Reasons to be Cheerful the end of year round-up! #R2BC

As its the last Reasons to be Cheerful for 2016 I thought I would do a round-up of some of the biggest things that have made me cheerful this year. I will be handing the baton back to Michelle for January so I hope you will all carry on in 2017.

1) Completing my first (and last?) half marathon

One of the toughest things I have ever done was back in May when I ran in the inaugural Brathay Half Marathon. My finish line photo sums up what it meant to all of us:

Who knows if I will ever run one again...

2) Single with Kids holidays

We had our most ever trips with Single with Kids this year. With them we camped in the Peak District, Stourport and Kettering. There was also a trip to Robin Hood's Bay for a self-catering break. All of these put smiles on our faces:

3) Fun with family and friends

We are so lucky to be able to have great adventures almost on our doorstep. Adventures we have enjoyed have included:

• Wray Castle and Claife
• Cruising on Windermere
• Camping in Dent
• A weekend in Bowness
• Waterhead and Galava
• The Lakeland Maize Maze
• The Hobbit in Williamson Park
• Kirkby Lonsdale
• A walk on Hadrian's Wall
• A visit to Lanercost Priory

4) Family & Friends

Of course my family and friends have put plenty of smiles on my face this year too! Here is hoping for plenty of fun times in 2017 together too.

#CountryKids A weekend camping in Dent, Cumbria

This Bank Holiday I was invited to sell Usborne books in Dent and so I turned it into a mini camping break with my children. We arrived at Millbeck Farm on a hot and sunny afternoon:

We had booked into the basic camp site which was only £9 a night! There were portaloos in the field plus a water tap. At the farm up the track were real loos and showers. Luckily the campsite was nice and quiet as we were putting up our new tent for the first time... this was a stressful experience eventually we were able to check out our spacious new tent with our own sleeping compartments (just enough room for our new camp beds):

Then we needed to recover from our exertions so headed up the road into the village itself which was somewhere we had never bin. Its a beautiful, little village with lots of things to spot:

We were hungry and thirsty so checked out the two pubs in the village (amazing there are 2 in such a small place!). The George and Dragon didn't appear to have a beer garden so we didn't stop in there: