Omnen, The Netherlands

Despite the thunder and lightening which we experienced through the night, which was pretty frightening when you are pitched under a fair few tall trees and the rain continuing into the next day spirits remained high in the camp.

The eldest had now read all three of the books I had bought him for the holiday and the middle boy had delved into the secret stash of loom bands hidden the car' sunder floor compartments, but all was well.

We went for a walk through a nearby town and had lunch in what would appear to be the Dutch equivalent of Gregg's, looking out over the town square which remained vacant save for the hurling wind and constant rain. It sounds bad but you know it was one of my highlights of the holiday. We were together and the conversations with the boys were fun, there was no need to be anyway or any rush to be doing anything and we felt like we had a taste of the reality of another country, a tourist zone this wasn't. We were almost going to go into the local swimming pool, just for something to do, but I couldn't decipher the prices or instructions in Dutch, there was a huge queue and what looked like a tiny pool and it stank of chips so we decided to head back towards the campsite and the other town of Beerze. Needless to say the older boys were none too impressed with the decision.

Thankfully, just as we arrived in Beerze at the location of what I thought was an outdoor pool, the rain stopped and the sun came out and instantly the temperature rose. It didn't last long, but it was long enough for us all to enjoy a play in the freezing waters and swim a few lengths in the 25m outdoor pool.

Beautiful.