Northern Reasons to be Cheerful #R2BC

We headed off up north this week, and that's a very rare occurrence for us. I was pondering if the kids have ever been up north and we realised they had once, back in 2011. We stayed in a holiday village near Hull and didn't really enjoy ourselves, so it's probably a good thing I had forgotten that before I booked this break.

This time we stayed in an Air BnB and I'd happily recommend Squirrel Court, which is close to Thornton village, Bronte Country. We were around 20 minutes outside the centre of Bradford, but it felt like it was a lifetime away, as we were in the countryside, with amazing hill views, a farm shop at the end of the lane and tons of local pubs.

*  We've enjoyed lots of family time, doing all sorts, from just chilling in the wonderful cottage to heading into major cities.

Review: Yorkshire Wildlife Park, A Fabulous Family Day Out

Earlier this week we visited the Yorkshire Wildlife Park, near Doncaster, and we had an amazing day out. It's probably my favourite walk-through animal park that we have visited, as it is relatively flat, super easy to get to, the large animals all appeared to have fabulous large enclosures and they have worked very hard to ensure that you are able to see the animals, without encroaching on their space.

We planned a break in Yorkshire so we could visit the park as Miss E has been polar bear crazy for some years now and this is one of only two places in the UK where you can view them. The weather was fine, but overcast on the bank holiday Monday that we visited and this seemed to be conducive to the animals being happy to have a walk around and be visible for all the visitors.

Nobby, the shy polar bear