Canterbury

Canterbury is a beautiful place. My Mum loved it because it reminded her of Chester, my Dad loved it because he figured out a new shopping game, my sister loved it because we went on a boat trip and Anthony loved it because we found a comic book store.

We ended up going to Canterbury twice during the week of our family holiday. Our first visit was brief but involved a delicious meal at The Old Weavers House. A pub whose food and views are so fantastic, we ignored the rest of the pubs during our second visit and dined there again. Any pub who can make delicious mash, almost-Italian-tasting pizza and lets you eat your food while looking at a river through hanging flowers is going to become an instant favourite of mine. I hope I get to eat there again some day (the pizza was amazing).

The main part of our second Canterbury trip was our 40 minute boat tour. Lottie had been dying to go on some kind of boat tour and had been desperate to go back to Canterbury after our first visit, just for the boats.

Our tour guide was a young student; he kept us entertained with the history of our surroundings and bad jokes that made me laugh loudly. Without a doubt the best part of the boat ride was when he showed us how barges used to sail under the bridges; seeing someone on his back using his feet to guide a boat is definitely an experience!

I think one of the best ways to view a city is to see it from a boat and this trip did nothing to change that opinion. Canterbury is a beautiful city regardless of where you are looking at it from but I think I'll always prefer to see it on a boat with the sunshine covering everything in sight.

**Not pictured - Dad's new shopping game**

What you'll need: A Dad, a Dad's wallet, a Dad's watch, one or more children with little money, shops.

How to play: Choose a time limit (my Dad chose 10 minutes). Choose a price limit (my Dad chose £10). Tell the children they have the time limit to find a piece of clothing within the price limit. If they find a piece of clothing within the time frame, the Dad will buy it for them.

Side effects: Parents may find this game as much fun as the children. "Children" is a loose term and can be used to describe 17 and 19 year olds. The game may cause participants to run laughing in to shops holding hands, "for the first time since they were about 5 years old".