Northumberland: Bingo and Berwick

 The holidays that stick in my head from my childhood are the caravan holidays Mum would take me on. Sometimes we’d go as a larger family with cousins, other times just us. We’d stay in places like Skegness, Weymouth or Newquay and they were carefree and fun filled. Keen to relive those experiences with little Miss, this year I’d booked us a week’s holiday at Haven Haggerston Castle, near Berwick-upon-Tweed in Northumberland. 

The drive up from Yorkshire is a fairly straightforward one, over the moors and up through Newcastle, we were at our caravan by late afternoon. I’d booked one with a decking area for sitting out on, and also so Thelma could watch the world go by. We loved it! The site itself was huge, like a small town, but our little corner of the site, nestled in the trees was fairly quiet and peaceful. After unpacking and making a quick meal in the caravan, we quickly freshened up and headed out to the onsite club.

Ready for the club

Little Miss was thrilled that there was an arcade and a soft play area on site. Only promises to return later in the week would move her past them. The club itself was chaos. We’d arrived right in the middle of bonkers bingo. Once it was over though (we were grateful it was) there was live music which Little Miss was so happy to be able to dance to, and was a pleasant opportunity as there’s not much in the way of family nightlife back in Scarborough.

We had a great evening and made a mental note to miss the bingo slot on our next visit. Next morning, we were up early to go swimming. The pool was busy, but there was still plenty of room to play with the beach ball that little Miss persuaded me to buy. We had a blast. Little Miss has really come along this year with swimming and has so much more confidence.

Berwick town centre

The afternoon was sunny and hot, so we decided to pay nearby Berwick a visit. Berwick-on-Tweed sits on the picturesque river Tweed and is very close to the border of Scotland. Through history it’s been both Scottish and English, and architecturally it certainly feels more Scottish. 

We found a fabulous little dog friendly vintage tea room for a tea and cake break, before wandering down to the river front. It was beautiful, but incredibly hot. I don’t usually bring Thelma out in such temperatures so I was careful to make sure she got plenty of water breaks. 

The river Tweed

Feeling the heat

On the way back up to town from the river we decided to stop for a cold drink in the sunshine outside a nice cafe. Unfortunately they wouldn’t serve food outside and our desire to sit in the sunshine was stronger than our desire to eat, so it was drinks only. 

By the time we wandered back through town to the car park, checking out a few charity shops along the way, we were very hot. Back at the caravan site Mum treated us to a fish and chip supper from the on site chip shop, and we had a quiet night watching TV and relaxing. 

Teddy Swims

 Well, that was a long interlude! I always find that last run before the school holidays delivers quite a punishing schedule as I try to juggle work, sports days, end of school shows and church services. Non-uniform day, cake sale day, everything. I lose track and so the thought of squeezing a blog post in too would be enough to tip me over the edge.

Gratuitous Thelma photo

Here we are now though, well into the 7 week summer break. If we could just get some consistency on the weather now that would be fabulous but, probably also too much to hope for. 

Back at the end of 2025, the chap managed to bag us some tickets to one of the sold out Teddy Swims concerts at Scarborough Open Air Theatre, and Thursday it was time to go. We were so excited.

Despite some very changeable weather recently Thursday was perfect. Blue skies and sunshine. I didn’t mean to dress like a cowgirl, but I’ve been watching a lot of Nashville lately so I think it was subconscious.

Boots - Carvela, dress - Ralph Lauren, Jacket - Oasis (via Vinted), Bag - Prada, Hat - Monsoon

We started the evening with Pizza and cocktails at the Crowne spa hotel. I have a gym membership there so we get money off the food, and the pizzas are delicious. They probably negate anything I do in the gym to be fair.

Then we made our way to the sea front, stopping at Inc. Social for more cocktails before jumping on the open top bus to the open air theatre.

We always tend to buy some merch at concerts. It’s expensive but for us it’s part of the experience and, personally I love pulling out a merch t-shirt years later and remembering the concert I got it from. Then I we bought some (massively overpriced) drinks and settled into our seats. 

Sitting in the sun sipping wine, waiting for the venue to fill up and the acts to start, was rather lovely.

The gig itself was amazing. Not only is Teddy Swims astoundingly talented, but so were all of his musicians and backing singers. Throughout the show he was taking items up onto stage and signing them for people and just seemed so down to earth.

One little girl had a banner saying it was her first concert and Teddy Swims signed the banner. What a first concert experience. After the show we caught the open top bus back along the sea front, sitting downstairs inside because previous experience tells me it’s freezing on the top deck at night. We’d had an absolutely amazing time.

Now I’m prepping for more summer adventures. Heaven forbid I’d stop to catch my breath! 

Six down

 I can’t believe that we’re in July already. How quickly is this year passing by? And, more importantly, how is little Miss approaching the end of another academic year?

This time of year always gets a little chaotic with school events, and the excitement of the impending holidays. Last week, it seemed the chaos had started. I wasn’t feeling 100% anyway, despite the relaxing weekend prior. I developed some problem with my left eye, it kept pumping water out and felt like there was pressure in it. It was annoying, so I visited the pharmacist who recommended some treatment for dry eyes. As a daily computer user, glasses wearer and allergy sufferer you can guarantee I’ll always have some issue with my eyes.

Tuesday was Little Miss’ school sports day. She’s inherited my sporting ability and, like me, makes up for it with humour, although she’s much more of a character than bookish little me was! 

Thursday evening she was invited to her friends birthday party at a local Italian restaurant, Florios. I decided that, rather than taxiing all evening and trying to grab snacks in the middle, I’d book a table for me and Mum. Even for a Thursday night it was bustling! The tables were constantly full.

As always, I overindulged. In my defence, I didn’t realise that the Calzone or the puddings would each be so large. It was all delicious but I did feel uncomfortably full afterwards. I consistently find myself promising not to over indulge again after each experience but, it seems when faced with a menu all willpower disintegrates. 

It was a long day for little Miss but she loved it.

Saturday afternoon we were off to York to meet up with some very good friends of ours. The chap met us at the train station and we walked up into town to meet them at Thor’s tipi. It was surprisingly breezy, and the game of cards that the children were trying to play was abruptly ended by a gust of wind that launched the cards across the tipi.

We grabbed some snacks, and then wandered off to the Minster. York Minster is always a joy, whether you’re religious or not there’s so much to appreciate here. 

After perusing and wandering we set off to get a drink. York is an odd place on a Saturday because you have Saturday shoppers and tourists thrown in with hen parties, stag parties and all day drinkers. By the time 5 o’clock comes it’s absolute chaos, and trying to find somewhere to enjoy a beer as a family group can be quite a challenge. That’s why I didn’t hesitate to jump into Blue Heaven as we passed by, it looked delightfully calm and chilled, and they serve cocktails.

So, I finished my day out with an espresso Martini of course. I had fancied a classic martini but it wasn’t on the menu. The little people enjoyed bowls of ice cream and we spent the last hour of the day mostly laughing. It was amazing fun. 

Thankfully the train journey home was far less crowded than the one to York, given many of party goers heading from Scarborough earlier in the day were likely still out. 

Sunday morning I met the chap for breakfast in Thornton-le-Dale. We brought both Thelma and Bruno with us and had a lovely walk around the village after our hearty full English breakfasts.

There was even a craft fair for us to check out too. The rest of the day was spent catching up on household chores ready for the week ahead, but what a fabulous weekend it was.

Saturday scorcher and slow Sunday

After a week of record breaking heat, I was surprised when Saturday arrived and it was still blazing hot. Any normal person would have just gone to the beach for the day, and I probably would have done that but it was Armed Forces Day, and because we have so much going on at the seafront on Armed Forces day it’s a crazy place to be. So, we decided to wander off to Helmsley instead.

I took the opportunity to wear my new outfit. It’s so comfortable I think it will be a summer staple! Unsurprisingly Helmsley wasn’t too busy, just incredibly hot. I’ve written about Helmsley many times on here, so I won’t bore you too much but essentially, it was a day of sipping iced coffees and wandering.

Sunday was starting to cool a little, and thankfully we had no plans aside from having a restful day. Several weeks ago I bought a set of 6 paint by numbers sets from DIY art club. Mum and little Miss had both had an opportunity to start one, but I didn’t until now. I set up the garden table and me and little Miss spent a couple of hours painting.

I think these kits are fabulous. I’ll definitely be buying more, and it was such a relaxing way to spend the afternoon.

My Boston Terrier

Little Misses Pug

Aside from that, we had a nice chicken dinner, early baths and a generally chilled day. Not something I can often say, so it’s much appreciated when it does happen.

Fair Weather

Wow! They weren’t lying when they said a heatwave was coming were they? It’s been glorious. 

Sunlight streaming in at the Cosy club

Casting my mind back into the depths of the week before last, before it got quite so warm, I had a day of team workshops in York. I say not so warm, but it was still pleasant and spring likeAfter a productive day, we all went for a team meal at The Cosy Club. The curry I had was delicious, even if I do have to whip out my fan everytime I have spicy food these days. I rarely get to socialise with my team, we’re scattered about between York and London and many of us work from home a lot, so it’s always nice when we come together for these occasions once or twice a year.

Saturday arrived, and with it the sunshine. We were off to enjoy a local village fair in Scalby. We almost always go if it’s nice weather, and they usually manage to plan it so that it is. I was itching to use my new film camera, which is what I’ve used to take the majority of these photos. Waiting for them to be processed is why this post is a bit later than usual. It’s good fun to use but the flash is temperamental. Sometimes it fires, sometimes not. It’s part of the charm though so I’m still happy with it and to be honest, I am over the moon with these photographs.

Summer dressing at the fair

Fed up with spending good money on bad food lately, we took a pack up with us and enjoyed it whilst sat watching some of the entertainment acts.

We didn’t have BBQ but we did have cake

In fairness the food there didn’t look bad, but pizza or noodles wouldn’t really have appealed to us that day, so we were glad of our cheese sandwiches and quiche.

Stacking our hats in the coffee shop

Little Miss got to go on the bouncy castle, and we got to peruse lots of craft and bric-a-brac stalls. I managed to bag a Star Wars trilogy box set of DVDs for 40p, so everyone was happy. We settled down with a drink in the sunshine, with some lively dance music being played and it was a vibe. That’s why we were so disappointed when they shut it off at 4.30pm and declared the fair closed. I think they missed a trick, keeping that vibe into the early evening would have been great.

Sandsend

The next day I met up with the chap. We intended to head north to Runswick Bay and onto Staithes. Once we got past Sandsend though the cloud seemed to get increasingly lower and the fog seemed to creep in closer and closer. We decided to turn around, heading back initially to Sandsend for a coffee and a wander.

I tried something called a dirty chai and honestly, that’s opened up a whole new world for me. A chai with a shot of espresso in it! Perfection. I’ll never not get excited by new ways to enjoy my caffeine fix. 

There are only a couple of shops at Sandsend, but one of them is Bertie’s of Bay which sells beautiful, good quality, nautical inspired clothing and accessories. The sort of things you can wear and repair for decades. The chap bought a rather lovely leather bracelet in there. 

Sandsend is one of those places that, even though there isn’t much there, it’s a really relaxing and nice place to spend time. After a little wander, we got back in the car and set off back to Whitby. 

We parked up at a different end of Whitby to usual, walking in to town from a different point. As we reached the infamous whale bone arch, a sea fret was moving in. It looked so spooky creeping across the Abbey on the cliff.

 

Whitby is so atmospheric sometimes, I can understand how it inspired Bram Stoker. 

We wandered down to town, stopping off for dinner at the Quayside restaurant. I had salmon and new potatoes. It was delicious.

Despite the fog coming and going, it stayed warm. We wandered across the swing bridge to the shops. There’s one called Squid Rock where I always fall in love with something and today was no different. I ended up buying this amazing set. I thought it was a skirt but discovered when I got home it’s actually trousers. It’s fabulous. 

The rest of the afternoon was spent perusing shops and stalls, before spending a bit of time in one of the arcades trying to win things from the 2p machines for little Miss.

We finished up sharing donut balls on a bench back up by the whalebones, before heading for home. It was a fantastic day out.