Visiting Stonehenge with Kids

Stonehenge is one of the most recognisable locations in the world and features on many people's bucket lists. Thought to be around 5000 years old, Stonehenge is a Unesco World Heritage Site. 

Despite living in the neighbouring county to Wiltshire, we've never visited! This Summer we travelled to Wales on a roadtrip so it was the perfect excuse to make a little detour and finally see the stones. 

We pre-booked our tickets on the English Heritage Website - EH members get in for free, but also National Trust members too which was fab for us!  If you're not NT or EH members, you can expect to pay around £55 for a family ticket. 

Tickets need to be booked in half hour time slots and visitor numbers have been limited to keep everyone safe. The tickets are emailed to your phone so no need to take any print outs but don't forget to take your membership cards!

Our timed slot was 9:30am and we had no trouble finding somewhere to park. Parking is free with pre-booked tickets and there plenty of room for lots of visitors, even ones in motorhomes like us. 

Once we had shown our ticket confirmations at the Visitor Centre entrance , we decided to look at the museum first. (You can also find a cafe, toilets and large gift shop here) Due to Covid, they are restricting numbers in here but we only queued for around 15 minutes. One of us stayed in the queue whilst the other took the children to see the Neolithic Houses. Really interesting to see what life was like back then.  You can also get up close to a replica Sarsens stone and see just how huge they were. 

As you enter the museum you will find yourself in the middle of the stones, in a fantastic audio visual 360 degree view where you can watch the seasons pass, the kids loved it when the snow fell! 

I found the museum really interesting and I loved reading about the stones and how they were bought across from Wales. It's hard to get your head around how long this would have taken given the size of the stones. I find it fascinating that Stonehenge is still such a mystery after all these years. 

Stonehenge has various special exhibitions throughout the year and we were lucky enough to see the latest one, a collection of photos sent in entirely from visitors. It was brilliant seeing the different fashions over time and how photography has evolved into the selfies of today! 

Viewing the Stones

There are two ways to reach the stones, there is a shuttle bus that runs frequently from the visitors centre although currently they are prioritising for those who need it most. You will also need a face covering. 

We decided to walk to the stones, it's an off road path which is around 1.5miles long - it was quite bumpy so you might struggle if you were thinking of taking a stroller. It's a lovely walk across to the stones and the scenery is really pretty - although it really surprised me how far it is from the visitors centre. Having not visited before, I fully expected to see them right away! You'll see ancient burial mounds along the route and if you have the audio guide (this can be downloaded directly onto your smartphone), this will give you lots of information alongside the information boards. 

Once you reach the stones, it is roped off but you can walk the entire way round with plenty of vantage spots for photos. We visited on a weekday so it was definitely quieter, and the restricted visitor numbers are definitely a bonus. 

It was really impressive to see the stones up close and in real life, I can imagine how amazing it would be to be able to watch the sun rise there on Summer Solstice. 

It's worth remembering that there aren't any toilet facilities or places to eat/drink once you are down at the stones but there are plenty of spots for picnics. 

We hopped on the shuttle for the trip back and we didn't have to wait longer than 5 minutes for a bus. It was certainly a lot quicker and there were no complaints of tired legs! 

Overall we spent around 3.5 hours at Stonehenge and I think it's well worth a trip, everyone should visit at least once. I was a little apprehensive if the kids would find it enjoyable but here's what Elliot had to say "I liked seeing the skeleton in the museum and it was fun to get so close to the stones!"

For more information and tickets, visit the English Heritage website

Visiting National Trust Properties (Dorset) in Summer 2020 with Phased Re-openings

Over the last few weeks, the UK has started to lift restrictions and more of our favourite places are becoming accessible again. National Trust has opened more than 100 of their parklands and gardens but visits need to be pre-booked so they can limit the number of visitors.

Tickets can be pre-booked each Friday via their website and you can pick a slot which suits you. The more popular locations such as Stourhead are getting fully booked almost immediately but we have managed to book tickets for Corfe Castle and Kingston Lacy here in Dorset without any problems. Members and non-members can pre-book but non-members will have to pay in advance. For us as members, we just had to enter our membership number and our spaces were booked. When booking you have to pick a 30 minute arrival time but there are no restrictions on how long you stay, although they cannot guarantee entry if you're late for your slot.

Kingston Lacy

Our first place we visited was Kingston Lacy (we've been twice recently) and we love it here, the grounds are so pretty and the kids love the space to run around! When we arrived in the car park there was a member of staff who ticked our name off the list and that was it, we didn't need to show our membership card.

Our timeslot was 2pm and it was very quiet, although there were cars in the overflow too. We followed the path in and there were clear signs regarding the walks around the garden and woodland trail. There was a one-way system in place which worked well. There were lots of families enjoying the sunshine but it was very easy to maintain a distance, even on the paths.

The Kitchen Garden is currently closed but we still had a pleasant walk around, passing the Japanese Garden and the beautiful meadow area. I've never actually seen the meadow in bloom like this, the daisys were so pretty.

The children enjoyed climbing trees, rolling down the hill on the front lawn, and best of all, playing hide and seek in the long grass!

The cafe was open on both our visits but just as a takeaway, there is no seating in the stables and the picnic tables have been moved onto the grassy area near the entrance. The toilets were also open and there was extra sanitiser available.

Corfe Castle

Corfe Castle is another favourite of ours and we were so excited to visit again. We arranged to meet some friends there and we both booked our tickets on the Friday before with no issues.

When we arrived in Corfe, I did notice that the carpark was very quiet and I assume this was because of restricted numbers in the castle. The visitors centre and toilets were also closed.

It's a really pleasant walk from the carpark, the path takes you around the foot of the castle and it's away from the road so alot safer for the children. There's a great little trim trail to climb along too which my kids love!

Once at the castle, we gave our names to the member of staff at the ticket tent and we were ticked off the list. Like Kingston Lacy, we didn't need to show our tickets or membership number. 

Our visit to the castle was much like previous visits however there is a one way route to follow around certain parts. This worked well and due to the low number of visitors, we didn't feel rushed. The children were able to explore and have as much fun as normal!

If you fancy a treat after your visit, the National Trust tearooms are open (public toilets too!), We decided to order fish & chips from The Greyhound pub which is right outside the entrance to Corfe Castle. We weren't able to sit in the beer garden as there were still restrictions in place when we visited, but we were allowed to take our food back into the Castle grounds where there were tables and chairs available.

Lunch with a view! 

It's fantastic that the National Trust have put all these measures in place so visitors can still enjoy a day out at their many properties. If you are thinking about booking a visit then I would definitely recommend going online as early as possible on a Friday morning to give you more chance of getting tickets.

For more information, please visit https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/

Spooky Half Term Fun - October 2018

I think the October Half Term is one of our favourite times of the year. For a start, Halloween is just around the corner but there just seems to be so much on in our local area - this year was no different, and I think I could have filled 4 weeks with activities and days out and not just one week! Usually I try and pace ourselves by scheduling quieter days at home but not this time - our week was busy, fun, full on and I wouldn't have changed a thing!

Pumpkin Picking - Saturday

We decided to go and pick some pumpkins at a local pumpkin patch at the start of the week - usually we just pick up a couple of cheap ones in Asda so this was a bit different for us! We've never been to a pumpkin patch before but it was such a lovely morning and I'm really glad we did it. The kids loved finding all the different shaped pumpkins and Elliot took great pleasure in finding the biggest one there to take home with us!

Autumn Fun at Kingston Lacy - Monday

The Monday began with a visit to one of my very favourite places in Dorset - in fact, my National Trust Membership is pretty much made up of visits to here! The grounds are beautiful but especially at this time of the year with the stunning Autumn colours. It's a fab place to take the children because there's no traffic and they can pretty much run free! We met up with some friends, Elliot dressed up as Dracula (standard half term attire!) and we had a lovely walk followed by a picnic while the children played on the ride ons.

Corfe Castle - Tuesday

Another National Trust visit, this time to the spectacular ruins of Corfe Castle. This is another brilliant place to visit in school holidays because there are always special events on for children and plenty to keep them amused. We loved spotting the pumpkins around the castle and the children had lots of fun doing the creepy creatures quiz. We sent our teddies down the terrifying zipline and we also managed to catch the trebuchet being fired. All in all it was a great day!

Pumpkin Hunt at Moreton Walled Garden - Wednesday

It took us a while to decide on todays activity. We discussed visiting the Shire Hall Historic Court Museum in Dorchester but in the end the weather was lovely again so we decided to head outdoors.

We met up with our friends and spent a wonderful morning in the sunshine following the pumpkin trail and exploring the beautiful gardens. We even found a brilliant play area that we didn't even know existed so that kept the children amused for ages!

Spooky Fun at Lulworth Castle - Thursday

This was probably our favourite day of the week - we had so much fun! The castle and grounds had been transformed into a spooky attraction and honestly, the effort that had gone into the event was fantastic. As we walked through the entrance we were greeted by a friendly ghost and then there were lots of spooky themed games scattered throughout the walk up to the castle.

Once inside the castle we were directed through the basement where there were spiders, witches and all kinds of scary things. But still tame enough for the gaggle of 1-6 year olds we were with! We stumbled upon a disco in one of the rooms so the kids had a good old boogie to bat out of hell - we could have stayed in there longer but we were itching to see what the rest of the castle held for us!

There were spooky crafts and even a magic show which was great fun. It was a nice dry day too so we were able to sit outside at lunchtime and enjoy the Halloween themed music blasting out from the castle! After lunch we went to explore the haunted forest and for those that were brave enough, there was a zombie infested area....Elliot and I wimped out of that one ;)

It was such a brilliant day and when we finally managed to drag the kids away, we realised we'd been there around 5 hours so we definitely got our moneys worth!

A Weekend in Brighton - Saturday/Sunday

Our fun packed week ended with a lovely, if a little cold, trip to Brighton. I'd forgotten what a vibrant, fun place Brighton is and we had a really nice time exploring on the Saturday. We loved finding the giant snail sculptures that are scattered around the city too!

On the Sunday we woke up the sounds of the sea right outside our window (we stayed at the Holiday Inn Brighton Seafront and it was a fab location) and fortunately the kids weren't awake too early with the clocks going back. After a big breakfast we headed to the Old Market theatre nearby to see our favourite kids band, Andy & The Odd Socks!

It was a fab show and it was brilliant to hear their newest song, Choose Respect which has been written for Anti-Bullying Week 2018 . I think it's fantastic that Andy his using his celebrity platform to publicise such an important cause.

The kids had so much fun dancing to their favourite Odd Socks songs and at one point I thought Elliot's arms would fall off because he was so flossing so fast!!

After the show we were lucky to meet the band again and Elliot was able to give them a drawing each that he'd spent ages doing. Erin did her usual trick of screaming when Andy spoke to her....I'm wondering if she will ever grow out of this!!

A big thank you to Odd Socks HQ for inviting us down to Brighton for the show!

We hope you had a fun half term break too! 

THINGS WE'RE LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS EASTER!

Despite the cold and wet weather, apparently it's now Spring.  I'm not convinced...our heating is still on and I'm no way near ready to give up my winter boots yet! Elliot has now broken up for the Easter hols and we are looking forward to two weeks of fun. And some nice weather would be nice too!

Here's a selection of things (in no particular order!) that we are looking forward to:

CATCHING UP WITH FRIENDS
This is the big one! I have a lovely group of Mum friends and our children have grown up together after we met at our under ones class back in 2013. We don't all live in the same area though so unfortunately some of Elliot's friends go to different schools. It's so hard to meet up in term time as we are all so busy at weekends so it's really nice in the school holidays to catch up.

ANDY'S DINO RAPS
If you read this blog regularly, or follow me on Twitter, you'll know that Elliot is a huge fan of Andy Day from CBeebies! Andy is bringing his dino raps show to Dorset on Easter weekend and we couldn't be more excited. Erin is going to my parents for the day so Elliot and I can have a day together which we don't do very often these days. He's got his Andy costume ready to wear and we might even pop in and say hello to Dippy while we're in the area!

Weymouth Sealife Adventure Park
The first day of the Easter holidays will be spent here, a favourite local attraction of Elliot's! We are looking forward to taking part in the new Octonauts Shark Mission which runs from March 30th til April 15th. We'll be able to follow the trail around the park and even meet Shellington - Elliot loves a character meet and greet!

ROCK PAINTING
This is a pretty new thing for us but we've really got the bug! I'm guessing it happens all over the UK but people paint rocks and hide them, and then people find them and post on Facebook. We found our first rock in February and have since then painted lots of our own to hide. It's quite exciting when you see one of your own creation pop up on Facebook!

ANDY & THE ODD SOCKS LIVE SHOW
Another Andy event (we're not stalking him I promise!!) - this time a visit to Bristol and tickets to see Andy and his band The Odd Socks. They are a great kids band and we always have a fab time at their shows. The CD is on in our car all the time and the songs are just so catchy!!

CADBURY EASTER EGG HUNTS
This combines two of my favourite things - Cadbury's chocolate and our local National Trust properties!! This has become a bit of a tradition for us and we always head over to Kingston Lacy which is a beautiful stately home set in stunning grounds.

NATURE WALKS AND OUTDOOR FUN
We have some beautiful scenery here in Dorset and we're looking forward to visiting some of our favourite nature reserves. One of the prettiest is Arne and it has a lovely mix of beach, heathland and woods plus a pretty cool wooden playground! Will keep our fingers crossed for dry weather :)

MIGHTY CLAWS ADVENTURE GOLF
We love a bit of crazy golf and Mighty Claws is one of the best we have been to. Featuring large scale animatronic dinosaurs, an erupting volcano and even a purple waterfall, it's a great place to visit if your children are as dinosaur obsessed as mine! Elliot is excited to visit again :)

What do you have planned over the school holidays? 

Visiting Corfe Castle & Corfe Model Village - Dorset Residents' Week 2017

Once a year in May, lots of brilliant attractions in Dorset take part in Residents' Week which aims to raise the profile of all the fun things to do here and encourage locals to visit all the beautiful places right here on their doorstep.

Over 50 attractions take part and they each offer discounts such as reduced price tickets or buy one get one free. This year Residents' Week runs from 8-14th May.

On Monday, we decided to visit the Corfe Castle Model Village with a group of our friends. I'd never visited the model village before but it sounded perfect for a gaggle of crazy 4 year olds and the weather was shaping up to be a beautiful day!

We decided to make a day of it and explore a bit of Corfe Castle too. The castle wasn't included in the Residents' Week offers but we are all National Trust members so got in for free.

We parked up at the NT carpark and followed the pathway round to the entrance to the castle. There is a more direct route which runs alongside the road but the pathway is so much safer as it takes you off road and round the back of the castle, passing fields and a pretty stream.

We headed up to the Castle and found a perfect spot for our picnic - the kids had plenty of room to run around and we could even see the steam train puffing in the distance. The views at the top of Corfe Castle are just beautiful and it reminded me of how lucky I am to live here.

After lunch we decided to explore a bit more of the castle - it was a bit of a mission pushing a buggy up the hill, definitely burnt a few calories off after I huffed and puffed up!! We were a bit restricted having the buggies so two of the mums took all the big kids up to the top of the castle while another friend and I stayed with the smaller ones.

I mentioned that it was hard work pushing the buggy up...well it was just as hard going down, I was petrified of letting go and Erin ending up in the pub at the bottom!!

We headed over to the model village which is just a minutes walk from the entrance to the castle (Corfe Village isn't very big) and we showed our vouchers to the lady on the till. There were 4 adults, 4 4 year olds and 4 under 3's in our party and the total cost was £12, what a bargain!

The model village is very small (literally!!) but it was perfect for us - the children had loads of fun stomping round the little houses, knocking on miniature doors and pretending they were giants. It was really interesting to see what the castle looked like back in 1646 too.

It was really sunny so we spent ages sat in the garden area - there were giant games for the children to play with, a fairy garden and lots of nooks and crannies to play hide and seek in.

Tiredness was beginning to set in so after the children had eaten their ice creams we walked back to the carpark, with a quick stop at the wooden play area. Elliot was so tired, he was a lot slower on the way back!

It was a really fun day and nice to do something different - the children all seemed to enjoy themselves and I'm sure they all slept well that night. All of the 4 year olds will be off to school in September so it's really nice to go out as a big group and spend some time together while we can - some of the kids will be going to different schools so we want to make the most of their time together!