So it's the week before Christmas, and we've just had a 6th birthday for a small boy. A small boy who, with a week's notice, decided it was imperative he had a party rather than a family outing to Big Pit as he'd planned. I must admit, I was a little relieved about big pit. I'm fine with heights, but give me an enclosed space, or maybe a coal face 90 metres down a mine shaft, and I'm not at my happiest. And anyway, I've been before, on a lovely school trip and feel one 'real underground experience' in a lifetime is probably enough. Ask Joanne, I couldn't even go in the giant badger sett in Kew Gardens, I'm really a total wimp.
I prefer to do my sightseeing strictly above ground, and goodness knows there are some lovely places right on our doorstep in Monmouthshire. You can't walk a few feet without tripping over an ancient monument or recognising a backdrop from Merlin, hence Monmouthshire's boast of having more castles per square mile than anywhere else in Britain.
And the children are partial to a bit of history and a rampage around a ruin too, hence their hilarious comments in the visitors' book at Raglan Castle on our latest visit:
The girl, 8, writes: 'Beautiful views and outstanding history'
The boy, 5, writes: '2000 times better than an ordinary human house'.
Now that's what I call value for money.
