasmere  we also took a trip to Keswick to visit another place I remembered visiting with my mum ... The Pencil Museum.

The museum is home to the worlds first pencil, the longest coloured pencil, a giant, an escape artist’s
pencil and much more.  The museum explores, as you would expect the history of pencils and in particular the famous Derwent pencils.  Hubby really likes history so the displays were right up his alley whilst me and the boys completed an activity form (with our free Derwent Pencils).  They enjoyed playing the games they found and exploring all the different types of pencils including watercolours.  They requested some in the shop but the cheapest ones in store were around £20 and therefore a little out our price range!

Sob - we've returned from our #budgetholiday

But here's an overview of what we got up to...........it involves quite a lot of food :)

It's going to take me a while to write a post covering everything but when I do get them written I will link up to them from this post.




Friday

Was mostly spent travelling, which was a breeze thanks to DK Books.  We checked in at Park Resorts, Fallbarrow in Bowness and had a quick cup of tea before heading out to see how Ambleside had changed in the few years since we had last been.
  Tea was a lovely meal in the Ambleside Tavern (formally The Sportsman/ 'Sporties' my old dancing venue when I was at University there)

Our Budget Holiday - Step 2: Planning the journey

Well all our holiday is booked and I must remember to go and pick up the tickets from the train station.  If you missed Step 1 of my #BudgetHoliday series then you can catch up here.

The next step is to plan the train journey, because when you have kids nothing is as simple getting on a train and reading your book until it gets there.  Especially when the journey takes 3 hours (each way) and the kids happen to be 3 and 6.

They do have tablets, portable dvd players and ds's but to be honest I quite enjoy the 'family time', that and you are never guaranteed a seat - let alone one with a plug socket (and these things do seem to eat the battery). 
  On the other hand we are on a train with 2 small boys for a 5 night holiday - there is a limit as to how much we can carry..... I have learnt that lesson!

My aim on journey's is for each boy to have their own rucksack with everything they will need for the journey (including their favourite soft toy, drink and a snack or 2).  This is no easy feet, especially when you think the 3h journey involves 2 or more trains, and but here is my guide as to those little extras that either I have used historically or have spotted online that can make a very long journey fly.