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Summer holidays, so far, have been taken up with a lot of travelling, fun, family time, seeing friends and of course a little bit of everyday stress mixed in there for good measure!

Family holidays, I have discovered, are not so relaxing when you have a five-year-old and a one-year-old to keep happy at the same time.

When you consider the sleepless nights (yep, still having those), early mornings, having to factor in nap times, getting out there and chilling is not as easy as I imagined! I’ve done a straw poll on this, and am told in maybe three years, when my youngest is four, things will be much easier! Still, we just spent a fantastic week in Devon, staying in a beautiful house with an outdoor pool just outside Kingsbridge. Just down the road from the seaside town of Salcombe, which coincidentally one of the bloggers I follow, Sarah from Taming Twins, holidayed in too! Another blogger, Bella Loves Bear, is also from round there so shared some of her tips with me on Instagram. What did we do without social media, hey?! It’s great to read about a place you’ve just stayed at though. Thanks, ladies!

We started our trip with a visit to one of my oldest and dearest friends, which made the seven-hour drive much more bearable let me tell you. It was so nice to catch up and chill out with a bit of home-from-home comfort, and for our kids to play together, so thanks so much Joanne, we love you!

Then on the next day to our holiday home, and a week of hanging out at the outdoor pool and visiting lots of lovely beaches and local villages. On the second night, we were treated to a bit of retro glamour with the carnival parade at Kingsbridge. We perched classily at the side of the street, eating fish and chips from The Codfather (yes, really), and waved the carnival queen hello. The following day, first born was booked in for a surf lesson at Bigbury beach, which he loved, despite insisting he didn’t really need lessons, just a bit of practice…

Later in the week we spent a day in sunny Salcombe, getting the South Sands ferry over to a beach across the water, on a day where both sea and sky were so blue we could easily have been cruising in the Med. I love boat trips, and the kids love this one, especially the rather hairy cross over to the sea tractor for the final lift up to the beach.

That week we also took in the castle and harbour side at Dartmouth and took a steam train over to Totnes, where sadly an entire day of Biblical rain cut our adventures slightly short.

My favourite day of the holiday though, had to be our day spent at South Milton Sands. Once we’d managed to drive down the single lane track to get there, we were rewarded with a long, sandy beach, clean, shallow waters and the best cafe we ate in all week. Well, to be honest it was only the second cafe we’d been to all week, as we soon found out eating out with two babes is much more tricky than with just the one! The Beach House cafe is a real gem, worth travelling for, its laid-back beach hut vibe was teamed with beautiful food, home made fish finger sandwiches and chips served in cute little tin mugs were our highlight. And all eaten with a perfect view of the sea.

Devon, we loved you, and we will be back!

This post about Devon beaches has been written by Julia who writes a lovely blog Rainbeaubelle for big and little people. Click here to read more.  You can also follow @Rainbeaubelle on twitter here.