When I was a high flying career girl (kind of), my job involved travelling a week or two weeks of the month and staying in nice hotels as I worked for a hotel website.  Sound wonderful?  Well it was, except that 90% of the time unless Mr E had some time off I had to do it on my own.  That isn't so fun, there's only so many times you can ask for a 'table for one' without feeling a little bit lonely.

When I had Mads, I had to give up that part of my job as there is no way I would have wanted to travel all the time without her.  And there is a part of me that misses it- there is something so lovely about sinking into clean, crisp sheets, discovering somewhere new, and of course ordering room service.

So when we were offered a nights stay at the Marwell Hotel in Hampshire, for all three of us, I jumped at the chance.  It is quite a way from us but Mr E took a half day off work and off we trundled in the car to have a nice break away.

The Marwell Hotel is situated just a few miles from Winchester, which we decided to visit for dinner, and it is beautiful.  The hotel is literally right next door to the famous Marwell Zoo, and as such the hotel has been decorated to be almost like safari lodges.  

They have 68 bedrooms which are split between four lodges, we were in the Giraffe Lodge.  Our family room was very luxurious, and there was plenty of space for the three of us.  We didn't use the extra single bed as Mads is still in a cot, but the hotel very kindly provided a Cosatto travel cot for her, which was actually nicer than the one we normally use for her!

The most important part of any hotel stay- the bed- was very comfy indeed and every room has it's own balcony- the view from ours was gorgeous, especially when the sun was going down.  It really made you feel like you were in the middle of nowhere.

The room had all the usual mod cons like a flatscreen tv, nice quality complimentary toiletries and comfy beds with lots of cushions.

The hotel has a lovely range of facilities, it has a nice modern bar area which serves snacks, a restaurant and a fully equipped swimming pool.  We couldn't resist trying this out as Mads most favourite thing to do is go swimming.  There is also a jaquzzi and a sauna too, as well as a couple of pieces of gym equipment.

The pool was definitely the highlight of our stay as we do have a little water baby, plus with the weather not being great it was nice to have something to do indoors.  Use of the leisure club is complimentary, and it is very clean- there is no lifeguard but then you will more than likely be with your children at all times anyway, and there were some very nice members of the leisure team milling about while we were there.

We finished swimming and went out to dinner in nearby Winchester which I would really recommend going too, it is a very pretty and historic city, before coming back and having a nice early night as there isn't much else to do when you have a two year old in the room with you!

The next morning we got up and had breakfast in the hotels restaurant.  I had the cooked breakfast which was very nice indeed, Mr E had the continental breakfast, while Mads ate an abundance of jam and toast.  We thought that the service for breakfast was excellent, and I really enjoyed my cooked breakfast.  Mr E enjoyed the continental but said that for the price he would have liked to have seen a little more variety, and perhaps some more fresh fruit.  If you wanted more fruit you had to pay extra, and considering you pay more for bed and breakfast we thought this would have been nice if it was complimentary.

We were supposed to be going to spend a day in Hampshire but when we woke up the weather was so awful that we decided to just head home, which was a real shame as we would definitely like to have done some more exploring.  

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay at the Marwell Hotel and we thought it was very family friendly, children will love the pool faciilities and the fact that the hotel is a little different- Mads was fascinated by the elephant outside that squirted water out of it's trunk on the way to our room.  The hotel also has a really lovely outdoor play area and extensive woodland grounds to explore but because the weather was so bad we didn't get to try it out.  Likewise it would have been nice to go to the zoo and they do special zoo packages for families, so it would be well worth coming for this reason alone as the hotel is literally set in the zoo's grounds.

We had a lovely stay and it will probably be our last hotel stay as a three before our new addition arrives.  Now that is a scary thought!

We were provided with a complimentary nights stay at the Marwell Hotel but all thoughts and opinions are entirely my own.

Sometimes it is easy to get bogged down in every day life.  Occasionally I find, especially at the moment when my hormones are all over the place, that I get stressed or worked up about things that just don't really matter.  If I have a boring, long day at work, I come home and find my mood is black- I get annoyed because the house is a mess, or because there are piles of washing to do.

Money is another one, most days I am fine, and then others I get worked up about our sky high mortgage, or the bills that keep landing on the doormat.  I get grumpy about the fact that I can't afford to buy as many clothes as I used too, or that I can't buy that little knick knack that would look nice on our bedroom windowsill.

Or I get irritated by the fact that since having Mads I have had to change job roles- and have had to take a big paycut- I had worked hard to get where I was, and I loved my job, but travelling a week of the month with a baby just wouldn't have been feasible.  Instead I am now in a role where I don't feel as valued and the days drag.

But then I have weekends like the one I have just had that make you realise just exactly what you have.  

Don't get me wrong, these moments are only very rarely, and I know how lucky I am.  I have a wonderful family and loyal friends, an incredibly caring husband and a little girl who brightens up our world.  We have to budget a lot more than we used too, but at the end of the day the reason we have high outgoings is because of our little home that we are privilged of owning, and from having a lot of holidays and travels before our little person arrived.  But in the grand scheme of things, we have money to put food on the table and to treat ourselves occasionally, and I know we are a lot more fortunate than others.  I took this pay cut so I could spend time with my girl and I wouldn't change that for all the clothes money could buy.

Back to this weekend.  We went up to Cheshire to see Mr E's side of the family.  We didn't do much, we went to lunch on the Saturday and then went to the local park, and on Sunday we went out for brunch and went to feed the ducks.  But the sun was shining, there was a crisp frost on the ground and the trees were full of beautiful autumn colours.  

There was something about my little girl running through the fallen leaves with her Daddy, her face lighting up when we gave the ducks some food, and the way she kept turning back to me and smiling, that clarified so much for me.

All of those things don't matter.  Yes we all have bad days, and yes we all have good ones- ones where we treat ourselves, have a trip out or do something different.  But this weekend was just normal, going to the park isn't anything extraordinary, we do it all the time.  

But it made me realise that my 'normal' life is pretty damn good.  

I wouldn't change a single thing about it.

This past weekend after getting back very late on the Friday night from the Mad Blog Awards, I was up early and in the car on the way to the Shropshire/Wales border to see my grandparents.

When I was little we used to go on family trips up there all the time, and I have such fond memories of our time there.  Long walks in the countryside, trips to National Trust houses with my Nana, and constant playing teddies, jewellery shops and in the garden- I used to love it.

My grandparents are getting very old, my Grandpa is 91, so the fact that Mads has the privilege of meeting them means an awful lot to me.  

We had a fantastic weekend, my Dad and his wife were there as well so we had lots of family time.  We played in the garden, went for a walk, sat and ate cake and lots of food, and just generally enjoyed each others company.

We played in the garden.

We cuddled Grandpa.

We went for a walk where Mummy used to go when she was little.

And wore our new Peppa Pig wellies.

We saw 'horseys'.

We got tired so sat on a 'chair'.

And we carried on walking until the sun began to set.

We watched the men cut down a tree, it was fascinating!

And cuddled the teddies who came out to watch too.

We ate lots of cake.

We made lots of memories with Great Nana and Grandpa

My Grandpa had a health scare recently so every we moment we spend tofether is most certainly treasured.

This past weekend we have spent some quality time together as a family in a rather lovely place they call Brighton.  

Being a finalist in the Mad Blog Awards is such a great achievement for me, and to be in not one but three categories is just amazing, it still doesn't feel real.  One of my categories 'Best Family Life Blog' is being sponsored by Premier Inn, and imagine my excitement to recieve an email into my inbox one day saying that I could choose anywhere in the UK to visit as part of being a finalist.

We chose Brighton, as although I have travelled down that way as part of my job for four years, we hadn't been there before, and were soon counting down the days until our weekend away.  

It certainly didn't disappoint.  From the moment we arrived, we had the best stay, and it was just wonderful spending some quality time with my little family.

The hotel was right on the doorstep from all the Brighton landmarks, including the Lanes and the seafront.  We explored, went on the beach, shopped, ate far too many ice creams, put on a few pounds eating three course meals in the Premier Inn restaurant, and above all had so much fun together.  

Brighton is just the most fantastic city- it has a little bit of everything for everyone, and we will definitely be going back.  Mads didn't break from her usual routine and although she went to bed slightly later, she ended up sleeping 12 hours still so we ended up snuggling in bed until 8am before tucking into the amazing cooked breakfasts.  

After all our walking and exploring we both ended up being shattered in the evenings so ended up going to sleep about half nine both nights- the one thing you can always guarantee at Premier Inn is how unbelievably comfy their beds are.  We have all come home feeling relaxed, and with lot of lovely memories.  I will never take for granted these special memories I am making with my family.

Here is just a few photos from our weekend...

Sharing ice cream with Daddy.

'Yes this bed will do nicely for jumping.'

A traditional carousel ride on the beach with Mummy.

A wave for Daddy.

Having a moment.

A little windswept!

Beach time.

Traditional deck chairs are perfect for resting tired little legs.

Walking up hills can be tiring...good job there are Daddy's around to help out.

Weeeeeeeeeeeee.

Peek-a-boo.

Risking the waves.

We would like to thank Premier Inn for our stay- we had a fantastic time and we really appreciate the opportunity to spend some time together as a family. It was just what we needed.

Disclaimer- We were very kindly treated to a 2 night Dinner Bed and Breakfast stay at the Premier Inn in Brighton.  However we were not asked to write about our hotel stay, we just wanted to say thank you!