Family Days Out: In and Around the North East

My daughter is currently enrolled on the Silver Arts Award at a college Middlesborough. Every week I drive her there and then have three hours to kill before collecting her. Middlesborough is exactly an hour's drive from our house so there is no point travelling home, so Gully and I have been exploring things to do around that area.

Two weeks ago, we went to Saltburn-by-the-Sea. It is a lovely beach with a little of everything. On one side, it is a dog free zone and the sand is flat and expansive. Gully absolutely loved mark-making on such a vast canvas! On the other side, you will find dog walkers, surfers and a great beach-combing opportunity. Washed up on the sand are a multitude of shells; razor clam, geoduck clam, mussels, bits of crab. It is clearly quite a diverse place when it comes to sealife.

This week we went to Stewart Park, which is just a twelve minute drive from the centre of Middlesborough. Stewart Park holds the Green Flag award and I can totally see why! It is a beautiful space with a playground, pets corner, mature woodland, ponds, cafes and picnic tables. We were very lucky with the weather; it was a sunny, mild autumnal Saturday. Whilst the playground area was bustling with children and their adults, the nature trails were very quiet and Gully and I took our time exploring. At the moment, the woodland floors are blanketed in crisp leaves, which Gully loved kicking and scattering. When we reached the ponds (there are three bodies of water right by each other, separated by trees, paths and a small wooden bridge), we were the only people there. The amount of trees and plants around the ponds create lovely reflections in the water, and sometimes the light and ripples from the water bounce back onto the tree trunks and branches. This makes it a lush, natural sensory experience for children. Gully very rarely sits still, but he sat watching the water for a good ten minutes (this is pictured below).

We went to Henry's Cafe which was very accessible and accommodating (anyone who has SEN/differently abled children knows cafes and restaurants can be highly stressful). There's lots of outdoor seating and the tables inside are well spaced apart (this is something I appreciate as Gully is a snatcher). The entrance is an automatic door, the water station has plastic glasses. I ordered our food and drinks and the young woman at the counter started putting the items on a tray. Gully walks with a safety rein and I can't carry trays, he will pull or jump or flop on the floor and things go flying! I asked the staff member if I could carry things to my table a little at a time. She told me to go take a seat and she'd bring everything over. All in all, this is an excellent day out for families with SEN children and we will certainly be visiting again soon.