Cost of living: 'I enjoyed the freedom when prices weren't so high'

As the cost of living rises, with inflation in the UK hitting a 40-year high of 10.1% and further increases expected this autumn, how are families making the most of the summer and enjoying days out? Three mums who were visiting a zoo in Essex share how they are coping.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed food and non-alcoholic drinks were the largest contributors to rising prices last month, with energy, petrol and diesel costs also affecting inflation

Mum-of-one Danielle Barton says as a result, she has to think more about how she is going to spend her days with one-year-son Zachary.

The 30-year-old, who works for the ambulance service, says the family has downsized their diesel car to a petrol vehicle, and she is "thinking about how many times am I using that a day".

"I have to think 'can I afford to go to this place, can I afford to go to that place?'," she says.

"I have to consider how many days out I'm doing a week, a month, and it's a shame everything is going up because I enjoyed the freedom when there wasn't so much to think about when the petrol prices weren't so high, the food prices weren't so high.

"I enjoyed having that freedom while now, because I don't have that anymore, I'm having to restrict what I do."

For Lucy Poulson, it is a case of making the most of what they do with their time.

The 34-year-old from Colchester says everything is a "lot more expensive than what it used to be" so with her husband James, who works in a bank, she is "a lot more conscious about what we're going to do".

"We try to make the most of the time there, so if you've got an entry to somewhere we try to max it out rather than go for an hour or two," says the stay-at-home mum, who has one-year-old son Reuben.

Jennifer Smith says she is not going to let the rising costs beat her.

The 37-year-old from Chelmsford says she wants her son to "enjoy the things that we would have wanted to do anyway".

Mrs Smith, who runs her own printing business and whose husband runs a record store, says: "If I've got the money there short-term, I'm not going to stop taking my son out.

"I try to not let it restrict me purely because I don't want to look back and think 'we didn't have enough money to do that', we'll always find a way."

As families feel the pinch of the rising cost of living, the attractions say they are facing increases themselves - and they need to get people through their gates to cover their own costs.

At Colchester Zoo, head keeper Ange Matthews says energy bills and stocks for food have gone up but they are "trying to absorb that cost as much as possible".

"For every guest who comes through the gate, it puts money into the zoo to keep the animal enclosures good and to keep them fed, so what we don't want is to put the prices up for guests that makes it unaffordable and people stop coming anyway," she says.

"We are trying to make it as affordable as we can so people can still enjoy a good day out."

Colchester Borough Council Labour councillor Pam Cox, portfolio holder for heritage and culture, says there are a "lot of free and low-cost activities for families this summer and beyond" in the newly-created city.

"We are really aware that families and residents are struggling financially at the moment but we're doing a lot to help them in other respects but we're also really keen that people carry on having days out where they can," she says.

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