Our 2017 Adventures Wishlist

I have said it before and I will say it again, I do not like January. I am a summer person, I like warmth, sunshine and pottering about in the garden. I am OK with autumn as I love the changing colours and the cosy evenings, I then have Christmas to look forward to which I love but when that’s all over and I’m left with cold January I am not happy! Knowing this, I decided to book a little weekend away for us all for this coming weekend and having that on the horizon is making this month and the returns to routine much more bearable so I now know to do this every January as it certainly helps beat the blues.

This time last year I shared what we’d like to do over the twelve months in our family days out list and looking back at it now, we did get to tick most things off. In fact the only places we didn’t get to were Chessington World of Adventures, Bosworth Field and Chester Zoo, so not bad at all. We also joined the English Heritage so that gave us some new places to explore last year and our membership is all paid up with them until this summer so I am sure we’ll be visiting more sites this year, along with our renewed National Trust membership.

So what adventures will we be looking forward to this year?

Chester Zoo. We didn’t get there last year but this is actually where we’ll be off to this weekend and we’re all really looking forward to it. We’ll be staying up in Chester so will make a weekend of it.

London. We visited a couple of times last year and managed to fit in a few sights including trips to Madame Tussauds and Kidzania, along with The Making of Harry Potter Studios Tour just outside London. And always Hamleys, we always have to go there as the kids know it exists! We’d like to go to the Natural History Museum next time along with seeing the new Lego shop. I can see us going down to London a few times this year as there’s so much to see and do there.

Chessington World of Adventures. We will get there! I’m thinking maybe around Easter time for this treat, as again, it’ll be one we make a weekend of.

Scotland. I’m not too fussy where as we’ve yet to explore any of it. I like the idea of going to Edinburgh and then the countryside and lochs look spectacular, so it all appeals. It’s a fair distance from us, so I’m thinking we could tie in a stop in the Lake District, too – oh, it’s all so tempting!

We want to take the kids abroad for the first time. At the moment we are leaning towards Holland, though the world is our oyster, right? They are already getting excited about going on a plane and I will be sorting their passports out this month so that we are ready.

Cardiff. This is somewhere that the Husband and I have been saying for ages that we want to visit. At last we have got round to doing something about it and have booked a couple nights there next month along with my brother and his wife. This one will be child-free, so the kids will no doubt be getting spoilt rotten by my mum at the same time!

‘The seaside’ – vague, I know. This was on the list last year and we took the kids up to Blackpool for Little Man’s 4th birthday to see the illuminations, the zoo and the seaside. We had such a wonderful time so it may well be we go back there again when the lights are on this year for a weekend or we might explore somewhere different. Living just outside Birmingham, a trip to the coast is a novelty for us.

Windsor Castle. If you saw my post the other day you’ll know that I will be turning 40 this year. To celebrate, the Husband and I will be going away for the weekend and I am currently leaning towards Windsor Castle. If my geography’s right, I’ve a feeling we could also visit Hampton Court while we’re there – does that sound right or am I miles off?! Anyway, I think that’d make a great weekend for me, along with finding a few bookstores and cake stops!

The Unexpected. I realise that this sounds odd, especially given that I am a planner, but last year we had a few trips and adventures that we hadn’t even considered, largely thanks to opportunities through this blog. So we are open to new adventures and trying things that we might not ordinarily do. All part of the fun, right?

What’s on your adventures list for this year? Have you been to any of these places?

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10 thoughts on “Our 2017 Adventures Wishlist”

  1. You can visit Hampton Court from Windsor 🙂 Chester Zoo is fantastic,have a wonderful time! I’d also (completely biased) recommend the Kent seaside,especially Broadstairs or Margate since the beaches are beautiful and they both have extremely good ice cream parlours! Enjoy your weekend away!

  2. Chester Zoo is fantastic! We’ve started regularly doing a double holiday to Shropshire and then onto Wales every year and Chester Zoo is always a part of our itinerary. We have annual Marwell Zoo passes, so we have the added bonus that we can enter on those…WOOP-WOOP! Make sure you get there early as you can easily fill a day there. I could spend a day with just the elephants alone. In case you didn’t know before you leave at the end of the day there’s a “secret entrance” just as you leave the zoo, outside of the ticket kiosks, where you can go into the elephant house. Also make sure to visit the new Islands section, it’s great, but leave plenty of time for it as there’s quite a lot to see there. Realm of the Red Ape and Spirit of the Jaguar are really amazing exhibits too. Ooooh, and if I remember rightly a baby giraffe was born over the Christmas period, so keep a look out for the mini giant. I LOVE Chester Zoo….can you tell! ?

  3. I grew up in London, so trips to Chessington World of Adventures were pretty frequent as it wasn’t too far away. I noticed recently that Professor Burps Bubble Works (an old favourite) has become a Gruffalo ride, a great one for the kids hopefully! xx

  4. Oh you should head to the beach while you’re in Cardiff. I used to live there and there are a few nice beaches nearby. Barry Island is all about the tacky seaside malls and fish and chips on the coast, Ogmore by Sea and Southerndown are lovely beaches as long as the tide is out. We’re in the Midlands too and also rarely get to the beach. The struggle is real!
    Nat.x

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