Tuesday 8 August 2017

The High Dive Show at Crealy, Devon


Earlier this week, we were invited to go along to Crealy - a local theme park in nearby Exeter - for the launch of the new summer High Dive Show.

The show consist of a team of expert divers direct from the US of A who entertain the crowd with a series of funny and incredible dives - there are plenty of laughs throughout, but some extremely impressive diving too!




The dive from the 85 foot high board is really breath taking, and the finale is just incredible - I won't give it away but lets just say it involves flames!



The High Dive shows are included in the Crealy general admission price and will be taking place 3 times per day, 6 days a week (No shows on Sundays) until 2nd September.

This is a fantastic addition to a family day out at Crealy - which is in itself already a fabulous place to take the children with a huge choice of rides, play areas and animals to keep them entertained.

My lot spent the afternoon making the most of the sunshine in the various play areas, the wild west themed one being a particular favourite!





But we also managed to get in a few rides on the carousel and the dinosaur jeeps too, which are always a firm favourite!

And even in the sun doesn't shine when you visit, there are plenty of indoor play areas and rides to keep you entertained.



A visit to Crealy is a must if you're local to Devon or visiting the area for the Summer holidays, and if you do go along - be sure you don't miss the fantastic High Dive Show!

To find out more, just visit www.crealy.co.uk


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Thursday 20 July 2017

A Disappointing Stay At Parkdean Mullion

(My partner & I joked that the bird poo on this deckchair and the looks on the kids faces pretty much summed up Parkdean Mullion...)

A few weeks ago, on the spur of the moment, I decided to book a little caravan get away.

We usually visit our neighbouring county of Cornwall at least once during the Summer, as it is just such a beautiful part of the country and there is so much to do there - but we fancied seeing a different part of Cornwall this time.

In the past we've always stayed around Newquay, but this time we decided we wanted to go further into Cornwall - I'd seen some stunning videos of Kynance Cove shared on social media and I was desperate to visit, so I searched for caravan sites around the area and came across Parkdean Mullion.

Having stayed at a Parkdean site in Newquay a few years ago, I was confident that they were the right choice for us - I knew the children would love the Sid & Lizzy Entertainment Mascots and the childrens discos in the evening, and the outdoor pool was another selling point as were visiting during one of the hottest weeks of the year.

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Wednesday 14 June 2017

Our Day At Paultons Park



Last week, we went along for a day out at Paultons Park - a theme park just outside of Southampton which is probably best known for being home to "Peppa Pig World".

We have visited Paultons Park twice before, but not in the last couple of years - infact the last time we visited I was heavily pregnant with Noah. We'd always enjoyed our days there in the past but I was keen to see how things had changed, and excited to see what Noah and Sailor would make of it all.

We decided to stay in Southampton the night before our visit to make the most of it, as its around a 3 hour drive from where we live - we stayed in a Travelodge which was about a 20 minute drive away, it wasn't the nicest Travelodge I've ever stayed in to be honest but it did the job.

We arrived at Paultons Park at around 10.30 am, and collected our tickets at the entrance - the staff on the gates were friendly and helpful as always, and I was pleased to see that they have introduced additional security measures since our last visit with bag checks before entering. It didn't hold us up at all, it took literally moments but definitely helps visitors to feel safer.

It was a bit of a rainy day unfortunately, and there were showers on and off throughout the day but we found there was always somewhere to take shelter so it didn't spoil our day at all - the staff were also great at drying off the seats on the rides too so you never suffered a soggy bum! Which was very much appreciated!

We started our day off with a walk through the central section of Paultons, and stopped off at the Viking ship rides and Carousel first, before heading to Peppa Pig World



Noah was absolutely delighted at the sight of the Peppa section, and squealed "Grandpa Pig!!" as he dashed towards it - it is a really lovely section for little ones with lovely bright colours, and the Peppa music playing throughout. There is so much to do just in this section alone too.





There are several rides to choose from (our favourites are Daddy Pigs Car Ride and the Hot Air Balloon Ride), a lovely park area, gift shop, food stalls, and a fab indoor soft play area with indoor cafe too - we had lunch here and it was pretty good, with lots of choice and a good picnic deal for children - we spent around £30 on lunch for all of us which I think is reasonable enough for a theme park.




Tyne, at 4, is starting to find the rides in Peppa Pig World a little too safe and was keen to head out to the new Lost Kingdom section of the park to try more thrill rides but he still enjoyed the hours we spent at Peppa Pig World and was just as delighted as ever to get to meet Peppa and George!

At around 2pm, we headed to the Lost Kingdom - expecting to be faced with lots of queues as this is where the bigger rides are but much to our delight the queues were non existent!

The Lost Kingdom area is really well themed, with animatronic dinosaurs dotted about which the kids loved - there was a great park area here too (and a splash pad, but it was a bit too wet for this unfortunately) and a good mix of rides.





We spotted a show going on as we walked in, a real live dinosaur was being introduced to the crowds! Tyne loved watching this and getting to stroke the "Baby T Rex".

Tyne braved the Velociraptor roller coaster with his Dad and the Flight Of The Pterosaur one too, infact he loved them so much he rode each of them 3 times in a row - because it was so quiet he didn't even need to get off as there was no queue, so they simply rode again and again!



We passed one of the Carnival Games stalls and the boys spotted some cuddly dinosaurs, I usually refuse these games as I am rubbish at everything but this one was Hook A Duck so I let them have a go as they could do it themselves - they loved it and were absolutely delighted with their dinosaur prizes!





We had such a brilliant day at Paultons Park - it offers something for the whole family, is very well kept and looked after, and we think its prices are sensible too when compared with some of the other theme parks around - Paultons Park never fails to provide a great family day out and we will absolutely be back again!

Things Not To Miss

*Flight Of The Pterosaur for adventurers aged 4 and over - even Daddy said this was one of the best rollercoasters he's been on!

*The Victorian Carousel - a lovely old fashioned carousel, so pretty and a nice one for the whole family to do together

*Alive dinosaur show in Lost Kingdom

*Meeting Peppa & George outside the school house in Peppa Pig World (Top Tip: The queue around noon was massive so we came back at around 2.30 and walked straight to the front!)

Where To Go If It Rains

There's a soft play centre in Peppa Pig World which has a good under 4's section, as well as lots of the older kids too and a nice little cafe for Mum & Dad to take 5 in too!

Great Rides For Families Of Five

We often struggle to find rides that all of us can do as a family, so I thought I'd share the ones I found.

Hot Air Balloon Ride
Grandpa Pigs Train
Daddy Pigs Car Ride can also be done with 2 children, 2 adults and a baby



To find out more or plan your visit, please go to www.paultonspark.co.uk
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Thursday 1 June 2017

Diggerland: Our Honest Thoughts



A few weeks ago, we were invited along to Diggerland for a fun filled family day out.

In case you're unfamiliar with the Diggerland parks, they are a theme park focused completely around - you guessed it! - diggers!

They have parks in Kent, Durham and Yorkshire as well as one just down the road from us near Cullumpton in Devon.

With 3 little boys who are all somewhat digger obsessed, we were excited for what the day would bring - we had visited Diggerland once before a couple of summers ago but Tyne was too little for most of the attractions at the time.

This time though, he was tall enough for the vast majority of them (although had to be accompanied) and so we set off to explore exactly what Diggerland had to offer.

Now, if you're anything like me you're probably thinking "How much can there be to do with a digger?!" - well the answer is, quite a lot actually! It is quite amazing how creative the Diggerland team have been at coming up with weird and wonderful ways to use diggers and construction machines as family entertainment.

There are high adrenaline thrill seeker rides such as Spin Dizzy which literally spins its passengers around in a circle at top speed (and really is not the faint of heart, Jon was pretty queasy after riding this but our 4 year old was screaming for more and wanted to go again!!) - and the jaw-dropping Sky Shuttle which takes passengers up 50 feet in the air! I, being terrified of heights, was too much of a whimp to ride this but Jon, Tyne & Noah all went up and reported that the views across Devon were spectacular!





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Wednesday 19 April 2017

A Day Out At Crealy



On Good Friday, we headed out for a family day out at Crealy - a fantastic theme park based a short distance from the city of Exeter.

We've visited once before but that was during winter and so we were excited to see how different our day out would be on a nice sunny day. We had expected to be confronted by lots of crowds and queues given that we had chosen to visit on a bank holiday but we were pleasantly surprised...the queues were only about 10 minutes at the longest and many rides we could walk straight on to, and it didn't feel too crowded either.

The first thing we did was the Easter Egg hunt, which was really good fun and the kids were delighted to be able to claim their prize from Buttons the Easter Bunny himself on the stage!

Afterwards, we headed to try out some rides...first port of call was the brand new Junior Driving School which gave Tyne the chance to drive a lovely little car with Daddy as his passenger! He was thrilled by this!

 

The track was really well organised and looked like a real little town, the staff did a great job of keeping order and the kids all drove around in the same direction with bumping discouraged which was nice to see when you have little ones riding...there were some older kids riding during Tyne's go who were quite determined to turn the driving school into bumper cars but the staff were really quick to stop them in the nicest way possible, which was great!

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Friday 14 April 2017

A Day At World Of Country Life



Continuing on our #DevonEggHunt adventures, we have been continuing to make the most out of #EasterInDevon by visiting some more of the countys best tourist attractions...following on from our visit to Killerton House a few days ago, we spent Sunday at the fabulous World Of Country Life in Exmouth.

We had visited once before, and so the kids were super excited at the prospect of heading back again...and it did not disappoint!

World Of Country Life is quite a unique tourist attraction as it is such a fantastic mix of many things - it is part museum with old fashioned replica houses, pubs and shops that you can walk around (which the kids just love!), Trains and tractors on display (and a gypsy caravan too!), farmyard animals, a deer safari, and a fantastic indoor and outdoor play area with everything from bouncy pillows and trampolines, to traditional park finds and even a MASSIVE indoor life size pirate ship that my boys absolutely adore.

There really is something on offer for everybody and every possible weather scenario here!








The deer safari is always the highlight for me personally - it is a train pulled along by a tractor, and it took us into the deer enclosure where we parked up - the driver got out and walked along the train giving us all food to give to the deer. The deer were just beautiful to see, and so very tame - they stuck their heads right into the carriages with no reservations and ate from our hands - Noah was, once again, a little frightened by them getting so close but Tyne and Sailor both loved it!

There was also a couple of Llamas who came up to see us, too!










We spent the afternoon letting the boys play on the trampolines, and if you caught my Instagram stories you'll know that Mummy & Daddy also had a sneaky go on the bouncy pillows when nobody else was around which was a lot of fun!









We had an absolutely fantastic afternoon visiting World Of Country Life and would highly recommend it if you're visiting Devon during the Easter holidays, there really is something for everybody...they also often have special events running, such as their upcoming Vintage Car display and Star Wars day where some very special guests will be in attendance!

To find out about World Of Country Life and their upcoming events, please visit www.worldofcountrylife.co.uk

*Please note, Deer safari is subject to a small additional charge
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