This year’s birthday fell on a Thursday and lucky me.. I don’t work Thursdays! So I knew straight away I’d be spending the day with my three-year-old. I was quite excited about this because I love planning adventures for us to go on together. So, after thinking long and hard about what we could do together that would be a bit different or special for my birthday I realised that doing nothing would be special in itself. So I planned to stay at home. I invited some of my family members and got our newly renovated garden ready to have a little celebration. I wanted to keep it casual and since it was the school holidays I knew that if I was to go anywhere, it would be busy. Annoyingly, the weather forecast had other ideas so I quickly abandoned that idea and decided i’d venture out into the busy end-of-half-term summer madness and try out some new hotspots instead.

A sweet start

For my first stop of the day we headed to Kova – a brand new cafe in Pudsey, West Yorkshire. I enjoyed a delicious hot chocolate here whilst my daughter indulged in not one but two babychinos! She also managed to spill the majority of it all down her white top and new dress during the first sip – I saw this coming a mile off!

Kova is a new cafe based right in Pudsey town centre opposite the bus station. They do an event for new mums every Thursday 10am to 11am and the place is super kid-friendly with lots of toys and colouring pencils to play with. The cafe is small but has outdoor space too which is great for a sunny day.

I loved my birthday visit as I recognised the staff member from my MAT leave! Small world. It was lovely to start the day with a catch-up and Hilda was behaving like an angel there which was the best birthday present she could give me 😉

I drove to the beautiful little village of Otley for my next stop where I met my mum and we had lunch at Treehouse Bar & Kitchen. I’d never been before but saw on Facebook they were doing kids eat free in half term with a table booking. So I booked a last minute table the night before and planned to pop by. I am so glad we did!

It was honestly the perfect place for us to spend my birthday. It was nice and quiet so we could chat but not too quiet that it felt empty. There were other kids in the venue making me feel at ease with Hilda and others celebrating their birthdays too! The decor was really pretty and it felt like we’d stepped into somewhere completely new. Obviously it was new to us but it was so beautifully decorated it really felt like we were on holiday!

We ordered cocktails that were absolutely delicious!

Enjoying the lunch deal we got an absolute bargain. Steak sandwich, rustic fries and a soft drink all for £10 – Worth that for the gravy alone! I really loved my birthday meal and I wouldn’t hesitate meeting friends here for lunch again.

Next it was time to head to where I used to live, another nearby town called Guiseley. I met my sisters and my husband at The Station. This is another favourite of mine because of the large car park, bargain lunch deals and again – Delicious food! This time I wasn’t eating as I was still full from my lunch but everyone else enjoyed a meal. We had a catch up before heading shopping for what turned into a good few hours!

It was nice to spend the day with my sisters. I don’t think I’ve been shopping with my sisters in years and I definitely haven’t spent a birthday with both of them together since being a kid. Sometimes you blink and the time just disappears, before you know it the moments that used to be so common become a rarity.

Before heading back to Ilkley, my sister stuck around to grab a slice of cake from Hawthorne Farm in Yeadon which was our next and final stop of the day! This Greene King pub offer something called Cakeaway and they do the most delicious Chocolate Mars Attack cake. It is so delicious that we had it as our wedding cake a couple of years ago!

I couldn’t resist the urge not to end my birthday how it began – Scoffing my face with chocolate.

Let the celebrations continue..

The next day I was due to work so I booked it off for a treat. A day to celebrate myself.

Whilst I initially thought of making plans with friends and going for some drinks or a meal. I remembered what I used to love so much before my daughter came along. My favourite thing in the world was always hiking, travelling and visiting new places.

It’s been so long since I’ve done a big walk too. So, this year, I really wanted to go hiking. I spent ages looking for somewhere to walk but I was fighting against fuel prices, spending too much time/money before I even started walking and battling against the elements with potentially a challenging rainy walk. It wouldn’t normally put me off but I really envisioned enjoying a sunny stroll with a stop at a local cafe, perhaps some blogging outdoors. I knew this wouldn’t be possible if it was pouring down.

An opportunity came up for me to visit an activity centre and try Skiing for the first time! So I took it, because it’s been a while since I’ve tried anything new. Granted, i’d have preferred to try snowboarding but the timings didn’t work out.

So off I travelled to Castleford Xscape to visit Snozone for my Level 1 Adult Ski lesson! I had literally no idea what to expect and couldn’t even imagine what it would be like in comparison. I really don’t play any sports so it would be totally new for me. I felt some anxiety as it had been so long since I threw myself into the deep end like this. I was excited yet nervous. So I arrived early enough for me to enjoy a meal at the restaurant before heading in.

It was such a strange feeling having lunch with a view of slopes and people skiing and snowboarding! Definitely not something i’m used to seeing in this country or anywhere else for that matter. It made for an enjoyable view that’s for sure.

The Ski lesson was so much fun. It was way better than I expected and I really enjoyed myself. I was absolutely terrible at skiing, worse than I could have ever imagined. I fell over on every opportunity when coming down the slope – I just couldn’t slow down! But I had such a good time and had a real laugh with the instructor.

I may not be running (or falling) to do Skiing again anytime soon but I have no regrets and it was certaintly a birthday experience I won’t be forgetting in a hurry.

After this I got to enjoy a whole child-free evening of retail therapy trying on clothes at my favourite store – Lucy & Yak! I spend far too many hours in here.

I finished the weekend with a trip to Whitby for one of my favourite events of the year – Whitby Pirate Festival. We went last year and it was ace! Read my write-up here:

This time we went on Sunday and got there a little later with a midday start. It was at a different venue and was a totally different experience from last year. I must admit, we much preferred last years venue there seemed to be a lot more events in the one place and we were able to even enjoy a pint when it was at The Royal.

That being said, it was nice to see everyone again and grab some quick pics. As always, we had a great time walking around one of my favourite towns in the UK. We didn’t take our dog this time so it was nice to be able to sit and watch the pirates at the bandstand this year without worrying it’s too hot or crowded.

We decided not to dress up this year because my husband wasn’t feeling great and truthfully we just weren’t feeling up for it! So I popped on my corset with my new birthday dress and stuck our daughter in the cute parrot outfit I bought for last years event. Luckily it still fits!

We had a lot of fun blending in with the pirates and Hilda has never been given so much treasure! She was buzzing. It was a very long day but we were thankful for the Bank Holiday Monday to follow. Don’t think we’d have managed at work the next day otherwise!

We even discovered a new bar we’d not been to before; The Esk Vaults. Playing rock music and neatly tucked away from the hustle and bustle of the often-too-busy seaside town, yet somehow still right in the centre. We will definitely return!

And my birthday celebrations didn’t end with Whitby! On Monday we headed to Ruby’s in Pudsey, West Yorkshire for cocktails with friends and the kids. I wrote about Ruby’s previously on my blog and it’s rapidly becoming one of my favourite locals:

It would be my friends first time here and we were planning on attending the midday disco they were putting on. My friend brought her toddler and he ran around with my toddler living their best life. It was nice to see them enjoying themselves so much. Even now my daughter keeps asking to ‘go back to the cafe’. She loved it!

Ending the week with cocktails was the birthday treat i’d been waiting for and my favourite thing to enjoy. Good drinks with good company!

So even though I didn’t quite make it away somewhere this year, I had a real fun time venturing around Yorkshire and celebrating my birthday locally. It might have been my birthday for about 5 days but when else can you make it all about you ey? Any excuse for a pampering!

~ Celebrating in August 2026 ~