Let’s get one thing straight, before you visit under the assumption that you are about to wonder for miles under a tree-top canopy. The New Forest is not a strictly speaking a forest and it’s definitely not new.

If you take a horse, bike or just your feet on a wander through any of the 150-odd square miles that make up the New Forest, you’ll find the forest areas broken up by heather-covered heath ground and cute thatch-cottaged villages and laced by streams, brooks and rivers.

I do feel sorry for our Royal Family sometimes. They just don’t look as glam as the stuff of fairy tales. I’ve already warned you not to take your kids to a British royal residence when the owner is in. They will get the shock of their lives if Queen Elizabeth II is on a walk about. Our royal Octogenarian prefers a headscarf to a crown most days, teamed with a sensible jumper and skirt and nice sturdy shoes. No glass slippers, ball gowns and tiaras for her most days of the week.

But on April 29 …

The timing of school spring break holidays are all over the map this year. That’s a good thing when it comes to travel planning as it means it may not be as difficult to book a trip now for an April vacation.

Need inspiration?

My list of favorite 2011 spring break ideas for families …

Sometimes I wish I didn’t live in London. It’s such a lovely place for a family city break. And, as you can just as easily wake up to a beautiful sun painted day in London in mid-January as in mid-June, winter is as good a time as any to visit. Plus, if you come in Winter you expect it to be cold and maybe rainy, those sunny days are a bonus.

Be greeted by cold winds and thunder come Spring and your disappointment will be far greater and, however well you think you’ve packed, you’ll probably still need to go out and add to your wardrobe.

Luxury hotels in the UK, can be a bit precious and stuffy. Most claim to welcome kids, but the staff look edgy every time a pair of tiny mucky fingers paw the ancient suit of armour by the foot of the stairs and watch you like hawks at every meal time in case a stray ketchup covered pomme frite hits the priceless Persian carpet.

Luckily, not all top UK hotels are like this, but weeding out those ones that really do welcome you and your little entourage with open arms …

There is something so magical about being on holiday in a big city at Christmas time. And if you have kids with you London is particularly enchanting.

The streets are sparkling with fairy lights, the store windows are alive with mechanical elves, dancing dolls and miniature trains whizzing around tracks and Santa is waiting for you to visit him in his Grotto.

But where do you start?

‘They’re changing guards at Buckingham Palace, Christopher Robin went down with Alice …’ as AA Milne, Winnie the Pooh’s creator wrote.

With its enchanting parks, picturesque palaces and quirky pantomimes shows, London has and will always be a magical place for children to explore. If you only have a few days in the capital with toddlers in tow, here is my top five list of things to do with toddlers in London:

Halloween was always an ‘American’ thing here in the UK. Just like you can always find a few hotels serving Thanksgiving dinners, you would occasionally find the odd restaurant or club going with the spooky theme. You might get a couple of kids knocking on your door covered in a white bed sheet with two holes cut out at eye level, but that was it.

Until about two years ago.

It has been called England’s answer to Malibu. But that’s a bit like calling Hugh Grant, England’s answer to Brad Pitt. A nonsense. Nevertheless, it’s not hard to see why the analogy sprang up.

Sandwiched between the seaside towns of Bournemouth and Poole on England’s South coast the Sandbanks peninsula juts like a pointed finger about a mile out to sea. It is so narrow at one section that you can see the waves lapping along the edge of both of its sides from the road.

Conjure up the typical English countryside scene: think of a patchwork landscape of fields laden with crops or dotted with sheep and cattle, interspersed with stately homes, church spires and quaint little villages. Not much of rural England looks like this anymore, but The Cotswolds really does.

It has something to delight everyone, whether it’s one of the many manor houses, which have been turned into luxurious country house hotels and spas …