Good news for Hello Kitty fans! The pop-up Hello Kitty cafe in Primark is now open – and will stay open until June.
There are pop-up cafes in the Primark stores in Birmingham, Manchester, and Edinburgh, but this will be about the Edinburgh one as we visited when we were in the city for the Easter long weekend.
The cafe looks great! An explosion of all things red, pink, and kawaii. And i will also say that the quality of the food was much better than I expected: no one expects things to taste delicious when they’re eating in Primark. But I promise they did!
What Did You Eat?
Between the 4 of us, we ordered a little bit of everything. The bao buns were renamed bow buns (to honour Kitty’s famous accessories) and the milkshakes came in Kitty Pink (strawberry with a strawberry donut on top) or Kitty White (white chocolate with a simple white icing donut on top).
The milkshakes were £5.95 each, but given how thick they were and that they came with a donut too I thought that was a very reasonable price.
All of the waffles were priced at £6.50. We ordered the cinnamon ones with was a thick, fluffy waffle served with vanilla icecream and then covered in cinnamon, maple syrup, and raisins. It tasted like bread and butter pudding, but better!
Was It Busy?
You can’t make bookings for the Hello Kitty cafe (because, you know, it’s in Primark) and I had read online that it can get busy. But we arrived at 11.20am on Easter Saturday and there were only 2 other occupied tables.
So my advice would be to arrive early if you really want to visit, and to avoid disappointment. Of course there is also tonnes of Hello Kitty merchandise in the store too.
For Hello Kitty fans (or more realistically, if you want a fun treat for a little girl) this is definitely worth checking out.
Another day, another post about one of our local adventures! This time a review of Pettitts Animal Adventure park, which is based in Reedham, and is close to both Great Yarmouth and the Norfolk Broads. Pettitts offers theme park rides, animals as well as animal encounters, parks and playgrounds, and entertaining shows. It is a classic theme park….but smaller. I would say it is best suited to primary school-aged children, with older children preferring something a little more thrilling. But my boys LOVED it, and at 5 and 8, were the perfect ages for everything offered.
Note: Pettits closes for the winter season, and isn’t due to reopen until Easter this year, so this review is based on our last visit, which was during Halloween half term (the last day before they closed for the winter, in fact!)
THE ANIMALS
Pettitts is an animal adventure park, and it lives up to its name with the number of animals you can see! Obviously, this isn’t a zoo (so don’t expect lions and elephants!). We boys loved how close they were able to get to the playful raccoons, we went to an animal petting session where they held rats, rabbits and bearded dragons, and there is also a large farm where you can interact with all the traditional farm animals, as well as feeding and petting a huge pen full of goats.
In terms of more ‘exciting’ animals, we loved to see the meerkats, were amazed at just how many reptiles were in the reptile house, there were aviaries full of exotic birds, and cheeky marmosets who made us laugh with their antics. I will reiterate again, if you come expecting a zoo you’ll be disappointed (and Norfolk certainly boasts better zoos) but in conjunction with the other elements of the park, there were plenty of animals for an entertaining day out.
THE RIDES The boys are theme park junkies, so it comes as no surprise that their favourite part of Pettitts was the rides. These were age-appropriate for both boys, and all were family-friendly too, which meant the four of us could ride together. If you’re looking for big thrill rides then you’re going to be disappointed, but there are two small junior roller coasters, some classic spin and circle rides, and a hot air balloon ride the boys loved so much that we must have ridden it a dozen times.
Some of the rides were obviously ripped off from Disney (think Dumbo flying elephants and a junior coaster that called itself ‘the wildest ride in the wilderness’) but if anything this only added to the charm of the place rather than took anything away. The queue times were always short, and the friendly staff were happy (and even encouraged) the children to ride again if there was no one else in the queue.
THE PLAY AREAS
The play areas at Pettitts are big, well thought out, and plentiful. At the main play area (a monolithic wooden structure where the boys played for at least an hour) there was an abundance of seating for waiting parents. There was also only one entry and exit to this playground, which made me feel safe even though the playground was so big I couldn’t see the kids at all times.
Other play areas included a JCB-themed sand play area, with slides and functioning diggers, and there were also two huge slides that you whizzed down on straw mats. Like most kids, the boys love a playground, so they were delighted to be left to their own devices and play games together, whilst I supervised from a comfy deckchair with my face turned towards the sun! Some areas of the park can feel a little older/run down, but it certainly doesn’t impact on the fun, or act as enough of a deterrent to a brilliant day.
THE BEST OF THE REST
Unlike so many other theme parks, picnics are encouraged at Pettitts, and there is an abundance of seating areas; covered and uncovered, in shaded spots and out in the sunshine. We brought our own packed lunch and then shared chips to put in our sandwiches. We then had giant ice cream sundaes from the ice cream parlour later in the day (and huge donuts for breakfast, calories be damned!) These were good quality, delicious, and reasonably priced, so three big ticks from us! Other eateries included a donut stand, sweet shop, coffee shop serving Costa coffee, and the cafe where we fetched our chips did serve hot meals if you wanted something more substantial to eat.
This is one of the things I really like about Pettitts: at other theme parks you feel forced to pay extortionate fees for mediocre food, but here bringing your own is just so easy.
PRICES
As Pettitts is closed until Spring, 2022 ticket prices aren’t available yet, but the link to purchase tickets is here. One feature of particular note (particularly if you live locally) is that once you have purchased a ticket, you can use that ticket to return again for half price at any point during the year. This is incredibly good value, and something we take advantage of, taking the boys in both the Easter Holidays, and for the Halloween event. We already have their opening weekend marked in our calendars, and are looking forward to going back and enjoying more of what Pettitts has to offer!
The end of last year got away with me (with Christmas, and all our family birthdays crammed into December) so this piece is much later than I planned, but better late than never! At the end of December, we enjoyed a weekend away to Alton Towers for their Santa Sleepover event.
We absolutely loved the Christmas market that they had opened along Tower Street, the Santa experience was fab (and Santa had plenty of time to chat with the boys), all of the staff that we encountered were friendly and welcoming, and we just loved the theme park! Only certain areas of the park were open (CBeebies land, David Walliams land, some of the Pirate area, Hex, Pinball, and the Driving school) but it was plenty to fill a day and lots of fun.
Pro tip: If you can take the kids on a weekday then do! We went into the park on the Friday and Saturday of our stay and the difference was incredible. Whilst the Saturday was fairly crowded, on the Friday we queued for nothing, for most of the rides we were the only family riding, and it felt like we had the whole park to ourselves! In fact, the boys enjoyed ‘Raj’s Bottom Burp’ so much that the wonderful operator let them ride 4 times in a row without getting off! The following photos show just how magically empty everything was:
I try very hard to be positive, but there were some aspects of this break we didn’t enjoy: Covid compliance in the hotel was non-existent and the waterpark was crowded to the point of discomfort. We also had issues in a couple of the restaurants. For this reason, I won’t be mentioning these elements of the Santa Sleepover in my review.
MEETING SANTA
With mask-wearing being required in December, we were a bit worried about the magic being ruined by Santa in a face mask: we needn’t have been concerned. The Santa experience was brilliant! Santa was warm and welcoming and had a real beard (very important to our boys!). He was sitting behind a desk and there was a glass screen on the desk for covid-reasons, but it had been set up in a way that felt really organic and natural. After being assured that the boys were good, they were directed to a stack of wooden parcels, where they opened the ‘magic doors’ to find their own gifts: a dated Alton Towers bear each.
Pro tip: If you can book the first slot of the day for Santa. We did this, and it meant we didn’t have to queue at all for this experience.
CBEEBIES LAND
I have written a whole post about CBeebies land before: It is the perfect place for toddlers, pre-schoolers, and those in the early years of their school career. Boy5 is in year one and he is a huge Peter Rabbit fan, so he loved the Hippity Hop ride and seeing Peter’s paw prints on the walk of fame. Boy9 enjoyed riding alongside his brother, and his favourite ride was the Octonaughts coaster, but would be the first to admit he is far too old for CBeebies land now. Having said that, the land is clean, wonderfully themed, and the layout makes it easy to navigate. There are plenty of rides and attractions to enjoy, covering the whole spectrum of the CBeebies universe. Special mention to the Furchester hotel show, which is a lot of fun and which both boys genuinely enjoyed.
DAVID WALLIAMS LAND
This was our first visit to David Walliams land, and both boys really loved it! The theming is excellent and feels very true to the books(and films) and the rides are age-appropriate and a lot of fun for both the 5 year old and the 9 year old. There are four rides in total, and three of them were family rides that we could all enjoy together.
The four rides comprise of a carousel, a themed version of a twister, Raj’s bottom burp (a child-sized drop ride that farts as it goes up and down, to much small boy amusement), and Gangsta Granny ride, which is the jewel in the crown of the area, and a lot of fun. The shop is themed to Raj’s corner shop, and every detail of the mini-park has Walliams touches in it. Boy9 is a devotee of Walliams books, so visiting this area of the park was a dream come true for him, but Boy5 loved it too: would recommend it heartily for all primary school-aged children.
THE CHRISTMAS MARKET
Finally, how can I not mention the 60 stall Christmas market, which injected the whole experience with such a wonderful festive feel? We loved walking around it, and enjoyed a great lunch there too, eating Bratwurst and Churros, Hot chocolates, and an incredible venison burger. It was, without doubt, the best meal we have ever eaten in Alton Towers. Note: the prices weren’t cheap (in fact, they were eye wateringly expensive) but this is easier to tolerate when the food tastes so good.
When we visited the Time and Tide museum yesterday, we didn’t have high expectations. It was a horribly wet and rainy day, and we wanted an indoor, educational (ish) morning out to somewhere we’d never been before. A friend of a friend mentioned the museum on social media, so we decided to give it a go: We couldn’t have been more impressed!
The exhibits were interesting and well presented, with plenty of interactive elements to entertain the children. You start your tour by entering a replica of typical row housing from 1913, which was incredibly popular in the area, and was incredibly well done. You then passed into a courtyard, where you could see examples of old fishing boats, and we also found a play boat which the children jumped straight on to, despite the rain.
The museum also covered a surprisingly huge spectrum of both history and world events, covering both with a local focus. We loved learning more about the Herring industry and smoking process, which the town was famed for and the building itself was used for: this covered much of the downstairs of the museum. But upstairs things only got more interesting, particularly for the boys!
Roman artifacts, neolithic bones, a Viking longboat carved from a log. Local stories from those touched by the sinking of the Titanic, how Great Yarmouth grew into a popular seaside resort, and a fascinating gallery about life in the area during both World Wars. Did you know that Great Yarmouth was the most bombed coastal town in the UK? I had no idea!
The final exhibit was niche, but my favourite of all. The history of Ladybird books, which are produced locally, with walls full of beautiful illustrations. There was also a stack of books and a comfy sofa for children to cosy up and get reading.
All in all, we stayed in the museum just over 2 hours, but you could certainly stay much longer. We didn’t read or appreciate all of the exhibits fully, as Boy5 was getting a bit antsy at the end of the 2-hour mark. (Not bad going for a boy of his age!) Everyone agreed that it was a great morning out, and we would definitely visit the museum again- in fact, we’ve already promised to take my parents on their next trip to visit, because I know they would have found it fascinating too!
Due to Covid requirements, tickets to the museum must be pre-booked at least a day in advance. Adult tickets cost £6.70, whilst children cost £6.20: under 4s are free. For a family ticket (of 2 adults and 2 children) the price is £23.22. TIP: If you’re on a budget then Norfolk museums offer a ‘twilight hour’ ticket, where you can visit for the last hour before closing for just £2 per person. We used to do this a lot at Norwich castle when Boy5 was a little younger, and couldn’t spend more than an hour at a time in a museum anyway!
Last weekend we enjoyed a brilliant ‘Spooktober’ Halloween weekend break at Butlins Skegness, and the boys still haven’t stopped talking about it! With so many of the Covid-19 restrictions lifted, they were able to swim every day (including enjoying all the water slides), ride all the rides at the fair and even enjoy meet and greets with their favourite characters (after they had sanitised their hands: covid safety was still in place) meaning that this was a very different trip to our last visit to Butlins, which was in the middle of the pandemic.
Whilst swimming, the fairground, and any shows taking place inside the Skyline are no longer pre-bookable, one change that came into force during the pandemic that I think will be permanent now is that all of your other shows and activities are booked in advance of your arrival, via the Butlins app. Whilst there are some walk-in slots available, if you haven’t pre-booked then watching any show isn’t guaranteed. This does mean that you have to be organised: as soon as Butlins email you to say that booking is open, get booking! Leaving it for a day or two could result in not getting tickets to any of the shows: we spoke to a couple of families that either couldn’t get the show they wanted at all, or had to go to the later showing, which didn’t suit their kids bedtime schedule. I can’t comment on how easy it is to ‘walk in’ without having a booking though, as we didn’t try it.
You also have to pre-book your arrival time on resort: we loved this because it meant that check in was fast, and we were able to maximise our fun time on our arrival day.
What We Did
We managed to cram so much into a three day weekend visit! We spent three long sessions in the pool, enjoying all of the water slides, the wave pool, and riding the outdoor rapids (the kids favourites) dozens of times. (Note that if you’re swimming you’ll need a £1 coin for the lockers, and the hairdryers are out of use right now, for covid safety reasons).
We also managed to get to the fairground every day, and our favourite session was the special halloween ‘scareground’ on our final night, which was the perfect end to our break: the kids were so excited to be allowed out, having fun on the rides, so late! We spent some time in the arcades, winning sweets and tickets in the 2p slot machines, watched at least two shows every day, and ate far too much delicious food. The boys particularly enjoyed the Billy and Bonnie Bear version of Robin Hood and the Skyline Gang’s Monster Party shows: there are more ‘adult friendly’ show options, but we very much focus on keeping the kids happy, so it was the cartoon-style shows for us!
The halloween elements of the ‘spooktober’ stay were fairly subtle: there were Halloween decorations in the resort, the late night fairground, and a Halloween show: but no Halloween craft sessions, costume parades, or trick or treating, which we have experienced on previous visits. This didn’t have any real impact though: there was so much to do anyway, that we didn’t manage to fit it all in. And we didn’t find the time to leave the resort once!
One small niggle was that the online schedule wasn’t always correct: queuing for a meet and greet to find they’ve decided to change the characters from the scheduled ones (Rainbow dog) to another one (Peppa Pig) might not be a big deal to a grown up, but it was a very big deal to Boy5! But I will also say that if that’s the worst thing you have to say about a weekend away, then you’ve had a good weekend away!
Butlins offers what it has always offered: down to earth, high-octane, British seaside fun. It’s the perfect place to visit with kids no matter what the weather outside, you don’t have to spend a fotune because so much is included in the price, and kids love it: The boys have travelled all over the world, but whenever we ask where they’d like to go next, you can guarentee that one of them will say ‘back to Butlins’. And if they’re happy, that’s good enough for me!
When you book your Butlins break, you’ll be offered a variety of different dining options before you can check out. The premium dining and the food court dining plans both offer breakfast and dinner in a buffet restaurant: you will be assigned to the same restaurant for the duration of your stay.
I can’t comment on the food court dining plan, as we’ve never tried it, but premium dining offers live cooking stations, different themed menus every night, and plentiful hot food. The quality was good and we enjoyed it. BUT…you have to eat in the same place every single day. So, for this trip, we decided to go off plan: we didn’t book any restaurants, we just made it up as we went along! Here are all the places we ate in Butlins Skegness, with bonus photos of the dishes we chose:
Ludos Italian, Butlins Skegness
Having eaten in Ludos before, we had high hopes for this meal and we weren’t disappointed! My pizza was thin and crispy and full of flavour, whilst the boys ordered deep pan pizzas that were thick and fluffy. My salad was lovely (though the mozzerella was a little more watery than I usually like) and Mr MumTravel said his calzone was delicious. The service was attentive and incredibly quick, and we were all so full from our enormous pizzas, we couldn’t manage dessert! We’re not talking haute cuisine here: but it is really good pizza, from the Pizza Express, rather than the Pizza Hut school (I actually think it’s better than Pizza Express!)
Scoop, Butlins Skegness
Scoop is the name of the Butlins ice cream franchise, and normally you can eat indoors on fun themed chairs, or outside on converted fun cars, but due to covid safety issues, now the ice cream parlour (in Skegness at least) is take away only. There was less selection of flavours on this trip than on our previous trips, but we still all enjoyed our delicious creamy treats. Bonus points to Butlins for only using British cream in their ice cream, and making the whole experience feel luxuriously decadent.
The Fish and Chip Shop, Butlins Skegness
I grew up in Skegness, many moons ago, so if there’s one thing I know it’s fish and chips. Which means that I know these ones…weren’t the best. They weren’t bad, but they weren’t good either. The batter wasn’t crunchy, the chips weren’t crisp, the mushy peas were watery, they didn’t have any tartare sauce. We ate them, but we wouldn’t eat them again when you can get proper fish and chips that are much cheaper (and much more delicious) just a mile down the road! If you fancy fish and chips then I would say head into Skegness and eat them whilst walking along the sea front: and if you want to eat in Butlins then there are better places to choose.
The Diner, Butlins Skegness
According to the kids, this is the best restaurant in Butlins, and I must admit that we grown ups really enjoyed it to (though I dread to think how many calories were consumed!). Both Mr MumTravel and I ordered the platter, which comprised of half a rack of ribs, two buttermilk chicken goujons, half a chicken breast, onion rings, corn and slow. Because they couldn’t fit on the plate, the fries were served separately: they came loaded with BBQ beef brisket, cheese and diced fresh spring onion. The kids ordered ribs, milk shakes, and brownies to finish. I was impressed with the ribs: usually if a restaurant doesn’t have its own smoke house I avoid ordering ribs, but these were so tender they fell off the bone and incredibly flavoursome. To be honest, we weren’t expecting much from a diner in Butlins, and we were very pleasantly surprised.
If we go to Butlins again, we will definitely stick with not having a dining plan: it suited our spontaneity to be able to eat where and when we fancied, and meant we didn’t have to worry about getting out the pool or off the beach in time for dinner. The standard of the food was much higher than I expected, and the boys (who, lets be honest, have much lower standards than I do) declared every meal the best they’d ever had. I was a pleasantly surprised mum, with a full and happy tum!
Choosing accommodation when you go away can feel like a bit of a minefield, and we’ve all fallen foul of website photographs that look nothing like what you actually find when you arrive! Last weekend we went for a ‘Spooktober’ stay at Butlins Skegness, staying in a two bedroomed Fairground apartment.
If you’re thinking about visiting Butlins Skegness, or considering the same accommodation type, then I thought it would be useful to show you what the apartment really looks like when you arrive. So, without further ado, here’s a look inside a Fairground Apartment in Butlins Skegness:
The living room, kitchen and dining area and in one long room, although this is separated into distinct zones. The living area was fairly basic but comfortable: a large L-shaped sofa, small side table and TV with digital channels (including four kids channels, which was handy for entertaining the kids whilst I made breakfast).
The dining table was small, and I wouldn’t recommend trying to serve a lavish feast on it, but for having breakfast or a quick sandwich for lunch, there was enough room for our family of four to sit around it comfortably. I will confess that I didn’t try to cook anything more complicated than sandwiches or scrambled eggs (we chose to eat out instead) but the kitchen seemed to have everything you would need: plenty of pans and crockery, a small fridge freezer for all of your supplies, and a full oven and microwave too. If you wanted to eat in for every meal, you certainly could here.
As I mentioned above, our apartment had two bedrooms: one was a double, and one had two single beds. The beds were comfortable, as were the pillows, and there were extra pillows in the wardrobe if you needed them. The master bedroom had a TV with the same channels as the living room one: the children’s bedroom didn’t. The master also had a dressing table and chair, with a light up mirror, a wardrobe and two bedside tables. There was a hairdryer hidden away in the drawer under the dressing table. The children’s bedroom had two single beds, two bedside tables, and a wardrobe: basic but comfortable, and a nice change of pace from the many hotels we have stayed in where the boys have to share a double bed.
The bathroom was probably the most simple of all the rooms in the apartment, but it was clean and had everything we needed: the kids would have preferred that there was a bath, but you can’t have it all, and as they were swimming every day, showering them off afterwards was easier for us!
The Fairground Apartments in Butlins Skegness are located (not surprisingly) just to the left of the fairground: the fairground was just a three minute walk away from our apartment, whilst the ‘big tent’ with all of the shows and the entrance to the swimming pool was around a seven minute walk away. We enjoyed the Fairground styling, were happy with the location, and were glad to be in a relatively quiet location too: we didn’t hear any night time noise from any other guests for the duration of our trip. All in all then, we would definitely stay in a Fairground Apartment in Butlins Skegness again!
It’s that time of the year again! With less than 100 days ’til Christmas, now is the perfect time to start thinking about booking your Christmas 2021 Santa experience. In fact, some of the experiences local to us opened up bookings (and sold out too!) more than a month ago. We try to do something different every year, so we have booked the Alton Towers Santa Sleepover: a two day experience which cost us £480 (they advertise prices as being from £85pp) but if you haven’t booked anything yet then here are some of our favourite, tried and tested, UK Santa experiences:
Lapland UK
The final booking window for Lapland UK opens TODAY so if you want to experience the UK’s premier Christmas experience then now is the time to book. I’ve written a full review of our Lapland UK experience here and, it truly was magical. Santa looked the best I have ever seen him look, and the fully immersive experience and attention to detail meant that the kids truly believed they had been magically transported to Lapland. BUT, by gosh was it expensive! The price is dynamic, and is more expensive the closer to Christmas you visit, so I can’t tell you exactly what it will cost, but I can tell you that we booked a weekday at the beginning of December to keep the costs low, and still spent over £400. For an experience that only lasts 4 hours, that’s a lot of money! But can you put a price on magic?
Legoland at Christmas
If you’re a fan of theme parks, or of Lego, then Legoland is probably a Christmas no brainer! Legoland at Christmas offers two options: either the Santa Sleepover or the day trip, which is what we went for. Not all of the rides in the park are open at this time of year, but there is plenty to fill the day, and the Lego model village (our favourite part) is open too: Santa also parades through the park on his sleigh, and you can pay extra to visit Santa in his grotto and receive a Lego gift (this year the grotto experience is £20 per child on top of the cost of park entry). We loved this experience because it was combined with a day out, Santa and the elves were incredibly friendly with lots of interaction, and the faux pine forest you walked through to reach the grotto was incredibly well done: as adults we know that there were multiple grottos, but as children you couldn’t tell at all, and ours were certainly none the wiser.
Hyde Park Winter Wonderland
Visiting the Winter Wonderland in London’s Hyde Park is one of my favourite Christmas experiences, but more for the wider experience than the Santa. Classic funfair rides, German Christmas beer tents and market food (yummy bratwurst in particular), a large ice skating rink and other attractions such as circus shows and ice sculpture displays mean that you could spend the whole day here and always have something to do. The Santa here is secondary to everything else, but it is a fun addition. You can’t book tickets to see him as he is available for free with entry on a first come first serve basis. I would recommend getting there as the Winter Wonderland opens if you do want to see Santa, so the queues can get long. You can find out more about the whole experience here.
Meet Santa at the London Wetlands Centre
We’re big fans of the London Wetlands Centre: it’s a great place to be no matter what the time of year, with nature walks to explore, an abundance of adventure play equipment, and of course, birds everywhere you look. But in December the whole thing has a magical air, because Santa has a grotto here! If you’re outdoorsy then this is the Santa experience for you. Kids get to meet the main man and his elves, and whilst things are different every year, when we visited there were husky pulled sleigh rides and donkey rides available too. Boy8 is obsessed with wolves and huskies, so this was one of his favourite Christmas experiences out of all the ones on the list (though his favourite Santa by far was the ‘real’ one at Lapland UK). You can book this year.
Wroxham Barns Christmas Experience
Wroxham Barns is based in Norfolk, and so is wonderfully local to us. Last year, when Covid requirements meant we couldn’t travel far, we tried their Christmas experience. Whilst it certainly didn’t have the glitz and magic of many of the other experiences outlined here, it was a lot of fun, and it made this list for two reasons: Because the Santa is a sweetheart, and because the event was perfectly covid safe. It was very odd for the kids to see Santa sat behind a glass screen, but he made it seem normal, and had plenty of time to engage with the children and answer their questions. Rather than hand the children presents, they each choose a gift from the ‘elves toyshop’ which added to the fun and the sense of covid safety. Find out more and book here.
ROARR! Dinosaur Adventure Park Santa
Finally, we have something of a tradition that every Christmas Eve we visit ROARR! Dinosaur Adventure (another local attraction) to ‘say goodbye’ to Santa before he starts his journey around the world. To be honest, this tradition started because we were season ticket holders of the park, and so it was a fun and affordable way of getting the boys to run off some of their Christmas eve energy. The grotto is really pretty, the elves are enthusiastic, and the presents are of really high quality: but parents of older children beware! The santa here has a fake beard (!) which is a big no no in our family, and Boy8 was well aware he was just one of the ‘helpers’ and not the real deal. Boy5 was blissfully unaware, and was very pleased to meet Santa!
Where will you be visiting Santa this year? And have you ever been to the Alton Towers Santa Sleepover? I would love to read some positive reviews before our visit!
The Sainsbury Centre, based on the UEA campus, is an art gallery, museum and café. Primarily focused on world art, the centre itself is free to access and is a wonderful place to pass an hour in its own right. But the Sainsbury Centre also offers a sculpture park which spreads out across the UEA campus and around the Broad which is also on the campus grounds.
Parking at the Sainsbury centre is free: you just need to go into the gallery to get a permit which you display in the window of your car. Access to the gallery and the sculpture trail is free too, unless you want to explore one of the special exhibitions. You can also collect free maps to the Sculpture park in two formats from the gallery reception: either a ‘grown up’ map or a child-friendly version: we used the child-friendly version which was fun, easy to follow, and featured activities that you could do on your way around too.
The Sculpture Park includes important works by notable artists such as Henry Moore, Elisabeth Frink, Lynn Chadwick, Liliane Lijn and Antony Gormley.
There are three different trails you can take: the short trail, the long trail, and the longer trail. Depending on which you choose, and how fast you walk, these should take between half an hour and an hour and a half. The walk around the Broad (the lake at the bottom of the campus) is particularly pretty, and well worth the exploration, with a few sculptures along the way to add to the fun.
We opted for the longest route, and then went into the Sainsbury centre to explore the indoor exhibits and to have a cup of tea (and a cheeky slice of cake!) I’m not going to pretend to be an art expert, so I won’t comment much on the quality of the works, but we were impressed by the high standard of the artists on display, as well as the variety. And it was lovely that once we had spotted and analysed a Henry Moore sculpture, the boys were quickly able to identify other pieces by the same artist. The kids were inspired, and went home to work on their own self-portraits and sculptures (using the contents of my recycling bin!)
It was a really lovely way to pass a morning, and one that I would definitely recommend if you’re in or around Norwich. We followed our trip up with a visit to the park on the way home, and the kids declared that it was an excellent day out that they’d like to do again! The sculpture park is a permanent exhibition of the gallery, so you can visit and enjoy at any time.
We have just returned from a whirlwind three day trip to London: we clocked up just over 20,000 steps a day, crammed in so many activities that Boy8 said that his ‘London bucketlist was complete’ and munched on more calories than I’m prepared to calculate.
Mr MumTravel and I lived in London before we had kids and moved to the sticks, so there are some obvious attractions that we knew we wanted the boys to see, as well as some restaurants we wanted to return to for our own selfish nostalgia. We were travelling with my sister and her family, making us a party of eight in total. We travelled by train, and stayed in the Premier Inn Kensington (Earls Court) which was a classic Premier Inn (basic, but clean and with a good breakfast offering) in a brilliant location: you could walk to the museum district in under 10 minutes, and Earls Court tube station was just a two minute walk away. As we weren’t planning on spending any real time in the hotel, it was the perfect pick for this trip. We booked well in advance, and only paid £98 for two nights stay and breakfast for 4 people for two days too, using their ‘kids eat free’ offer.
Here is a breakdown of our itinerary.
DAY 1: See: The Natural History Museum, The Science Museum, The Horrible Histories, Terrible Thames Boat Tour Eat: The Natural History Museum, Bodeans BBQ Tower Hill.
DAY 2: See: London Zoo, Covent Garden Eat: Goodfare Italian, Camden; Wahaca Covent Garden
DAY 3: See: Leicester Square (and the Lego Store), China Town, Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace, and Platform 9 3/4. Eat: The Rainforest Cafe, Leicester Square; Le Pain Quotidien, Kings Cross.
DAY ONE Our first port of call was to drop off our luggage at the hotel; whilst check in wasn’t until 4pm, we were able to leave our luggage in the secured left luggage room, rather than carry holdalls around with us all day. From here we walked to the museum district where we had an reservation for the Natural History Museum at 11am.
Reservations are essential for visiting the museums right now, due to Covid restrictions, but access is still free. Visit the website in advance of your visit to secure an arrival time, and you will be given a QR code that is scanned as you arrive. You are also asked to wear face masks in the museums if you can (which we did) but this advice also might change in the future. We love this museum: more importantly, the kids love this museum! It’s so wonderful to see children so excited about something that is educational. Our first stop, of course, were the dinosaurs and the animatronic dinosaur is always a hit. We also went to the earthquake simulator and discovered more about the way the world works: this is my favourite exhibit.
We left the museum to have a relaxing sit down in the forecourt, where we tucked in to hot dogs and chips from the snack cart. This was more for convenience than anything else, because we didn’t have long to get to the Science Museum next door for our researched time, but actually, sitting in the sun under the beautiful architecture of the museum itself was a lovely way to spend half an hour. We then hopped to the Science Museum for a shorter visit: we had booked a slot at the pattern pod, then took a whistle stop tour of the space and transport exhibitions. The pattern pod was aimed at Boy5 and his cohort, who really loved the interactive exhibitions and the hands-on approach to science.
The reason our Science Museum trip was cut short? So we could hop on the tube and scoot across to Tower Bridge, where we had tickets to join the Horrible Histories Terrible Thames river cruise. This lasted 45 minutes and cost £58 for a family of 4, which is much more than other river tours we could have booked. BUT: it was worth every penny. The kids laughed, joined in, learned some fairly disgusting facts, and haven’t stopped raving about the trip since! It was also a less step-intensive way to show them all the sights, which would have been impossible by foot on such a short trip.
Once we hopped off the boat it was a short walk to Bodeans Tower Hill: a smokehouse and grill, and Mr MumTravels favourite place to eat: it’s not fancy, giving off sportsbar vibes, but it is welcoming to children and the food is out of this world. If you don’t try the pulled pork and the burnt ends then you will regret it.
DAY TWO
We had organised one main activity for our second day: tickets to London Zoo. The weather was against us today, with rain showers on and off all day, but there were enough indoor exhibits that it didn’t have too much of a negative impact.
Social distancing worked well here: rather than wander around at will, you picked a colour and followed the arrows around the exhibits. Once you had completed the three coloured trails, you had seen everything in the zoo! Special mention goes to the penguins, who were as playful as ever, and seemed to love being as close to people as possible.
Once we’d had our fill of the zoo we wandered back to Camden station, stopping in a little Italian restaurant for drinks and cakes, and to wait out the worse of the rain. It was then a short and simple tube ride to Leicester Square, which we used as our gateway to Covent Garden: we showed the kids the opera house, wandered through the market, and stopped frequently to enjoy the street entertainment (the Charlie Chaplin impersonator was a particular hit) before heading to Wahaca for lunch. I love Mexican food, and the Mexican street food here is excellent: its loud, vibrant, and has a cantina feel, which meant it is perfect for families. No need to worry about keeping the kids quiet!
DAY THREE This was our last day in London, and we had plenty to fit in! We started by heading to Leicester Square, where we explored the statues in the garden, and then walked over to the Lego store when they opened at 10am. The queues here can get crazy, so getting here early and walking straight in is a top tip.
From here we headed to China town where we admired the pastries in the windows of the bakeries and the cooked duck hanging in the restaurants. Boy8 was delighted to buy a bottle of pokemon water from a Chinese supermarket, whilst Mr MumTravel picked up more than one box of his favourite sweet taro dumplings. We then walked down to Trafalgar square where we admired the statues, and then hopped on the bus (number 11) to Victoria before swapping to another bus to Green Park. Riding a bus was a ‘wish list’ item for Boy5 and his cousin, and taking a regular red bus was much cheaper than riding a tourist bus (which charge upwards of £20 per person for a ticket). Because this is the area close to where we worked in the city, this was an easy win for us.
We hopped off the bus at Green Park and then walked through the park to Buckingham Palace which was a treat for all of us, but especially me because, believe it or not, despite living in London for several years I had never actually visited before. We got here at just before 12pm, and managed to catch the changing of the guard, which was a really fun and exciting thing to see. We then walked down the mall and up to Piccadilly circus to head to our lunchtime restaurant reservation.
Lunch was a ‘big treat’ for the kids and a big disappointment for the grown ups: we went to the Rainforest Cafe. The theming was good: the kids love the version of the restaurant in Disneyland Paris, and the animatronic animals are just the same. But the food was mediocre at best, and incredibly overpriced: we knew this would be the case, because we’ve eaten here before, but I can’t in good conscience recommend it if you’re an adult who likes good quality food. Or don’t want to spend £4.95 on a small glass of coke. If you’re an adult who likes to see your kids with their heads on stalks and wonder in their eyes though, it definitely has its merits. They were so glad we did it. We grown ups had main courses and drinks only, and rewarded ourselves for our sacrifice with desserts later.
From here we headed to Kings Cross, which is where we would be getting our train home. The older boys (and massive Harry Potter fans) were excited to visit Platform 9 3/4 in the station, and then we went to Le Pain Quotidien for drinks and desserts whilst we waited for our train.
It was a whistle stop tour of London, and we all wished we had booked to stay for a couple of extra days to maybe take things at a more leisurely pace, as well as to see some more of the museums (My favourites are the V&A, and the Tate Modern, but there just wasn’t the time). But if you’re time poor, and want to cram in as much as possible with your kids on your next visit to London, then this could be the perfect itinerary for you.
That Mum Travel Life 