Ready to ski?

This blog is about family travel around the world without leaving the UK. Impossible? No. Here are some ideas about how to offer a winter sports experience - like you might have in Austria - but much closer to home. This post is by Nicola Baird 

From late October, each week another Austrian ski resort opens up again after the long summer break. A good place to find out more is at this blog here. I've never skiied on snow, and only tried an artificial slope once, I think in Harrogate although xscape at Milton Keynes is far more famous, and there's the Chill Factor at Trafford with a luge run and the Snow Centre in St Albans, just 10 minutes from the train station. But last weekend on a brainstorm with the Geography Collective (working on their next Mission Explore book challenge) one of the bonding activities was to toboggan at the Chatham Ski Slope (apparently the longest artificial slope in Kent and the South East).

It seemed a shame to let the kids miss out this early winter sport pleasure so when I left the geographers, I took Lola, Nell and their friend Xander to Broadgate ice rink, just by Liverpool Street in the centre of London for a long skate on a chilly, blue-sky morning with near perfect mountain conditions (!). As you can see from their expressions, they loved it - as did Xander's mum Nicky. And you can try skating too from November - early February.

Obviously if we were thinking Austrian we'd finish off our skating or tobogganing with hot chocolate and cakes. Instead we ate noodles at Spitalfields market, but I guess when you are on a skiiing holiday, you never really know what you might do next...

Over to you
Where do you go in the UK to recreate a winter sports feeling? I'd love to try to ski my way around the UK using the artificial slopes...

It's colder than Antarctica

How do you travel around the world without amassing a huge carbon footprint? Nicola, Pete, Lola and Nell have found a way. This time we're dressing as if we are in the South Pole.

January 2009 has seen such a long cold snap that I'm now resigned to wearing seven layers in the house - two are fleece, one is thermal, another is wool - to stay warm enough to sit at the computer. Trafalgar Square's fountains have iced over; even our hens' water container needs thawing out. Although London hasn't got chillier than -2C (low enough), places in Britain have recorded a freezing -10C on more than one night.

The only way to keep warm is to keep moving - so I take the girls skating at Broadgate Ice Rink (opening info on tel: 020 7505 4037) which stays open until early March.

Judging by the picture they felt fobbed off: I'd said we were going somewhere even chillier than parts of Antarctica. According to BBC weather reports and in the freebie Metro, here, I did not lie.

Skates on

Pete, Nicola, Lola, 9, and Nell, 6, spent three happy months during summer of 2007 traveling around Britain. Now we’re home, but the travel bug is still there. Join us for the occasional sightseeing plus tips on how to shrink your carbon footprint. This post is from Nicola

London has temporary ice rinks at the Natural History Museum, Kew Gardens, Hyde Park and (as the pic shows) in the courtyard of beautiful Somerset House by Waterloo Bridge. Last year I made some effort to get Lola to learn to ride – this year I thought we’d all try skating. Although we will visit Somerset House (open until 27 January 2008) for its eye candy thrills we’ve decided to learn at the Broadgate ice rink by Liverpool Street until April 2008. It’s a much more intimate rink – though big enough to host games of broomball (players in trainers trying to stay upright and sweep the ball into goal with a broom) on Friday nights.

Skating is definitely a skill I cannot teach the girls (although the elegant women from skiing lands, especially the French, are all introducing their little ones to the ice). So I paid for an half hour lesson to get us all started (#18). We really struck lucky with the teacher at Broadgate – Jacky – who is a twice world champion and an inspired teacher. Even in that short time she got Nell brave enough to slither to the middle and experiment with standing on one leg and showed Lola how to jump safely using her arms. And I survived an hour on ice, which was all that I wanted…

Saturday: must be Germany

Pete, Nicola, Lola, 9, and Nell, 6, spent three happy months during summer of 2007 traveling around Britain. Now we’re home, but the travel bug is still there. Join us for the occasional sightseeing plus tips on how to shrink your carbon footprint. This post is from Nicola

A strange transformation takes place at Lola and Nell’s school most Saturdays. There’s still children and teachers going into the place, learning their lessons, and enjoying the playground but it is a whole new school – the German school.

For an out of body experience I sometimes to go to the German shop that comes with this school. Arranged under the pergola we planted the stalll holder sells dark breads, stollen and other delicious cakes to anyone who happens to notice that a German deli gem has transported itself to London, N5. It’s a pity that our London school doesn’t offer a similar treat during the week, even if the goods might turn out to be a mix of jellied eels and fake cigarettes (traditionally sold at the Nags Head, Holloway up the road).

Even if Germany is on the move, it is surprisingly easy to find it in London if you have time to go to Hyde Park which has transformed itself from classic green space to London’s largest open air ice rink. And all around the rink is a German Christmas market housed in little wooden huts. Go see for yourself - you've got until 6 January.