Welcome to our blog about family holidays, activities and entertainment.
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FOR years we'd driven past the almost-derelict Midland Hotel in Morecambe and every time I'd say, "I wish someone would buy that and do it up, it's such a shame," writes Keris Stainton.
And then Urban Splash did buy it and they did do it up and so I started saying, "I'd love to stay there one day." Earlier this year as a joint birthday present and first night away from the new baby celebration (if you know what I mean), my husband booked us a night there.
We left our two boys with David's parents and drove up to Morecambe, giggly and a bit hysterical. Would we be okay, just us? What would we talk about? Would we miss the kids too much and have to leave early? And, more pressingly, since I was breastfeeding Joe and had been pumping for days, would my boobs explode?
FOR at least a year now, Harry has been begging us to take him to Drayton Manor and, more specifically, Thomas Land. So we were thrilled when Drayton Manor sent us a free family ticket.
Arriving around Sunday lunchtime during the summer holidays, we parked and - along with lots of others - ate our packed lunch on the grass. We worried that so many car park picnickers suggested the food in the park was overpriced, but thankfully this didn't turn out to be the case.
Once inside the park, our first stop was Thomas Land. Harry was keen to go on the big rides like Maelstrom and G-Force, but we told him he was too young and he was satisfied with that. Thank goodness, because neither David nor I would have been willing to go on them with him.
Is this really Butlins? Yes it is, it's a snow cave in the Ocean Hotel's spa and the assembled parent bloggers couldn't believe it either...
THE disco lift was a winner, a snow cave in the spa was a mind-boggling curiosity and big red balloons are a marvellous addition to any party.
These were some of the points reported by parent bloggers invited to the launch of the £20 million Ocean Hotel at Butlins, Bognor Regis. And if you had to sum up the sentiments expressed most strongly in the variety of posts, I think it would be fair to say:
I DID some serious googling before booking a cottage for our trip to Norfolk. I wanted somewhere near the seaside. I needed two bedrooms (one for us, one for the boy) and I wanted a garden since Harry would (we hoped) be going to bed at 7-ish and me and David imagined ourselves sitting outside with a bottle of wine. Plus, since we would have a DVD-obsessed 4-year-old with us, we needed all mod cons, including TV and DVD. Oh and we didn't want to pay more than £500.
I was surprised at the enormous choice of holiday rentals available in Norfolk, but finally narrowed it down to about four and then David got involved and we picked Beck Cottage in West Beckham near Sheringham.
We didn't know quite what to expect, but we did hope it would be fun and fun it certainly turned out to be. Once inside, we queued up for the Bewilderboat to take us into the park. This is such a charming and gentle way to arrive, only spoiled by having to pass the shop first.
I HAD a dream. It was a dream of the kind of old-fashioned summer beach holiday I'd had when I was a kid, writes Keris Stainton.
I wanted sandcastles and fish and chips. Seagulls and funfairs. I'd always fancied Norfolk and had never been. David had been as a child and had fond memories. So, last July, we packed our buckets and spades and set off.
We took a leisurely drive down, stopping overnight at a (vaguely) halfway point (Lincoln) and then on to our West Beckham holiday cottage, which I'll review separately. Once we were settled in and we'd scraped most of the travel grime off, we headed straight to the seaside. At Sheringham, we had fish and chips looking out to sea (and avoiding the seagulls), while Harry nagged us about going down on the beach with his bucket and spade ... which we duly did.
I'VE been hearing about Gulliver's World for years, both because the Warrington "branch" is our nearest theme park and because it has a reputation for being a bit, well, run down. But when we wanted to do something special for the last day of half term, it seemed like the best place to introduce Harry to the wonder of the theme park (before assaulting his senses with the joys of Disneyland Paris next month!).
Despite the startlingly high (in our opinion) entrance price, our expectations were pretty low. And they were lowered further by the first thing we saw: a man dressed as a lion, singing on stage while about three people watched, disinterestedly. It was like something out of a sitcom, but it actually made me feel quite nostalgic for the rubbish entertainment at the theme and holiday parks of my own childhood! Harry, however, was already completely overexcited.
OKAY, I admit it. I bought my four-year-old son Harry Mo Willems' The Pigeon Wants A Puppy because I liked the illustrations and I thought it was cool. Fortunately Harry liked it too. Unfortunately he then became completely Pigeon-possessed. So when I saw that there was a stage show of Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late I just had to buy tickets.
At just an hour long (an ideal length for this age group), the Big Wooden Horse Theatre Company production actually covers three of the four Pigeon books: Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus and The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog as well as Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late.
Before the lights went down, the two actors came on stage and introduced themselves and some props to the audience. Out of the box came first the Pigeon books and then the costumes. I thought this was a really clever way of starting the show, serving both to remind the children of what they were there to see and to prevent any 5'10" tall pigeon-inspired meltdowns!
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