Well, half-term and the Jubilee celebrations seemed to fly by last week, probably because we were busy with our visitors.

It was all great fun, although the house did seem very overcrowded at times, particularly because of the dreadful weather which meant we were all stuck indoors.

The combination of five children and three dogs in one small sitting room meant it got very noisy and very messy at times. If a drink didn't get knocked over by one of the children you can be sure one of the dogs managed it. Luckily we have wooden floors which are easy to mop.

Matthew, my friend's youngest, became enamoured with daughter's pet snake, Chilli, and spent each morning checking to see if Chilli had "woken up yet".

The snake, having suffered a bit of Matthew's extremely enthusiastic handling technique the day before, wisely stayed buried under the sand in his tank for the rest of Matthew's stay, causing him some disappointment.

We took him to the pet shop to have a look at the sorts of snakes you can get as pets and he went home armed with a snake keeping book to aid his research before his mum will let him have a real one.

We also searched him before he left to make sure Chilli was not hidden in his pocket. His older sister, who does not like snakes, has said she is moving out if he gets one.

My sister's little one was a bit in awe of all the big kids and stayed quiet for the first few days before feeling comfortable enough to express herself.

Once she did she became as noisy as the rest of them. Harry Potter was rediscovered on the Playstation and became the focus for hours of obsessive playing which couldn't be disturbed for anything.

However, we did bundle them all into two cars to go to the pier for an afternoon. It would have been great fun if it hadn't been cold, wet and windy. I'm not a great fan of the pier at the best of times but it is certainly a lot better when the sun is shining.

The awful weather didn't stop the kids enjoying it, of course, and they went from sideshow to amusement arcade, spending their holiday money faster than we could keep up with them.

We finished the afternoon in true British holiday style, eating fish and chips in the cars on the seafront. Then it was back to the house for more high-decibel games on the Playstation.

It took me a day to clear up once everyone had gone. Once it was done there was a remarkable calm about the place.

"Listen," said Him Indoors. "What?" I said, "I can't hear anything". "Exactly," he replied, "isn't it wonderful?

"Although it was very nice having our visitors, peace and quiet is quite nice too."