Family travel Archives - A Baby on Board blog

20 Disneyland Paris Tips – For Your First Trip

Gillian — Fri, 11 May 2018 04:00:44 +0000

Here Are 20 Tips For Your First Disneyland Paris Trip Thinking of booking your first Disneyland Paris trip, and looking for some Disneyland Paris tips that will really help make your holiday? Over Easter we headed over for our first family trip to the French theme park, so here are 20 Disneyland Paris tips that really helped us. So, how did we get on and what were our top Disneyland Paris trip tips? Our First Trip To Disneyland Paris With Kids It was, wonderful. overwhelming, exhausting, exhilarating, exasperating and that was just for the adults (the children loved it). There were queues for everything. All the food is eye-wateringly expensive. It rained, it was hot. My feet hurt more than when I was pregnant. But overall, we had a brilliant time. What’s Disneyland Paris Like? Disneyland Paris is a pretty surreal experience. It’s freakishly clean, everyone is happy, it all smells of baking and sweets and joy and everywhere you turn there’s a parade. At one point I said to E ‘I wonder if we’ll see Elena of Avalor?’ And we turned the corner and there she was, dancing down the street with Sophia the First. I know it is a theme park, but it is so much like a theme park. I was deeply sceptical of everyone saying it was magical, but honestly? It really was. At times it was hard work but the children spent about 90% of the time making open-mouthed-amazed faces, which made up for everything else. One thing that really struck me was the overwhelmingly huge amount of information out there, when all I wanted was some nicely condensed tips. So here we are! This is a collection of 20 Disneyland Paris tips we found useful, and the type of questions I had before we went: Tips For Planning And Booking Your Disneyland Paris Trip What’s the best time of year to go to Disneyland Paris? We chose to go over Easter, because of the school holiday but also because we thought it would be slightly better weather. Over four days we actually had ALL weather, in the style of that Crowded House song, ranging from pleasantly warm through to cold and grey, all-day rain and then baking sun. On the rainy day we still went on all the rides and had loads of fun, and there were less people around, but there was also no-where to sit and the parades were all cancelled. The warmer weather was much more pleasant, but the park was also lots busier (I would try to avoid peak summer or winter as I think extremes of hot and cold with small children would not be fun). What’s the best age for kids to go on a Disneyland Paris trip? Obviously, this depends on your children, but at six E loved it and at 3.5 F was probably just about old enough – she loved most of it and was tall enough to go on the same rides as everyone else, but refused to walk and did get overwhelmed. Bear in mind it is a VERY overstimulating place with lots of walking and late nights, which isn’t great for little kids. There’s also not that much littler children can do. I would say wait as long as you can, it’s much better for older children Where’s the best way to book at Disneyland Paris holiday? Book through the website, WHEN A DEAL IS ON. As far in advance as you can. We booked months in advance through the Disney website, when there was a three nights for two offer on (they do seem to have these offers a lot, so watch out for them). What’s the best Disneyland Paris resort to stay at? We went on the Eurostar so wanted to stay on site, with easy access to the park. We picked the Santa Fe / Cars-themed hotel as it was the cheapest of the expensive bunch, basically! It was fun and fine, but if you want something more luxurious then you have to shell out more. How do you get to the Disneyland Paris from your resort? From the hotel Santa Fe – which has a fake volcano – you can walk to the park in about 20 minutes, but there is a regular shuttle bus which we mainly used. Staying at the park means you have Magic Hours, where you can access the park an hour before the general public (we only did this once, though, as for us the late nights did not equal early starts). You’ll know when the park opens as they announce it on a loop at breakfast. Things to do before you go to Disneyland Paris I’m not one of nature’s planners (side eye), but planning, booking and researching things *really* helped: Research before you go: There is a lot of information about Disneyland Paris out there, from vlogs to blogs and probably even cave paintings, and several Facebook groups where thousands of people know EVERYTHING THERE IS TO KNOW, including how visible signs are from random roads in all weather conditions and how good the fireworks are vs the firework show from ten years ago. However, there is so much information out there, I found it overwhelming (hence wanting to write a post where it wasn’t) So… Talk to people who’ve been: I found this the most useful, to find out tips and what to do / what not to do. Download the free DLP app: This has real-time updates on ride closures and queueing times (but add on about ten minutes to queue times displayed). It was useful to see before we went what queues were like throughout the day e.g. the girls were dying to go on the super-popular Peter Pan’s Flight, so we could see in advance when it was likely to be less busy. Book things in advance: We did a couple of ‘extra’ paid for things including Buffalo Bills and the Princess Lunch, which we booked at […]

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Five things: what we loved this week

Gillian — Fri, 20 Oct 2017 04:00:44 +0000

I’ve been wanting to write a weekly round-up for aaages but in six years have never quite got round to it…So, I thought I’d try to do a regular list of five things each week on a different theme – be it things we’ve done, books we’ve read, places we’ve been and so on. To start with, here are five things we loved this week: One: Florence turned THREE (more on this soon) we had a birthday party in our building site house and my in-laws came down for a few days. We went to visit Down House, which is Charles Darwin’s old house that’s been taken over by English Heritage. He turned out to be way more interesting than any of us were expecting, and the house – especially the gardens – were lovely. Although someone did run under the security cordon and set off all the alarms, mentioning no names…although that’s another story for another time (once I’ve recovered). Two: We also went to The Horniman Museum, which is an old favourite but there’s a brand new butterfly house and it’s also very autumnal at the moment, with all the pumpkins (and a pair of urban foxes). There are BUNNIES which Florence was incredibly excited about, and fish and the Walrus and all the outdoor instruments. Three: If you’re looking for some half term activities, I wrote a round-up for Junior magazine of 21 October activities. Four: Can My Little Pony actually be a feminist TV programme? I’ve always been deeply suspicious of the programme but this has actually made me see it in a different light. Kind of. Five: Blog posts I’ve liked this week: A Playful Day on influence, Alice on the #MeToo campaign (#MeToo, of course) And here’s one I wrote – when your parenting skills don’t add up Have a great weekend…x

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Five great ways to waste time this summer

Gillian — Mon, 21 Aug 2017 08:28:56 +0000

Need more ideas for great ways to waste time this summer…? I can’t believe there’s only about two weeks left; how’s it all going? Despite the predictably terrible weather I have loved us all being around, especially with the joys of with no structure or school runs. Although it is quite tiring being a referee and snack fetcher and constant Barbie hairdresser…and repeat… As everyone was just exhausted at the end of term – me included! – our default summer mode has been to do as little as humanly possible (when I had both children at home we had several fail-safe favourite wastes of time and they still serve us well now, especially the park and the shop). But we have had some more exciting things thrown into the mix. So if you’re running out of new ideas to fill the time, here’s some activity inspiration if you need it, with a few things we’ve done and some new things we’ve been sent. So why not… Take a trip to the moon – One for all the south-east Londoners, did you know your child can train to be astronaut this summer? Taking place at The Glades in Bromley is an interactive space exhibition where children learn about space life as an astronaut, even getting to dress up in space suits and helmets to try out a moon walk. Once they’ve completed the ‘training’ – which takes an hour, so you can easily nip off to Zara – they even get a certificate. It’s all free, you just need to book online here (it’s suitable for 5+ so not one for the younger ones, although there’s are space-themed displays anyone can look at). We went for lunch after at the newish Bromley restaurant terrace, which has the uber child-friendly Giraffe, Wagamama and Byron, among others, as well as close proximity to another park. Go to the library – Nothing gives me a big dose of nostalgia like the library, my childhood spiritual home. So I’m totally emotional about E taking part in the summer reading challenge for the first time this year (it has an ‘Animal Agent’ theme where they read six books to get stickers to solve a mystery). It’s a great place to look for children’s activities; there’s also a whole load of library brilliance going on in ours this summer, from readings to Lego craft sessions. So we’ve spent a lot of time there so far. But the best thing of all? It’s all free. We love the library, make sure you love your library – or it will be turned into a gym or a wine bar *angry face* Go somewhere new – We are as guilty as anyone of only going to the same places, especially in London. In a bit to inspire us we were sent the new book Family London by Jimi Famurewa, which is a guide to fun days out in and around the city for children and families. It’s split into sections – parks, museums, eating and so on – and has so many brilliant suggestions for non-terrible touristy things and off-the-beaten-track suggestions everyone will actually all enjoy doing (the book looks and feels great, too – we love the photos). It’s aimed at people who know and love London as much as people who’ve never visited. As well as lots of our favourites (Horniman Museum, Science Museum and so on) there’s lot of places we’ve not yet been and have added to our list. This has actually been a useful book in more ways than one as it’s kept both children occupied for a long time while reading it and deciding where they want to go next. Try something new – Inspired by the Family London book, I asked E what new thing she wanted to do and her answer was to go to a pottery cafe, which is one of the suggestions she loved reading about. The nearest one to us is Fired Up in Petts Wood (although I’m sure there are lots around). If you’ve ever seen the episode of Topsy and Tim where they go to a pottery cafe I’m sure you’ll know the concept – you buy from a selection of plain pottery items and then paint them as you wish. It’s then fired in the kiln and you pick it up a week later. Both my children loved this, although one’s painting was slightly neater than the splodge-happy other. Watch a film at the cinema – Screen time, but in a different environment out of the house! What’s not to love? After a disastrous trip to see Beauty and The Beast recently I’d been scared off the cinema, which is silly as both my children love it with the right film – and cinemas always seem to have holiday films on. Last week we were invited to a sneak preview of the new Thomas The Tank Engine film, Journey Beyond Sodor. (Thomas wants to venture far but goes a bit too far and gets into some predictable peril. There’s lots of messages about teamwork and some catchy songs). It’s a good option for all TTTE fans, and their older siblings and one of the great ways to waste time this summer. We were sent the Family London book and voucher for lunch at The Glades…Here’s some more things to do in London…how to spend 24 hours in London, the Natural History Museum and our favourite London parks

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15 Tips For Train Travel With Kids – Stress-Free!

Gillian — Mon, 24 Jul 2017 04:30:39 +0000

Here Are 15 Tips For Train Travel With Kids – Stress-Free! Are you planning on any train travel with kids soon? We are veterans at train travel, and frequently use the train as a family. Here are 15 tips for stress-free travel by train with children. Travelling By Train With Children We regularly make trips to visit my parents the good old English seaside – fingers crossed on the weather – and after several recent nightmare car journeys involving one or both children screaming at the top of their lungs for the entire journey home (due to hating the car seat / wanting to get out / wanting to breastfeed / all of the above) I’m pretty glad we’re going by train this time. As both sets of grandparents live in opposite ends of the country to us and we’ve still not got round to buying a car, we travel by train a lot. As babies, both of my children would instantly fall asleep on the train, meaning we could actually just sit and relax which is always a novelty when you’re a new mum (the photos are from baby Florence’s first holiday in the UK, and we have fond memories of her either being asleep on the train or hypnotised by the view out of the window). Train Is Easier Than Travel By Car! Anyone with small children knows that travelling can be incredibly stressful at the best of times, but 62 per cent of families admitted arguments could have been avoided had they opted to travel by train. So if this is enough to tempt you into a trip on the rails, here are 15 tips for train travel with kids – follow these for smooth travel by train with small children: 15 Tips For Train Travel With Kids Book your train tickets for the family in advance: After years of trial and error, one way to get any holiday off to a stress-free start is for my husband to book the train tickets, because he’s the one that remembers to do it. By booking ahead with a railcard we always get good deals on tickets, too. Reserve seats on the train, and get a table: Booking ahead also means booking seats and is one way to guarantee you are all sat together, with a table. And means no mad rush down the train elbowing people out of the way. Pack lightly for your train journey: One of the great advantages of going by car is that you can just shove everything in without having to carry it. However, going by train does mean you learn to pack like a pro. Make sure this doesn’t mean a million outfit changes for the children and only one for you though (something I foolishly did when the children were little when I inevitably had something spilt all over me in seconds). Take as few bags as possible on the train: As it’s less to carry and store. I also find a rucksack for a changing bag is really useful as they leave your hands free for getting everyone on and off the train. But take a (small) bag for the children: We pack a small bag for each child with crayons, their tablet and a magazine in as well as small surprises. You will inevitably end up carrying this though. Leave the pram at home, if you can: If they are very small then take them in a sling. But if not, then get a really portable pram that folds easily and compactly. (we have the Bugaboo Bee 5 which is great on public transport, but you can get transformer-like prams ones that will easily stack on the luggage rack). Buy heavy things at your destination: Unless you are going to outer space, it’s likely there will be a shop somewhere for shampoo and shower gel. Take tablets to use on the train: Remember to pack headphones so you don’t annoy other passengers. There’s also wifi on Virgin Trains for an extra bonus (meaning you can happily browse Facebook while they are hopefully asleep) as well as the Virgin Train Beam app which has access to films, entertainment and games. Take snacks for the train journey: Snacks are a great distraction, keep children occupied for ages and stop any potential hangry attacks. They will be opened in the train station though… We also let them get a snack or drink from the buffet car as this is super-exciting when you’re little and also means they get to go for a walk. Take as many distractions as you can for the journey: Books, crayons and some colouring sheets, magazines and stickers are all brilliant. This means less arguments as everyone is occupied. Don’t take anything with small parts: They will go everywhere. There’s nothing more stressful than crawling under the seats looking for lost tiny things two seconds before you reach your station. Keep everything harmonious: Stop everyone going stir-crazy by going on a walk up and down the train e.g. with a nicely timed buffet car trip. Swap seats to avoid arguments about who gets to look out of the window (this works for adults, too – there’s often one child who is the hardest work so we normally swap responsibilities half-way through). Take lots of baby wipes, too: Always! Immediately identify your nearest loo: Train travel with kids will inevitably involve multiple loo trips. Finding the nearest one helps in those need-to-go-right-now emergencies (having just potty trained this is one of the greatest advantages of why it really is better by train). More posts…signs you’re a mum in the summer and travel and some suggestions for new children’s books to take on holiday. If you need travel inspo, read Gabi Travels or Inspire Your Trip for tips, advice and travel destination ideas for your family. Follow me on Pinterest, I’m Gill_Crawshaw

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How to spend 24 hours in London with children

Gillian — Mon, 24 Apr 2017 04:30:07 +0000

There are a million different ways you could spend 24 hours in London with children, from art galleries to rides and tourist attractions and shops and parks and…you get the picture. We spent 24 hours there over the Mother’s Day weekend so here’s what we got up to. Pre-children, our time would probably have been spent a) finding out where our friends were drinking and b) meeting them for most of the day, via Topshop Oxford Circus. I jest, but one of the many ways London changes as a parent is that obviously the focus switches from entertaining you, often with alcohol, to entertaining them. There’s loads to do but it can be difficult to know what will suit very young children and adults too. Despite living in London (well, greater London at the moment) and spending a lot of time there we’ve never stayed overnight in as a family. We were offered a night in a hotel and had a cinema trip to go to so thought it would be fun to combine everything, have a staycation and do a lot of fun stuff. Here’s how we spent 24 hours in London with children: Where we stayed with children in London: We stayed in the Citadines Trafalgar Square which is on Northumberland Avenue street, just off Trafalgar Square and behind Charing Cross station. The Citadines Trafalgar Square is an aparthotel, meaning all the rooms are actually mini apartments with kitchens as well as the usual hotel room set-up. There are three different types of suite, from a studio to a two bed, but ours slept four people with a double bedroom and two single sofa beds in the main living area. I’d never thought of staying in an apartment with children but it makes so much more sense than a normal hotel room, especially when you’re in London or on a city break. Why? There’s a kitchen, in a hotel room – I know! – which means you can prepare food and drinks whenever you want, store snacks and milk in the fridge and don’t have to worry about finding somewhere to eat that will suit everyone and serve food at the right time. Included in our apartment kitchen was a fridge, hob, sink, microwave and even a dishwasher, plus it came stocked with everything you might need, from tea towels to cutlery and even dishwasher tablets. There’s no washing machine but there is a hotel laundry room. The fact that there are separate rooms means the children can go to bed at their normal time and you can go to bed at your normal time without having to be really silent or sneak around trying not to wake them. And you can watch TV in the other room without having to worry about it being quiet. These are the sofa beds, and two children pretending to be asleep… One of the best things about the hotel is the location, which was BRILLIANT. It was just off Trafalgar Square behind Embankment and Charing Cross Stations. Just by the bridge so you can walk over to the London Eye, Southbank and Tate or down to the Houses of Parliament. It’s right near the river and really near Soho and Covent Garden. It’s a perfect location for seeing lots, and for dropping stuff off or going back for naps and snacks. Here’re how we spent our 24 hours in London: First, we headed over to the Picturehouse Central cinema which is just off Piccadilly (it’s actually opposite where I used to work, which will clearly mean nothing unless you know where that is). Picturehouse cinemas are lovely anyway, and this one was the loveliest – the cafe / bar looked brilliant too if you’re in the area. We went to see the premiere of Peppa Pig: My First Cinema Experience, which is a film-length set of new episodes woven together with live action sections presented by an uber-enthusiastic kids’ TV presenter. Aptly for our trip the first episode was about Peppa’s trip to London, where Miss Rabbit takes the playgroup on a day trip and they end up being driven round by the Queen (honestly, you have to see it). Both children absolutely loved the film and I actually did too – there were a lot more jokes for parents as well as cameos from people like David Mitchell. There was also the novelty factor of not having seen these episodes a million times already. Despite it being slightly on the long side, it could have done with being two Peppas shorter as most of the younger portion of the theatre had the fidgets by the end, I think it’s a pretty safe bet to take younger children to. There were also craft and entertainment activities in the cinema beforehand and a brilliant goodie bag that kept both children entertained in our hotel after. After the screening we walked over to China Town to have a look around. The weather was unseasonably sunny so we did a lot of walking (hi, landmarks). The carousel by the London Eye is back, so after checking into our hotel we nipped over the bridge for a ride and then wandered along the river and into the Southbank Centre (which is a great, relatively safe space for little legs to run around). I’ve never seen the appeal of the big Leicester Square stores that always have queues outside (the M&M one remains a complete mystery). But the mini Lego fan in our family had walked past the new Lego Store recently and really wanted to go in. On the way to our hotel we walked past and there was no queue, so we popped in. And it was pretty good, I have to admit… There are giant Lego London structures including a giant tube train you can sit in, and a Lego Big Ben the toddler lurched towards which made the security guard run over, looking terrified. What we ate: I would love to be one of those […]

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Five steps to creating a perfect Easter egg hunt

Gillian — Thu, 13 Apr 2017 15:21:02 +0000

Did you have Easter egg hunts when you were younger? I don’t remember us ever having one – sob – but now I have children it’s something we’re all really in to. We’ve had egg hunts since they were small and they now request them every year, all-year-round. Egg hunts combine all the best things – chocolate, clues and surprises. Here’s some tips about creating a perfect Easter egg hunt. This year Cadbury’s challenged us to set up our own Easter egg hunt in our garden this week with a whole load of Cadbury’s Easter chocolate. As always, our egg hunt was FUN, despite the erratic weather. I made E hide in the house while we hid eggs around the garden and used the clues to direct her. She loved the rhyming clues we used and made us do the hunt all over again when she found all the eggs (this time with new hiding places and freestyle clues). If you are having your own hunt this weekend, here’s ten tips from us and Cadbury to make sure you hop to it and get off to an egg-sellent start (I’m not even sorry). Be prepared!: Signs and clues make Easter egg hunts a lot more fun (and also give a helping hand to those parents among you *cough* me *cough* who might be slightly forgetful about where you’ve hidden the eggs). We printed off the Cadbury’s Egg hunt pack – find it here – which contains hints, tips and props for your own egg hunt. It also includes these paw print-shaped clues which range from simple picture clues to rhyming couplets for older children (my 5-y-o LOVED the challenge of these and it made it a lot more fun). There’s also blank clues for you to create your own. Remember this car?! Still going strong. Get the good eggs: The eggs make the hunt, as a wise Easter bunny probably said. Over 83 million* Easter Eggs are sold in the UK over the Easter season and 255,000 Cadbury Easter Eggs are made at the Bournville factory every day, which works out at staggering 10,625 Cadbury Easter Eggs made per hour, or 177 per minute. Which I could probably have a good go at eating. The best-selling Cadbury eggs are over Easter are, of course, Cream Eggs (which have been around since 1875) followed by mini eggs, which you can’t argue with. We used the smaller Easter pack of Cadbury Oreo and Daim eggs – seriously, have you tried these?! – for our hunt, with a slightly larger treat at the end. As well as classic Easter eggs there are six new products in the Cadbury range this Easter, from the Popping Candy Bunny to the Egg N Spoon Oreo pack. Which are perfect for Easter presents or, you know, eating yourself. Pick your location: You can basically make anywhere work – your yard / garden is perfect, or inside if it’s raining (we had one at my parents’ house last year with the eggs dotted up and down the stairs). Lots of hiding places and high / low levels make it fun…like on top of a fence or up a tree. If you can’t take part in one at home or you’re away, there are 300 Cadbury’s egg hunts taking place this weekend at National Trust properties (find your nearest egg hunt here). Don’t worry if it turns chaotic: As it inevitably will. Especially if you have more than one child involved. It’s all part of the fun. While it all happens, make sure you don’t forget yourself; eat the eggs too when they’re not looking. It’s perfectly OK to eat chocolate for breakfast on Easter Sunday: Just the once… Cadbury research found that spending time with friends and families over the Easter break is people’s favourite thing about the break, followed by having time off work and eating Easter chocolate. However, the research found the average family only spends two days out of the whole Easter holidays with their family, citing a lack of activity inspiration combined with finding it hard to keep the family entertained. The survey also revealed the top Easter-themed activities among UK families including eating chocolate, giving chocolate, seeing family and friends and egg hunts. Easter Egg Hunt and baking. So hopefully this has given you inspiration for your own family egg hunt. If you want more craft and food ideas there’s lots on the Cadbury website including this video for creating a chocolate Russian doll nest: This is a sponsored post from Cadbury…here a post on the best London parks (if you want to take it outdoors)

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Graco Nautilus Elite Review- And A Christmas Road Trip

Gillian — Thu, 22 Dec 2016 05:00:54 +0000

Graco Nautilus Elite: We Review The Graco Nautilus Car Seat This week we took a road trip with a very festive feel, as we visited Christmas Tree Farm in Kent to review the Graco Nautilus Elite car seat. The Graco Nautilus Elite is a 3-in-1 convertible car seat, so we thought it would be apt to take it on an actual test drive as part of our final product review with baby brand Graco. And, everyone got to feed animals along the way. Make sure you read our Graco Milestone review and Graco MReodes 3 Lite Trio review (and watch our unboxing video) Graco Nautilus 3 in 1 Car Seat Reviews Shock local admission, we’d never been to Christmas Tree Farm before so a week before Christmas seemed like a very apt time to go (it’s a local farm where you can feed animals and also see Santa when he’s in season). For our drive there and back we decided to test the Nautilus seat out for our nearly five-year-old, with it fully extended in the high-backed booster position. A 3 in 1 Convertible Car Seat That Grows With Your Child Like the Graco Milestone, the Graco Nautilus Elite is another convertible seat that grows with your child. The big difference with the Nautilus is that it is stages 1-3 and suitable from 9 months to around 12 years, or around 9-36 kg. As with all Graco products safety is front and centre of the design and the seat comes with five point harness, side-impact protection and a lot of padding for comfort. It also comes with clever, integrated features too – it extends by pulling up the head rest so you don’t need to add any parts. And the infant harness can be folded back in to the seat once it’s converted into a high backed booster so you don’t need to worry about losing the harness straps if you take them off. It’s actually a more suitable seat for us than the Graco Milestone, as we’re well back the stage 0 seat phase so will only use any seat in the later phases. As with the Milestone, this seat doesn’t rearward face, which is something to be aware of if you’d prefer your child to stay rear-facing once they outgrow the stage 0 seat. Installing The Graco Nautilus – A Tip! A note on installing the Nautilus Elite in your car – watch the installation video rather than reading the instruction booklet as this is much clearer (especially as the seatbelt guides on the seat could be more intuitive). It’s also quite a bulky seat which would make it tricky to use in smaller cars, or if you’re swapping it between cars often. Graco Nautilus Car Seat Review – Isofix Again, as with the Graco Milestone the car seat doesn’t come with an ISOFIX fitting, which is something that would make life easier if you drive often and on long distances. When the harness is in use it fixes into the back using the seatbelt threaded through the seat, when it’s in use as a high-backed booster then it’s secured in by the seatbelt that goes over the child. How Much Does The Graco Nautilus Car Seat Cost? So what was the verdict from our Graco Nautilus Elite review? At £139 it may seem slightly pricer than more budget car seats, but as you’re paying for what’s effectively a couple of seats it offers value-for-money and is also sturdy and comfortable. More info on the Graco Nautilus Elite is here. More blog posts…our favourite London parks and how not to leave the house when you have small children

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Dreamland Margate Review: Roller Discos, Rides and Slot Machines

Gillian — Wed, 02 Nov 2016 14:46:29 +0000

Our Trip To Dreamland Margate Visiting Dreamland Margate – Our Trip To The Kent Seaside Have you ever been to Dreamland Margate, or Margate itself? If you’re looking for a colourful seaside adventure you should go; it’s brilliant. There’s also even a Dreamland Margate Roller Disco, which is all sorts of brilliant fun. Exploring Kent – Our Trip To Margate Since moving to Greater London nearly three years ago we’ve been meaning to explore more of our new area and local coastline but have never really got round to it. I’d heard lots about Margate – it was on Location Location Location and everything – and the revamped Dreamland Margate sounded brilliant. So when Southeastern invited us to go on a day trip to take advantage of its offer on many local attractions including Dreamland, Margate seemed like a good place to start. We headed up there a few Saturdays ago. Armed with buckets and spades…oh and raincoats, yellow wellies and the trusty Mr Tumble umbrella (Tumbrella?) because obviously it was raining. How did we get on? You can see more in our video of the day which is here: What We LOVED About Dreamland Margate: Margate Is Close To London Margate is only an hour and a half from St Pancras on Southeastern’s high speed train, so you can easily get there and back from London in a day. Margate Is Really Colourful Although it was a fairly grey day a massive black cloud followed the train all the way from London we loved looking at all the quirky graffiti and mural walls. And Dreamland itself. Dreamland Margate *insert heart eyes* Ah, we loved it! It’s a revamped Pleasure Garden that’s been made over with a quirky vintage / retro feel. And it’s so colourful! Inside there’s an arcade and soft play area: Dreamland Maragate Roller Disco I mean, look at it! There’s a whole retro roller disco at Dreamland Margate, where you can hire skates and go for a spin. And outside there’s the retro fairground with rides: The Octopus’s Garden At Dreamland Margate While Dreamland is free to enter and wander around (you still need to pay for the rides), the offer is valid for the Octopus’s Garden soft play area. You have to fill in an online form and download a voucher beforehand, then present this with your ticket on the day. The Octopus’s Garden combines a small traditional soft play setup – which our 4-year-old loved and I didn’t mind our nearly 2-year-old running around with her – with a mini beach, as well as small creative play areas and a cafe. It was reasonably busy on the Saturday we went but I’m told it’s often empty during the week. More of that on our video. The Arcades At Dreamland It’s good to know that the 2p slot machines never lose any appeal, even in an age with Paypal and contactless credit card payments. The Food Is A Seaside Treat There are lots of places to eat at Dreamland. We chose chips and ice cream, obviously. Who says rain has to stop play? We had these two seaside classics. In the rain. More Things To See In Margate Before our visit I asked on Twitter and my Facebook page for some suggestions for things to do in Margate, but as it turned out we spent most our time in Dreamland and didn’t really get round to doing much. So if you’re looking for things to do in Margate, here’s all the other suggestions: Going to the shell grotto a mysterious underground cave decorated with 4.6 million shells and no-one knows why? Can’t believe we missed this! The Turner Contemporary art gallery sad we missed this too! Going rockpooling Afternoon tea and finding the ‘nice cafe area’ So we’ll clearly have to go back! Thanks to Southeastern for working with us on this post. Read More Posts… How to get a Zip Card Tips for taking children to Bournemouth Things to do with toddlers in London (and on using London’s public transport with a pram)

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Five children’s summer holiday essentials

Gillian — Thu, 30 Jun 2016 22:07:30 +0000

We are recently back from our holiday (which seems like a million years away, in the way that it always does. I keep meaning to write about it but life keeps getting in the way). But here’s a couple of the really useful things we took away with us: Summer-themed books: For keeping them entertained on the journey and also a distraction to get them out of the sun. You can’t go wrong with a good old Miffy holiday special (there’s also a Topsy and Tim holiday book, of course, because there’s a Topsy and Tim for every occasion). Sunglasses: We were sent these children’s sunglasses from SmartBuyGlasses – it’s a discounted site for big brand named sun and prescription lenses. There’s a huge range of brands and types, but we went for these pairs from Polaroid and Nike because they’re colourful and fun – and match their water bottle – and also because the lenses offer proper protection that your average cheap pair probably wont… The glasses are sent from Hong Kong but arrive within a couple of days if you pick the fast shipping option. The site is a great place to get glasses if you know exactly the pair you want what you want or have tried them first (sadly they also sent me a pair of Rayban Clubmasters that I love, but are completely the wrong shape for my face, so nothing really beats trying them on first). Suncream: We use the Organic Children one from Green People (I use this too) and sunhats: We bought Florence a straw fedora from H&M as it matches one her dad has, so thought she might be really into the twinning aspect (hmm – jury’s still out on that one). Headphones: plus iPad for journeys Summer stripes: Stripes are good in all seasons, right? I bought this summery version for Eliza from Zara Kids (also a good sun cover-up). The Zara Kid’s t-shirts actually come up quite big so I’m regretting not getting one for me…what are your summer essentials for children? More posts: the horrors of packing for two children and the mother law (why we’re always late).

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My 2015 UK travel wish list

Gillian — Sat, 17 Jan 2015 23:19:25 +0000

The types of holiday I have taken seem to have varied wildly depending on my age and life stage. My late teens and early twenties were mainly about backpacking in the usual gap year places – India, Asia, Australia. Once I started working it was all city breaks, long haul and as much luxury as possible. Adding children into the equation changed things somewhat – family holidays and even a cruise – but now we have a new baby, I suspect it will be a while before we attempt anything really adventurous overseas. Staying closer to home and holidaying in the UK makes perfect sense for us this year. But it doesn’t mean we can’t go to places that aren’t new to us. So here are the top five places I’d like to visit this year; Brighton – So close to London, and a place I think my beach-loving toddler would be thrilled to visit Edinburgh – guilty admission time, despite being about as far around the world as you can go, I’ve never been to Scotland (unless you count the stopover en route to Canada where we didn’t even set foot in the airport – I don’t) Bristol – most of my blogging friends are from here, including Eleanor of The Bristol Parent, and I’ve heard so many amazing things (read Eleanor’s article on great things to eat in Bristol). Bournemouth – a place we visit a lot, due to grandparents, but we always find new things to do and have such a fantastic time. As well as sun and lovely beaches, there’s lots for children to do in Bournemouth London – OK, so it’s cheating adding this to the list for obvious reasons, but I think it would be really fun to be a tourist in our own city, as there’s still lots of things to do with children in London we’ve not got round to doing…yet. This post is in association with Travelodge, and I’m also giving away one night’s stay in a Travelodge of the winner’s choice. To enter: Leave a comment below via the Rafflecopter widget telling me where in the UK you’d like to visit in 2015. For additional entries, visit the A Baby on Board Facebook page, follow me on Twitter and Instagram. This prize draw giveaway starts at 12am on Sunday 18th January, and closes at 12am on Monday 2nd February. a Rafflecopter giveaway

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