Let’s be honest with ourselves now, England doesn’t have much in the way of interesting places,  lots to do and see or even nice weather, so when my friends wanted to organize a holiday adventure in without leaving the country I didn’t exactly jump for joy.

This wasn’t a week in bountiful Butlins nor a hazy weekend playing pub golf in Bournemouth.  My friend James had just taken out van finance on a wonderful Volkswagen camper he named daisy.

Daisy was a beautiful old girl who just been restored; even though she couldn’t pull the skin off of a price pudding but she was hot stuff and had plenty of style. The van really got people’s heads turning whenever we pulled up at camp sites along the way.

Fitting three grown men is this camper did prove to become quite a problem, luckily we bought a spare tent along for the ride just so we could all get are heads down somewhere.  We took turns sleeping top-to-tail in the snug little van while the straggler or most drunk slept in the tent.

There was one downfall to sleeping inside the van, this which meant having to fold up the bed to access the pathetic excuse of a kitchen which laid underneath.

Our journey took us from our home town of Chichester in West Sussex to the small but beautiful town of Bos Castle on the western coast of Cornwall.

Our five day journey across south western counties of England was terrific fun!  Of course we went for a night out in Bournemouth; it would of been rude not to. We did however go and see many sights along the way  that we wouldn’t of normally of gone to as they were easily accessible to us.

One stop off that really fascinated me was our tour around Kents Cavern in Torquay.

Undoubtedly the most spectacular cave in the United Kingdom.  Kent’s Cavern is shrouded from roof to the ceiling in mind blow geological architecture.

                      Stalactites haning from the cave roof and  stalagmites rising from the cave floors

Geologists date this cave to be hundreds of thousands years old and still to this day it looks absolutely fantastic.

We also went to see remains of the Okehampton castle, which sat on the famous Dartmoor dreary bog lands.

It’s said this is one of the oldest castles in the United Kingdom and has even been mentioned in the Domesday Book.

On our arrival to Boscastle we were pretty relieved that the wagon made it the entire way without breaking down once, however we did take it easy on the old girl!

A beautiful sunset the evening we reached the beautiful town of Bocastle. The holiday was fantastic, we all thoroughly enjoyed it.

Given that it’s the height of summer in the UK, many families are heading off abroad to take advantage of the school holidays and the summer sun. As a result, thousands of families across the country are making sure they’ve got everything for their trip; passports, travel documents, sun cream, bathing suits, etc.

If you’ve got children, then chances are you’ll be ensuring you’ve got everything to keep them safe from the sun, such as sun cream designed for kids, burn cream just in case, suitable shading (umbrella, car window cover, etc). But many people overlook their children’s eye safety, forgetting to take suitable sunglasses with them for their kids.

You mightn’t think that sunglasses are an important consideration for a child, but they’re just as crucial for them as they are for adults.  Many high profile opticians, including Vision Express and Direct Sight, have stated that young kids should be introduced to eye protection and sunglasses as early as possible, reducing the possibility of damage to their eyes as they’re growing up. The RNIB (Royal National Institute for the Blind) has echoed this advice, suggesting that children need to have their eyes protected from prolonged exposure to the sun, whether you’re travelling abroad or staying in the UK this summer.

Although experts disagree on the exact figure, it’s generally accepted that somewhere between 50% and 80% of sun exposure (both the eyes and skin) takes place before we’re 18 years old – suggesting that it’s these earlier years that we need to pay the most attention to the protection of our children’s eyes.

Many opticians are also warning about the dangers of buying fake designer sunglasses (both for yourself and for your children) when travelling abroad, particularly those sold by market traders or any proprietor without a permanent establishment. Many British people are tempted by the fake designer goods available in many popular holiday destinations, particularly given the prices are often hundreds of pounds cheaper. However, the lenses in these sunglasses are almost always sub-standard, meaning they offer little or no protection from the sun. This is particularly pertinent when it comes to children, as people are often tempted to buy cheap sunglasses for their kids, especially when the traders are selling fake brands and frames that are often targeted at younger markets.

Guest post from Zara, who works for a company specialising in designer eyewear, including Carrera, Oakley, Ray Ban sunglasses and many, many more. She’s also hugely interested in eyecare and optical health, and dedicated lots of time and effort to educating people on looking after their eyes.