Our Staycation!

 I read this lovely blogpost this morning, and it made me think about staycationing.

http://ninetofive-ish.blogspot.com/2021/09/stay-far-away-so-close.html

A 'staycation' is defined as:

1. a holiday spent in one's home country rather than abroad, or one spent at home and involving day trips to local attractions.
2. 
   

It's another one of those things that were normal when you were a kid, that is becoming fashionable now due to changes in society - like handicrafts and home cooking. 

Man Wonderful and I have always pottered around locally and within the UK, and rarely travelled abroad; so I though I'd share with you some of the staycationing things we have been up to this year while not spending unnecessary money.

We live in the South West, not far from Cornwall so have an abundance of things to do that cost us nothing.

We have a dog, and taking her out for walks to different places is a fun activity for us.   

I make flasks (one coffee for him, one decaf tea for me) which means we don't spend money on hot drinks when we are out.  

We plan our trips to avoid having to buy too much additional petrol for the car - for example I will combine a trip out with popping into the vet on the way back for medication for the dog.

We use a road atlas to plan and chat about things to do.  You can pick these up very cheaply from a charity shop.

One thing we do spend money on is annual membership to The National Trust.

If you are likely to visit places owned by this charity, work out the cost of paying to visit and park multiplied by how many visits you are likely to make.  We only buy annual membership if it will save us money - for example during the Lockdown we didn't have membership that year.  (You can buy monthly membership too.)

We take photographs using our mobile phone and use an app that allows a certain number of photographs free a month.  It works out for us.  

We plan to visit somewhere for a reason.  

In my mind it is wasted journey to place if all you are going to do is sit in a generic coffee shop letting the world go by.  Even if mobility is a problem for you, sitting on a park bench with your flask of tea makes for more of an adventure as you watch the world around you.

See if a single or lonely neighbour would appreciate a trip out.  It helps you get to know them and could be a major treat for them if they don't drive.

These are places we have visited this year:

Forest of Dean

Gloucester

Monmouth

Puzzle Wood

Crocodiles of the World, Carterton

Stratford on Avon (1940s tea shop)

Dunham Massey

Buckfast Abbey

Yelverton airfield open day

Bovey Tracey open air swimming pool

Brixham harbour

Saltram House

Watching live rugby

Buying future tickets for the Theatre

Visiting the local garden centre

We have also been:

Cooking everyday at home

Seeing our kids and grandkids most days

Reading LOADS!

Decorating/keeping the house ticking over

Charity shop shopping and gifting

Watching TV series

Watching cycling on the TV

Man Wonderful did a sponsored walk for the local hospice

What have you been up to Staycation wise?

Take care,

Tracey xx