More and more festivals are promoting themselves as family-friendly these days, for all the parents wanting to relive their glory days at Glastonbury. But if you genuinely want something aimed at children, it’s hard to beat Wychwood Festival.

Along with more than 70 musical theatre, dance and art workshops, plus live music, there’s a dedicated children’s literature festival featuring some of the UK’s biggest and best kids’ authors.

And as well as the team from the Roald Dahl Museum & Story Telling Centre, Booktrust is heading to the festival for the first time.

So if your kids fancy clay modelling, ukulele playing or joining in the story-telling of Revolting Rhymes, this is the place.

With indie, folk, rock and world music on the bill, anyone looking for a pre-parent festival flavour should be able to indulge too.

Wychwood Festival runs from May 31-June 2 at Cheltenham Racecourse in Gloucestershire. Tickets can be booked on the festival’s site.

Image: flykr/Flickr

What a difference six months makes – same holiday destination, same accommodation, same baby. But that’s about as far as it goes.

For starters, I don’t recommend trying to pack when your husband is away and your daughter is just discovering separation anxiety so screams every time you turn your back. Sadly that means she also seems somewhat unwilling to play for five minutes while I relax on a sun-lounger either…

A couple of days in, here’s the good, the bad and the meh.

1. Flights are easier – we’ve done a few now, and it no longer feels quite so much like stepping into the unknown. As ever, planning is the key, unlike the family sitting behind me on the plane with two young children (including one teething baby) who seemed to have no toys, not enough wet wipes but chocolate biscuits for the overtired and overexcited kids. Judgemental? Yes, I had to sit in front of them for four hours. And give them baby wipes.

2. Flights are harder – instead of sleeping almost all the way, waking only for a bottle, as Minnie did last time, I had several uninterrupted hours to entertain her. At one point, time seemed to be moving so slowly, I wondered if my watch had stopped. I suspect it’s going to keep getting worse once she starts moving around before it gets better when she can entertain herself more.

3. The lightweight buggy was a fantastic idea. Although she hasn’t had to try to nap in it, she loves being able to look out and I can wheel it with one hand, suitcase in the other (if I have to).

4. We both sleep better – admittedly, that wasn’t at the forefront of my mind at 2am when she very uncharacteristically woke up and wanted to play. But (so far) this time I haven’t started the day in tears after a night of no sleep, and she can settle herself in the travel cot rather than the complex procedure of trying to get her off in my arms then put her down without waking her.

5. Food is far more faff than bottles – but on the plus side, I can slip her a bit of rice cake/bread stick to keep her going if we’re hunting for somewhere to stop for lunch.

6. Two babies travelling together are guaranteed to have totally different routines… Minnie’s cousin is about the same age that she was on her first trip. So he needs longer naps and more regular feeds, and she seems to sleep when he’s awake. Plus he’s too small for her to play with just yet. She does have a nice line in stealing his jingly octopus when he can only look on aggrieved.

7. There’s no letting your attention wander… still. Last time she was too small to entertain herself so needed constant attention. This time, having sadly bypassed the stage where she could engross herself in a toy for a little while, that separation anxiety means she needs constant input (and grandparents/uncle/aunt are only a temporary solution) unless we want the kind of roaring yells which I’m paranoid will wake her baby cousin, disturb the rest of the family’s relaxation and probably disrupt the entire resort. This separation anxiety is only temporary too, right? Please?

8. She feels less fragile – or I’ve become slightly less anxious about her surviving a sudden gust of wind or sunny patch. Or just more prepared when it comes to packing SPF and useful cover-up muslins. On the downside, she can also escape from hats, socks, sandals and velcro is a challenge to be overcome.

9. I’m more inventive – forgotten a wipe-clean bib when eating out? A helpful nylon bag for life will do nearly as well.

10. She’s enjoying it all more. From the cat which prowls on our patio to the fascinating sight of a waitress pouring water, new food tastes from smoky Greek aubergine dip to ice cream, and the bargain mini maracas I bought at a local market, it feels like the trip is now about her as well. And surely that’s the best thing of all.

Top image: DerekTGreen/Flickr

Earlier this year, I was on the hunt for the perfect change bag, testing ones by Pacapod, Babymule and Sophia & Matt. So when Caboodle got in touch, to ask if I’d like to try something from their range as well, I shifted Minnie’s essentials into yet another nappy change bag and put it through its paces.

The company makes several different styles, so if you’re a rucksack fan there’s an option, along with Classic, another larger version and the one I chose – the Everyday bag.

The geometric pattern is definitely less girly than a lot on the market, which is perfect if you’re fed up with yummy mummy cupcakes and flowers, and while it’s not full-on macho, I suspect many guys would be happier carrying one of these on occasion. Or it comes in animal print as well.

At first glance, it looks relatively small but opens up Tardis-like so you can actually fit a surprisingly large amount in, although if you do want to carry the kitchen sink (or the whole kit and caboodle, such as inspired the company’s name), you might be disappointed.

A lot of the details have obviously been thought through. I loved the changing mat – most seem to be horrible thin nylon which is only just better than nothing, but this is squashily padded while still folding up nice and small.

There’s a proper grubby stuff bag too. Given quite how grubby Minnie can make things, the common zip pocket option is never going to be enough, but this clear bag actually detaches and seals properly. And while there’s no bottle pockets on the outside, which would have been useful particularly at the beginning, there is a separate insulated bottle bag which fits inside.

Plus there are pockets galore, which is wonderful. A zip one on the outside, plus two with poppers on the other side so you can shove in odds and ends. Inside, there’s another zip one with a phone holder plus another three open elasticated pockets as well, so keeping everything organised is easy.

A few small niggles – the flat bottom section of the bag is loose, which I suppose could be useful if you need to take it out and wipe it, but just kept coming out accidentally when I didn’t want it to. And while the shoulder strap is adjustable, there’s nothing to attach it to buggy handles. Fine if you have a version you can loop it around, but it just kept slipping down my Bugaboo unless I used attachments from another bag.

But at £35 – currently £20 in the sale – it is an absolute steal. So many details are much better designed than bags twice or three times the price, and as the name says, it genuinely is a great everyday bag.

Image courtesy of Caboodle

Maybe it’s the recession, maybe it’s the explosion of flag-waving at the Jubilee and Olympics last year, but tradition is still definitely having its moment. And when it comes to British seaside holidays, they don’t come much more traditional than Butlins. 

Started with the aim of bringing ‘a little colour and happiness into the lives of hardworking families’, that’s something most of us are still looking for from a family getaway – although since the first resort opened in 1936, things have certainly changed.

These days, as well as apartments and rooms at all three sites, there’s three hotels at the Bognor Regis resort. The latest, the ultra-modern Wave Hotel has an under-the-sea theme but plenty of high tech, including a Kindle library and TVs on the bunk beds.

The Shoreline hotel, meanwhile, is idea for under-fives. Home to Butlins’ Billy Bear, there’s lots of family-friendly options like child-size buffet counters and toddler plates, plus extra safety features as well as the chance to spot characters including Bob the Builder and Angelina Ballerina. For older kids, the Ocean Hotel has its own butlers and the spa, as well as disco lifts.

And if you’re taking the children away in the July holidays, a whole set of kids’ activities get going as well, from football coaching to family activity sessions aimed at different age groups.

Pre-schoolers can try messy time with their parents (who, thankfully, don’t have to clear up) while five to eight-year-olds can enjoy the Get Busy sessions, including circus skills, painting and crafts.

The new Discovery Studio has also just opened at Bognor Regis, with live shows aimed at older children – the interactive Amazing Animals 3D introduces the audience to both live creatures (at weekends and in the school holidays) as well as using 3D technology to help you get close to snakes and insects.

Or Inventive Science has plenty of loud bangs and surprises in store as it tells the story of how life began on earth right through to the way inventions like flight and the microchip changed the world.

Throw in a £12 million water park at Skegness, with tropical plants and heated pools as well as the Jet Stream and Vortex fast flumes, and Sesame Street Live (Elmo makes music? Count me in) plus shows themed around the Blues Brothers and the Jacksons, and it’s a long long way from the end of the pier shows.

 
Compiled in association with Butlins

Image courtesy of Butlins

I love taking walking tours around London – I might have lived here for over a decade, but there’s so much to discover, so many hidden secrets down side-streets, so much buried history, so many quirky tales that it would be a life’s mission to hunt them out yourself.

So a weekend of free walks is always going to be a winner, especially with over 30 to choose from, covering the capital’s seven top walking routes. 

The Walk London project features a series of trails that are designed to be away from traffic and connect some of London’s best attractions, parks, woodland, rivers, canals and open spaces, although that doesn’t necessarily mean getting right out of the city either.

If you’re looking for a serious trek, the LOOP walk covers 152 miles, although no-one’s expecting you to do the whole lot in one go. Instead there’s a 10-mile segment to wander with the guide. The Capital Ring, meanwhile, runs for 78 miles, including a 7.5 mile stretch through Richmond Park and Wimbledon Common.

And, in fact, those two are the only ones which aren’t buggy-friendly – the website gives details of wheelchair accessibility, with some minor detours to avoid steps, which could well apply depending on your pushchair.

So if you’ve got younger children, you can pick stretches of the Thames Path or Jubilee Greenway, for example.

You could also discover old Westminster, Camden and Kensington, Little Venice or Bloomsbury. Or there’s the Subterranean London walk, telling some of the secrets of what’s below the pavement, and London’s Hidden Alleyways (including Doctor Johnson’s cat).

Or the Ghosts of the Old City walk wends its spooky way through the oldest part of London, with ghoulish tales of its shadowy backstreets.

The walks take place on May 25 and 26, there’s no booking necessary and most last for a couple of hours.

Image courtesy of Walk London