The most incredibly perfect yorkshire puddings recipe

I'm going to share a little secret with you... I love cooking. No wait, that's not a secret at all. It's actually that I've figured out the most amazing recipe for Yorkshire puddings. 

Now anyone who knows me, knows I'm the type to constantly criticise my own cooking - I'll always say "oh, I'm sorry, the potatoes should have been browner", or "it's a bit sticky", "the gravy is a bit lumpy - sorry". It's a bit of a joke between Big A and I, I'll find something wrong with pretty much everything I make, whilst he will sing the praises and and be amazed by everything he cooks - "This is incredible, I'm awesome". I don't know if this is an inherently male/female thing, women being more critical of themselves (good old society helped us with that one!) or if it's a special thing for the two of us. Anyway! My point is, I very rarely big up my own cooking, but these Yorkshire puddings are just so amazing. 

I never had been very good at Sunday Yorkshire puds, they'd either stick, or not rise, or collapse immediately. They just didn't work. Until I started using this recipe. Now for the past 8 or so Sunday dinners, they've been the star of the plate.

I should tell you, it's adapted from an All Recipes one I found for Toad in the Hole, that one can be found here. I've used that recipe for years, and it it's a great one if you want that old British classic. 

Shall I stop blabbing on and actually share the secret with you? (Simplified recipe follows at the end)

First off, to make 6 individual Yorkshire puddings, you'll need:

• 4oz Plain Flour (any Americans reading this, I think you call it "all purpose flour" - just the one that won't rise without a rising agent). This is very important - Self Raising Flour will not work. Trust me... I accidentally did it one time. 
• 2 Eggs - I just use medium sized ones
• 4 fl oz milk - doesn't matter which type, I'm using skimmed at the moment, but any works
• Olive oil (but I'm sure sunflower or veg would work)
• Salt and Pepper
• 6 hole muffin tray - I use the silicone ones, they work so much better because there's a lesser chance of sticking (mine never have). If you used cupcake tin, I'd imagine it would make around 12 instead of 6. 
• Preheat the oven to 210 Celsius 

I always put eggs in first - it's just to ensure that I don't get any shell in, and cracking them in first saves on washing up! Win win. 

Looks like a double yoker! Love those. 

Add the flour - 4 oz

Remember plain flour - has to be plain! 

Now at this point, rather than adding all the 4 fl oz of milk at once, I add 2fl oz first, then get this whisked up nice and smooth - not adding all the liquid at once means that the flour tends to not clump in the mixture. 

Add the second 2 fl oz batch of milk, if it feels too thick, add a little bit more, but not much - it should not be as thin as crepe batter - this makes it nice and chunky when cooked - I'm not a fan of very airy yorkshire puds, when you can't really taste much from them.

Stick a little sprinkle of salt and pepper in at this point, just to season a bit. Finally, put it in the fridge for 20+ mins (if longer than an hour, make sure you give it a mix when you come to use it as it does separate).

Now for the olive oil - this needs to be heated before adding the batter. To do this, pour a small amount in the 6 muffin holes - just enough to coat the bottom of each. If you're using a silicone muffin tray, put it on a metal tray to stabilise it (I don't want to be patronising, it's just if it's your first time using the silicone, then you could make the same mistake as me and not do this - and then the oil goes everywhere when you try to move it into the oven because of bending in the middle). Heat the oil in the preheated oven for at least 10 mins - preferably 15. You want it nice and hot. 

Once heated, take it out and very quickly pour the mixture evenly into each hole. The oil should sizzle a little when you do this. Don't keep it out the oven for long - as the oil will lose heat. 

Excuse the mess I made at the back! Haha! Never mind. 

Put it all back in the oven (top shelf), and at this point... do not open the oven again for 30 mins. This is really important. Yorkshire puddings do not work if you let the heat escape. Make sure whatever else you are cooking can be in for the full 30 minutes. 

Look at the magical rise! Love how the do that!

When I take them out, I tend to turn them over quickly for 10 seconds or so, so as to drain off any excess oil.

Then hey presto! Incredible, perfect, delicious Yorkshire puddings. 

Enjoy with all the rest of your Sunday Roast yummies. 

Don't forget your gravy!

Recipe - makes 6:

4 oz plain flour

2 eggs

4 fluid oz milk

Salt and Pepper

Olive oil

Preheat oven to 210 Celsius. Whisk together flour, eggs and half of the milk (all 3 together). Mix until smooth, then add 2nd half of the milk. Add salt and pepper to taste. Cover and chill for at least 20 minutes. 

Using a 6 hole silicone muffin tray, pour in a small amount of olive oil into each hole - enough to just coat the bottom. Put into oven to heat up oil for 10-15 minutes.

Just before oil has finished heating, take out the batter and give a quick stir in case it has separated. Take out muffin tray and very quickly fill each hole evenly with mixture (it should sizzle slightly as added). Put straight back in the oven and bake for 30 minutes. Try not to open the door at all, because when heat escapes, they don't rise properly. Once ready, take out the oven and turn each one over for 10-15 seconds to drain out any excess oil. Then add to your roast dinner.

Enjoy!

This is a very simple recipe to make more or less, basically use double the ounces to the number of eggs (e.g. - 3 eggs, 6oz flour, 6fl oz milk or 5 eggs, 10 oz flour, 10 fl oz milk etc)

I think that first picture deserves a second viewing...

Yummmmm....

Super Sticker Hero - Behaviour Reward Chart (including how we got him to stay in his room until 7am!)

So today I'm going to share our current, and best so far, behaviour reward chart secret. I may well be completely plagiarising someone else's idea, but I'd not seen it before. I've often desperately trawled good old Pinterest for some new fancy way of helping big boy JD's behaviour, so I've seen a fair few ideas for reward charts.
Around a 18 months ago, we started a 'marble jar' - basically a jar which you'd put a marble in for when JD behaved nicely, or went to bed without getting up etc. At the beginning of the exercise, he'd tell us what he really desperately wanted (first off, an Iron Man action figure), and when the jar was full up he'd get the prize as promised. It worked for a couple of months:

(Look at that happy little face!)
Sadly, due to his enthusiastic little brother trying to eat the marbles (he was only a year or so at this time), we had to keep the jar and marbles up high (on top of the fridge as I recall), and so inevitably, due to lack of exposure (we were living with my mum in between houses, and the fridge-freezer was in her conservatory), this method died the death of most of my ideas.

Zoom forward about 6 crazy months, and I was tossing and turning one night desperately wishing/praying/hoping/wanting a new way to help JD's behaviour (I think that day he'd hit his Sunday School teacher at the church we attend or something), and this grand idea started to formulate in my mind... how about I get him involved right from the get-go of the reward chart - and base it around one of his favourite things - Superheros! I would get a life sized, person shaped reward chart - it would be full of spaces for stickers, that he would help me draw. My imagine went a little wild whilst I imagined making it look like a superhero with cape, mask and all sorts - hell, I probably thought I could get it to fly around the kitchen - such are my crazy thoughts at midnight!
The next day, we made a much less extravagant, and very un-Pinterest-pretty chart. First off, I got some old Christmas wrapping paper (you all know you've got some/lots tucked away somewhere), and got him to lie down on the black side. I then drew around his body - all the way from head to toe. Next was to draw the circles together, then to cut the whole thing out. Finally we stuck it on our freezer (our new home had a large upright one left for us) as that is seen every day, and is right in view whilst eating at the dining table.

(Ugly... but functional.)
Now I'll be honest, I may have gotten a little over zealous with the number of sticker spaces on the first one we made! But bless him... he kept going with it. We tried to focus on just rewarding the positives - when he'd share nicely ("what lovely sharing - we can put a sticker on for that"), or played independently without asking for screen time (sounds easy, but after some stressful house moves and things, he'd become a little obsessed with the tablet and tv shows), when he was a good boy at nursery, when he ate up all his dinner (oh the joys of trying to get a 4 year old boy to eat broccoli) or when he'd be good with his please and thank you's etc. At one point when he had a bad cough/cold, we even started rewarding him with stickers for covering his mouth when he coughed (previously he'd made a beeline for your face when he did it! Odd boy) - it really did work, even now when I've long stopped cough-cover-stickers he still brings covers his mouth - creating habits through repetition!

(Finally got his Captain America!)
The one we were most pleased and happy with was the achievement in the mornings. He'd been getting worse and worse with his wake up times, it peeked at around 5am (hah! I laugh at that now with my 5am work starts) and we were completely sick and tired of it. So... a new sticker reward was brought in - he could have a sticker every morning that he waited until 7am before he came into our room. We had got him a cheapy Ikea clock when we first moved home, and he'd been slowly getting to grips with the idea of "big hand on 12, little hand on [insert applicable time here]" - so he understood what 7am looked like on the clock. It took a fair few attempts, and in and outs from his room, but we were desperate (and sleep deprived) so kept at it - "JD, remember, you get a sticker if you stay in your room until 7 o'clock", "go on JD, only 20 minutes to go, back you go" "Oh come on, you're so so close - back you go" "Yaaayyy!! you did it! You get a sticker when we go down for breakfast!"
The visits to our room got less and less, and in general, the wake ups got later and later too. Now he usually wakes up around 6.45, so he's got much less time to wait - but he still does. In fact, when he went to Big A's mum's in June, he'd call through the wall to check whether it was "7 o'clock yet gran?"

(Second full chart - Lego Tie-Fighter)
I know it sounds simple... but with perseverance, it paid off. We employed the same tactic for staying in his room at bedtime, eating with a fork (we're still working on that one), staying in his chair at dinner time, being a good boy in primary (again... work in progress), being kind etc etc. It also worked well with nursery/pre-school, because they often give stickers for good behaviour there, and he could just transfer it from his t-shirt to chart. I've no doubt we'll be using it a LOT when he starts school!
One of the best parts of this, is that you're forced into the praising good behaviour rather than punishing bad all the time - once the stickers are on, it's difficult to get them off which means it is viewed as a very positive thing by JD. It is about being well behaved, and not really associated with bad behaviour. From the articles I've read... apparently praising is more effective than telling off.

We just finished making our third Super-Sticker-Hero chart this afternoon... this one is even uglier and less Pinterest-pretty than any of them, but they're functional and really do work!

(Spiderman sticker from yesterday's dentist visit)
Might I recommend the lesser amount of sticker spaces... they do tend to get a little disheartened after 2 months and they've still got 2 legs and an arm to fill up (true story!)
Here's hoping this system works for a while... at some point I'll do one for little JJ, but my last attempt got ripped off the fridge by the little tinker! I guess he decided it belonged to him.

On a side note, don't spend the silly amount of money on stickers from a high street shop, I got mine off Amazon - 1000 for under £2!
If you do make one, I'd love to see pictures - I can imagine they could look great with the artistic streak that I lack ;)

The best laid plans...

On Tuesday I decided that it would be nice to be a great mummy the next day! I was going to plan an epic day trip! And where would we go? Only one of the coolest places in the midlands - the West Midlands Safari Park! Serious mother points there - nothing mediocre about that bad boy.

Or so I thought. 

On Tuesday evening Adam and I took turns with an ice pack (we should really buy two) and making sure not to touch as that would create too much heat - I mean what the hell? On Tuesday it was up to 33 degrees - this is the UK not Greece! Our summer usually consists of a peek of sun behind a big cloud - which could mean showers, or could just be obscuring our view of the big yellow ball in the sky.

I digress...

So yes Tuesday night - it was hot... like really, stupidly, crazily hot... not able to sleep hot.... Stay on topic Middle M! I thought to myself, "hmm, I better check the weather, I can't imagine it would be overly fun being in a car if it's this hot." I take a look at the forecast and it says 25-27 degrees, so nope - don't think that's a good idea. I had already used the Safari Park as bribery (I mean rewarding) for Big Boy JD going to bed nicely. Dangit! This is going to be a fun conversation... I was right:

"Pleeeease mummy!!" "It's okay, we will just take lots to drink" "Pleeeeeaaseee" "I got a deal for you mummy. We will take daddy to work and see if it is hot. Then we can decide"

I actually figured that last one was quite good. I agreed. We'd see what it was like in the car. You fooooool Middle M!! The damned car is in the shade, we're leaving at 8.30 - of course it isn't going to be too hot. 

Long story, short... or I guess long story, still fairly long - we went. Arrived at 9.40, park opens at 10. Still though, it wasn't overly hot, if we can wait here for 20 mins not moving and cope okay, we'll be absolutely great, not a problem... 

Look how happy we are... Hahahaaaaaa oh I had no idea. 

We start driving round, windows down, enjoying the great animals:

The giraffes were especially ace - got very up close and personal. 

We get past the first non carnivorous enclosures - yay, now for the exciting animals. Get to the first gate: "For your safety, please close all windows and lock doors". Usually, you get to the gate, and it opens within a few seconds of your arrival. But not this time, no no, even though it states that the safari opens at 10am, apparently you're supposed to spend 20-30 mins on the first section! So after 10-15 very hot minutes (our car doesn't even have central locking, so it definitely doesn't have air con) a 4x4 finally rocks up with the employee/gate keeper in it - yesssss we're finally going to get moving. 

Nope. 

5-10 mins later the gate finally opens. You know what? It's okay... the park's only just opened, it's understandable that they might be a bit slow on the first one - I'll just about let them off (even though I'm sweating in places that I didn't even knew was capable of sweating!) 

Ohhhh look at the cute foxes... some kind of wild fox - can't remember their name - not your average rake-through-your-dustbin-fox... some African breed:

They were even having their breakfast - that's pretty ace! Through that enclosure and we could open our windows again - yay! There wasn't much of a wind, but it was better than windows closed.

Rhinos!!! They're such ace looking animals - like they're dressed in full armour. Amazing :) 

Then the problems really started... 

We wait about 5 mins outside cheetah's - none around... then another 5 outside the African Wild Dogs, still none. Then lions - these enclosure attendees had clearly been having a long breakfast. We had to wait outside the lion enclosure in the, now sweltering, heat for at least another 10 mins.

"Mummy, when will they open it?" "Mummy, I'm so hot? Can we be finished yet?" "Mummy I just want to go in now" 

"JD!!! This is what I was talking to you about this morning!! I told you it was too hot, but you wanted to come anyway. Do you want to just go home? - if you don't want to see the animals, we can just go!" 

Please note, I was extremely hot and grumpy by this stage... I do realise a 4 year old is not responsible for the choice to come - that was all me... but I was in a bit of a sweaty grump - oh also had a chunky 2 year old on my lap who kept wriggling around, sharing his body heat and trying to turn all the car switches on. Also, that second threat was complete nonsense, once you're in those safaris, you just have to see it through to the end! But it just about worked:

"Okay mummy... I'm just hot, sorry mummy" 

Dangit - way to make me feel bad for snapping.

Look at that sweaty hair! Bless him

All pretty fed up ^^^ and hot!

The lions (when we eventually got in) were pretty great though:

The next section (again 5-10 min sweltering wait - not allowed to open windows when lions are about!) was the white lion - these really are ace. Such beautiful animals

JD was getting seriously sweaty - poor boy. I remembered a trick my mum does of using wet wipes as they're usually relatively cool. You'll now see one of these in pretty much every picture whilst on safari - JD just kept taking one after the other.

Okay... so he's not got one on display in this picture - trust me, it's in his hand. But had to show this pic - look at the giraffe's all gathered around their breakfast :)

Can you see the tiger? We're all a bit happier now - window could be open!! Yaaaayyy! Even the hair dryer wind was a blessed relief by that point.

 Gorgeous elephants ... hot sad JD. What more could a mummy ask for in a day out? ;)

Final animals were the very nosy and smelly camels - we'd not bought any feed for them, but the moment they see an open window they come to investigate. The boys thought that was the funniest thing ever. 

By this point, I was so delirious with heat and happy to be on our way out of the safari I started singing a song about the camel's smelly poo! I mean what?? Big A is the one to normally sing toilet humour songs with the boys, but at that point, you just do whatever you can to get the kids happy and laughing - despite their sweaty mess. Oh the glamour of motherhood!

Finally we were done with the safari and our sauna car - on to the rest of the park. I think JJ was particularly happy to be free to run about. He just loved the crocodiles (or alligators? I'm never sure how to tell the difference)

It was still pretty roasting - you could tell because the heat protector doors in the reptile house were open - I've never seen them open!

I told the boys they could go on the rides - JD's annual pass includes the rides, and for JJ it's only £6 for unlimited rides. He had his first go on them for his birthday a couple months back... back then, after screaming for 30-40 mins and not wanting to go on, he finally decided they were the best thing ever and screamed when it was time to leave (a couple hours later).

Thankfully this time didn't require the same persuasion. They both very much enjoyed the rides:

Except here where he got miffed about it spinning too fast and slipping off! 

 

The airplanes were a firm favourite. 

As were the cars!

What was I doing whilst they had the time of their life? Meeeeelting... I was meeeeelting! 

My usually sunny disposition was rather similar to our Elphaba (Wicked Witch of the West) by that point to be honest. The Tiny Tots section has ZERO shade at that time of the day - anyone who knows me, knows that heat + me = no fun! But you just keep on smiling - there are other adults about! They can't know that you don't find motherhood wonderful and joyous at every moment!  On a side note, anyone seen Wicked? (the musical) - it's incredible! You view The Wizard of Oz in a completely different way... loved it! 

The final stop for us was the Sea Lion show. You're probably fed up of me telling you how hot it was... but... I'll just leave it at 15 min wait for the show sat in an auditorium with no shade. We needed to be early because clever me had planned this trip on the week when school trips happen - there must have been at least 30 coaches full of kids aged 5-16! Clever mummy! Reminds me of when Big A and I went to Alton Towers for our anniversary - thought we were so clever going before summer holidays... nope! School trip day! I seem to be a magnet for those weeks. 

But yes... sea lion show: 

I may or may not be holding a bag of pick and mix... shhhh. I had 15 mins to wait - how else was I going to keep them slightly still - actually JJ still decided he wanted free roaming. Thankfully he was penned in on both sides of the row, but that didn't stop him from walking up and down the row tapping people on the shoulders or stroking their hair! *Gah... Earth swallow me please!*

After the sea lion show, I should have taken them to the dinosaur display... it's pretty amazing in there, but there was no way that I was walking around for any longer than I needed to. So by 2pm we were off - back into our Hell-hot car, windows all the way down, driving back home. They both conked out within a few minutes. So I was left wondering why on earth I hadn't gone with my original instinct and saved this day out for another time. Ah well. They remember it as a fun day (when later asked by Big A)  - only I was left to remember how "the best laid plans of mice and men (and mothers) often go awry"

To holiday or not to holiday? That is the (very easy) question.

Big A and I come from very large families, each with very different ideas on holidays... he would go away most years, he especially remembers with amusement and fondness the 3 years in a row when 7 of them would pile into a 5 seater car (his eldest brother had a ride with family friends). 

They would travel all the way from the North-East of England to the South of France - hours and hours squashed into their Vauxhall Cavalier, before the days of air conditioning, and piled high with luggage and enough food for weeks. His spot was in the space in front of the back seat, but just behind where the driver and passenger seats meet... so one might think he'd have very negative associations with family holidays. But no, he loved it. A total of 3 weeks away, camping in Tours, France. 

He had also been away on caravan holidays, trips to Disneyland, and other places, meaning that every year they went away together as a family.

My family... not so much. I can distinctly remember the only 3 times we went on a family holiday. Once to my Grannie's childhood home in Coldbackie, North Scotland; 

another when we rented a 12 berth barge and sailed around the Midlands' cannals for 5 or 7 days (lucky we like each other- that's a long time in such close quarters!!); 

The last holiday was actually just 7 of us (I'm from a family of 10) as my older 3 siblings were away and/or married. My Grandpa had decided that it was high time we had a holiday and so rented a house for us in Sheringham, Norfolk for 2 weeks.

All 3 of our holidays are remembered with great fondness and great memories.

In fairness to my mum, we lived in a beautiful part of West Wales, that many would pay hundreds of pounds to rent a holiday home in... 15 mins from a beach, incredible countryside, and an amazing family home:

** This really is my childhood home (from age 18 months to 19 years when I went to uni) ... yeah... I was pretty lucky!**

Also... let's be honest, if I had 8 children, I'd probably want to stay put! In fact, I imagine I'd just book myself a week's solitary confinement each year!

Anyway... my point is, we came from very different attitudes towards family holidays.

When Big A and I first got married, we decided that we would follow in his family's footsteps. Both children had passports within their first couple years of life. Little JJ had his at 3 months (it'll be fun attempting to get him through airport security when he's 4 1/2!)

We've had varying amounts of money through the years, but have managed to get some real bargains and lovely times... our holidays have been to:

2008 - Honeymoon in Lefkas, Greece :

Gorgeous weather, delicious food, 2 boat trips (including one where we didn't realise we were supposed to bring swimwear and were the only numpties fully dressed at a beach stop!), we thought we were getting a 3 bed villa, and ended up with a tiny unkempt studio apartment with twin beds and a random wet room ... fun times! 

2009 - Visiting Big A's sister in Calgary, Canada

Calgary zoo, the incredible Banff - swimming in hot springs and slipping over on icy paths, climbing the Calgary tower, Cardston LDS temple and all you can eat ribs

2010 - Caravan holiday in Betws Y Coed, Snowdonia

My first experience of a caravan, train to the top 1/3 of Snowdon (thanks to high winds we didn't get all the way to the top... we tried to walk the rest, but I nearly got blown off a cliff!), amaaaazing chip shop (seriously... go if you're ever within an hour's drive!!), finally going to the town with the longest Welsh word (llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch - yes it's real), Powys Castle, immense ice creams at Beddgelert and the wonderful experience of having to clean out the toilet canister! (We've always gone to a static caravan since that one!)

2011 - Spa hotel on Isle of Wight

I was 4 months pregnant, so I mostly remember feeling/being sick... but other than that: ferry boat rides, gorgeous coastlines, thrashing Big A at miniature golf, swimming, weird craving for fish at a fancy meal (I hate fish), slushies on the beach, riding a WWII anti aircraft gun (even though there was a sign directly next to it saying not to climb on! - we had permission... honest)

2012 - Holiday home in Coldbackie, North Scotland

Squashed 12 hour car drive up, random stop off at a maize maze (where the maize wasn't fully grown, so it only came up to our chests!... not the most complicated maze we've been on!), incredible sweeping beach, mountain behind the house (literally), sledging down sand-dunes (great fun!!), using our coats as parachutes to get blown around by the high winds (so so so funny - highly recommended), a date night out (we were told there was this fancy restaurant close by... as it turned out, it was basically someone's big conservatory on a council house looking home with tables and chairs... can't fault the food though ;) )

 

                                     

2013 - Holiday house in Wimereux, France:

Brugge, Lille, free zoos, beach BBQs, weird and awkward sunburn, 5 of us packed into a 2 bed tiny house (we went with my sister Bethany and her husband, Lewis), patisseries .... ooooh the patisseries... how I loooove the French patisseries................. 

2014 - Caravan park in Champagne, France

One of our all time favourites - really wonderful caravan site, we hope to be able to get back there again one of these days. Plus, lots of crepes, croissants, nutella... (can you tell we are into food in a big way ;) love it!)

2015 - Caravan park in New Quay, Ceredigion:

Lovely boat trip where we saw a dolphin and her calf, lots of beach days and pool trips, meet ups with childhood friends (some literally randomly bumping into them)... I'd imagine lots of yummy food too - we usually do!

2016 - Caravan park in Carnac, Brittany, France

Just got back from a lovely sunny fun filled time. I'll do a separate blog about it at some point (ironically, this one was started with the intent of it being about that holiday only... ah my scatty brain!)

One fun thing from it to wet the appetite though...

We went to the beach one day, we were meeting up with Bethany and Lewis who were also holidaying in Brittany (I'll explain that one in the next blog!) They'd had a beach recommended to them, and as it turned out, it was a HUGE beach with lots of different stop offs. We found one, attempted to ask a couple leaving in broken French whether this was the way to the beach... they took longer to answer than a simple "oui or non", but we thought, "what the heck, it sounds like a yes... plus we're pretty sure we can see the pathway to it.

We got there... and weren't overly impressed with the spikey shell like sand, but stayed put, had a paddle, a walk and a picnic. Whilst there, we kept noticing one or two people who seemed very confident in their own skin... their naked skin! We figured it was just some "French exhibitionists", and carried on. We even noticed someone fly fishing in the nude! (careful with those hooks buddy!), we walked quite far down and when we eventually made our way back it was crawling with nudies... we were quite shocked and embarrassed (and highly amused), and thankfully we were on our way out anyway. 

On the pathway back to the car, we noticed a sign... a sign that we really should have read on our way to the beach... it even had an English translation for heavens sake!! 

Oops! 

In closing... the answer to my original question - to holiday or not to holiday - yes, absolutely, 100%, whenever possible, go on holiday! They are wonderful... The memories made are totally worth the money spent... plus just grab yourself a last minute bargain - that's what we do... other than Greece and Canada, none of these holidays cost more than £200!