Days out, no456: Souter lighthouse

It's not quite as 'iconic' as Fraggle Rock, but Souter lighthouse is great for a cheap day out.

You have to pay to go in the lighthouse itself (unless you're a National Trust member), but there's all sorts to do in and around the grounds that's free. [I should point out, we thoroughly recommend going inside - it's fascinating. You can see the old lighthouse keeper's cottages, climb to the top of the tower and see the light, and most importantly dress up in pirate costumes.]

We like:

• visiting the vegetable garden and playing spot the vegetable
• clambering over the pirate ship and train in the walled garden
• buying ice creams in the shop (mini Milks are only 40p)
• following the cliff-top path along and then down to a fantastic pebbled beach - there's lots of scope for skimming pebbles, rockpooling and general scrambling about
  

Usually it's blowing a force 9 gale - there's lots of space for flying a kite too.

Cheap days out: A quest!

Yesterday was such a beautiful sunny and warm day that we headed out to Newcastle's Quayside on a quest. Our mission? To (a) photograph six things and (b) find some ice cream. Both admirable, I'm sure you'll agree. And cheap - our total spend for the afternoon came to £1.60 for an ice cream.

The quest turned out to be a great way of going for a walk - it made us stop and look at things really closely, rather than just hurrying from a to b. And it was a chance for M to play about with her tiny camera, which she loves. The quayside is also a tip top place for scooting.

Anyway, our list. We needed to find:

Boats (we parked down near the Free Trade, and found fishing boats and a naval ship)


Lavender plants (M's suggestion)


Bridges (here's part of the Millennium Bridge)


A seagull (there were lots of them, roosting under the Tyne bridge)


A castle and a moat (so we wound our way up to Newcastle's castle, photographing castles on bins, embossed in walls, and set into the pavement, before finding the real thing). I would upload a photo, but the castles are all on M's camera rather than mine.

There was lots of scooter action, and a particularly good chocolate ice cream at Risis Ices. We may be repeating our day out again soon...

Cheap days out (3): The supermarket

Not necessarily where you would think of for an afternoon of fun, but it can be done. Not only do you get your weekly shop done, it's educational into the bargain!

First of all, get your small child on board with the idea. Let them decide what to have for tea (M usually picks sausages, or pasta), and write a shopping list of what they'll need. In our case, it turned out to be toad in the hole, so we needed sausages, eggs and milk (we already had flour). M's into writing words, so she wrote the list, and drew pictures of the things as well. I then issued her with a shopping bag, and put £5 in her purse so she could buy the ingredients.

It then helps if you have a small shopping basket, or one of those little plastic shopping trolleys. Sling it in the car, and tootle off to your local friendly branch of Sainsbury's/Morrisons/Lidl etc. Collect your grownup-size trolley, and let your small companion wheel theirs next to you. This should give the staff and fellow shoppers a bit of a giggle.

Proceed with your weekly shop, making sure the small child is looking for the things on their shopping list too. It's excellent for looking for food beginning with a particular letter, reading words on boxes and packets, finding special offers (and explaining why 2 for 1 is a bargain). Don't forget to look at the deli counters for free samples...

At the checkout, let your helper unload their trolley contents and pay using the money you've given them (which hopefully you didn't have to raid the piggy bank for). Load all the shopping into the bag you gave them earlier, and check the receipt (it's never too early to start on this one, plus you get to plug how reading is useful for all kinds of things, not just books). The receipt is strangely popular in our house. Not sure why.

Take your food home, unpack, and then cook your tea (I guarantee this escapade will take all afternoon, and you'll probably be in need of a little something by the time you get back).

Cheap days out (2): Christmasland

...otherwise known as your local garden centre. For some strange reason, garden centres have turned themselves into Christmas emporiums. I'm not complaining - it's an excellent way to spend a morning with a small person, as long as you budget for buying a bauble.

We trotted off to the Peter Barratts garden centre in Gosforth, which features an animatronic reindeer, donkey, calf and (my favourite) a life-size camel. It also has a fantastic range of Christmas kitsch - we particularly liked the all-singing, all-dancing Victorian villages complete with fibre-optic snowmen - some rather fancy trees, and more baubles than you can shake a stick at.

We came home with a sparkly snowflake. Not a bad trip out for £1.99...

Cheap days out

I've got a confession to make. One of my favourite afternoons out with M if it's raining is a trip to IKEA...

If you can avoid spending any money on candles, kitchen gadgets and things in bargain corner, it's rather a giggle. There's lots of beds to bounce on, sofas and chairs to sit on, kitchens to have a pretend tea party in, patterns to find, signs to read, sums to do with money you don't have, escalators to ride on, silly Swedish words everywhere and free tea and coffee if you've got a family card. We often pick up two toy cats from the children's section and treat them to a rip-roaring journey around the store, leaving them in the cat and dog beds near the end (or in a chest of drawers in bargain corner - oops).

What more could you want?

(Mind, willpower is required if you are to leave the building without spending more than £1.71 on carrot cake.)