Half term holidays in pictures….

Half term has been and gone!

A week goes too fast but we had a great time!

We….

Went to the Tunes and Balloons Festival at The Forest

Visited and loved The Luminarium at Lakeside Arts (also caught the fab Snow White performance)

Went for a sleepover and play with cousins (and met Ironman!)

Visited Great Aunt Maureen and went to The Workhouse in Southwell,

Went camping to the brilliant Golden Square campsite in North Yorkshire and visited a nearby farm for a tractor and trailer ride on Open Farm Sunday,

Now back to school though got some busy weekends coming up.,, love the Summer!

Wheee! Festival @lakesidearts @lipservicetheatre

Did you know the Wheee! Festival is on this week at Lakeside Arts on the University of Nottingham campus.

On Monday we watched a great production of Snow White by Lip Service Theatre, played from the viewpoint of two maids who live in the castle of the King, Snow White’s father. The cast of two, cleverly and wittily entertained us as they recapped the familiar tale with their own unique style. For children aged 4+, even our two at 7 and 9 loved it. 

Lakeside Arts production are always guaranteed to be great quality but always with a distinctive creative twist that sets them apart from the run of the mill.  

There is a packed agenda of inspiring theatre and activities on during the Wheee! Festival culminating in an inventors themed free family weekend over 4 and 5 June. 

You can get involved now by creating your own monster. 

On the campus you can also find Highfields Park and it’s amazing park with fab climbing frames and the beautiful boating lake. 

Perfect half term fun!

Lego, Curry and Halloween trails in Birmingham #halfterm

I have been full time on my final teaching placement for the last six weeks and life has been on hold (certainly my blogging life anyway!). So this post is rather overdue! However last half term we did have a rather lovely couple of nights in Birmingham. I used to work in Birmingham and have very fond memories of it (apart from the commute part that was truely horrendous haha!).

We stayed at the Travelodge in Yardley which is convenient for the NEC where Brick 2015 was being held. We had a great day there and it was fab not having to drive too far to relax and put our feet up after all the walking about!

Just down the road from the Travelodge (walking distance) is a rather delicious Indian restaurant called Jilabi. As Birmingham if of course the birthplace of the Balti we knew we had to pay a visit here. The boys love curry, well particularly Chicken Tikka Masala so we knew they would be very happy.

We had a fantastic meal with amazing service and delicious food. At the end we were all full but managed to squeeze in some complimentary ice cream, cake and fruit salad. The adults also had a shot of Baileys and the kids had lolipops!

The next day was grey and dreary but we headed into Birmingham for a look around the Bullring. There was of course loads going on, the kids did some painting and we had a wander around stopping to watch the Krispy Kreme’s being made at Selfridges.

After a while of realising shopping isn’t quite so much fun with children in tow we had a drive out to the National Trust’s Packwood House where there was a Halloween trail running indoors and outside too.

 

There is so much to do in Birmingham and we would love to return to Cadbury World. West Midlands Safari Park and to explore the museums and galleries that have stacks of family friendly activities.

Reporting from Brick 2015 #nec @legoshow@minifigsme @baseace3d

With (at least) two firm Lego fans in our household, a visit to the first Brick show to be held outside of London at the NEC in Birmingham, was essential! 

There were plenty of Lego models to look at and get inspired from….

  

Such as Titanic built in Lego!

Or a new place to go on holiday? 

  
All these models give inspiration for some brick building on the separately coloured areas…

  

The boys spent hours getting  stuck into building!

  
The Guniness Book of Records were also there with timed competitions to see who could build the most Lego castles in two minutes and things like that. 

  
Also there are lots of stalls selling unique Lego gifts. Did you know you can send in a photo of anyone and have them made into a Lego figure with Mini Figs. We think a set of our family would be a fun idea! 

Another issue we have is finding places to store those precious Lego creations the boys have made so we were thrilled to be introduced to Base Ace who make cool bases to integrate with Lego so you can display and play with your models. Fab idea- think these will be on someone’s Christmas list! 

Brick is on at the NEC till Sunday 1 November, shortly followed by the show in London in December. A must for Lego addicts!

Legotastic – Brick Show Live 2015 #brick2015 #lego

There is no denying that the go-to toy in our house is good old fashioned Lego! The boys never tire of building creations and playing with them (then destroying and starting again!). We keep meaning to make some more movies like this one as it was such fun.

Bringing together the best of all things Lego, in just a few weeks Brick 2015, Britain’s biggest Lego event, will be live from Birmingham’s NEC from 29 October to 1 November, followed shortly afterwards by the flagship event at London’s Excel 11-13 December.

Brick pits with over 3 million bricks to let your imagination run wild in, interactive features and live Lego building will all feature at the event as well as Guinness World Record attempts, fan displays, vintage and rare Lego and gaming activations

There will also be Minecraft sets, special Christmas products and a winter themed pit to build snowmen, reindeer and anything else you can think of! There will be plenty of inspiration on hand if are stuck for ideas in The Fan Zone with incredible models from around the world on display.

We are also huge fans of the Lego video games which of course will also be on hand to have a go at.  I wonder if the latest game,  Lego Dimensions, which we have just bought, will also be there?

As well as the Guinness Book of Records there will also be a huge mosaic that everyone can take a turn to build a part of. We did something similar to this at the Junior Builders week at LEGOLAND and at the Space Museum in Leicester too, and this is always good fun.

I just also have to mention the Race Ramps (which also feature at the LEGOLAND Discovery Centre in Manchester) are a great way to spend some time where kids (and adults) can design and race their own custom card testing them out on one of four specially built ramps.

Tickets are on sale here starting at £20 each. Hope to see you there!

What better way to spend a day in the October half term?

 

 

Five fun family activities in and around Hawes #yorkshire #halfterm #familyfun #livemoreyha #countrykids

We have just spent a couple of fab days in North Yorkshire, staying at the YHA in Hawes. Here are some of the many highlights..

Hardraw Force

 Accessible via The Green Dragon pub we had great fun exploring this amazing waterfall. I tried to give the boys a little lesson on river formation but not sure I succeeded. We did have fun though even walking behind it!

Yorkshire Wensleydale Creamery

 Watch milk turn into cheese before your eyes and then sample lots of delicious Yorkshire Wensleydale! This trip was turning into an educational experience when Ethan turned to me and said in all seriousness, “does cheese come from milk!?”. We clearly needed a visit here and after the cheese lesson he was in no doubt that cheese does indeed come from milk!

Aysgath Falls

Just so pretty here we are at the middle and lower section of Aysgarth Falls it is also a beautiful little walk!

  

Forbidden Corner

This fabulous place is located around 30 minutes from Hawes but definitely worth a visit as it is just bonkers!

Tickets have to be prebooked but for adults and children alike it is great fun. Possibly not suited for young children as there are some quite scary bits to it (not helped when a stranger jumps out of a coffin I front of you as Ethan did to an unsuspecting family who were petrified anyway!).
We can’t wait to go back already!

  

And finally for number 5, we didn’t actually visit here but for next time we fancy The Dales Countryside Museum which looks fab!

Have you been to Hawes? Have you visited any of these places or do you have any other recommendations?

Magical Minehead aka Fun at Hobourne Blue Anchor (a review) @_FamilyFriendly

Hoburne Blue Anchor Caravan Park is located along the coast from Minehead in beautiful Somerset. The caravan park lies just on the seafront with some caravans affording sea views and others looking onto the Exmoor countryside behind.

The site itself

The site is peaceful and relaxed with both static and touring caravan and camping alike. There is an adventure playground for children in the centre of the site for little ones to make friends and let off steam or just play in the grassy areas around where if you are lucky you may see rabbits. An indoor heated swimming pool is located alongside the main Reception area. The pool has a toddler splash area as well as a good sized fun pool for older children including a mushroom water feature (which the kids loved) and jacuzzi area. The onsite shop provides all the essentials at a reasonable price and is open all day. There is also a nature trail and crazy golf.

Accommodation

We stayed in a gold caravan which was well equipped, modern, clean and very comfortable. It was a real home from home. I can honestly say I have never slept so well (could have been the sea air) apart from my own bed. We loved the shower too with plenty of hot water. There were also heaters in the bedrooms and bathroom which were really good to have as it was early April and still chilly at night and first thing in the morning.

Things to do

The West Somerset steam railway line runs along the edge of the site with the Blue Anchor train station just a 5 minute drive away. Steam and diesel trains run through here to Minehead and Bishop Lydeard on weekends and are definitely a “must do” activity in the area. Along the road to Minehead is the beautiful National Trust property of Dunster Castle which is also highly recommended with lots of family friendly activities. Minehead itself has beautiful beaches and great restaurants as well as supermarkets and shops and so absolutely worth a day trip.

We had a fantastic weekend at Blue Anchor and would highly recommend it to families and couples alike as a relaxing, fun place to holiday.

Disclosure: We visited Hobourne Blue Anchor as assessors for Approved Family Friendly. Our views and opinions are unbiased and our own. Thank you to Jane and team for the fantastic opportunity.