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Even though I went through parental divorce as a teenager, its something I’ve never thought to touch on.
It was tough, with the threat of losing our family home, losing all contact with my Father and the added stress of court visits.
Luckily for me, I was of an age that I totally understood, and if I learned one thing from it its that my vows to Natalie will never be broken. But to other ages or situations the effects of children and divorce could be felt much more strongly.
This is something I’ve never written about before, that is, until Anthony Bennett reached out to me. His company (Milavetz Law) have put together a in-depth post covering topics such as the effects of divorce, how to help children through divorce and advice on managing co-parenting. Something I’m, thankfully, not experienced to talk about but was really worth sharing for those who need it.
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Like Alton Towers (short break review here ➡️) I have fond childhood memories of getting my driving school licence and panning for gold on a Legoland short break and its also safe to say we may have all gone a little Lego crazy recently at home????…
So, as a parent, I was eagerly waited for the time Munchkin was old enough, or rather tall enough, to make the most of it. With Natalie off on maternity leave it was the perfect time to go off-peak, reduce the queuing and the price. So without further ado, here is what we thought of our experience.
Instant Magic
From arrival you are transported into a Lego utopia. As a Legoland short break guest you get separate free parking and enter, regardless of accommodation choice (Lego Hotel or Castle Hotel), through the Lego hotel entrance. If you into Lego like us, the entrance is amazing, with a towering Lego clock tower, holding a giant Lego mist breathing dragon. Its pretty spectacular, even if it does create a small puddle on the path doing so.
Then when inside, you’ll first experience the sweet smelling aroma you need to quickly get used to – its everywhere! Don’t worry though, it only made me slightly hungry. Then you are instantly transported to a Lego world. There’s a Lego pit to build an already growing wall of Lego up a pillar and a fantastic minifigure wall, complete with moving Lego magnifying glass to get a closer look and see all the minifigures you have ever dreamed of.
Fantastic bricktastic accommodation
There’s currently two hotels to choose from (with a third ‘Woodland village’ coming in 2024) and I cant really see a difference between them unless you want a theme. For the more generic knight’s room or wizard room you can choose the Castle hotel, however if you’d like to go down a Lego theme such as Lego Friends or Ninjago you would more likely opt for the main resort hotel.
The main choice then is whether to go standard or premium but this seems to only come down to extra theming and unlimited free access to the playroom (which can be added to standard for a small fee). We opted for premium as this was at the time a once off… but time will tell if that is the case.
I can say that in the atrium, lifts and restaurants, both hotels transported us to brick built heaven. The premium theming was superb, with numerous Lego decorations around the room. There was a premium coffee machine, PS4, Lego building area and an in-room treasure hunt for which we received a magazine, towel, Lego set, keychain and our first and only Pop badge.
The extras – The Legoland playroom, pool and entertainment
Away from the park there is the Lego pirate themed swimming and activity pool, character meet and greets and the Legoland playroom. We didn’t make it to the pool and what we saw of the entertainment was good with Duplo building challenges, but the best thing to mention here is the playroom.
A castle, a cityscape with road, a town with a train track and an undersea adventure fill the room ready to add your own creations. There’s a duplo zone for the younger ones too, and some digital Lego games. We visited it twice as it was such good fun to get us all building together. There’s drinks and snacks available too, all in a room filled with that sweet vanilla aroma.
The Park – Superb kids rides, experiences and shows
I didn’t know what to expect but was blown away from the park. With Munchkin measuring over 1 metre there was only two rides he couldn’t go on, and there were a handful we took 5 month old Sprout on too! Munchkin was instantly filled with joy as we flew around the park from ride to ride to ride with short off peak queue lengths.
For Munchin, he loved the spinning spider and the biggest rollercoster; the dragon. For me, I loved the flight of the sky lion and the Hydra’s Challenge.
As long as you can hold your littlest one in a sitting position, they can join you on Deep sea adventure, Coastguard HQ, Balloon school, Aero Nomad, the Legoland express and the Fairytale Brook (but there may be more I missed). Sprout was only just sitting and they didn’t mind at all.
Free Lego!
It wouldn’t be a good visit to Legoland if you didn’t come away with some Lego, and what’s better? Free Lego! We had two opportunities to get our hands on free bricks; firstly as a result of completing the in room treasure hunt which is obviously hotel only. But also in the park.
As it was the Springfest event, The Brick in Miniland was giving out free Lego bee’s to build and take home.
Rides that even a thrill seeker could appreciate
Albeit Legoland is not in the league of other theme parks for thrill, there are some rides I could honestly say were good fun, even if less about the G-force and more about the fun factor.
The Dragon has some seriously cool Lego sculptures, before several nice drops through some tight tunnels. The Spinning Spider could seriously throw you about if you span the middle wheel like crazy which we most certainly did. But the top one had to be Hydra’s challenge. If you timed it go into the centre and then fly to the outside and back in, there was some serious thrills to have whilst dodging the bursts of water.
Quirky dining experiences
There’s two restaurants for breakfast and dinner; the Tournament Tavern sits within the Castle Hotel and the Bricks Restaurant within the Resort hotel.
We visited the Tournament Tavern on our first night. There was plenty of Lego to see around the room and the food was superb. On our departure day we visited the Bricks restaurant. This had a set price menu (which you can view here ➡️) but was honestly a little disappointing. If we visited again we would probably double up the Tournament Tavern for both days.
Price
A Legoland short break like most any theme parks doesn’t come cheap. Further to the cost, if you stay on resort, you have to add park tickets for the second day, although the pool, playroom and breakfast are included.
Overall the one night break, with two park days, came just short of £480 but this rises to around £600 at peak times.
Legoland is located in just outside the M25, east of Heathrow Airport.
Sum up and the all important stars
From the moment we arrived to the moment we left I was transported to a Lego dreamland. I had high expectations and the Legoland staycation exceeded every single one. I just had to knock half a star off for the Bricks restaurant but otherwise I can’t wait to stay again. One day in our seemingly brick filled future.
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Having just written the adjustments of a second child (spoilers, its tough) its complete madness that I decided to embark on a YouTube journey as well.
And not just any YouTube journey, nor a parenting, product review or day out review channel journey like in this blog.
It’s actually a Lego, story-telling, build YouTube journey. A amateur stop motion story telling and build at that too.
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With three becoming four it’s seems to be an unbelievable unequal adjustment as two to three.
With our first, Munchkin, yes everything changed but we had time to recover at weekends. With our second, Sprout, we don’t have that luxury.
Here are all our unforeseen adjustments of a second child.
It’s worth it though….right?
The little sleep stealer
Keeping time
Or rather not keeping time at all. Late is the new early right?
2: One morning we got Munchkin up and got as far as getting in the car. Only to realise we would miss breakfast at nursery so had to come back inside and try again an hour later!
Its been a mess!
Appreciating time
With the first child it’s a blur, mainly comprising of lack of sleep, sick and nappy changes.
You can find yourself wishing for development stages to speed up, that the child grows out of them and for progression to happen. It’s a feeling many parents are aware of and one we inevitably later regret.
With the second you want to stop time. Enjoy every moment. Have every snuggle and every sniff of that lovely baby smell. Because you know well now that it doesn’t last and soon they will crawl, walk and then run to school and beyond.
Less ‘us’ time
You’d think I’d be talking about partner time, but that’s a given with parenting!!
This one is for less time for Munchkin with all of us; Mummy, Daddy and both sets of Grandparents. He’s had solo play time for the first time of his life and less time with all his favourite people as they share their time with Sprout.
It’s a tough adjustment and one that invokes a feeling of guilt in me. I feel bad that I can’t give him all my time. Luckily Munchkin has adjusted well though and continues to be an excellent big brother.
Morning cuddles
Excellent 90% of the time that is with just the occasional ‘when does he go back inside Mummy’s tummy?’ in the first few weeks.
More responsibility
With just Munchkin I didn’t realise how much me and Natalie did together. For example, at bath time, when I would play with Munchkin, Mummy would sort out the clothes for the next day, she would then get him dry and changed while I cleaned up.
Add a sprout and I’ve realised how much extra responsibility there is with only one set of hands. Its more exhausting but, well, what did we expect?
Everything takes longer
If you thought getting one small preschooler dressed and into a car before 7:30 AM was tough imagine adding a hungry pooping crying little baby too.
It can take forever. It’s no wonder we can’t keep time.
Everything is harder
This one is no surprise. Everything is harder. You’ve really got to have all your eggs in a row and even then only sometimes it all goes to plan.
The trick is to leave time for everything to go wrong. A classic risk based analysis….
There is no catching up
With just Munchkin we could easily catch up from the tough nights of little sleep. With two there’s no catching up. And so many nights of 4 to 5 hours of sleep really add up to some exhausted parents.
you can’t blame me ?
You get all the snuggles again
There are positives too of this adjustment of a second child of course! You get baby snuggles again!
Baby snuggles make all the sleepless nights, the exhausting, the balancing act, the lateness and the mess worth it.
It is clear the adjustment to a second child has and can be a challenge. A challenge I did not really anticipate. It is such a major change in the family dynamic on a whole, and it can take time for everyone to get used to it.
So here it what I wish I had: some tips for adjusting to a second child:
Be prepared
Before baby 2 arrives, talk to your first child about what to expect and what may change. Explain that the baby will need a whole lot of attention, but that nothing changes in the way you love and care for them.
Be patient
It may take some time for your first child to adjust to the new arrival. It may invoke feelings of jealousy or anger, and in turn they may act out in different ways. So you have to be super patient with them and help them through this huge adjustment.
Make time for each child individually
Even though you’ll be spending 98% of your time keeping the new baby happy, it is important to make time for each of your children on their own. Let them know its their time with you so they appreciate that you are putting them first. This reassures them they have not been replaced even if they have lost a lot of time with you.
Encourage your children to play together
It’s no surprise that getting your first child to play with your second can help your children bond and learn to get along. But equally importantly, It can also give you some time to relax and catch your breath. Because multiple children are exhausting!
Get help when you need it.
If you are struggling with the adjustment don’t be afraid to ask for help. It’s so important to keep talking to your partner, as well as seeking help from family, friends, or a professional. We didn’t seek help until we were completely shattered and I regret that.
So there are all my adjustments of a second child my exhausted, running solely on caffeine, brain could fathom with a few tips I wish Id read before Sprout arrived.
But I’ll say it again, it is worth it. Every single second.
If you have two, what’s the biggest thing you learned in that transition? Let me know in the comments.
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Since learning about global warming in detail back during my pre-GCSE years I have always been concerned about how we act and the impact on the planet, but was much less educated about the ways to improve, I liked things like a fast car without thinking about the pollution and had a much more wasteful lifestyle.
Fast forward to the birth of Munchkin, I suddenly had a good purpose to change as it was hard to imagine a world where Munchkin wouldn’t meet an orangutan and instead grow up living on food containing microplastics. This began the start of our more sustainable lifestyle.
What we do now shapes the world our kids will live in after all…
By 2030, the demands from 5.6 billion consumers will be draining the Earth for resources so fast that we need two planets to support us. If everyone lived like western consumers, we would need five.
and that says a lot. Two planets? Last time I checked, we only have one.
This is why we chose to live an ever developing (as I’m still learning and finding new things to change) sustainable lifestyle.
Sustainable life
What do we mean by ‘sustainable living’?
If we take these two things into account:
‘Both people and nature are facing severe consequences if our current consumption of resources increases’ – WWF.org
‘The world population is growing by over 200,000 people every single day. It will reach 8.5 billion by 2030 with 5.6 billion people being part of the consumer class’ – The world counts
Then we all need to reduce what we use to keep our consumption at, or below, current rates.
This means we need to use less, use better, reuse more and recycle more.
Otherwise, we risk dangerous global consequences with bigger extremes in climate, with more flooding, fires and drought, more microplastics in our food and more risk of disease.
The beginning of our sustainable living life style.
There’s many things we could change so we looked at starting with the biggest impact. With a baby at the time the answer was simple – plastic – and more specifically wipes and nappies. We keep it going and keep our promises each year by making and posting more plastic free and environmentally sound promises.
Munchkin excited to sport a reusable nappy
Then once we had those changed that we looked further – moving around the house and looking at all of our behaviours and changes we could make.
The key was to change gradually. Switching products and lifestyle choices little by little.
Four years on we live, guided by our eco-warrior guidelines, to live our lives as a more environmentally friendly family. So, here we go here are our:
Our eco-warrior guidelines for a more sustainable lifestyle
1. Reduce plastic use
One of main swaps has always been around reducing our plastic use and waste as ‘By 2050, virtually every seabird species on the planet will be eating plastic.’ – The national Geographic .
Ways we have changed this include but are not limited to:
Using reusable or plastic free baby products such as nappies and wipes and eliminating bags – We changed nappies with The super reusable nappies and eco-friendly alternatives from Kit & Kin.
Cleaning our house without buying plastic contained cleaning products. – We switched our cleaning products to Koh, Smol and, more recently the Bower Collective.
Using plastic free deodorants and shower products – I currently use and recommend Wild deodorantBare bar and Grumm skincare.
And furthermore; more than 5 trillion pieces of plastic are already in our oceans. Plastic that endures from 450 years to forever (the national geographic).
This means we first need to reuse and reduce our consumption.
We do this by:
Avoiding use of plastic straws by using paper or our own
limiting our purchase of plastic by sourcing eco-friendly alternatives
Using reusable containers to store food
Use metal drinking bottle alternatives
Then for the plastic we do generate (because inevitably there will be some):
We recycle everything we can, filling that bin up every fortnight.
Go one step further by taking a majority of plastic bags to large supermarkets too. This service takes chocolate and crisp packets, frozen food bags, carrier bags, bread bags and more.
Then to top it off we due Terracycle to recycle the things we can’t at home or at larger stores.
3. Save energy
With energy costing horrific levels right now I wouldn’t be surprised that most people are doing their bit to save energy anyway.
We have reduced our thermostat and heating use, swapping for hoodys, installed solar panels and have got smarter with smart plugs turning off devices when not in use.
Solar panels on our roof
We get the rest of the energy we do use from an eco-friendly provider ensuring no energy we use comes from fossil fuels.
Following from the solar panels, I’ll be looking for an electric car in the next few years.
Watch this space?
4. Reduce food waste.
Food takes a astronomical amount of carbon, water, and energy for its production, storage and transport and then so much goes to waste:
Roughly one third of the food produced in the world for human consumption every year – approximately 1,3 billion tonnes – gets lost or wasted.
We make an effort to only buy what we need, and make sure its all used before sell by date, keeping leftovers for the next day.
We compost our food waste, returning it to the soil, which we would use to make more food ourselves if we had the space – something we hope to do one day in the future.
5. Use eco-friendly household products
Eco-friendly household companies exist tackling two problems; plastic packaging and the presence of toxins which are harmful to the environment.
We use/recommend:
Smol – Eco-friendly dishwasher, washing machine tabs and surface sprays
When the kids are young this was simple. For every plastic car there’s a plastic free alternative. You can also get wooden kitchens and food, train sets, garden toys etc, etc. One of our favourite toys that Munchkin has enjoyed over the years is the wooden Mutable. Review here ➡️
This has admittedly had to change slightly when Munchkin approached 3 to 4 years old. His interest in Lego grew, as well as other plastic-only toys which don’t seem to have the same plastic free alternatives. So I had to alter my perspective.
I decided toys like Lego and Magnetic tiles allow endless opportunities. We could have a Lego city now, and build a Lego aeroplane in a few years on a magnetic tile runway. These toys will then get easily sold one day (not that I’ll ever want to get rid of Lego!). This way we can have some plastic, without feeling too guilty as it will get used for years and years and passed on.
7. Go paperless
With every retailer and bank owning a phone app, its easier than ever to tick that box and go paperless.
Having digital versions of what you previously locked in a box in the wardrobe also makes them easy to archive and then search and find again too plus it saves those precious carbon storing trees?.
8. Donate don’t dispose
This is one thing we notice when we had Munchkin. Babies go through new clothes every few months at what seems like a lightning rate. Likewise as adults, we stop wearing otherwise perfect clothing.
Similarly children move on from one toy craze to the next (although we try to limit this waste with adaptable toys like Lego as mentioned before).
To prevent this we store all our children’s clothes and toys in the loft, and now with Sprout, we bring them down eliminating the need for new clothes and toys.
Then when we know we won’t need them again, we pop to the recycling donation boxes and give our clothes to people who may need them more.
This means, in all, close to zero waste.
9. Save water
Water is easy to take for granted, as most of the western world has a continuous clean supply however;
meaning this is an international issue. Furthermore on home soil, 12 our of 23 water companies operated last year in ‘serious’ stress meaning this really can affect us all.
We save water by;
Taking short showers, and using the minimum water in the bath with the kids.
Use cold water rather than hot when possble
Only run the dishwasher and washing machine when they are full (an easy one with two children!)
Use the dual flush function on the toilet correctly.
Installing a water butt this year
All these little differences add up.
Living by these 9 sustainable lifestyle guidelines we save plastic, water and carbon, but we know we can do more.
So here are some of our future guidelines…
Our future ‘sustainable lifestyle guidelines’
1. Grow produce.
If we eventually move house and have space I will certainly grow our own food, eliminating all the carbon associated with transport and storage. It would also be a great way to teach our children to appreciate where food comes from and put our composting to better use.
2. Eat less meat
This is a huge one as ‘Meat production accounts for 14.5% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions’ – carbonbrief.org, and is something we were really good at in recent years but have more recently fallen off the wagon. We will aim to make some simple switches, with tons of meat-less options available now, to increase our meat free days in the coming months.
These have been our sustainable lifestyle swaps because we only have one planet. Do you have any others? Let us know in the comments.
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I’m always looking to reduce my plastic footprint and live a more sustainable lifestyle. Smol have us sorted for all of our dishwasher and laundry needs whilst being totally plastic free, and we have also more recently tried out their eco-friendly surface cleaner. Here is our Smol Review!
Why choose Smol
If it’s one thing that comes in plastic packaging that could easily be swapped its dishwasher and laundry tabs and, put simply, Smol have it sorted. A simple subscription platform, with tabs posted through the letter box means you never run out and never see a plastic tub again.
With one child that always gets messy and another who’s 2 months old and loves to throw up, its handy knowing we never run out and use a formula that works every time.
It is one step further on our journey to reduce our eco-impact.
Their claims
Smol claim to make high performance, sustainable swaps effortless, accessible and affordable. They say they cut carbon by 35% whilst keeping prices fair. Bigbold claims.
So how does it work?
How does Smol work?
I’ll use laundry tabs as an example, but its a similar process for any of their products.
Click this link, tap ‘get started’ and choose the first product to switch, so for this example we picked laundry.
Take a free trial and then tell them:
What type of capsule you need? Bio or non-bio
How many capsules you need in a wash (some cases require two)
How often you run a wash
And they will then send them at the frequency matching your use. Consequently, you never run out.
But what happens if you do run out?
It’s inevitable your dishwasher or laundry use changes from time to time so sometimes you do need more. You can pop back into your account and adjust your usage or click ‘send now’ to be popped in the next post collection.
How environmentally friendly is Smol?
I originally chose Smol as they are 100% plastic free (for dishwasher and laundry). AlI in sent in a clever cardboard child-proof case too.
A child proof case that albeit is clever it’s very hard to master mind you.
However, it turns out they do a lot more. The packaging is fully recyclable and compostable, they use vegetable based inks so there’s no nasties there and their cardboard is from sustainable managed sources (Forest Stewardship Council approved). They are also cruelty free having never tested on animals and save chemicals, water, animal fat and carbon.
How do they stack up in terms of cost?
Probably the most important question aside ‘do they work?’ is will they cost me more? It’s disappointing that most eco-friendly swaps are not that economical.
To compare, let’s look at the maths for the laundry capsules. 24 laundry capsules come in at £5.30 or 22.1p per wash.
Top leading brands, Ariel, Fairy and Persil rank in at 23.5p, 28.2p and 21.7p (according to Tesco.com on 05 Jan 2023 for similar quantities). So against the top brands they do rank well.
For the more money savvy though, own brand and buying in bulk can save money? However, that comes with the mountain of capsules for bulk buying, the less acceptable performance for own brand and lack of totally plastic free alternative for any shop bought alternative.
Do they work?
If you need any evidence of how well they work I’ll tell you this. I have kids.
Kids who come back from nursery caked in dinner, love jumping in muddy puddles and generally making a total mess.
Kids who like a fresh bowl with every snack and like all children get pasta sauce caked all over the plate and cutlery resulting in many many dishwasher runs.
If they didn’t work, I’d be looking for an alternative.
Surface cleaner
The surface cleaner is a new addition which I thought I’d try the trial to give my thoughts.
This comes as a reusable plastic bottle which you can keep and reuse forever (It’s seems well built but I imagine the odd replacement spray nozzle will have to be ordered resulting in a little plastic waste over time).
It has a simple process. Fill to a the bottom of the coloured grip. Pop in the tablet. Wait to dissolve and then top up with water again. Very simple. (This is a big improvement on others such as Splosh (see our Splosh Review here) as they require a vigorous work out style mixing.
It couldn’t be easier. The tablet quickly dissolves and I appreciate avoiding the shaking. It smells pleasant and cleans perfectly, tackling our kitchen with ease.
It’s so good we’ve subscribed ?
Verdict and those all important stars
Smol have an easy to use subscription platform, handy email updates to check your stock and the simple system to push it back, order more and never ran out process.
They are moderately expensive being only comparable to top brands, however are fully support our eco-conscious lifestyle being 100% plastic free, recyclable and compostable. You never run out and they are effective for our messy family.
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As long as I can remember, from the young Stephen who’s first ‘big ride’ was the Corkscrew, back in the day of the toyland tours, mini apple and energizer, I’ve always wanted to stay at Alton Towers.
20 years later, with a wife and a 3 year old, my dream to stay finally came true. Here’s what we thought in our Alton Towers Short Break Review.
Mystical Woodland lodge accommodation
With six accommodation types to choose from there’s something for everyone from the traditionally themed, flying ship containing, Alton towers Hotel, to the Splash landings Hotel with the waterpark and the child themed CBeebies land hotel.
We opted for the mid-priced Enchanted village Woodland lodge. These cosy cabins had the right amount of mature theming for us, while still magical for Munchkin. Our stay included a round of golf and breakfast at the on-resort Crooked Spoon restaurant.
The lodge transported us to a mystical, land with its woodland theme, watched over by forest sprites. With munchkin loving how we could secretly turn their light on and off to imagine them coming and going but never seen. For us, it was clean, comfortable, albeit the longest walk to the park.
The accommodation also comes with an included 9 hole golf pass. While a good themed course of rides past and present, the golf needed a bit of TLC. It looks like it hasn’t been maintained in a long while.
Looking for other theme park short break reviews? Check out our Legoland review here ➡️
Fab kids rides, experiences and shows
I didn’t know what to expect from the children’s Cbeebies Land area, having not visited it since I was a child, but Munchkin was instantly in awe. He got to meet and greet his favourite characters, pretend to be Postman Pat, give Duggee a famous Duggee hug and ride his first rollercoaster guided by the Octonauts. Its safe to say he had an exceptional time from the get go.
Some of the best thrill rides
It wouldn’t be a trip to Alton towers if Daddy didn’t get to sneak away, join the single rider queues and ride some of my old and now new favourite rides. The Smiler didn’t disappoint and the Wickerman is surprisingly thrilling.
Munchkin loved standing by the drop zone of oblivion too, watching the coasters fall and vanish into the smokey pit. Now I’m counting down the days to take him on it.
Quirky dining experiences
There’s an array of restaurants to choose from when you stay. There’s the Crooked Spoon where we had breakfast, a pizza restaurant in the Splash Landings hotel, a Secret garden restaurant in the main Hotel and the rollercoaster restaurant within the park grounds.
We visited the rollercoaster restaurant on our first night. It was so exciting to see out food fly down the tracks, with flashing lights and music to add to the experience. While this provided a fantastic experience, it was let down by how food comes out as its cooked, so my main meal came nearly 10 minutes before Munchkin or Mummys. Anyone with a young child at dinner will know that the child’s dinner should come first. Otherwise the food was delicious and the whole experience was worth a visit.
On our departure day we visited the Secret Garden. This had the biggest portions of delicious home cooked English meals and a lovely finish to our break.
A fantastic pool
For an extra cost, a visit to Splash Landings Pool can be added. This is a fantastic adventure pool with water flying everywhere. Indoor and outdoor pool zones, a fun fast indoor river and a multitude of slides. This was pure noisy swimming pool fun and I’ve never been to a pool like it.
One downside would be the large slide which circles the room had a wait time of 40 minutes. I’ve never seen anything like that in a pool or waterpark before and I certainly didn’t want to waste that long away
Price
A short break at Alton towers like most theme parks doesn’t come cheap. Also if you stay on resort, you have to add park tickets and pool tickets with only breakfast and crazy golf included in the short break price. Overall the one night break, with two park days and one pool visit, came just short of £380. A considerable amount consider we don’t pay much more for 4 nights at Center Parcs, yet I’d definitely spend it again.
Looking for a longer staycation? See our review of Center Parcs here.
Location
Alton Towers is located in Staffordshire between Stoke and Trent and Derby.
Sum up and those all important stars
Even with my high expectations from wanting to stay as a child, the Alton Towers short break did not disappoint. The accomodation, food, and the park itself were superb. The only disappointments were the arrival of meals at the Rollercoaster restaurant, and the mini golf, which looks like its needed love for many years. Overall its a great break we would definitely repeat in the future.
Center Parcs has always held a special place in my heart, from countless family holidays with both my family and my wife’s. Naturally we would love to instil that love in Munchkin and Sprout too.
But what is the fuss all about..? Here are my top reasons to consider a forest staycation with our Center Parcs review.
Sherwood Forest Winter 2021
There’s multiple locations
You pack your bags, fill the car to the brim and jump in. There’s five UK locations and one in Ireland, so likely one close by to you, though it is nice to try a new site from time to time.
We usually stay local but ventured 4 hours to see the Redwoods of Longleat on our last visit and it was so worth the longer journey, even with a small child in tow.
Longleat Summer 2022
Everything is on site
When you’ve had a wonder you can take your car to the Villa, unpack and relax, knowing everything is on site and you don’t see to see another car, apart from the odd center parcs van, for another few days or a week. Everything is in walking distance, but you can also hire some wheels if you want to travel faster.
There’s an included fantastic pool, multiple restaurants, an on-site supermarket and tons of activities, so you never really need to leave. Over the many holidays we have had I’ve tried nearly every activity, from a relaxing spa day to jumping 10 metres on to a blow up cushion with no harness!
Relaxed, away from normality
You really feel the benefit of nature here. They are all in forests so you can instantly connect with nature. You walk or cycle to the facilities and can breathe in that fresh air and truly relax. You’ll often get visits from swans, squirrels and ducks and if you’re very lucky, may spot a muntjac deer even at your villa door.
If you need more there’s the Aqua Sana; award winning standalone Spa’s with a huge choice of spa experiences and treatments. It’s something I always add to the break to get a bit of chill time with the wifey, away from the kids!
Fantastic pool
What drew me as a child was the pool. Always at tropical temperatures, with mutiple flumes and outdoor rapids and lazy rivers. Then now they’ve added some thrill rides too to keep me coming back. It’s the best pool experience I’ve had in the UK and will keep the kids entertained for hours on end.
Fantastic activities
If you want to try something new, there is something for everyone. There is a huge lake in each location where you can take a boat, try paddle boarding, or take on the aqua park.
For adeneraline, you can then trek in the trees, take on quad biking, jump from a 10 metre tall tower, or get messy in paintball. You can then take it slower with pottery painting, falconry, or a wildlife walk. There’s a creche for children too and many many childrens activities from football school, to arts and crafts to exploring nature.
Super restaurants
When you need a bite to eat there’s a plethora of restaurants including well known companies such as Starbucks, Bella Italia, Cafe Rouge and Las Iguanas as well as their personal offerings like the Pancake House (where everythings either in a pancake or on a waffle), Rajinda Predesh (their Indian) and Forester’s Inn, with a woodland pub feel.
At the Villa there’s a fully equipped kitchen, and food delivery service too.
Perfect family time
With everything easily accessible all you need is you. We have had holidays here with 3 month olds up to 70 years old as it really is a destination for everyone.
Munchkin has been twice in the first year of his life, twice in his second and will go twice in his third year too (the lucky sausage!). Next year we will also be introducing it to Sprout too.
Sum up and those all important stars
Center Parcs always delivers for us, from a couple retreat to a family holiday. Its expensive, but worth every penny and that’s why we revisit year after year. So it deserves the full 5 stars.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
So that’s our Center Parcs review. What’s your favourite UK holiday spot? Let us know in the comments.
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As if the magic doesn’t come itself, but if you need any tips, here is how we went about building the Christmas magic in a 3 year old?.
Start building the Christmas magic by decorating the tree ?
Get them involved in decorating the tree. They will put everything in the wrong place and you’ll have to re-do it when they sleep but they will appreciate the process and it’s welcomes the start of the rest of the festive fun.
Visit the big man
Be it Santa, Old Saint Nick or Father Christmas. Get a visit or two in, and make sure you see him when he comes down the street. It helps build the huge festive fib and gets them excited for their main pressies.
Get an awesome craft activity advent calendar with a kind elf
Or chocolate if you prefer. But something to count down the days.
Toucan box advent calendar chimney
Munchkin had a craft calendar from Toucan box which we didn’t use last year which has been great fun, with books, baking and simple Christmas crafts.
It also came with a kind elf. No pants on the tree or flour all over the kitchen here!
Don the festive clothing
Christmas jumpers aren’t just for one day, get all the festive gear on all month. Useful when you want to save £2000 on your energy bill too! Oh, and get the whole family involved.
See some Christmas lights
Explore a local woodland with a Christmas light experience. I recommend Sandringham Luminate which we visited last year, but this year we are trying out the National Trust and a local small route (below).
Do some merry baking
We’ve made some ginger biscuit Rudolf’s and some chocolate cornflake wreaths so far this year. Munchkin loved both the making, and the munching!
Set up a Christmas eve box
As a final little excitement before the big day, set up a Christmas eve box, with Pj’s, a book and a Christmas mug. The perfect end to a build up before the big day.
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It’s that time of the year when, even though we don’t always want to start thinking of it, Christmas is around the corner. One thing we love at Christmas, is getting the family or our friends together and enjoying some games together. Here’s my list of the best games for your Christmas Party.
Don’t Get Got – Big Potato Board Games
It wouldn’t be a Christmas party without Don’t Get Got. In my opinion, this is the ultimate game for a party as you can play it alongside everything else. It can start when people arrive, continue through present giving and unwrapping, through Christmas dinner and into the evening.
Don’t get got example wallet mid game (left) and game box and wallet (right)
Each player gets a wallet with one mission everyone knows and 5 secret missions with the aim to complete 3 to win. The mission everyone knows is simply a ‘Guess what?’ which you succeed if someone replies with ‘What?’. This can often be the winning mission and can be attempted multiple times to help you succeed..
Then there’s 5 more secret tasks in your wallet to complete. These range from ‘Stick this card in a jam jar and get a player to open it’ to ‘call a player the incorrect name and get them to correct you’. These can only be attempted once, as if you are caught, you fail the task, so choose you have to choose your opportunity wisely!
Azul is a beautiful tile game where you aim to decorate a palace with tiles. You take turns to collect tiles from the plates and place them on your mosaic. You then score based on where tiles land, and which tiles you collect. A complicated one to explain, a fun one to play.
P for Pizza, is a super simple party game for 2 – 4 players. Being suitable for smaller numbers it’s a good one to get out while the rest of the family do the Christmas clear up. Its fast, easy to get to grips with, and at Christmas, won’t make you hungry like it usually does!
To play, match a category with a corresponding letter and shout out an answer which connects the two before your teammates. Quickest correct answer wins a slice to build their own pizza pyramid. As the pyramid gets taller, the choice of categories lessens, increasing the difficulty to win.
A social deduction game like no other. Everyone knows the answer but the imposter. Each give a word to either convince you know the category, or hide from detection. Its a game everyone wants to play again and again.
Age 14+
? 15 min
? 3 – 8
Use code BBMUCHKIN at Big Potato Games to save 15%
Catan is a longer game for later in the evening, where up to four players claim numbered hexagonal tiles and build a free settlement and road. Then as the dice is rolled, claim resources based on the tiles surrounding your settlements to build more settlements, cities and roads. Claim victory points and race to ten to succeed.
Sushi Go is a deluxe, 2 – 8 player 20 minute sushi feast game – like you need another more influence to eat at christmas!
A game of Sushi Go last three rounds. In each round, each player is dealt a hand of cards. Simultaneously, each player chooses 1 card to play and places it face down. When all players have chosen the cards are turned and each player passes their hand to the left.
Sushi Go basic game set up
The round ends when all the cards have been placed, and then cards are scored depending on the type of sushi. The player with the highest points wins.
This is a good one for Christmas as it’s family friendly with a simple consept
Linkee is a simple and fun trivia based team game which works best with three of more teams of two or more players. A question master then has four questions to ask one by one, then a clue if it’s still required to the teams. The first team to shout ‘Linkee!’ and guess the link between the answers then wins the card. Each card has a letter on the other side, and the first team to spell ‘Linkee’ wins.
Linkee set up (left) and example card (right)
There’s two extra little rules to use to stop the game going on forever when you get endless ‘E’s. You can ‘buy’ a letter from the bank in exchange for three cards, or delete one from another team at a cost of two cards.
Linkee is a favourite as its simple but highly competitive, with everyone ready to shout ‘Linkee!’
