Arran'd up of the holiday...

Destination Arran

Clues in the title I guess, but yes, we're just back from a week on the Isle of Arran. It must be 10 plus years since I was last there and my life has massively changed since then, so I was interested to see if anywhere near the same pace of change had influenced Arran. The answer? Well it hadn't changed quite so dramatically but time certainly hasn't stood still.

There's lots of up and coming business on Arran. Really good to see when sometimes Scotland's best can look a little tired. So, we had lots to explore. Weather wasn't really on our side but as ever we were undeterred and made the most of the week. Typical days saw the kids up early and us being out and about in a similar vein. There was walks along rivers, through woods and to waterfalls. Trips to castles, adventure parks, swimming pools, soft play, museums, soap factories, horse riding and cafes. Lots of cafes. Good food was eaten as we dined on the 'Taste of Arran'. There was cheese shops, chocolate shops, breweries, ice cream, fish and chips and fizzy orange. We even had a family holiday song.

Not bad for an isle of 5,000 or so inhabitants. So, despite the weather - we had a taste-tastic, fun packed week. Could have done with a bit more sun but hey...there's 2 seasons in Scotland...May and Winter.

A round up of the top ten:

1. Adventuring at Isle be Wild in Brodick Castle
2. Horse riding at North Sannox
3. Soap making at Arran Aromatics
4. Walking to Glenashdale waterfalls and the kids helping each other along
5. Ice cream faces
6. Food, food and more food with the 'Taste of Arran'
7. Seeing seals lounging on the rocks
8. Swimming and soft play at Auchrannie
9. Trying fizzy orange for the first time
10. Smiles, laughter, excitement and family fun

 Van excitement I

 Van excitement II

 Best swing view ever?

 Beach delight

 Beach exploration

 Play time

 Chocolate stop at half way point

 Soap making highlight

 Still walking

 Outdoor delight

 Indoor delight

 Horse delight

 Adventuring fun

 Wheeee

 Happiness is a picnic in the damp

The Family Holiday Song

One, two, three - who are we?

We're the Ro-oke family

In our bright, yellow, campervan

We're on holiday on Arran

(As you can tell there was a great deal of thought went into this - ahem - apologies for the poor rhyming)