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
A Day at the Needles and Alum Bay, Isle of Wight
When you think of the Isle of Wight, the Needles, the Lighthouse and neighbouring Alum Bay with its colourful sands have to be some of the island's most iconic images. I vaguely remember going on a boat trip around the lighthouse when I was there on a school trip when I was about 8 and I knew it was somewhere that we had to visit again when holidaying on the island as a family. The Needles are right at the far west tip of the Isle of Wight and when you're on the island you always seem to be seeing adverts featuring the Needles themselves, the famous lighthouse and also the cable cars that ... read more
Stick Man at Wendover Woods #weloveforests
Stick Man, oh Stick Man, beware of the mud... I think that's probably what we should have been chanting as we went round Wendover Woods just after Christmas. After loving the Super Worm trail last year we had been invited back to try out the new Stick Worm trail and we were not disappointed. Stick Man seems to have become a huge celebrity this Christmas. Not only did he get a Christmas Day show on BBC1, but he was also on the cover of the Christmas Radio Times. Do you get any more famous than that? Still not got round to watching everything I recorded last Christmas but that's not ... read more
Autumn Fun with Superworm at Wendover Woods #weloveforests
Autumn has to be one of my favourite times of year. There's just something about the colours of the trees that I love so much and that always make me feel strangely emotional. I didn't therefore need much encouragement to head up to the gorgeous Wendover Woods with the family the other weekend to investigate the Superworm Trail that was there until the end of October. The Superworm book by Julia Donaldson and Axel Sheffer is one that has strangely passed me by until now. I'd heard of it and seen in bookshops, but just not read it until now, although it seems both kids are very familiar ... read more
Criccieth Castle
When you think of north Wales castles have to be one of the first things that come to mind. There are apparently over 600 castles in Wales and as you drive around you certainly keep coming across them. The castles, along with the gorgeous scenery and coastline, were one of the big driving reasons for wanting to visit Wales in the first place with the kids. On the first full day of our stay at Haven Hafan Y Mor we decided to get out and visit the nearest castle to the site - Criccieth Castle. Just a few miles along the coast Criccieth Castle is high up between two beaches and has some of the ... read more
Review: Learning Outdoors with the Meek Family
Wow! What. A. Summer. I'm sat here surrounded by bits of Little Miss C's school uniform that I've been busy sewing name tapes on to all evening. She's back to school in the morning and incredibly excited about it. It seems hard to believe that I was worried about 6 weeks of summer holidays stretching ahead of me as I just had no idea how to fill all that time. As it happens though I've had no real problems at all (although I won't deny that there have been some afternoons that have felt like forever!) and we've had a really busy summer with lots of days out, a planned holiday to Wales and ... read more
Ladybird Tuesday: Ladybird by Design, the exhibition
Well that was a bit of a longer than planned break from Ladybird Tuesday - sorry! There's been no decrease in the Ladybird hunting activity here, but school summer holidays have got a bit in the way of writing about Ladybird books over the last month or so. But as September and the autumn arrives Ladybird Tuesday is back, and restarting with a bit of a different one. I had one of those getting older life events back in July and to mark it Mr C and I had a rare child-free day together in London. Over the years I've learnt that if there's something you really want to do, rather than dropping ... read more
100 Family Adventures – The Meek Family
We're huge fans of getting the kids out of the house into the great outdoors and having fun out there. Fresh air is always good for them, and there is so much to do outside to challenge them and teach them too. I've always assumed we were pretty good at this but since reading 100 Family Adventures I've realised that there's actually so much more for us to do as the children get a bit older. The Meek Family are teacher parents Tim and Kerry and their two daughters Amy (11) and Ella (9) and they hit the news when they announced that they were taking a year out of formal education in 2014 - ... read more
Chaplin’s Circus comes to St Albans
I love a circus. The excitement of stepping inside a Big Top that's appeared on the site overnight. The buzz of the audience and the thrill of the whole family enjoying the show together and waiting to see what happens next. I can still clearly remember my dad taking me to see my first circus as a child in Rotherham's Clifton Park and the plastic flag that I got to bring home with me at the end and played with for ages afterwards as I reenacted the show at home for my sister. Things have changed a lot since then (not having live animals in shows for one) but there's still an old fashioned ... read more
Embracing the winter outdoors #Hibernot
We were lucky this year that the kids managed to see a white Christmas, but when you're children a couple of days of snow a year just isn't enough and my two are always asking when they can play in the snow again. That's why I jumped on an opportunity that came into my email inbox last week to take them somewhere with guaranteed snow today. As part of their Hibernot campaign Land Rover covered part of the slope in front of Alexandra Palace with snow and invited people to simply come along, play in the snow and have a good time. Talk about perfect for snow loving children. The whole ... read more