Over the past few days, as a family, we have taken things a bit easy. Lets face it, you can't run on autopilot forever, and we go through more than our fair share of stresses and strains on a daily basis. Besides which, this was the first proper couple of days off in I can't remember when.

With Chloe on summer holidays, F1 on summer shut down, and me on a week off from the NHS, we decided to go and stay with my father-in-law for a few days, and explore some of the sites close by.

On one of the days, we had the most wonderful time visiting Cheddar Gorge! A real family day out, with so much to do, you almost need more than a day to take it all in. The children were in awe over the caves, the mystical jewels, the hundreds of steps that you can climb to the cliff walk, which they ran up as fast as their little legs would take them, and delighted in the wonderful sights at the very top. Chloe was very proud to beat us all to the top!

Callum got very excited with the open top bus tour that runs through the gorge, and thoroughly enjoyed visiting the cheese factory to see how it was made (even if he couldn't taste any of it!).

We thoroughly recommend it, definitely well worth a visit!

We also visited a very windy Weston-Super-Mare, and in spite of the cool conditions of the sea, Chloe and Callum were insistent on going for a paddle. Fair play to them, it was damn chilly, but they had a wonderful time splashing about!

To give me a bit of a break from cooking, my lovely father-in-law took us out for lunch on one of the days we were there.

For anyone who follows this blog, you will know that we have had some very different experiences when visiting Harvester.

As we had had such a good experience with Harvester in Kidlington, we decided to give the one in Gloucester a try.....

I initially didn't say anything at all about Callum, as I know the menu quite well now, and I'm fully up to speed with their training and know what they are capable of.

My father-in-law was the one who set the ball rolling, warning our waitress (Tocana) as to the fact that Callum is 'allergic to the world and his wife', and even mentioned about having had a good response in Kidlington.

Tocana was immediately on alert, and I have to say, she did a wonderful job! Callum had asked for the children's fish dish, but when checked with the chef, it became apparent that it contained milk and egg, so unsuitable for Callum. We decided on the usual grilled chicken that we order when at Harvester, and Tocana promised to make sure that the grill would be washed down so there would be absolutely no cross-contamination.

While waiting for our food, Chloe needed the toilet, so off we went, leaving Callum with Jonny and my father-in-law. During the time we were away from the table, the food arrived. Callum asked Jonny if he could have some of his corn-on-the-cob. Jonny initially was about to, but Tocana questioned whether it was safe because of the ingredients on Jonny's plate. She was right, it wasn't safe!

Fair play Tocana, that seriously impressed me!!

Overall, we had a really great experience, well done Harvester, you are totally delivering on what you set out to achieve. And I will now happily recommend you to the allergy community as a safe place to eat!

I'm slightly suspicious though, knowing we were going to Harvester, I checked my blog stats before leaving, and then when we got back, and there was significant activity on my previous blog posts on Harvester......! ;)

Maybe Callum should become the face of an allergy safe menu for Harvester....! Give me a call head office, you have my number, I'd be more than happy to talk about it!