A lovely weekend in North Yorkshire

We've just returned from a lovely break in North Yorkshire. It was a bit of a celebration for us - Steve was originally due to leave his employed job this week and combined with the fact that my kids had a 4 day weekend meant that booking somewhere to celebrate Steve's new found freedom and making the most of a long weekend in term time was on the cards.

Although it might seem like we travel a lot, in reality up until now it has been really tricky with Steve's old job. He had to book his time off in months in advance (sometimes 18 months in advance if it was a school holiday) and asking to finish early on Friday to go away for the weekend (using holiday entitlement) was never permitted. I'm so pleased we can finally take weekend breaks away on a whim like this now.

My criteria for this holiday was somewhere fairly close to home with good self-catering facilities, enough space for 5 of us, was dog friendly and felt like a treat as afterall, we were celebrating.

In the end I booked this AirBnB for just over £500 for 2 nights. Yes, not a budget break but for self catering accommodation for five people + dog, a games room and large outdoor space, I actually think the price is very competitive and would challenge anyone to find somewhere of a similar standard significantly cheaper for the last weekend in June.

Ah the weekend was just what we needed. We played Trivial Pursuit, Monopoly and lots of games of pool, watched Ricky Gervais' new stand up on Netflix and played in the garden with Fozzy. Sometimes just a change of scene is all that's needed.

There was a lovely village pub a few minutes walk from the cottage and we enjoyed a delicious Sunday lunch here with a nice bottle of wine. The staff were so lush and the food outstanding.

Fozzy made us laugh as he kept trying to be referee. This is the second AirBnB we've stayed in with it's own games room and if you're travelling with teens, I would definitely recommend. It's a good way to chill and spend time together. I beat Harry in our tournament which nobody expected and gave us all a good laugh.

Evenings in the garden watching the chickens, playing with Fozzy, listening to the birds, playing Ping Pong and actually feeling the sun on our faces. Bliss!

We indulged in homemade cake left by out hosts and enjoyed freshly laid eggs from the hens in the paddock for breakfast. The rooms were filled with fresh flowers and plants and it made me think I need to try harder with house plants at home because they really do make a difference to your mood.

We spent the day in Knaresborough with a homemade picnic - I went all out and made some Nduja Sausage Rolls which were such a treat. We couldn't resist an ice cream too and Fozzy had his first doggy ice cream.

Knaresborough is a beautiful town. We had visited in the past but hadn't really explored too much, it was so nice to just walk along the river, watch the rowers and ducks. The atmosphere was lovely. One of those days where it's sunny but not actually too hot so you don't end up all hot and bothered.

On our first day we visited Mother Shipton's Cave and spent a few hours learning about the legends / taking part in the various activities for good luck. We all placed our right hand in the magic wishing water in the well and made our own private wishes.

We found some spare change and added them to this coin tree and made another wish as we did. Oh and I quickly filmed Steve doing this, popped it on TikTok and it's ended up going viral. Why is it always something you least expect that this happens with?

I really enjoyed our time here - it was a super charming place and nice and chilled. Kind of reminded me of Efteling but on a very much smaller scale. I'm going to write a more in depth review soon.