ANYONE dread that moment, when your child walks through the front door with Bobby Bear or Derrick the Dinosaur?

Well I do.

Not because I’m not proud of my kids’ good behaviour, when they bring a teddy home from school as a reward, but because quite selfishly I wanted a relaxing weekend.

I don’t know if any parents out there have had the pleasure of a weekend with a cuddly toy from school, but my experience was something like preparing for a foreign exchange student’s visit.

Last week we had Barnaby, a reward for my daughter’s good behaviour. He was allowed home with us, along with a diary of the fun things he’s done... the pressure was on.

Looking at his past, some have taken him to the seaside, to the cinema, the park, a restaurant, the list is endless. So for us it was time to get interesting. What can we do I asked myself.

But there’s one thing that I did notice, you don’t have to spend money to show a bear a good time.

I was determined to prove that the simple life can be just as good.

In East Lancashire there’s an endless list of places to visit that are absolutely free and just as exciting as ‘ten-pound’ bowling, overpriced laser quest sessions and a £50 visit to the cinema.

Walks to Darwen Tower, Blackburn Museum, Brockholes, Howarth Art Gallery, Gisburn Forest Hub, if you are looking to get out with the kids, there's loads to do.

For Barnany and us it was a sleepover, swimming, kid's party, and a good old Sunday roast.

The grey fluffy bear seemed to have a great time – apart from a saucy incident, caused by some unwanted attention from our Shih Tzu puppy, he was fine.