Somerset

It's a long drive to Somerset from Sussex, we always go the Stonehenge way and stop off to eat our sandwiches, wondering how the stones got there. Except you can't do that now - you have to pay £14.90 to see them or otherwise take a quick snapshot as you whizz down the A303. They've even blocked the roads so people like me can't just eat their sandwiches there any more, and have to pay £5 to park without so much as a glimpse of the grey majestic hulks.

It's been a gallivanting half term, the usual holiday packed full of travel and adventure, only sleeping in our own beds three times out of the ten day break. Somerset was grey and misty but full of charm. It feels such a calming place, between the Quantock Hills and the sea. We wandered up to places called 'Dead Woman's Ditch' and 'Hurley Beacon' as the children ran backwards and forwards looking out for deer tracks and identifying poo. There was no one about, just a mist that hung over the glens and combes, wild ponies hiding behind windswept hawthorn trees and the ever present song of the sky lark. On clear days you can easily see Wales and the mysterious islands of Steep Holm and Flat Holm.

We went fossil hunting at Kilve and delighted in enormous ammonites etched into the rocks, even managing to find a couple of small ones to take home. The sea is brown at Kilve and the rock pools alive with shrimps, winkles, anemones and crabs - we walked along with our heads down shouting "I found one!" when we thought we had. We chose to walk back along the coastal path admiring plants indigenous to the sea shore, saying "Helloooo!" to cows and a foal whose coat was so fluffy and new.

Where were all the people in Somerset over half term? It wasn't raining and there were a great many treasures to discover for the kids and adults alike in this lovely part of the world. I am looking forward to returning in the summer, you know, the real summer.