Category Archives: Uncategorized

Easy Day Out Idea #2 – Durham

This is my second post in my Easy Day Out Ideas series.

These are my tried and tested family day out ideas that cater for all ages, require no booking (so are perfect for last-minute plans), and are great for inviting friends and extended family along too! 

Each Easy Day Out is perfect for a weekend or the school holidays, and even on days off during the week with younger, pre-school children. Because they require no booking, you can easily make the itineraries into a half day or a full day to fit around your family. 

My family love these days out, and I hope you do too! ❤️

Easy Day Out Idea #2

📍Durham River Walk + Old Durham Gardens + Restaurant + Ice Cream + Durham Cathedral

This lovely day out in Durham features my three favourite things – a walk, sightseeing and eating!

Just like the others in this series, you can do this Easy Day Out in any order, or pick and choose what you’d like to do. 

This is what I would do:

🚶‍♀️Walk for 20-25mins, starting from the rowboats by the river in the city centre, and walk all the way along to Old Durham Gardens. (I’ve got a full post about this walk on my page, check it out).

🌳 Enjoy spending some time at Old Durham Gardens – you could even take a picnic. 

🍽 Walk back to the city centre, the same route that you came, and get some delicious food. Too many to recommend, but my current favs are the fennel sausage pizza from Rudy’s Pizza and pistachio ice cream from Belli e Brutti.

⛪️ Then, visit Durham Cathedral. It is such a gorgeous venue and very family friendly. Check out the Lego cathedral, borrow an activity backpack and climb the 325 steps to the top of the cathedral tower!

An image of Durham Cathedral surrounded by trees in Durham City Centre, UK.

☕️ After that, it’s time for a rest in one of the many good coffee shops in Durham like The Undercroft (inside the Cathedral), Cafedral, Vennels, Flat White or Leonards Coffee House.

We think that’s enough to fill a day but we’ll drop some additional things to do in Durham below!

Extras:
Wharton Park is a lovely, but very hilly, park on the edge of the city centre. A 15-20min walk from Durham Cathedral, or it has a small car park you could drive to.

Rent a rowboat or go on one of the riverboat cruises! And see the city from the water rather than doing the riverside walk.

Easy Day Out #1 – Seaburn & Roker

Today, I am launching my new series of Easy Day Out Ideas!

These are my tried and tested family day out ideas that cater for all ages, require no booking (so are perfect for last-minute plans), and are great for inviting friends and extended family along too! 

I’ve got five Easy Day Out ideas all written up. Each Easy Day Out is perfect for a weekend or the school holidays, and even on days off during the week with younger, pre-school children. 

Because they require no booking, you can easily make the itineraries into a half day or a full day to fit around your family. 

My family love these days out, and I hope you do too! ❤️

Easy Day Out #1

📍 Seaburn Play Park + Beaches + Fish & Chips + Coastal Walk + Roker Pier

This Easy Day Out just ticks all the boxes!

You can do it in any order, or pick and choose what you’d like to do. 

I’ve done this as a day out three times with different groups of friends/ family and it’s always been a hit!

This is our itinerary:

🛝 Seaburn Play Park
I’ve got a full Instagram post on this, but this play park is fab. Right next to a car park, it has swings, slides, sand, pulleys, wooden imaginative play, musical play, climbing wall and an interactive rainbow arch… to name a few!

🌊 Coastal Walk & Beaches 🏖
Walk from Seaburn to Roker or Roker to Seaburn! Both lovely beaches. Seaburn is more Sandy and Roker is more rocky. If the weather is good, you can also walk along Roker Pier to the lighthouse. 

🐟 Fish and Chips 🍟
Our favourite place to go is Downeys! Find them at Stack Seaburn which has limited seating inside and outside at their restaurant, or get a takeaway for the beach at the branch on Marine Walk at Roker Beach!

🍽 A Bite To Eat
There are so many good eateries along this stretch of coast in Sunderland. We love:
💙 Street food from Stack Seaburn
💙 The Keralan fish curry from Goa
💙 Pancakes, brunch or sweet treats from Love Lily
💙 Pizza and pink slices from Fausto

We think that’s enough to fill a day but below you’ll find some added extras if you want to spend more time in Seaburn and Roker!

Extras:
Two additional play parks nearby:
Roker Park has an entrance via Roker Beach.
And there is a small play park on Roker Beach itself by the public toilets.

Newcastle Indoor Culture Crawl with Kids

Newcastle is a fab city for a day out with kids, and usually one of go-to places to visit during the school holidays.

Today, I thought I’d put a little guide together on how to do a FREE museum/ art gallery/ indoor spaces culture crawl around Newcastle city centre.

We’ve visited all of these places many times, and I think these 5 indoor spaces for kids in Newcastle is perfect for the February or October half term holidays when you need a rainy day, indoors option in your back pocket!

This trail is walkable around Newcastle city centre and takes 36 minutes in total to walk, with the longest walk between venues being 14 minutes. So perfect for little legs!


I recommend getting the Metro into Newcastle, so then you can stay for as long as you want without worrying about parking tickets, and it can work out cost-effective as up to three kids aged 11 and under can travel for free on Metro and the Shields Ferry, all day, every day when accompanied by a fare-paying adult.


1. Hancock Museum/ Great North Museum
FREE, open everyday
This museum is so family-friendly and great for all ages. Depending on your child’s attention span and interests, you can spend as much or as little time here as you like. We love the Mouse House, Egyptian exhibition and peeking on the Gruffalo in the upstairs tree. They also have extra activities during half term like trails and crafts, as well as a dedicated packed lunch space throughout the holidays.


2. Farrell Centre
FREE, open Thurs – Sun
Across the road from the Hancock Museum is the Farrell Centre.

Head to the 2nd floor to the Urban Rooms where you will find three interconnecting rooms encouraging children to Plan, Build and Participate with Lego, soft play shapes, colouring, drawing and more. Watch my Instagram reel about the Farrell Centre.


3. Laing Art Gallery
FREE (playspace and certain exhibitions), open Mon – Sat
You now want to head straight down Northumberland Street and then turn left at Five Guys to come to the Laing Art Gallery.

I used to come to the Playspace at the Laing Art Gallery often when my eldest was a baby/toddler as it is such a lovely free, indoor space. Designed by John Lewis with a circus theme, this is best aimed at the under 5s, with books, toys and a light table. You’ll find it on the ground floor next to the cafe. Older children might also enjoy the FREE Northern Spirit exhibition and spotting familiar local sights in the artwork.


4. Newcastle Cathedral
FREE, open everyday
Walk back along the way you came, past the end of Northumberland Street to Monument. Then walk down the entire length of Grey Street (which is such a pretty street) . At the bottom of Grey Street, turn right.

I think Newcastle Cathedral is underrated. It is a gorgeous building and so family-friendly. They have an Investigation Station where children can do crafts and brass rubbings, and also usually host activities during the half term. Our favourite is the Pop-Up Hospital by the Great North Children’s Hospital where children can go in an ambulance and learn all about the roles within a hospital. It is so fun and engaging for the children, we spent over 2 hours there! (This half term, it’s on Tuesday 25th Feb).


5. Discovery Museum
FREE, open everyday
It’s now time for the longest walk of the day! But don’t worry, it’s an easy one. Cross the street and go around the corner of Subway on to Collingwood Street. Walk in a straight line, past Newcastle Central station, past the Life Science Centre (we will revisit this place on another day, as it’s fab!), until you come to a large busy junction next to Powerhouse. Cross the junction, and you’ll see the Discovery Museum.

This popular science and local history museum is well worth a look around. The exhibits and hands-on experiments in the science maze appeal to different age ranges, but all kids love the shadow wall!

I must say though, bring back the Play Tyne water play room, it was the best thing about the Discovery Museum, and is sorely missed by local families!

And that’s it! You’ve completed the Indoor Spaces crawl for kids around Newcastle city centre!

From the Discovery Museum, you can walk back the way you came, hop on the Metro at Newcastle Central Station and head back home.

Want more ideas for activities with young children in the North East?
Follow me on Instagram and Facebook!