Baby Friendly Holidays

Manor La Croix de La Jugie is extremely well set up for families and has a lovely homely feel. They have stair gates and cots and lots of baby-friendly food too which always helps! They also have a lovely nanny onsite to help look after the kids and she was AMAZING with the children and even managed to get lots of little ones off to sleep! They also have a converted playroom with lots of toys and painting materials etc. For older kids they have a pool table and a fab swimming pool too. The grounds are just lovely to explore with the kids.

If I’m completely honest we didn’t leave the Manoir that much because it was just so lovely, however the closest town is Limoges which has lots of lovely French shops and restaurants to explore. La Jugie is set in the middle of the beautiful French countryside so we really enjoyed going for walks and just switching off, it really is a very peaceful area. There are amazing freshwater lakes nearby if you fancy going for a swim or if you feel like something a bit more structured there is a zoo not far away and some amazing castles. There are also lots of local markets you can have a wander round selling fresh local produce!

I absolutely loved the &Breathe experience - I felt like we were so looked after with great postnatal classes, wholesome vegetarian food cooked for us on site and amazing massages. Nikki - the teacher of the post natal classes was amazing, she really took into account each and every body and our individual journeys and altered the class accordingly for us all, it’s a great way to reset and have a bit of you time all the while knowing that you have lovely childcare to hand.

I think self care should be way higher up on our lists if I’m honest, after a few days away at La Jugie having lovely baths, massages, connecting with nature and healthy meals prepared for me I really did feel like I had been reset and my mind felt so much calmer. We (especially mothers) can’t pour from an empty cup and I feel that if I’m more nourished then I will be able to nourish my children better too.

Baby Friendly Boltholes get real parents like us to go and review their locations, they are always child friendly but always very easy on the eye too! You will never find a cheesy resort on their site! Every location is really very stylish yet homely, but with a stamp of approval from the parent panel.

One thing I always do when travelling with babies is try to save space when packing for the more important things... Like Childrensalon outfits ;-) No but seriously, I do tend to buy nappies and snacks when I get over to a location rather than taking up valuable space! Nappies take up SO much room! I will also never travel without some herbal homeopathic creams like arnica (pure magic on bumps and bruises - also taking arnica remedy tablets can help with jet lag!) I will also always take some Nelsons rescue remedy wherever we go too and try to keep flannels with us for sticky hands so we are not always using throwaway wipes all the time!

I always think it’s so nice to have a cute airport outfit when you are travelling, so I often put Sufi it a little co-ord tracksuit or onesie so she’s really comfy too. I also love taking new pjs on a trip when we go away and just make sure you take lots of layers for chilly evenings and lots of changes of clothes as the amount of times things get spilt on holiday or ice lollies drip on dresses!