Family adventures

The gritstone escarpment of Stanage Edge in the Peak District is one of Britain’s most iconic landmarks – and the perfect place to walk with kids. 

Our little family recently swelled in numbers from three to four, with chubby monster Dougie joining the party. We’re a bit biased, but he’s already a handsome little legend!

So all of a sudden we’ve got two young kids, but it hasn’t stopped us getting outdoors as a family. Here are our top eight tips for walking with babies and toddlers – it’s tough, but not impossible!

Lammas Land Pool is an awesome place to take kids on a hot summer day, with a giant paddling pool, playground and cafe set in a park just a short walk from Cambridge city centre.

Go Ape Nets Kingdom is an awesome adventure playground set 30 feet above the forest floor, full of treehouses, netted walkways, slides and inflatable balls. And it’s perfect for young kids.

Last weekend my 3-year-old drove an actual riverboat and ticked off around a dozen new wildlife species. If that’s not a good family day out, I don’t know what is.

The National Trust’s Formby Beach in Merseyside is a perfect family day out, with a long golden beach surrounded by towering sand dunes and thick pinewoods full of red squirrels.

This collection of 8 great winter walks for families is designed for getting outdoors with your kids on short, frosty and spectacular days. 

For the second year running, the wonderful people at Go Outdoors have shortlisted The Outdoor Dad as a finalist in their blog awards – and NOW WE NEED YOUR VOTES!

We’ve just spent a great afternoon at the London Ski and Snowboard Show, which had loads of cool activities for kids – plus snow, ice and even a visit from Santa!  

Campfires, den building, pond dipping and flame-grilled hot dogs – safe to say last weekend’s ‘Who Let The Dads Out?’ event at Hinchingbrooke Park in Huntingdon was right up our street!

Holkham Beach in Norfolk is a perfect day out for outdoorsy families. You can paddle in the sea, run in the sand dunes, play games on the beach and charge through the pinewoods. We love it!

Aside from having a kid in the first place, camping with toddlers is probably the scariest thing I’ve ever done. Here are some tips for surviving your first night under canvas!

We recently escaped to the capital for a child-free weekend and it was too hot for the sweat-filled underground misery of the Tube, so we spent two days cycling London on Boris Bikes instead.

Thanks to the awesome summer 2018 heatwave we’ve been jumping in every bit of water we can find. But is it safe to go wild swimming with toddlers?

Canoe camping simply involves going on a canoe trip, stashing a tent, hammock or bivvy bag in your boat, then sleeping outdoors by a river. I just tried it for the first time – and it’s awesome!

Riding tractors, petting sheep, milking goats, riding horses, bouncing on bouncy castles and scoffing homemade ice cream – our first family visit to Open Farm Sunday was a big success!

Garden camping is a great option if you want to sleep outdoors as a family but don’t feel confident enough to tackle a campsite. It’s cheap, safe, very local, (mostly) stress-free, and loads of fun!

Sonny woke me up early yesterday (no shock there) and the sun was shining, so instead of lounging in bed we jumped on my bike and went for a little Saturday morning nature hunt.

It’s been two months since I wrote about potentially creating an outdoor family network. The response to that first blog was fantastic – and now we need your help to make it happen!