2025: A Recap

It might be a bit self indulgent, but I do like doing a yearly round up, it’s a great way to look back at everything we’ve done over the last 12 months.

After all, I did originally start this blog so I could keep a personal record of our walks and adventures, so I’m going to keep doing it.

2025 has been a great year, with lots of small trips and days out sprinkled throughout the year.

January

January was a relatively quiet month as we recovered from Christmas and eased ourselves into the new year. The only notable thing that happened was Finn turned 10 – a whole decade of family adventures!

February

February was also quiet, but I decided to get back into the habit of spending time outdoors while taking part in a daily photo challenge hosted by Splodz Blogz. It proved to be a great way to get back in to taking photos and noticing the small details all around.

A serene view on a rare day that I made it out of Northamptonshire.

March

Building on my time spent outdoors in February, I carried this on into March with lots of local walks and I got back into my running stride.

April

April saw our first camping trip as we headed to Hampshire in the Easter holidays. It was a tad cold, but we still had a great time. It’s always good to have the campsite to ourselves as well!

A fire was definitely needed on this trip!

We also enjoyed some more local exploring in the Easter holidays, with a Treasure Trail around Northampton and a trip to see the new exhibition at Northampton Museum and Art Gallery.

May

May was a busy month with a brilliant trip away to Haven Seashore in half term. It was also the month I entered my first 10k run in over 10 years and smashed my goal time. All the training paid off!

June

June saw more local adventures, as we enjoyed Northampton Carnival (which is right on our doorstep) and ventured to Milton Keynes for a family walk to see a windmill.

I’m always on the hunt for quirky places to visit

July

July was hot! I had planned to do lots of running over the summer, but in the end I just managed a few sweaty walks as I tried to keep active and tried to keep enjoying the outdoors.

This was a planned run that became a walk – was still too hot! The water pistols saw a lot of action this summer

August

August was so busy as the summer holidays were in full flow. We headed back to Hampshire for another few nights camping – a bit warmer this time! I also took the opportunity to visit Andover Parkrun – my first outside of Northamptonshire.

The boys went to stay with my parents in France for 10 days and I joined them for a long weekend and an overdue return to Paris.

While the boys were in France, Luke and I took the chance to head to the Lake District and rediscover our love of hiking. Sure, we’re not as sprightly as we used to be, but it was invigorating to head out into the hills again and enjoy a proper outdoor adventure as we hiked from Ambleside to Rydal caves.

Looking over Grasmere

August also saw the Women’s Rugby World Cup kick off. This was an incredible tournament and we were lucky as Northampton played host to some matches so the atmosphere around the town was fantastic.

The local museum had an exhibition celebrating the world cup

September

September saw the Women’s Rugby World Cup reach its climax and England crowned champions. We went along to some of the fanzones in the town centre.

I also managed to injure myself, so had to make do with some volunteering as my running journey came to a temporary halt.

October

October was another busy month as we made the most of the half term. Inspired by our adults only trip, we went back to the Lake District, but this time with the kids in tow. We did the same hike and the boys loved it, ticking off their longest ever walk.

The sense of achievement was worth the climb up Loughrigg Fell

It was also the first time we had stayed in a hostel, which proved to be an excellent way to enjoy a family trip.

Once back home, we celebrated the inaugural Northamptonshire Day event in town, as well as visiting the excellent ‘A History of Northamptonshire in 100 Objects’ at the museum.

A Binty Chicken was voted in at no.100

November

November was busy as we crammed a load in before the end of 2025. The boys took part in the remembrance parade and we enjoyed the local fireworks display.

I decided to head out on a walk around some of the better known landmarks in Northampton. It was nice to have some time alone outdoors-hopefully there’ll be more of this in 2026.

Towards the end of the month we started getting in the Christmas spirit and attended the Christmas light switch on in town.

Right at the end of November we squeezed in a day trip to the Peak District and a nice family walk in the Manifold Valley.

Heading towards Thors Cave

December

December has been the usual mix of Christmas excess and craziness. I didn’t have a lot of time off work, but I’m proud I managed to stay relatively calm throughout and carried on fitting in time to run. To help me get back into it after my injury, I have been doing Couch to 5k and this has really helped to keep me on track.

We have also enjoyed time with our family, including a trip to the pantomime and a nice walk to blow away the cobwebs.

Happy New Year to you all and best wishes for 2026 x