Keeping The children Busy!

With February half term around the corner, I know rainy days happen — and sometimes the hardest part is just knowing what to do with everyone. Or maybe you don’t want a plan at all, just a quiet morning that unfolds gently.

I added the big box of Lego at Christmas — partly as a present to the cottage, and partly for my own sanity. Because I know how helpful it is when the weather keeps you in. Out it comes: towers, spaceships, careful sorting, wild imagination. It doesn’t matter if you’re 5, 15 or 50 — everyone finds their own way into it. There are board games too (Game of Life, Pirate’s Island, dominoes, Uno etc), puzzles for slower moments, and even a bit of Peter’s Railway if there’s a North Yorkshire Moors Railway trip planned. All there at the cottage for you to use.

They’re absorbed, content, happily together. The woodburner’s on, your tea’s still hot, and your shoulders finally drop. No pressure to fill those couple of hours — just a warm, calm space where everyone’s settled, and the break starts to feel like the one you were hoping for.