A holiday in the snow

Our home for a week - pregnant sheep included

Our activities in Zillertal

A right royal family

I'm not exactly sure of the number of winter holidays we have had with our friends the Pages, but this may have been the ninth. Over the years, our kids have grown and grown and also got very good at skiing and snowboarding.

Our home for the week was this huge farmhouse in Zillertal, Austria, with loads of space for the 11 of us plus dog, a classic sauna, an infrared sauna and an adjacent sheep barn. The latter was of particular interest because two sheep gave birth to twins during the week we were there, causing a lot of excitement among the kids.

The weather was perfect all week long, with blue skies and sunshine. Most days, while the others were out skiing, I opted to stay behind and look after Belka, taking her for extended walks and letting her loose in the huge fields knee-deep with snow. On the one day that I skied, Mike took Belka for her first hike in the mountains ... and she loved it! This bodes well for future outdoor activities for the two of them.

On the final day of our holiday, I insisted that we go out as a family and do some walking. We paid a visit to Schloss Tratzberg which, although closed for winter, had an open doorway affording us a glance at the beautifully painted inner part of the building facing the courtyard. Naturally, we couldn't resist the opportunity to pretend being a royal family.