Ystradfellte waterfalls: Brecon Beacons National Park four waterfalls walk

On Sunday we did the iconic four waterfalls walk in Ystradfellte, Brecon Beacons National Park, Wales. It was the farthest I’d been from my home since the whole coronavirus pandemic began in March!

The drive was two hours from our house and it was my birthday day out!

9 years ago, just before we had children, Ben had surprised me with a night away in the Brecon Beacons and we did the this very same Ystradfellte waterfalls walk.

It was great to return with the kids and show them this amazing place, make some memories and capture them too in the below photos.

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Is Barry Island worth a visit?

At the start of March, Reuben celebrated his 5th birthday!  When we asked him what he wanted to do, his first response was to go to the forest and have a campfire and sleep in a tent!  It’s definitely out of season for camping, so we asked if there was anything else he wanted to do.  “Go to the beach” was his next response!  So on the Saturday after his birthday we decided to visit Barry Island in Wales.

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24 hours exploring Mumbles, Gower, kid-free!

Earlier this year I asked my mum if she’d have Bella and Reuben overnight for the last weekend of February.  It’s the month of mine and Ben’s anniversary and we’ve now been together nine years.  I wanted to go away for one night and explore somewhere new together.  I wasn’t sure where, but as we only had around 30 hours in total kid-free, it couldn’t be too far.

We’ve been to the Gower in Wales two times before kid-free and love it there.  We’ve previously been to Rhossili Bay and Oxwich Bay.  We decided to go again as it’s not too long a drive, around two hours.  This time we decided to visit Mumbles!

Read on to discover what we got up to in Mumbles and where we found lots of yummy vegan food!

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The amazing rock village + castle of Monsanto, Portugal

I can now add another location to my list of most amazing places I’ve seen.  My favourite beach so far is Hemmick Beach in Cornwall (as well as Watergate, Little Fistral and Whipsiderry since writing this blog post!), and now my favourite village has to be Monsanto Rock Village in Castelo Branco, Portugal.

Whilst visiting my brother-in-law who is now resident in Portugal, we took a half-day trip to Monsanto mountain after visiting the amazing nearby fossil mountains of Penha Garcia in the morning.

What a day!  Two really incredible places that can be visited in central Portugal on the same day.  A feast for the eyes!

In this blog post, I’ll share what we discovered at Monsanto in Portugal and lots of our incredible travel photos of the rock village, boulder houses and castle!

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Visiting Penha Garcia fossil mountains in Portugal with kids

Last week we stayed in Portugal for one week in the district of Castelo Branco.  We were visiting my brother-in-law who has moved to an off-grid farm in Vale de Prazeres.  Not too far from the centre of Castelo Branco is an absolute gem of a place called Penha Garcia.

If you want a holiday with a difference then I’d recommend looking at villas in Portugal and getting off the beaten track to explore some of the incredible inland landscapes.  We discovered rugged mountains, stunning wild swimming spots and old worldly Portuguese villages.

The best part about visiting parts of Portugal beyond the well-known beaches and tourist hotspots was just how quiet it was.  We had many of these places to ourselves and rarely saw another person.

Read on to learn of the historic mountain houses, rocky fossil mountains and castle of Penha Garcia with lots of our travel photos!

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