[West Ender]

I love my holidays in Malta, where I go twice a year, and I've had lovely holidays in Cyprus and the Greek Islands as well as other places in Europe. The holiday that always stands out in my mind, though, was very different.

We only had the 2 older children who were aged 7 and 8 and we had a mortgage etc. but I didn't work. We hadn't had a proper holiday for a long time. We lived in North Yorkshire and we set off North, by car, without having booked anything, anywhere. We didn't know where we were going - just where the fancy took us.

The first night we found ourselves in Warkworth, Northumberland. We got a room, with a steeply sloping floor, at an ancient pub run by a woman in her 60s who was a bit of a dragon but made us a wonderful full English breakfast. Next we headed for Berwick on Tweed. We stayed for 3 nights at the Bridge Hotel, spending 1 day on a trip to Edinburgh, the other 2 exploring locally and spending some time on the beach (the weather was lovely and warm).

After that I rang my aunt and uncle in Whitley Bay and arranged to spend a night with them so I could show my husband and the children all the places I knew there as a child. Next day we headed off to the Lake District. We found a small B & B near Windermere and spent the late afternoon walking round the lake in hot sunshine and the evening dodging very heavy showers when we went out to eat.

The next day we called in at Morecambe and wandered around for a bit then took in Grange over Sands and then headed for Feniscowles to stay with my parents for a couple of nights.

It wasn't an expensive week but it was fun, we relaxed and every one of us enjoyed every minute.