Last week we had our annual ‘Hull-iday’, a week where we stay at home but pretend we’re on holiday, or a staycation as they’re properly called. We’ve done this each year since by first baby was born (he’s 5 now) and it’s something we all really look forward to.
My husband took the week off work, my mum came to stay so she could enjoy the ‘Hull-iday’ too (and provide some babysitting so we could have the odd night out!) and we filled the week with day trips and visits to places we like. I also tried not to do much washing/cooking/cleaning/chores although with a 2 and 5 year old that was a bit tricky.
Staying at home can work out expensive, paying entry fees to attractions each day can be more than an actual holiday, so we mixed a few big days out with some smaller, free attractions and didn’t spend much at all. Here’s how it went!!
Saturday: Amy Johnson Festival & Marina. There was a free show on in Zebedee’s Yard as part of the festival so we went along to watch and checked out the rest of the stuff going on in Zebedee’s Yard. Then we went moth hunting – there are 60 sculptured moths mounted on buildings around the city and surrounding area to spot and we’ve got quite into finding them! We ended with a walk around the marina to look at the boats. All the events were free and we took our own snacks so total spend: £0.
Sunday: Fruit Picking. We drove to The Fruit Yard at Shiptonthorpe (on the A1079 just past Market Weighton) and spent a morning picking fruit. Both kids really enjoyed it. It was really well laid out, the strawberries were up on trays rather than being on the ground so even my 2 year old could easily pick her own as they were hanging down at just the right height. We then drove back via Swanland and stopped for a play in the park and a pub lunch. It’s a really good, big park with lots to do located next to the scout hut on West Wold, just off West Leys Road. Total spend: £8 on 2 large full punnets of strawberries and raspberries (and a pub lunch).
Monday: Stream paddling. We drove to North Cave and parked in the car park opposite the church at the playing fields. The park there is also really good so we spent a while in there first. Across the road from the park, next to the church, is a stream that’s ideal for paddling in. It’s very shallow and easy to get into, both my kids ran through it a lot! Then we followed the stream and path towards Hotham for a country walk and stopped for a picnic. Total spend: £0
Tuesday: Scarborough. We packed the car up and set off early to Scarborough and by 10am we had our little camp set up on the south beach with our sun tent, windbreak and picnic rugs. After a morning on the beach and a picnic in our camp we got the open top bus round to north beach. There we walked around the trails in Peasholme Park, played football on north beach and took the bus back to the harbour where we went on a speedboat and finished it all off with fish and chips for tea. We then put 2 very tired kids back in the car and they slept the 
whole way home! Total spend: £62 – £5 parking, £5 on both kids having a donkey ride, £12 on a daily family open top bus ticket, £10 on a speedboat trip, £10 on ice creams and £20 on fish and chips (plus petrol).
Wednesday: Skidby Mill. We went to have a look around the Skidby Mill museum, this is one of our wet day favourites and my kids often ask to go. It’s quite small but there’s lots of activities to do. We then had lunch in the Sails café next door, they do amazing food and cakes, and finished with a play on their playground and Frisbee on the field. Total spend: £5 on museum entry (£2.50 per adult kids free), plus lunch.
Thursday: Fun Day and Pottery Painting. There was a free family fun day at Costello stadium run by the local children’ centres. We went along to do some of the activities and took a picnic, total spend £0. There’s loads of free fun days coming up this month, check the Events Calendar here for them. After lunch we had a session booked at the new pottery painting studio in Hessle, Saramique Studio. My little boy painted a pot owl and the staff were so helpful and friendly. We also had lovely coffees and cakes! They have a courtyard where my toddler went out to blow bubbles and play. There’s an offer on Mumbler for half price studio fees for painting (details on the offers page here) so using this we spent £17 in total.
Friday: Hall Farm Park. This is in South Kelsey, over the bridge in North Lincolnshire about a 40 min drive from Hull (details in the Days Out section here). There’s lots of animals to see, play areas and a play barn and best of all you can walk the goats! A family ticket is £22.50 (any 4 people) and under 2s are free. We also bought lunch there so total spend was £45.
We had a really lovely and pretty relaxing week and are already looking forward to next year’s Hull-iday!
Please don’t hesitate to drop me a line if you’ve really enjoyed a local day out and want to give it a mention on Mumbler.
