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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!

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 .

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!!

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!

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'.

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.

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 !!

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.

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!

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!

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!

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.

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!!"

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?

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.

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.

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!

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.

Probably when my mum was with us on holiday she started putting sugar on her chips thinking it was salt. So funny!!

One year we decided to enjoy a Christmas holiday in a Danish farm house situated on the boarder with Germany.
our holiday was a catalogue of disasters. firstly the snow became so thick that the farm was cut off.The farmers daughter aged 18,decided to try to go to the village for further supplies, and managed to slip on an icy ploughed field, splitting her leg open so badly that an ambulance had to be called! Unfortunately, the ambulance became stuck in the snow, so they called out a Danish Army tank which couldn't get through then a helicopter to rescue her, and take her to hospital. the farmers wife was reluctant to leave with her daughter, due to the guests at the farm, so my mother was asked to go instead.unbeknownst to us the whole rescue was being filmed by a TV station for the news and my mother and I were thus shown standing by a whirling helicopter in our nighties and slippers! Not the glamourous TV appearance of your dreams!.
Matters were then made worse because the farmer who had become trapped in the neighbouring town when the snow fell, could not get back, (he spoke English and German) the farmers wife spoke a little English but no German and the only other guests were elderly Germans who spoke no English! the farmers daughter had spoken English and German but of course she wasn't there either! The central heating then broke down and it was left to me with my 0 level German to explain to them what was happening,why there was no heating,and why we were all living on meat balls!!
I have to say despite numerous holidays since this is still one of my most exciting?

My brother decided to take our father's ashes with him on holiday to Christchurch, as it was a favourite family destination. As he scattered the ashes over a cliff top, the wind blew them inland all over someone's picnic. My Dad would have been very amused!

Many many years ago we were on a belated honeymoon in Tunisia. We decided to go on a 2 day coach trip into the dessert to an oasis. When we got there who should we bump into but my old college lecturer and his wife.
That evening we went to a traditional nomadic evening around a campfire,afterwards there was a display of traditional dancing and one of the dancers picked me to twirl around his head. OMG ,

On holiday in France, the 3 children were playing crazy golf. DS1 who is 4 years older that DS2 was winning and metaphorically rubbing DS2's face in it. Then they hit the last hole. DS2's ball flew through, DS1 missed and then had to put in what felt to all of us about 100 shots. His face was hilarious. AND DS2 still has the score card. After nearly 30 years!!!

In the early 1950s my parents and I, two of my aunts and uncles and their 2 children each, had a holiday in three holiday chalets in St Osyth, Essex. These chalets were very basic, and only one had running water, but only from a water tank that had to be filled from a nearby stand pipe. As one of my aunts had only recently given birth to my baby cousin it was decided that her family should have the chalet with the running water. My father and my two uncles filled buckets from the standpipe and climbed a stepladder to fill the tank. They couldn't understand why the tank showed no signs of getting fuller, until they discovered my aunt rinsing the baby's nappies under the tap from the tank, so emptying it faster than it could be filled. She was not too popular at the time but it caused many a laugh at family gatherings over the years.

One summer we stayed in a gite in deepest Charente owned by a 60 something bachelor farmer. Nothing matched, the teapot had no lid, cobwebs festooned the ceilings, the material over the 4 poster was shredding with age - you get the picture. DD1 aged 11 pulled the curtains which were about a12' drop and the whole lot, rail, plaster and all fell to the floor. We spent the next day at the equivalent of B&Q acquiring a screw driver, screws, bag of plaster and rawl plugs (I speak reasonable French, but rawl plug defeated me!) so DH could fix it. All going well so far but no ladder and DH was somewhat vertically challenged. Eventually we had a table on top of another table with a child and me at each leg clinging on for dear life while Dad climbed up. After that curtains were Out of bounds for the rest of the holiday, so wobbly was the repair. On departure we read a previous comment in the visitors book which read 'this house isn't called La Maison sans Rideaux (the house without curtains) for nothing'. Best holiday ever and many happy memories ...