Win a fabulous family-friendly farm holiday in Cornwall **NOW CLOSED**

In the early 1950's, the firm that dad worked for were going to have a football match with their Belgian counterpart. Oh so exciting, first time abroad for all of us and a big adventure, and we were going to fly. We went from Lydd airport, but can't remember how we got there. Once on the little plane, Mum was terrified as the plane hurtled along the runway, just seeming to narrowly miss the grazing sheep. Our hotel was old fashioned but very comfortable, and another first were the duvets and huge square pillows. Some of the food was strange, but I did enjoy the deep fried brie type cheese and sweet sauce. We saw The Manekin Pis, and I had a little souvenir statue for ages. On the way to the match, we had to cross a border, manned by armed guards and huge alsation dogs. Who won? who cares, it was a lovely adventure for a nearly 10 year old, her brother, Mum and Dad.

On a narrowboat holiday many years ago as a child, I managed to trip over my two left feet and tip unceremoniously into the canal. Upon shouting "Mum, I'm in!", she came running down the bank, only to lean over and say to my Dad "it's OK, it's only Edith."

No favouritism there at all! . I smelled of canal and duck poop all day!

It was the first time last year we went together as a family on holiday. It did not star well. We have to go in two car/taxi. As the luggage was on my son and grandson 's name, could not check in as they were in the latter car. Short story, we could not check in time ... only 5 to 10 minutes late. We were there but the checking person was being awkward. So they ask us to go with our suitcases to board the plane but was delayed more by them as they emptied our four high suitcases and THROW all our big containers of fluid like sun cream, lotion and lots other items AWAY. Very frustrated at the time. Not forgetting we have 2 little one with us and their trunk which we have to carry....handbags, suitcases, kids and their trunks.... they took us to the gate and GUESS WHAT.... WE WERE NOT ALLOWED IN THE PLANE.. after all this hassle, we did not board the plane. So we lost all our items from the suitcases, our at fare the care hire on the other side and the time to go to the cottages where somebody were going to wait for us with the key. We manage to book again with another airline. We had to wait in the airport for about 5 hours to depart and to a further(another) airport where we have to book(hire) another car to take us to our further long distance destination. What a day??? But after that we still enjoy our holiday and had a great time.

We were on holiday one year when my sons, then one and two took it upon themselves to start feeding some of their sandwich to some ducks. The birds clearly were not impressed with the small portions being handed out and one decided to help itself - taking my two-year old's entire sandwich from his unexpecting hand. Clearly this caused a lot of tears, but the adults could help but suppress a smile.

Mums Wishes

After getting her 100th birthday card from the Queen Mum decided enough was enough and left us. In her will she left a bit of money and we decided that we could remember her with a family holiday. It was two years in the planning.
Family holidays have always been adventures, from a night in a tent, two weeks in a caravan, a week abroad- as long as we’re together it’s going to be great.
And this year my OH, aka Shed Man and I were able to take three of our four children, two of their partners and five of our grandchildren aged from 1 -12 to a villa with its own pool, access to some great theme parks and a long flight home. It was fabulous and although we had some grandchildren who liked to get up early, very early, we had a great time, eating together sometimes, swimming together every day, meeting cartoon characters. We came home absolutely exhausted but pleased as punch that it all went so well. After customs and collecting suitcases we all hugged each other goodbye and the various family groups split up to retrieve their cars and head home. We just had one son with us now, and two grandsons, 12 and 8 to drop off on our way home. And then we lost the car! When I say we I do of course mean he (Shed Man) for it was he and he alone who had parked the car in the car park near the hotel and quite near the airport. I remember him coming back and proudly showing me the picture that stated which Zone he had parked in. How modern I thought. But at the end of a long flight and with the sun coming up he seemed distinctly unsure which direction to take.
‘Ah, that’s it,’ he pointed, ‘let’s get on this bus.’ I agreed readily, any bus would do.
We piled on lugging big suitcases and held on tight as the shuttle crossed the first roundabout. At which point Shed Man howls, ‘This isn’t the way.’ A frantic talk with the speeding driver affirmed his concerns, but he wasn’t going back as he was clocking off after this trip, he told us. He did tell us how to get back to the airport on the shuttle though. We arrived back and found going down in the lift was practically impossible, so we wandered around for a while before finding a long ramp to descend, which took us back to the hotel where we had slept the night before departure. Oh, I so wanted to grab that comfy bed now. Take 2 – still unsure we set off for the very same bus stop in the hope that their was a second route. After waiting a while, one turned up – going to the same destination. At this point son points out that maybe we should look for the paperwork. After all hand luggage and pockets had been checked a case was duly unzipped and found to be full of dirty washing and little else. Son again voices his thoughts, ‘but Mum you must have had some paperwork, emails, receipts, anything?’ And I replied, maybe a little snappily, ‘for fifty weeks of the year I take care of everything, pay the bills, do the insurance, and buy the TV licence, take the dog to the vets, everything but on holiday your Dad takes care of it all’. Son looks distinctly glum at this point. I checked my phone, as I had indeed booked the car park (not in remit for Shed Man, outside the scope of his two weeks) but I had deleted all mail after forwarding to Shed Man, and he couldn’t find on his phone either! But I agreed to him checking inside my backpack just in case any paperwork had crept into my bag. And there it was, details on car park! I shall never find out how it got in there. However, Take 3 and we are directed to the onsite car park two minutes away and mystery. Having parked there two weeks ago why did he not know how close it was? Life is a puzzle sometimes, and it’s only getting worse. But this is good news, so we caught the proper bus for a very short time and alighted near the car, the picture was splendid, showing the car parking under the Zone pole and there it was – still gleaming in the watery morning sun. We looked like a camel train crossing over to it, from biggest to smallest all pulling what is now essentially a large laundry basket each. We took a while to pack the bags in; they seemed bigger now so we had to juggle a while. Then we piled in and headed for the exit, all sucking Werthers Originals that had been abandoned in the car two weeks ago. But we couldn’t get out, we didn’t have a ticket. And Shed Man was baffled, ‘I never had a ticket’ so off to the office we go and after a few minutes of ‘you must have had one,’ and a ‘no I didn’t,’ and a ‘but didn’t you stop to get one?’ And a retort of ‘no, you took my picture at the gate, I saw it flash, I went in and I went and parked. A lovely patient attendant smiled and said kindly, ‘well you won’t be the first and you certainly won’t be the last. Do you mean there’s more like him? After form filling which involved returning to car to get ID and signing a declaration of lost ticket we were let out to join the M23 traffic all heading in the direction we wanted to go in. Not quite the perfect end to a holiday but we got home safely.
Our next family holiday will be passport-less, by car, a rural idyll, a cottage in Cornwall sounds absolutely great, and I presume parking is included? And, of course, we may have to draw lots with which family we bring with us?

When we were little we used to stay in a b&b which had tea and coffee facilities in the room and little milk pouches. My brother took a few to his bed for a mid night feast and fell asleep only to wake in the morning in a wet bed... as he was worried my parents would tell him off he didn't mention it. The manager decided to ask him in a loud voice if he needed a rubber sheet for his bed wetting issues at which point my brother, embarrassed burst out with "no It's milk wee!!"

We had a 3 generation holiday in the Peak District to celebrate Grandad's 75th birthday so that Grandparents could spend some time with the children, who, due to distance they don't see very often. We had a day out at the Heights of Abraham and travelling up on the cable car Nanna was explaining how we would all have to get off quite quickly at the top as it didn't stop for very long. Half way up it stops for you to admire the view. At which point the 6 year old asked in a very panicked voice and almost crying 'Do we have to get out right now?'. How we howled with laughter - and still do, every time it comes up in conversations at precious family get togethers.

I'll always remember my dad rockpooling with us, on holiday in Dorset. He was so determined to catch a blenny that he plunged head-first into a deep rockpool. I'm still laughing almost 30 years on!

On our way back from a lovely break in the Champagne region of France, we arrived at Euston in time to catch an earlier train than the one we were actually booked on, back home to the Midlands. We didn't think it would matter: it was only half an hour earlier, we'd got first class tickets and it was a Sunday, so the train was empty. However, on board the train, when Tony the train manager checked our tickets, he said we had to get off at the next station, which happened to be Milton Keynes. We thought he was joking but no, Mr Jobsworth was not, so we duly got off at MK and waited 30 mins for the next train. Imagine our delight, as, a few miles further on down the track, we spotted Tony's train BROKEN DOWN (he was stomping up and down the track next to it). We always reckon that, somehow, we jinxed that train! Anyway, it made the perfect end to a great holiday!

Our first holiday when DD was 18 months old was in a cottage in Mudeford. We were unloading the car when she appeared in the doorway clutching bucket and spade with a huge grin on her face. Priceless!

First camping trip...husband wanted the double quilt as more romantic..forgot to remove it from bed. Arrived at camp site late,
freezing as no bed cover. Big row...not so romantic.

We went on holidays to Wales with another family when I was small. During a walk in the woods one day the other dad had spotted some metal rails in the dirt and told us all that "an 'old line' ran through these woods". To the confusion of my mother I spent the rest of the walk trying to climb up her and my dad and wouldn't run and play with the other three children. Eventually my exasperated mother coaxed out of me the reason for my behaviour - I didn't want any chance of meeting the old LION !!

Every time the beautiful woman from the tent 4 down from us walked past my son, then 17, was doing something ridiculous. One night it was sucking up a string of spaghetti, another he was peeling potatoes, and one day she caught him twice, once dotting his dry spots with moisturiser and worst of all using the car wing mirror to squeeze a spot. He was mortified, DH and me in hysterics, she just smiled gracefully. Stopped near Reims cathedral en route home and saw the statue of Joan of Arc. DH did it again by asking if that was the chap who got all the animals in a big boat.

Several years ago my husband and our four young children were travelling through the Pyrenees on the French Spanish border. We had been driving up a perilous mountain track for what seemed like forever. Eventually we stopped where there was a little clearing in the rocky wilderness and as there were no toilets for miles and miles we all decided we couldn't hold on any longer to spend a penny and each took turns in the little clearing by the car. I was last to go and duly stepped into the bushes. Mid stream I happened to look down and saw a rightly very angry looking black snake who was much affronted by my rude intrusion and was set ready to strike. I screamed and started running to the car but as my underwear was wrapped tightly round my ankles I wound up running a few awkward baby steps then falling helplessly on to the road. We travelled on the whole car highly entertained by my antics and after a while stopped at the first cafe we came to. I asked the proprietor about the snake and if the black snakes were dangerous, he replied yes there bites could prove fatal, I was just so grateful that I hadn't had such an undignified demise and made a note to self to always wear underwear with a bit more 'give'.

We stayed in a small hotel in Looe when the children were small. The owner liked to cook dinner in the evenings, but it took forever to get it on the table and our children were bored stiff waiting. So after two days of this we told her we wouldn't require dinner in the evenings, we would go into town and buy a meal. She took great offense at this. The next day I washed some of the childrens clothes in our room and hung them outside on the clothesline to dry. We went out for the day. When we got back there was a bin bag on our bed full of wet washing! She left a note saying there are launderettes in town! She was obviously really mad at us. This was in the days before you could write an on line review.

Many years later we were in Looe again and drove past the hotel. We decided to go and have a look for old times sake. A crazy woman appeared and let two dogs out. They were barking and leaping at us. She said "this is a private house". We scarpered quickly but in hindsight we think it was the same person who had run the hotel years before. Maybe she wasn't the ideal person for the hospitality trade!

On holiday with the grandkids when one of them started taunting a bull on the other side of a low wall. All great fun until the bull started charging at us!!

Across the lane from our holiday cottage was a field with several bullocks in it. We mostly didn't see them as they seemed to hide in the bushes. One evening DGD2 who was six, was sitting on the gate and singing. She has always sung and has a lovely voice. Slowly the bullocks came out of hiding, ambled down the field and stood in a row at the field gate looking at DGD on the other side of the lane. DGD was enchanted and thought her singing was magical. During the following week she sang to the cattle many times and they always came to the gate We ,grandparents, sister, aunt and parents loved it too .

Went to Benidorm many years ago with my parents and brother,our first holiday abroad! We got to the hotel, my brother was that excited to get to the swimming pool he didn't realise the patio door was glass and ran straight into it smashing everywhere!

I think Ethelwulf should win with that wonderful poem. My dire holiday with my parents, cosy and warm in their camper van, while myself, husband and two small sons shivered in a tent beside the van for two loooong weeks in wet France, can't begin to compete!The only thing that kept us sane was reading out loud a chapter of "The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole 13 1/4" each night as the rain leaked in the tent and the next door tent's child weed up our tent as it was too awful to go to the toilets. I have never camped since and I never will!

When we were small. We used to go and visit my grand. We did not have a car, so some uncle will give us a lift home. We were a big family.... eight children. We got in the car somehow and on the way back home. About 15 or 20 minutes ride, one of us shouted.....where is Beb(my second youngest brother's name). We had lef him behind, nobody noticed at the time. So we made a U turn for my gran' house. Guess where he was.! Behind a cupboard or wardrobe eating cake (face and hsnds full of cake). Now we can laught about it and embarrass him. C

I remember my first camping holiday as a child, we went to Beira, Mozambique. It was a huge family affair with my gran, aunts, uncles and cousins. My gran drove us all mad by singing 'obladee obladah', my mom constantly complained about sand in the tent and beds. My two older brothers and the boy cousins went and caught this huge blue crab, that they proudly put in a bucket and hung it on the side of a trail to keep it safe over night. We all went to bed, but the next morning the boys were so upset that their crab had escaped.
Not long after finding out it had gone, the man from the next tent came out, his toe was bright red and sore looking. The adults asked what had happened, only to find out that a crab had bitten him! The man said he couldnt believe that a crab had come out of the sea into his tent in the night and bit him.
The boys were very quiet, until he was out of sight and burst into laughter.
We used to have such fun on those holidays, and many memories were made.

"You know were off on holiday in August, can you take us to the airport please". "Yeah, no problem" was my reply to my brothers request. All arrangements were made and the months went flew by.
The morning of the day I was due to pick them up, I received a call, very early in the morning! "Where are you?", my brothers stressed voice flowed from my phone. Confused and still half asleep, I replied, "At Clares! (my fiancé at the time), "Why"... Then in a panicked instant I realised. With only 50 minutes before 'check in' and me being over 100 miles away from my brothers house, I wasn't picking them up at 5pm, it was 5am. Arghhhhh

Our one and only holiday to Florida, in 1991, could well be described as a comedy of errors. My husband stood up one day in the apartment, stretched his arms up in the air and nearly got them chopped off by the ceiling fan. We went to a crazy golf place, called El Dorado, set out like a Mexican village, with a little river running through it. I was taking photos, using hubby`s new, expensive camera, trying to get everyone in the picture, I stepped back a bit further, and fell in the river! It was only about 18" deep, but I was soaked, and the camera was a write off. Daughter and her husband laughed their socks off, but I had to walk around the rest of the time in slowly drying shorts and top, good job Florida is hot!
A few nights later, there was a spectacular thunderstorm. Hubby went out onto the balcony to look at the effect over the sea, but he left the screen door open. I followed him out, closing it, saying "keep these closed, or the place will be full of mosquitoes". Obviously, he didn`t realise I`d done this, because he turned to go back inside, and walked straight into the mesh screen door, which ended up flat on the ground! We spent the last 2 days of our holiday getting it fixed, so we wouldn`t lose the $100 deposit!

We were all walking by the sea when my Dh tripped and fell in and we all laughed so much, I fell in too.

Ok, my not so funny story..............my partner and I along with my sister rented a villa in Tenerife for a fortnight. Saved up all year so we could have a relaxed and enjoyable 2 weeks in the sun, lots of food and sangria. Well all didn't go to plan! When we arrived the weather was ok, no problem as it will probably perk up! NO! This was not the case! 3 days after arriving we started getting text messages from friends and family: Are we Ok? Has the Typhoon hit yet? Mum: come home now!! Bemused we turned on the TV to see a report that there was going to be a bit of a storm. A bit of a storm was an understatement! Well that typhoon hit us well and truly! We woke up the next morning, came downstairs and the whole ground floor had flooded, the palm trees were in the pool and the wind was howling! In a slight panic we turned on the News (all in spanish) and not understanding a word i decided to walk (well wade through calf high water) to the resort reception with debris flying through the air to get towels to block the doors and to find out what was going on. So the government have put the island on lock down, nobody should leave their homes unless in an emergency, no flights on or off the island!! Can it get any worse! Oh yes!
On My way back to the villa, pile of towels in hand, I decide to stop off in the newly built Iceland supermarket to grab essentials. At first they wasn't going to let me in as they were shutting to go home but after much begging they let me grab what we needed. Came out of the supermarket and the roof has taken on so much rain water it caved in!
Made it back to the villa and we literally spent the next 3 days ringing out towels and reblocking doorways, trapped with the supplies I'd managed to grab from Iceland.
Anyways, the Typhoon came and went and left a trail of naff weather in its wake. We made the best of a bad situation and enjoyed the rest of our time as much as we could. As a right kick in the teeth on our last day, mother nature decided to grace us with 100 degree sunshine!
Thank you very much Tenerife until next time!