We live only about a 25 minutes drive from Paradise Wildlife Park but strangely in the six and a half year of being parents we'd never actually got round to visiting. Sounds a bit daft really, especially when you realise that Little Miss C has been there on a school trip two years ago and has been begging us to return every since. This last weekend though we did finally make that trip over to Broxborne Woods and I'm so pleased we did. LMC had such a fantastic time there on her school trip that as soon as we told her where she was off to she very excitedly started telling he brother ... read more
Wrest Park
On a weekend there's nothing we like more than a family trip out to a stately home with large grounds that we can explore with the children. The National Trust do this kind of venue very well and they're incredibly in tune with what families want. Kids activities are laid on during holidays, there's often a playground and you know that there will be baby changing facilities and high chairs in the cafe. Unfortunately for us though there is a distinct shortage of National Trust properties near where we live. I was therefore intrigued when Mr C came home from work one day saying that ... read more
Visiting the animals
I'm always on the look out for new places to take Little Miss C - especially ones that don't cost much. I worry that there's a lot of pressure on parents to pay to take their children to loads of expensive attractions but that need not be the case. On Friday morning we went along to one of our favourite free attractions - the local garden centre's pet department! We're lucky enough to have a short drive away a garden centre that sells chickens, rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, mice, budgies and reptiles, as well as a selection of fish. It obviously costs nothing to visit the ... read more
Bekonscot Model Village and Railway
Mr C has chosen the most perfect week to have off work this week; day after day of unseasonably warm weather and extra long sunny days following the clock change last weekend. Days like these are designed for old fashioned family days out and that's exactly what we did today. Bekonscot Model Village and Railway is in the lovely Buckinghamshire town of Beaconsfield, just off the M40; only about 40 minutes from St Albans. Originally started in 1929 the model village contains pretty much everything you can imagine - shops, houses, sports fields, boating lakes, harbours, a mine, a zoo, a ... read more