Our Fun & Fabulous Family Holiday : Barut Lara, Antalya, Turkey

CLICK HERE TO VIEW MY VIDEO DIARY ON YOUTUBE

Day 1

We arrived around 4pm just in time to pop our summer attire on and head down to the beach and explore the beautiful grounds along the way.

They had such an amazing park for the kiddies, this photo gives you an indication but they had trampolines, indoor play rooms, a craft area and an outdoor soft play area too. Honestly an amazing place to take your kids, Hugo absolutely LOVED it!

Hugo also loved having impromptu dips in the pool, it’s like he never feels the cold that kid, I tell ya.

Day 2:

We decided to have a pool day and have another little meander around the grounds.

We took the Babyzen Yoyo pram with us as it’s so compact it fits in your overhead storage on the plane and it was a breeze to use on holiday. I’ll share a more detailed blog post about this later so you can see just how easy it is to use; not to mention stylish too :).

I thought I’d add this little photo to show you a little snippet of the outdoor soft play area, once Hugo climbed his way in there it was a mission to coax him out… he didn’t want to leave.

This was such a beautiful moment, as I watched him playing in the pool as the sun was setting he turned into my little golden boy, I love the little clip of this moment in action in our video diary too.

He still has a thing with picking up stones and throwing them into the water; a passion derived from our Kirkby Lonsdale trip in March when he loved chucking pebbles in the river. I kept having to collect them from the pool and put them back here haha (It was late in the day, no-one else was in the pool by the way!)

Day 3:

One of our favourite days was at the cabana on the beach! When you book a cabana for the day it’s an extra €70 and it’s worth every penny. It’s a truly relaxing experience where you feel completely spoiled; you get waited on for the whole day having as many cocktails, snacks and food as you want and to top it off they bring a fresh fruit platter to enjoy with an ice bucket of champagne. If I’m being honest I’m not a massive champagne person but theirs went down all too well. Also it goes without saying it makes for the dreamiest photos!

This was our lovely waiter for the day who Hugo also took a shine to.

One of the best parts of having the cabana was that Hugo could enjoy a really good sleep on the bed listening to ocean waves whilst we sunbathed, played cards and generally had a bit of relax.

I don’t know what it is about this photo but I love it and Hugo’s dedication to sucking his banana puree. Maybe it’s the irony of trying to look mean with mummy’s hat on, haha.

How’s that for a spot of lunch? The fanciest lunch I’ve ever had; fresh grilled seabass delivered to our cabana. I felt like that moment in the Little Mermaid where they lift the silverware off the plates.

We were playing ‘a ring, a ring of roses, a pocket full of poses…’ Hugo’s favourite bit is obviously… ‘and we all fall down!’

The seriousness of that face, seriously gets me every time!

Day 4:

Another chilled out pool day and during Hugo’s nap, we enjoyed some table tennis and cocktails. A little fact for you, at primary school I was crowned ‘Champion Table Tennis Player’ and beat all the boys. I failed at beating Ayman though this time around :(… such a meany not letting me win just once! It got very close though!

Day 5:

Hugo enjoying dancing on the bar and keeping everyone entertained!

When I go on holiday, I always think it’s nice to try and dress up a little in the evening, I don’t really know why but as a child we were always brought up doing this and saving our fancy frocks for the evening where we’d often try and dance like flamenco dancers. At Barut Lara Hotel they have a ‘Mini Disco’ every night at 8.30pm of which we became regular attenders. On his first visit, Hugo went completely into his shell and just stood there without moving an inch! He seemed to be taking it all in and slowly building up the courage to get stuck in. That proved to be the case and after a couple of days he couldn’t wait for the 8.30pm Mini Disco to come around and he’d run into the middle of the dance floor, busting some moves with his hands in the air! In general there was lots going on for kids; the Entertainment Team leaders were full of energy and fun. Whilst some parents left toddlers and children in the kids club at times, we never actually used it ourselves as we wanted to experience everything with Hugo but it certainly seemed like a really safe and fun environment; Trip Advisor reviews seem to back this up.

Day 6:

Cabana day number two…

Finally a family photograph.

It was evident by this point that Hugo had become extra attached to me; he’s always more open to cuddles and affection when he’s tired… this was one of my perfect moments.

Day 7:

Last day before flying home early afternoon.

This photo just about sums Hugo up at the moment, he’s like a charging bull ready for anything…

…and fancy that, one second later he’s like the perfect little angelic child haha.

Overview

This holiday was honestly the best holiday we’ve ever had. The room was great, the food was amazing, I haven’t touched on that yet but in true All Inclusive style it was ‘all you can eat’ for your breakfast, lunch and dinner. They have chefs on all the time cooking fresh dishes during those times too and there is so much variety, I don’t really know anyone who would struggle. If anything I had less to choose from as I have to eat gluten free but I was well fed the whole time. They have a separate children’s dining room too which you can see a clip of in my vlog, this is great because they put out all the things that toddlers eat and drink. In the evening you also have a choice of restaurants that you can eat at, we ate at four of them and they were all superb! Sometimes it’s nice to dress up, choose from the a la carte menu and be waited on; we had the perfect mix of some nights in the buffet and others in the restaurants.

During the day you can also go to the cafe patisserie and choose from a selection of pastries, chocolates, fresh coffees and ice-creams and they have other snack bars open dotted all around the resort so, believe me, you will never go hungry or thirsty.

I’ve already mentioned the children’s facilities but when we first arrived they had left a special little children’s pack with wipes, a bib, special baby wash and cloths too which I thought was a lovely extra touch. The night life was great with discos and other forms of entertainment – some better than others. One of the only negative points I’d say is that the outdoor pools were all very cold; we still went in them and Ayman was unfazed but for me it was a real challenge; I just had to go for the dunk to get myself in and after a few minutes I was acclimatised! They did have one smaller heated outdoor pool so I can’t grumble too much; we enjoyed some time in there too.

If I was to pick out one unforgettable moment that has really stuck in my head it was when we put the armbands on Hugo and he just floated on his own and this huge smile just grew on his face. He was so so happy and it was a load of fun playing with him in the pool for what seemed like hours. Daddy went into ‘shark’ mode which set Hugo off into nervous laughter every time Daddy came ‘snapping’.

If you want to read more about the Barut Lara hotel in Antalya, Turkey then please visit their website HERE and also don’t forget to check my video diary out on YouTube HERE. We were in our element the whole time and can’t thank the staff at Barut Lara enough for creating such a beautiful experience for us.

Finally before I go here are some links for any of the items Hugo & I wore on holiday, some of my things I’ve had for a while so I’ve found similar(ish) items for you to check out.

My Wardrobe:

Hugo’s Wardrobe:

Thanks so much for stopping by and if you have any questions about anything at all, please ask away!

Love

Sally

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