Earlier this year my Mam celebrated her 60th birthday, so to celebrate me, my Mam, my Sister, my Uncle and two of my cousins rented out a cottage in Ambleside in the Lake District for a few nights.
This is something we had been talking about and wanting to do for a few years but had never gotten round to doing and so my Mam's 60th birthday seemed like the perfect reason to finally do it.
This was also the first time the six of us had all been together as a group for probably around 10 years, so that also made it all the more special.
Fortunately for us this was just a few weeks before Coronavirus had really hit the UK and before we were put on lockdown so we were very lucky to be able to have this wonderful experience as a family before being forced to stay at home for the foreseeable future not long after we returned home.
One thing the current pandemic is emphasising to me and most people however, is just how little we actually need in life to be happy and exactly what the most important things in life are.
In the past many of us were too concerned about material things, about keeping up with the Joneses, about how our lives were perceived on Instagram and how many followers we had. But none of those things truly make us happy. All we really need in life to be happy are our health, our family and loved ones and a safe and comfortable place to live.
Spending this time in the Lake District, a place which is special to me anyway, with my family all together as a group, something we don't get to do enough, was a truly magical time and a memory I will always be grateful for and appreciate.
We really did have a magnificent time and I hope it's not too long before we can all get together and enjoy moments like this again.
See some of the fun we got up to in the video at the top of this page or scroll below for my photography from some of the places we visited including, Rydal water and Rydal caves, Loughrigg Fell and Cathedral Cavern.
