#eastmidlandsmummyblogger | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

musicaljojo · 4 years ago

Text

We decided to revisit an old favourite of ours now it was back open again. I had seen the posts from Bluebells Farm, showing how they had adapted to make the farm safe for the in current climate, by making sure that all the social distancing measures were in place and I have to say I was really impressed.

Firstly you must pre-book your arrival time through their website, you won’t be allowed entry if you just turn up, this can be done through their website which was really easy to do and they are also operating a cash free system, all payments must be done using a card.

Upon entry I was given a timetable of all the experiences that were happening around the park and our wristbands, plus there is opportunity for you to buy food for the animals at £1 per bag and an extra charge for an Alpaca walking experience or to have a calf cuddling experience these are £5 each. These activities are weather dependent as we were told when we entered that if the weather became too hot, it wouldn’t happen because of the welfare of the animals.

There is a one way system around the farm, but there are shortcuts for the exits and toilets which I thought was really well planned. Throughout the different areas, there are reminders of how many families or children are allowed in one area to help keep social distancing regulations and also if there is a queue for something markers are placed to help remind people where to stand which I thought was a really good idea.

Our first stop was to help groom some of the baby goats, a really nice little activity and Haribo helped groom a baby called Brownie, the young woman who helped was very friendly and they had a system in place that before entering the area you had to hand sanitise and once a brush had been used, it had to go in a separate bucket for cleaning so no-one else used that brush.

Grooming ‘Brownie’

We took a walk upto the tractor ride or cow safari as it’s known, again it was lovely to see members of staff going around spraying all the ropes that were used for queuing with disinfectant regularly and after each tractor ride, the trailer that people sat in was sprayed down so it was clean and safe for the next ride. Also there was a limited number of people on each ride, so everyone felt safe. We got to see the lovely cows up close, one even tried to get onto the trailer which Haribo found really funny, the young man who gave our tour was really friendly and even made Haribo’s day when he remembered that he told him about his favourite animal (Neil the Alpaca) whilst waiting in the queue and gave him special mention when we rode past them on the ride.

Cow Safari time

After each section and around the farm, there were lots of hand sanitiser pumps to ensure that everyone kept washing their hands.

We were going to go on the newly added nature trail but it was just far too hot so we shall save that for our next visit but it looked really interesting, there was also a maize maze but again it was too hot so I am sure we will do it on a return visit.

Haribo loves feeding animals so we spent lots of time, stroking them and giving them their food, he loves the pigs and the alpacas.

We were visiting on a Tuesday so we took advantage of the government’s ‘Eat out to help scheme‘ and had lunch from the coffee shop, Haribo had a kids lunchbox which contained a sandwich, crisps, piece of fruit, juice and a small chocolate bar and I had a delicious Mediterranean cous-cous meal, it was very good value and of course we had to have one of their delicious ice creams also, the biscoff flavour is my favourite!!

However if you wanted to bring your own picnic, there is a large marquee area set up if you wanted to eat in a covered area and lots of picnic benches.

After lunch, we played on the playground for a while whilst we waited for the sheep race. My only major criticism of the farm park is of the bouncy pillow, they had clearly put up signs saying only 3 families were allowed on the cushion at a time and each family must stay in their own blue section. However when we visited, it was very obvious that there were more than 3 families in the bouncy pillow area and no-one was keeping to their own area, it’s such a shame as Haribo loves the pillow and Bluebells had clearly done their best but people were just not following the instructions so we didn’t go on the pillow on our visit.

We had a final go on the pedal go-karts and then it was finally time for the sheep race and it was lots of fun to watch them, we didn’t win this time much to Haribo’s disappoint as he really wanted the £5 voucher but we went to our final activity before leaving as it was getting too hot, which was to stroke some of the smaller animals such as guinea pigs and rabbits.

Sheep Race!

It was a lovely trip and I really was impressed at how much effort they had put in to try and keep people safe, it was such a shame that it was being ignored in some parts of the farm park but on the whole we really enjoyed our trip!

Disclaimer: The trip was fully paid for by myself and I didn’t receive any payment for this review, these views are my own and simply done to share our experience.

Bluebells Farm -August 2020 We decided to revisit an old favourite of ours now it was back open again. I had seen the posts from Bluebells Farm, showing how they had adapted to make the farm safe for the in current climate, by making sure that all the social distancing measures were in place and I have to say I was really impressed.

0 notes

musicaljojo · 4 years ago

Text

Now places are opening up a little more, we decided to head to Rushcliffe country park, the last time I went here was when I was very small so I remembered little bits, but not a lot.

It had certainly changed a lot and there was so much to do for all different age groups.

There was a huge playground with lots of fantastic things to climb and it had a wonderful themed castle with lots of slides but it was so busy and lots of people on there and I didn’t feel comfortable getting that close so we stayed away but as I am sure we will be returning, maybe on a quieter day I’d be comfortable letting Haribo go and explore over there, there was also a skate park so if you had a child who loved doing tricks with scooters, bikes or skateboards there was certainly a lot of space for them to try it out.

We decided to have a walk around the lake, there were lots of places to sit and look out over the lake with a good mixture of benches and picnic tables. There was also a coffee van and an ice cream van nearby so if you fancied a treat whilst you were there, that was available.

As you walk around the lake, there were lots of little areas for Children to explore, a set of wooden mushrooms with numbers on, with an activity board to suggest ideas for play.

There were also many animals to climb on and a huge field where we sat and enjoyed a picnic. I loved the Hungry Caterpillar one as the steps to climb inside featured all the foods that the Caterpillar eats in the story.

It had a fantastic lake with lots of lovely ducks to feed, they ask that you don’t feed them bread as it can encourage rats but you can buy a little pot of feed from the visitors centre, which was closed but they had a little honesty box but we didn’t see this until we left but Haribo enjoyed it so next time we go, we shall have to feed the ducks as he loves doing this.

There were also different trails advertised including a pirate themed one which you could buy a map for but again because the visitors centre wasn’t open, we couldn’t take part in this but hopefully when everything is back open, it is something that when Haribo is a little older this would be great!

One of Haribo’s favourite parts was the sensory forest, it had many different areas that all featured natural or recycled materials and covered different areas of interest such as making music, numbers or learning about nature.

Of course it meant that he had to give his hands a really good wash and I had some hand sanitiser in my bag but he really enjoyed playing and it was so lovely to see him exploring all the different areas.

It was £1 for parking and we could have stayed all day with that but it was starting to get busy so we decided that we would come away but it was a really lovely way to spend a few hours and it’s only 20 minutes away from us so I am sure we will visit again.

July 2020: Rushcliffe country Park -Nottinghamshire Now places are opening up a little more, we decided to head to Rushcliffe country park, the last time I went here was when I was very small so I remembered little bits, but not a lot.

0 notes

musicaljojo · 5 years ago

Text

My birthday falls two days after bonfire night and we were gutted that everywhere we seemed to try and take Haribo to watch some fireworks, every single display had been canceled due to the awful weather we’d been having.

My dad had arranged a surprise for me for my birthday, he had booked us a night at the Cbeebies land hotel which also included a visit to the water park at the theme park also, after he’d informed us of this, I noticed that on the Friday, you could buy a ticket for £20 to enter the park after 4pm and watch the fireworks as well so it all fell into place.

The hotel was absolutely fabulous, we didn’t tell Haribo till we arrived and he was thrilled, everything that you could possibly think of has been thought of and aimed at the pre-school audience.

The outside of the hotel is bright and colourful and with the Cbeebies logo in large letters and a plane that children can sit in outside the main entrance.

Outside the Cbeebies hotel

Upon walking in, someone greets you and makes sure you are on the list to enter, it’s very reassuring to know that little details are done especially when you think of the main age group that are going to be staying at the hotel.

The reception area is filled with buttons and activities for children to go and press whilst they wait and there are even Cbeebies characters you can meet that are around at the main check in times, sadly we just missed Ubercorn but Postman Pat was out, but he was very tall and Haribo wasn’t sure about meeting him.

The lovely little details are things like steps that go upto to the check-in desk so little ones can feel part of the whole hotel experience, my husband and I got given lanyards to wear which were informed that we must wear at all times whilst staying in the hotel as anyone who didn’t have one would be questioned and Haribo had a wristband that he could wear.

We were stopping in a Bugbies room which is the little mascot of the Cbeebies channel, as we went upto our room, the lift played a lovely light and sound show but there was a button to stop this if you think that your child might find this a little frightening.

Our room was a lot bigger than I expected and there was a separate area for Haribo to sleep but it was still open plan, Haribo had his own TV which he thought was great and there was a little activity panel on the wall for him to play with.

The room came with a large double bed for the adults, tea and coffee making facilities, a tv for the adults, bunk beds, a pull out bed, a travel cot,nappy bin, baby bath, steps to use sink in the bathroom with and a double toilet seat so perfect for traveling with children, plus lots of space to put suitcases and bags so they wasn’t on the floor or in the way. We had a lovely view out onto a little fountain.

When we checked in we were given a little timetable and from the moment you checked in, there was some form of live entertainment going on until 9:30 that evening. Various meet and greets and shows featuring the well known Cbeebies characters.

We made a reservation at the front desk to go to the Roller coaster restaurant which is at the back of the Alton Towers theme park. My hubby had told them that it was my birthday without me knowing and as we were sitting at the table, music started playing and on the Big screen a message came up saying it was someone’s birthday, suddenly lights started flashing on our table and down the track to our table came a free bottle of drink and a little poster saying ‘Happy Birthday from the Rollercoaster Restaurant’ it was a lovely touch and very nice of them to do that.

They had colouring sheets for Haribo and the food portions were huge, it was slightly expensive but you are paying for the experience of your food coming down a rollercoaster track to your table, Haribo loved watching the orders come through so it was really good.

After our meal we went back to the hotel to enjoy some of the entertainment, Haribo loved the Bing show, dancing with Ubercorn and meeting the Octonauts, plus they had a bar and coffee shop which wasn’t too badly priced just near the area where the entertainment took place.

Upon returning to our room, my hubby had emailed the hotel and said that we would be stopping on my birthday and they had very kindly left a bottle of Prosecco and a card in our room which was a lovely and very thoughtful touch!

The following morning we had our breakfast which was included in the stay in the Windmill restaurant, it was very bright and colourful with a huge windmill in the middle of the restaurant, with lots of choice for breakfast even such things as spaghetti hoops for children. My only disappointment was with the cooked breakfast area, that there wasn’t anything for vegetarians, such as vegetarian sausages it was all meat so that was a bit of a letdown.

After checking out and storing our bags in the hotel, we headed over to the water park, it was very big but also very clean, the changing rooms were lovely and spacious with single, double and family private changing areas. The lockers had a 20p deposit however this was refundable.

Inside the water park it was lovely and warm with lots of different areas to explore, there was a smaller area for babies and toddlers with toys to play with and a little slide which Haribo adored!

A lazy river which Haribo wasn’t keen on at first due to the big showers that you went through in some areas but then once we discovered you could skip those, he loved it.

A main large pool area and a water slide roller coaster, I was going to go on but lost my nerve at the last minute but my hubby is a bit of a thrill seeker and absolutely loved it, I think he went on about 4 times!

A Jacuzzi but this got crowded quite quickly.

Also there was a bit of a fun park area with lots of little slides and towers that had different water guns that you could squirt at people but Haribo wasn’t too keen on that area.

There were also two places in which you could grab some food by the poolside, again reasonably priced.

The only thing I found confusing is that it said on the higher levels that no photographs or videos could be taken in the pool but then we saw quite a few people with phones and such out and the lifeguards or staff members around didn’t seem to say anything so it was a little confusing on whether you could or not because I would have loved to have taken some photos!

After all the swimming and having some lunch Haribo was shattered, so he had a nap and hubby and I went for something to eat in the Splash Landings hotel whilst we waited for 4pm to come around so we could go into Alton Towers. We had the burger meal deal from the Bar, I had the vegan burger which was quite tasty however hubby said his burger tasted really cheap and wasn’t really worth the money that he paid for it which was a real shame.

At last, the time came when we could enter the Park, hubby went to go do some of the bigger rides such as Oblivion and Smiler whilst Haribo and I headed into Cbeebies land, we went on Postman Pat and the In the night Garden ride then Hubby rejoined us for the Octonauts, Go Jetters, Peter Rabbits Hippity hop, we were just about to queue for the tree top ride but they were shutting it down early due to the fireworks. So we headed for a cup of tea and somewhere to warm up because it was so cold, I’m glad I’d put layers on Haribo and was annoyed I forgot my gloves!

The fireworks were incredible, I’ve never seen a display like it, themed to music, light shows and lazers. We’d bought Haribo some ear defenders which I was very glad of because some were really loud but he sat for the majority of the show completely engrossed.

Everyone made a run for the exit after the fireworks, so because our car was in the hotel car park we didn’t fancy sitting in queues for leaving so we headed to shark-bait reef and looked around the sea life centre that is inside. Haribo has loved our visits to the Sealife centre in Birmingham so he loved looking at all the fish and different sea creatures that they had to look at.

Haribo was getting super tired so we tucked him up in his buggy with his cosy toes and blanket and headed back to the hotel to collect the car, on the way hubby rode Nemesis which is his favourite ride as it was so quiet, you could just walk onto the ride and he said it was made even more amazing by riding it in the dark.

It was a fantastic stay and I would certainly recommend it to anyone with preschoolers, they just need to offer more options in the restaurant and make it a little clearer when the rides are closing as even though we had a leaflet with the closing times in, the attendants didn’t stick to those times.

Cbeebies Hotel, Rollercoaster restaurant, Water park, Cbeebies Land and the fireworks at Alton Towers. My birthday falls two days after bonfire night and we were gutted that everywhere we seemed to try and take Haribo to watch some fireworks, every single display had been canceled due to the awful weather we'd been having.

0 notes

musicaljojo · 5 years ago

Text

I’ve not had the easiest time lately, my anxiety has been sky high and I’ve really been struggling plus hubby has been having a really stressful time at work so it hasn’t been the happiest of times in our household so we decided that we needed a break and hubby had booked some time off so we decided to search for last minute breaks in the UK.

A friend of ours had gone to Butlins in Skegness earlier in the year and she had really recommended it as she has a toddler the same age as Haribo, so we decided to take a look if they had any last minute deals.

They did and I know my hubby was a bit skeptical about it all as he was like isn’t it just cheesy and really tacky and I hadn’t been since I was about 9 years old, I remember having a fantastic time but I was 9 so I would now be seeing it through adult eyes and not children’s eyes, but we both said that it would be great to create some memories for Haribo and to have a break and a change of scenery for ourselves.

We booked a last minute deal for Friday-Monday and found the booking process online really easy, so we packed our bags and set off on an extremely soggy Friday!

Friday

When we arrived, it had totally changed from when I last visited, there was a massive pavilion which you could see as you approached and you now had a drive- in check-in, which was where we found out that we had been upgraded in our accommodation which was a fantastic surprise! (Huge thanks to whichever member of staff did that for us!!)

We were staying in a fairground apartment which was a 10 minute walk away from the main pavilion where all the shows and entertainment was and a 5 minute walk from the fairground.

Main area of our Fairground apartment

Haribo loved everything being on one level and when he walked in, his reaction made me melt, he said ‘Wow mummy…look at this!!’ he thought it was fantastic, the apartment was very tastefully decorated, with vintage Butlins decor and a fun fairground mirror which Haribo called the ‘Wobbly Mirror’ It had two bedrooms, one double and one twin, bathroom and a living room which also had a kitchen/dining room.

We set off to find something to eat and ate at the appropriately called Pub & Restaurant, it served traditional pub food but also had a good range for Vegan/Vegetarians. I had the vegan bean chilli and it was delicious!

We then nipped to the onsite supermarket to grab some basic supplies for our stay and had a quick go in the amusement arcade in the main pavilion however on our way back to the apartment, the heavens opened and it just poured with rain, I don’t believe I have ever gotten so wet in my life, to the point where my mascara had run into my eyes and I couldn’t see because it was stinging….not a good look!!

Saturday

We got up early, well we never get much of a lie in with Haribo anyway and set off to watch one of the shows in the pavilion as it was a Teletubbies show.

Haribo enjoys the Teletubbies and he loves a show and he was transfixed, singing along with the show and the Redcoats entertainers did a fantastic job of getting everyone involved, we also had our photo taken with them and the Butlins Mascots Billy and Bonnie Bear.

On the way back to our apartment for lunch Haribo went on the little stars fairground, which had rides suitable for anyone under 150cm, they were all included in the cost of the stay so Haribo loved that he could keep going on them and we only had a short wait.

After Lunch and Haribo’s nap we headed into Skegness and went on the beach as it was such a lovely day, we had a look around the pier, Haribo had a ride on the Donkeys and had an ice cream. We then sat in an area right near the beach and ate fish and chips, was delicious and a lovely treat! The shop even did battered Halloumi for vegetarians so that was a delicious treat!

We then went back to the resort and spent some time in the arcades and on the fairground before heading back as everyone was tired after such a busy day!

Sunday

We hit the swimming pool, it was so busy in there but we still enjoyed ourselves, Haribo loved the little water slides, I was apprehensive about him going on it but his huge smile and laughter showed that he loved second of it so it was very much worth it. There were so many different sections, a toddler pool, then a main pool, a wave machine area, rapids, a lazy river and 3 different huge water slides.

Hubby went on some of the bigger water slides whilst I took Haribo to get changed and whilst we were in there a woman had lost her child, she couldn’t find him anywhere but I must credit the staff, the whole place went on lock-down and tannoy announcements were going out constantly with a name of the missing boy. I helped look for him where I could as I couldn’t even begin to imagine what that poor mother was going through and I never did find out what happened because we had to leave as Haribo was getting cranky but I really hope that he’d just gone back on to the water slides or something!

After lunch, we spent the afternoon exploring the resort, we went to the Little Tikes town where they had lots of Little Tikes toys to explore and play with, we also went to the playground and the little splash pad where the fountains danced to music on the hour.

We also watched a few more of the shows, there was a dance troupe and a circus skills show, all the performers were excellent and made it really entertaining to watch, however we did grab a drink from the coffee shop near by and it was super expensive, it came to £10.95 for a cappuccino, smoothie and a muffin so I’m not sure I’d go there again!

We then headed back to our apartment for some dinner and our evening was spent taking one last walk upto the beach which you could access from the resort, attending a toddler disco and spending more time in the amusement arcades and fairground.

Monday

We had to leave our apartment by 10am on the Monday morning, so we quickly had our breakfast and loaded up the car however you were allowed to stay in the resort till 11am, so as soon as we packed up the car we headed to the fairground again as Haribo had asked to go on the car and rocket rides again.

We headed back into Skegness to have a quick look around a few more shops and then headed for home!

We had a fantastic weekend, it was just what we all needed. Haribo had a fantastic time and he still keeps talking about meeting the Teletubbies, collecting shells on the beach and going on a Donkey so it shows he must have enjoyed it!

I think hubby was pleasantly surprised and he said he would definitely go back because there was just so much to do, we couldn’t see some of the more adult themed shows in the evening because of Haribo but there looked like some fantastic acts on, I would definitely recommend it to families as there was always something to do, be it football training or dance classes, every age group was catered for!

Disclaimer: This holiday was paid for by ourselves, I have received no payment nor have I been asked to do this post. It is not an advertisement or a sponsored post. These are my own opinions and I just wanted to share our good time.

Our family weekend away at Butlins! I've not had the easiest time lately, my anxiety has been sky high and I've really been struggling plus hubby has been having a really stressful time at work so it hasn't been the happiest of times in our household so we decided that we needed a break and hubby had booked some time off so we decided to search for last minute breaks in the UK.

0 notes