Family Day Out: Stepney City Farm

We enjoyed a fabulous afternoon out this week at Stepney City Farm, in the East End of London; a gem I'd never visited before and that was fun for all of the family.

Stepney City Farm



Bridget saying hi to the chickens

Fun at Stepney City Farm

Stepney City Farm
 


The city farm is fairly compact as far as farms go, but packs in plenty.

Animal feed is available to purchase at the farm reception so children are able to try their hand at feeding their favourite animals, Bridget loves animals so she found this super fun.

There are lots of 'buzz facts' boards up around the farm with interesting little nuggets of information about farm life and the animals within, which provide an interest and an educational side to the trip - perfect for older, more curious children.

Stepney City Farm buzz fact

In the centre of the farm is a huge area dedicated to some allotments for local residents. My Dad has recently took over an allotment so this proved to be quite interesting to my Mum and I, less so for Bridget and Beatrice and my brother Dan who came along for the fun. You can tell a real care and dedication goes into these small growing patches, every effort has been made to repel birds and bugs from eating the produce and we saw some impressive things growing, from courgettes, tomatoes, squash, onions and an abundance of beautiful smelling fresh herbs. The farm apparently sells 'veg boxes' to locals too, which I thought was great. 

 

Allotment at Stepney City Farm

The farm hosts a number of events for locals - there was a music group for toddlers taking place when we arrived and there's a play section with lots of toys and ride ons available to enjoy - again popular with Bridget.

There is a little farm shop, which was unfortunately shut on Friday when we visited, and a picnic area too.

Stepney City Farm runs as a charity organisation, so rather than ask for an entry price fee, there are simply donation points to offer up what you can afford or would like to pay. This makes for an affordable day out for the family, especially if you have more than one child; a lot of farms or petting zoos charge a fair amount per adult and child, so for the summer holidays, this is a great shout as a cheap way of keeping them entertained for a day!

Stepney City Farm has a heart and soul that is based all around the local community, and there's something really special about that.

 

Stepney City Farm is open Tuesday-Sunday 10am-4pm and is about a ten minute walk from both Limehouse and Stepney Stations.

Cooking with Children: Chocolate, Cornflake and Marshmallow Cakes

I'm a very firm believer in encouraging children to cook from a young age, and Bridget has been making cakes and 'helping' me in the kitchen since before she was able to walk and would just 'stir' cake ingredients from the comfort of her high chair. She absolutely loves to help Mummy, and her favourite job of all is to 'make cakes' - a really fun activity for children of most ages, especially with the added bonus of eating them afterwards and handing them out proudly to various family members. Bridget has her own little apron and loves going to fetch it if I invite her to do some cooking in the kitchen.

These Chocolate Cornflake Marshmallow Cakes are a slight step up from the ones I made myself as a child and are absolutely delicious, rich with milk chocolate, crisp from the cornflakes but gooey from the marshmallow - just gorgeous and very tempting for children and adults of all age. They are easy to make, take very little time and are a great way of spending quality time with your little one in the kitchen.

For these particular cakes, I bought all of the ingredients from Lidl too for less than £3.00 so it's an inexpensive family activity.

The below makes 12 cakes.

Chocolate, Cornflake and Marshmallow Cakes

Here's how:

• 80g butter (unsalted)
• 1 pack mini marshmallows
• 1 large bar milk chocolate
• 80g raisins
• 250g cornflakes

Firstly get your little one to wash their hands with you and get them into this habit before doing any tasks in the kitchen and then help them tie their apron.

Now little one can be in charge of breaking up the chocolate into a crack and melt-proof bowl (without eating any if possible!) while Mum or Dad (or whoever is cooking with little one) boils the kettle and places a small saucepan on the hob with some just boiled water.

Excitedly breaking up and sneaking in a few bites of chocolate

Once all the chocolate is broken up and placed into the ceramic dish, add the butter and two thirds of the pack of marshmallows and place the bowl over the boiling water. Obviously if allowing little ones to help at this stage, be extremely careful and be on hand at all times - Bridget knows that this step is 'burnies'. 

Chocolate, butter and marshmallows melting

Chocolate, butter and marshmallows melting

Now get little one to pour the Cornflakes into a mixing bowl, then you pour over the melted chocolate and marshmallow mix and allow little one to stir. Add the raisins now too and stir well.

Mummy's little helper

Get your toddler or child to line a cupcake tin with 12 cake cases and then help her to spoon a generous spoonful into each - it doesn't matter if this is a little messy, this is all part of the fun.

Adding the finishing touches

Once the mixture is evenly distributed allow your little one to scatter or place a few marshmallows over the top and set aside to set for an hour or so. Enjoy!

Family Activities: Making Halloween Cards

Children and toddlers absolutely love anything that involves any arts and crafts and for younger ones, like my daughter Bridget who has just turned two, it's an excellent way of helping them tune their fine motor skills - not to mention keeping them entertained for a while; perfect during half term if your kids are now climbing the walls. It’s just a great family activity.

With Halloween coming up on Monday, I spent some time with Bridget making spooky cards for all the family using a bunch of different items and encouraging her to get messy and have some fun.

We recently bought the Step2 Flip & Doodle Desk for Bridget's birthday, which is a desk with easel and drawers and compartments for all different arts and crafts and it has been such a great investment. We've already had hours of fun with it and I know come the colder, winter months when I'm very heavily pregnant or at home with the new baby, this is going to be invaluable.

Some simple Halloween crafting needn't be an expensive ask either, the only thing we bought were some spooky stickers from a pound shop - everything else we had in supply; and we even used an apple to help us print some paint-pumpkins. 

Homemade Halloween Cards

Halloween Crafting

Things you might need:

· Orange tissue paper

· Coloured card

· PVA Glue

· Some googly eyes

· Pipe cleaners

· Pompoms

· An apple

· Some yellow and red paint (or orange if you have some)

· Sticky backed letters

· Spooky Halloween stickers (can pick up in pound shops, supermarkets or Hobbycraft)


We made eight cards - simply folding 8 pieces of coloured card in half - plus a few paper artworks to practise on first and we did half with the paint pumpkins and half with tissue paper pumpkins (to allow the paint to dry sufficiently).

For the paint pumpkins I cut the apple in half and used a paring knife to make a small incision into the top, and then inserted a lollipop stick, to act as a handle. We didn't have any orange paint, so I encouraged Bridget to mix some red and yellow Crayola paint together in a bowl with a paint brush until we had the desired colour, which she seemed to enjoy. We then dipped the apple fully into the paint and then placed onto the card or paper to make a delightful pumpkin print. Just do half and then set aside to dry fully. Luckily we had a sunny day so left on the window sill and they were dry in a couple of hours.

Using some orange hued tissue paper, purchased in a large pack of ten coloured sheets from Asda (only £1.00) as part of the art supplies, we ripped up small pieces then scrunched them into little balls. I drew, with pencil, a small circle for Bridget on the cards, and then she used some PVA glue with a paint brush and painted the circle, then attached the tissue paper to appear like a pumpkin.

We then used either some cut green pipe cleaner or small green fluffy pom poms to stick on top as the stalk, as well as some colouring with Crayola Washable Markers and plenty of sticker fun. We used the letters to write ‘Happy Halloween’ on a couple of them, obviously I handed Bridget each sticker and told her where to stick those ones for the spelling of the words, but they are lovely and higgledy piggledy, which I think makes them all the more fun.

Once the paint was dry we added googly eyes and plenty more stickers and colouring in – lots of fun.

Bridget and I really enjoyed this quality time together and she was super proud handing them out to her Nanny and Grandad’s too – we’ll definitely be getting some Christmas crafting bits and pieces in the next few weeks ready for the next festive season J

Old MacDonald's Farm, Padstow

During our recent stay in Padstow, Cornwall we enjoyed a lovely family day out including Glen, Bridget and I,plus Glen's sister Claire, her husband Matt and their two girls, Lola (almost 9) and Pearl (2 and a half) for a Sunday morning at Old MacDonald's Farm on the outskirts of the town.

Set over a large enough area for the children to run loose, but small enough for us to keep an eye on them and be hot on their heels, Old MacDonald's Farm was winding down for the winter months, however it has to be one of the best value days out I've had with Bridget anywhere. The ticket price for both children over the age of two and adults is £7.00 but as they claim, there really are no hidden extras, everything within the farm is included, and there is plenty to keep the family entertained for hours.

Firstly and foremost, it is a farm with plenty of animals to see, feed and pet. From chickens, goat's, birds of prey, horses and even a Shetland pony or two, there’s plenty of wildlife to keep the children entertained and bags of feed were reasonably priced at just £1.00, which meant the children got the chance to feed them and really build up their confidence with animal handling.

The goats were particularly keen and the girls happily got involved in feeding them, which is lovely.

Goat feeding at Old MacDonald's Farm, Padstow

Feeding the goats, Old MacDonald's Farm

The chickens had their own little coops and there was the chance to see where they laid their eggs too, which is great and really educational.

The egg laying section

Feeding the chickens at Old MacDonald's Farm

The girls were encouraged to brush and pet the pony and horses, which Bridget and Pearl loved doing, and Pearl was brave enough to go for a ride on the Shetland Pony for a quick trot around the farm, which was lovely. 

Pony grooming at Old MacDonald's Farm

Bridget and Pearl enjoying petting the Shetland Pony

Pearl taking a trot on a Shetland Pony

Lola was enticed later to have a canter around on a larger pony too but we didn’t manage to persuade Bridget – next time hopefully.

Lola about to go for a canter

Also at Old MacDonald’s Farm were a couple of different adventure playground sections - it was a little wet, but the girls had their wellington boots on so got straight into playing. There was a trampoline section too which went down well and an area with Little Tykes cars and other mini vehicles. 

Bridget enjoying the trampoline

Pearl on the slide

Bridget on the swings with Daddy

In the centre of the farm was a pedal go-kart track which we all had a go at and was lots of fun, and there was also a mechanical train which took us round the whole farm and was lovely. There was even a crazy golf section, which again was all included in the price, but we didn’t have time on this particular day to indulge. 

Go Karts at Old MacDonald's Farm

We just stayed for the morning, but you could have easily broken the day up with a snack at the cafe or taken your own picnic and then gone back for more fun. We were also told there are lots more animals in the summer months such as sheep, cows and pigs and in the lambing season you can get the children involved in feeding the lambs, which they would absolutely adore.

I would thoroughly recommend Old MacDonald's Farm for anyone staying in the Cornwall area for a fun, educational and excellent value day out with the family.

Family Day Out in Spain: Aquopolis, Torrevieja

Back in June this year, Glen, Bridget and I spent a week in Spain on the La Marina Urbanisation, not far from Alicante. A lovely, laid back family get away, which coincided with us finding out I was expecting again – perfect timing.

Most of our days were spent enjoying our own private pool for the week, we also spent a leisurely day on the beach at Guardamar del Segura well as a visit to Santa Pola and the buzzing marina there, but one of our favourite days there was spent at the waterpark in nearby Torrevieja – Aquopolis.

Bridget was, at the time, 21 months, and I had researched potential family days out for during our stay and we were worried she might have been too young to enjoy a waterpark – we thought wrong.

Aquopolis is a great family attraction with something for all the age groups and all preferences of activity levels. In previous years, I would have likely been found on the lazy river floating around in a giant donut inflatable, whilst Glen would have taken his time on the more daring of slides. However with an active toddler on our hands our day was slightly different.

Aimed specifically at toddlers and young children under eight, the Charmed Lake area is a shallow area adorned with a fun little house, castle, trees and dragons – all with small, but perfectly formed and fabulously fun little slides for little ones to enjoy. We literally spent hours here with Bridget enjoying the repetition of time spent coming down the various slides and under waterfalls. Great fun. 

Water park fun

The Charmed Lake, Aquopolis

Aquopolis, Torrevieja

A slightly faster paced area was the Mini Park – aimed at children under 1.4 metres, it was again in shallow waters but contained a huge water castle complete with slides, water pistols, showers and jets of water, a spinning high tub of water for children to excitedly run underneath – uncertain of whether it would get them or not plus mini flume slides, to gear up the younger children for some of the more adventurous slides around Aquopolis. Again, Bridget really enjoyed experimenting with the water and playing with some of the older children here. She was less confident in this section, but with her Daddy (Glen) by her side, she really did have tons of fun. 

The Mini Zig Zag slides, proved incredibly popular – Bridget had to be accompanied by Daddy, and we visited on a day when it was over 90 degrees and there was a huge hill to climb each time, but each time she came off she called ‘more, more’ with lots of laughter, and Glen wasn’t able to refuse. It was adorable to watch – wonderful memories for us too. 

The Mini Zig Zag at Aqopolis, Torrevieja

If you are visiting with older children who want something a little more action-packed, Aquopolis has all the trappings of the classic waterpark, the Kamikaze style slides, speed slides, a black hole flume, a boomerang and water rapids plus loads more that we didn’t get to explore with our little toddler.

The park is priced at around 25.00 per adult and under 3’s were free so this was a good value day out for us. Sun beds are positioned all around the park and in view of the attractions if you want to relax while the children run wild, and there are a few fast food outlets on site. We only indulged in the ice cream as we visited for an afternoon, after Bridget had had her daily nap.

Aquopolis is a great family water park that has something for everything and we would definitely return if we were in that part of Spain. As well as encouraging safe water-play and promoting swimming as a fun activity - it's a great place to spend much needed family quality time together.

A Great Family Day Out: Peppa Pig World

Our darling daughter Bridget, like most two year olds, is obsessed with Peppa Pig and so as a treat for her second birthday a couple of weeks back, we ventured to Paulton's Park, specifically to the Peppa Pig World section for a day of pig-filled fun and frolics.

We were journeying the following day to Cornwall for a week's holiday, and so broke our journey this way too - something I would recommend, if a) travelling with a toddler and b) travelling 5.5 months pregnant.

Paulton's Park is a huge park in Romsey, on the outskirts of Southampton - a sprawling mass of theme parks all rolled into one - as well as Peppa Pig World, there is the Critter Creek and The Lost Kingdom tons of fairground rides, a 4D cinema, adventure golf and even a water park, all included in the £30.00 ticket – it’s free for children under 1 metre) which really does pose good value. It also means if you have a family with children of varying ages, there is something for everyone.

Peppa Pig World was incredibly sweet and twee - everything you would expect in such a space. Several tame, toddler-aimed fairground rides, all of which Bridget absolutely delighted in. There was about a twenty-minute queue for most of these rides though as we visited on a Sunday, so if you are able to visit during the week instead, I'd recommend it. Toddlers' attention span lasts for about five minutes in such queues, cue lots of singing, games and coaxing to stay in said queues by yours truly. I would imagine in the heart of the summer the place gets even busier too.

Enjoying the day at Peppa Pig World

Driving a car at Peppa Pig World

We enjoyed the cars, train and balloon ride but the favourite ride by far was George’s Dinosaur Adventure Ride, which Bridget went on with Glen (Daddy) and it's hard to tell who enjoyed it more.

George's Dinosaur Adventure Ride

Peppa Pig World

Also within Peppa Pig World is an outdoor adventure park with climbing frames, bouncers, swings and slides, all of which were greatly appreciated by Bridget and were a good distraction between rides, or when queues were particularly bad. In addition a huge soft play area with dedicated areas for little tots provided an hour of fun for Bridget - as with most children her age, it's Ok to get her into these playing areas, getting her out was not as easy. This area gets very busy and I would suggest you bring socks with you (or pay the prices for Peppa Pig themed ones in the shop) and go in with your child at all times. After the recent, horrendous incident at Legoland, it goes without saying that supervised play is the order of the day.

There is the chance to pop into Peppa Pig's house and other attractions from the popular programme and the whole area is colourful and follows the theme from Peppa so if your child is a fan, there is something there they are sure to delight in.

Peppa Pig's house

As with all of these type of theme parks - there are costumes characters such as Peppa, George, Mummy & Daddy Pig as well as Suzie Sheep, Rebecca Rabbit et. all for your little one to meet and greet with and or have their photograph taken with. Bridget is rather hilariously petrified of said characters and has been since our visit to Hong Kong's Disneyland when she was only one so we refrained.

We had a little mooch around some of the animals within the zoo section too and had we got there earlier, and not been in a rush to get to Exeter for the evening, we could have spent several more hours at Paulton's Park enjoying the various attractions. For £30.00 each and having not had to pay for Bridget yet it really does offer great value and we'd return again in a heartbeat.

We are hopeful that Bridget might soon grow out of favour of Peppa Pig (this time last year it was The Furchester Hotel she adored) but with another baby due in the new year, it's likely we will have at least one more visit to Peppa Pig World in the not-so-distant future.

The theme park is open throughout October and then just weekends for the winter months of November and December.

Family Fun at The Park

Sometimes it's the simple things, and on Sunday afternoon, Glen, Bridget and I spent a couple of hours at the local park which was super fun.

With only water for Bridget, who's now 19 months, and bread for the ducks to carry; it was a really relaxed, enjoyable afternoon and cost us absolutely nothing.

Bridget has a swing and a slide in our garden so you'd think the novelty of these on the playground might have run thin - not so. She was delighted to run between the various slides and climbing frames and insisted on either me or Glen joining her for a few of them, which had us laughing all the more - Mummy and Daddy bottoms are not made for infant playgrounds!

Slide fun

Just loves to climb

Too much fun on the swings

Again and again, Bridget climbed the frame
and came down the slide giggling the whole time. A joy for her and a joy for us to watch.

A few other children were enjoying the playground and one happened to be sporting a Peppa Pig t-shirt, which instantly made her a firm friend for Bridget.

After an hour at the playground we went in search of the ducks, with Bridget doing her hand motion and saying 'quack quack'. After recently visiting Old MacDonald's Farm and London Zoo in the petting area, Bridget was holding her hand out with the bread on it, hoping they might peck it off of her hand, which they obviously didn't - cue more laughs for me and Glen. 

Loving the daisies

We had a good old run around in the park too and pointed at different things along the way. The toddler age is an important one for learning and we try to teach her as much as we can whilst out and about - she knows what the likes of the sky, grass, trees and flowers are from our garden and books but it was nice for her to recognise them and show us. She picked a couple of daisies and was oohing away in awe.

She also absolutely loves all animals and excitedly chased birds all round the park and we tried to point out the different ones. We saw a few dogs too and a couple of squirrels so she was in her element.

We have a cherry blossom in our garden, but a very mature one at the park had some low hanging branches, which absolutely fascinated Bridget, and she loved shaking them and seeing the blossom scatter over herself and the ground. 

On Daddy's shoulder's

Loving the cherry blossom

Family fun

We love to get out and do things at the weekend, but I often hear people lamenting they 'can't afford' to have fun with their family. I disagree as there are thousands of free parks around the country and an off-the-cuff afternoon like ours just proves what fun can be had without spending a penny. You could pack a picnic in the summer and make a day of it and some parks even have lidos or splash pools to add more to the adventure.

Some of my favourite parks in Essex and East London:

1. Victoria Park - fond childhood memories of the huge slides, zip wire and splash pools
2. Bedford's Park - sprawling woods to explore close to our home, at a high vantage point offering views right across London, plus the added bonus of seeing some reindeer and other wildlife
3. Valentine's Park - fairly local to us and with a huge adventure playground and a boating lake

The London Sea Life Centre Aquarium with Toddlers

A week back, I ventured in from Essex to The London Sea Life Centre Aquarium with Bridget and my friend Tatum and her little boy Cruz for a lovely afternoon out in the capital. Bridget and Cruz are 19 and 18 months.

Whilst there are plenty of museums and attractions in London for older children, I've yet to find much indoor entertainment, for this toddler age but the aquarium did tick the boxes and is perfect for a rainy day and really good family fun.

With plenty of fish, sealife, such as sharks, and turtles there's plenty to see, and with clear tanks from floor up high, the two tiny terrors were able to do so at their own pace. There’s also a glass tunnel to walk through, whereby you can take in shoals of fish, Green Sea Turtles and the likes of Bonnethead sharks passing overhead. 

Green Seat Turtle at the London Sea Life Aquarium Centre

Shark at The London Sea Life Aquarium Centre

We chose this day, thinking it would be quiet after the half term, not realising some children were still on holiday, so it was quite hectic running after the pair, whilst navigating all the other tourists and manning our respective Bugaboos, but it was good fun too.

Bridget has been in a few aquariums now, including the Sea Life Centre at Southend and Ocean Park in Hong Kong, and is really fascinated by them. I love that it's something fun for her to enjoy whilst also being educational. Both her and Cruz have been learning about lots of different animals and their attempt to both say 'fish' had my friend and I giggling.

Fascinated by the fish

Happy toddlers

Annoyingly, the penguin section of the aquarium was shut for some refurbishments, which was a shame to miss out on, so I’ll definitely return with Bridget at some point once it’s re-opened.

The aquarium is priced at £25 per adult, but you can get discounted entry for £19.50 if you pre-purchase your tickets online. The toddlers go for free, but aged 3-15 are priced at £17.55.

There's plenty to do and see at The London Sea Life Centre Aquarium, with several little activities and games for older children, which could keep you entertained for a couple of hours at least.