Welcome to Big Family Adventures! We are a family of six living in the South-East of England.
First up, I get that in the USA and many other countries, two parents with four children wouldn’t be considered a large family. Of course, there are lots of families with way more children than we have. However, living in the UK, four or more children is definitely not the norm. When people find out how many kids we have, the reaction is often along the lines of ‘’Oh my goodness! You have four kids?’’ accompanied by a look of mixed wonder and horror. Or ‘’You’ve got four?! How do you cope?’’ Umm, we don’t always.
On the other hand, when we meet other people with four kids, there’s a knowing look – like we’re on the same team, that we all understand the joys, the exhaustion and the financial challenges that come with having a large family. One of the most frequent comments I get from people is ‘’That must be expensive.’’ It is. With that fourth child, you need a bigger house, car, holiday, meals, bigger everything. You can’t just squeeze an extra child into the back of your Polo or pick a hotel and book a room for six. And why is it that most recipes in most cookbooks serve four? Which brings me on to two of my favourite things – holidays and food. I love planning holidays, spending more hours researching every tiny detail than I spend on the holiday itself. Equally so with food. Apart from loving to eat, I will get lost quite happily in a new cookbook, inventing menus and reading recipes that I’ll probably never make.
After years of planning holidays and meals for six, I want to share with you the very best places that we have found with our family, and the favourite meals that I have adapted to feed six hungry mouths.
The holiday information on each page will still be helpful if you have a smaller family or are even travelling without kids – each of the destinations is worth visiting regardless of the number of people in your group. But if you’re looking for that extra bed or a bigger room, Big Family Adventures can point you in the right direction.
About Me
Hi, I’m Helen . . . wife to Mark, and mum to Daniel, Caroline, Chloe and Jessica. After my first job in a barber shop at the age of 14, I worked in a bakery and then a small supermarket before spending a year as an au pair in Massachusetts, USA with Au Pair in America. Following this, I trained as a nurse and midwife, picking up a proofreading qualification along the way. Several jobs (and children) later, I now live in Surrey and work as a school nurse. I love travelling, cooking, reading and going for walks in the woods.
