Blueberry Park

When the date for Will & Kate's wedding was first announced and it became apparent that we were getting another 4 day weekend, my initial reaction was "What, so soon?" I was not only to be juggling 3 weeks of different school holidays, Easter long weekend, trying to keep up with orders so soon after BCTF, but I was now being told there was going to be even more disruption to our routine.

I didn't anticipate quite how relaxing it was going to be having yet another 4 day weekend. It has been the absolute best.

It started off with us having a fantastic time sipping bubbles at 11am, watching the wedding with friends. Didn't Kate just look amazing? She was just born for the role and I think she is going to be fantastic for the Monarchy. Well, that's my opinion anyway...

On Saturday we had a day trip to York, which involved a walk along the walls, shopping (for me), ice-creams, a picnic in the park and a leisurely ride along the river in a little motor boat. Life really did feel good.

By yesterday we really were in holiday mode and it felt fantastic to wake up yet again and ask "what shall we do today?"

A trip to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park was in order. It is my absolute favourite place in Yorkshire. It's very easy to get to from us and is just big enough to feel you can see everything, without being too large to feel you are missing out on bits.

The exhibitions change several times a year, so even though we go on a fairly regular basis, there's always something new to see.

There is an amazing exhibition on at the moment. Probably the best I have seen there. The work is by a Spanish artist, Jaume Plensa. The work is incredibly tactile as well as visual and appealed to the children as much as it did us grown-ups (particularly with the search for rude words within the letter statues!)

Whilst I absolutely love taking the children to YSP and opening their eyes sublimely to art (there's always a football accompanying our trip there to disguise it as merely a cultural outing), I always come away yearning to revisit the exhibition by myself and take more time over it all.

Whilst the enormity and detail of the sculptures themselves in this exhibition were incredible, I came away falling in love with this etching with the most wonderful Martin Luther King quote:

'faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase'

I was very tempted to bring it home, but at £350 I resisted.

I'm not sure if it was the weather, having time to enjoy life, not working, not shlepping kids to various activities or whether I actually enjoy my family's company more than I thought. Whatever it was, I'm a converted advocate of the 4 day weekend and here's to the next, whenever that may be.