Category / Feature

by jo

Disneyland Paris – Auberge de Cendrillon

We’re back from Disneyland Paris having managed to surprise H. She had no idea she was going either! For H’s birthday we visited Auberge de Cendrillon – a Disney Princess dining experience.
auberge de cendrillon

Auberge de Cendrillon is behind the Disney castle, and is a restaurant where you can meet Disney Princesses. It’s quite pricey, but as a birthday treat it was worth it. Plus we didn’t have to queue to meet the characters.

We booked H in on her birthday, but had one problem – all her Disney Princess dresses were too small for her. Oh, and she had gone off Frozen. Luckily I had a beautiful Elsa dress sent from Disney which was ideal! H saw it and immediately forgot that she had gone off Frozen, and felt like a princess when she wore it. It is an impressive dress too which captures the spirit of Elsa’s dress.

H in front of the Disneyland Castle

There are two problems with the dress – not major ones, but ones to be aware of. The brooch on the front plays ‘Let It Go’ when you press it, though is difficult to remove. You can do it by unscrewing it, which is a bit of a faff but it means the brooch stays on. Then there’s the glitter which features all over the dress. Glitter is the bane of my life when it comes to crafting – you can’t remove the stuff, it gets everywhere. But then when at Disneyland it’s just magic dust, right?

The dress packed down small which was good, so we were able to hide it in our suitcases. Once we had done our big reveal, we told H what we had planned – including Auberge de Cendrillon. “But I don’t have a princess dress to wear!” she said – and we proved her wrong.

On her birthday morning it was hot – in the mid-30s. Maybe not the best day to wear a gorgeous princess dress – but H did. We kept her hydrated, but brought a change of clothes for afterwards which worked.

menus at Auberge de CendrillonThe main test was how princessy she would feel at Auberge de Cendrillon. There’s the menu. It’s pretty special for younger kids, and fine for adults too. You can use hotel meal vouchers to lower the cost as well which helped. Add to that we had ordered her a birthday cake, and we knew we were going to be well fed. The menu changes a lot, so it may be worth checking online beforehand.

H meets the Disney Princesses at Auberge de Cendrillon

We also didn’t know which princesses she would meet! First up was Belle who was friendly and chatty, but H was a bit shy, a bit overwhelmed and hadn’t warmed up. Our meal started with some Amuse-bouche, delicious cheese puffs. Our drink was a juice, the Princes Cocktail.

By the time Cinderella made it to our table H was far more chatty – and felt quite special. I felt pretty full by now, despite not eating that much… and it was going to get worse!

Auberge de Cendrillon dining and cake and dancing

Auberge de Cendrillon is a lovely restaurant, with space for the characters to visit. Every hour or so they also do a little dance on the main floor space. This was just around the corner from our table, but wasn’t a problem.

Aurora and Prince Philip were the last Disney Princess/Prince to visit us, and H was chatty by now! Suzy and Perla, the two mice from Cinderella popped by too. H loved it!

Suzy and Perla at Auberge de Cendrillon

We had a salad before our main course, and finally the dessert. H’s food was served on a Mickey Mouse plate which she thought was pretty cool.

We had ordered a birthday cake for our meal which is suitable for up to 8 people. There was just the three of us… let’s just say we were completely stuffed! Having the desserts in addition to the cake was a bit too much for us – so be prepared to come out of Auberge de Cendrillon extremely full.

I loved H’s dessert, a white chocolate shoe with chocolate cream piped into it, but she had to leave it. We couldn’t take it with us as it would have melted!

Being as stuffed as we were, there was only one way to finish the meal, with a nice peppermint tea. It helped – I didn’t need to eat anything else that day! In all, we spent two hours at Auberge de Cendrillon, and after meal vouchers it cost us around £130. Bear in mind, the Disney birthday cake cost about £30 of that.

H loved the experience too – and it was good to get away from the heat outside when it was at its highest. The food was delicious, the vegetarian option was good, and there was enough to keep H busy. I’d recommend Auberge de Cendrillon to anyone considering it when visiting Disneyland Paris.

The Elsa dress from Disney Stores is this one and it currently retails for £34.99. It made H feel like a princess, and indeed the amount of detail that it has makes it something worth purchasing. It is ideal for a special occasion.

by jo

Disneyland Paris to Lille via the Eurostar – Going Home

I tried to find information for taking the Eurostar from Disneyland Paris to Lille. We weren’t getting a direct train back to London, but there wasn’t a lot out there. So here’s what we’ve experienced.

Disneyland Paris to Lille via the Eurostar is a simple journey. You just turn up at Marne la Vallée in time for your train. At this point it doesn’t involve passport checks as you’re travelling within France. You’re not even travelling on a Eurostar train.

Our SNCF train arrived on time (take note, Southern) and we had allocated seats. We stopped at the station earlier to get our tickets printed, as we didn’t get them at St Pancras. This took 25 minutes with queues – the machines weren’t playing ball with our booking. Around an hour later we arrived at Lille. I think the train was going on to Brussels afterwards!

Just exit the train, go up the escalator and you’ll find yourself in the main part of Lille Station. There didn’t seem to be any signs for the Eurostar. Then I spotted a sign for a British lounge (with a Union Jack on it), so headed that way. It was at the opposite end of the station and is the right place to go.

Once you’re there you’ll find yourself at the passports/security barrier area. The Eurostar tickets got scanned in and our bags and suitcases x-rayed. Then it was passport clearance, leaving France and then entering the UK. After that you’re in an area with food and drink where you can wait for your train to arrive.

We had a 35 minute wait and had at least 15 minutes time, getting through passport control in no time at all.

Disneyland Paris to Lille via the Eurostar is a straightforward journey. It was much easier than us going back into Paris from Disneyland and going via Gare du Nord!

by jo

Christmas at Coombe Mill – Our Competition Entry

Coombe Mill has always been on my to-do list, and as if by magic, up pops this year’s Christmas at Coombe Mill competition. So I’m going to give it a go.
Coombe Mill Scandinavian Lodges, Coombe Mill at Christmas

Christmas at Coombe Mill sounds amazing. I know what Coombe Mill is like now – while we didn’t stay there when we visited Cornwall, The Boy and Me gang did and invited us over. We all made friends – and that is the first thing about the place. You make friends. I like to think I can make friends easily, and indeed, get me chatting and you might wish I’d shut up… and what I loved the most about our two visits was how social the place is.

We’d be sat outside TBaM’s lodge and people would come past saying ‘hello’. You really have to get out of that London frame of mind where nobody speaks to anyone. We’re all escaping somewhere people don’t look you in the eye and going somewhere that opens up new opportunities, new friendships and happiness.

I love that outside the Scandinavian Lodges is a large grass area where children can play. Get them dressed up in the right gear and it’s all-weather play there too.

Coombe Mill BBQ Hut, Coombe Mill at Christmas

The thing I will always go on about is the BBQ Hut – what a brilliant idea. A hut which can seat plenty of adults and you can set your BBQ going and it’s cosy. How flipping brilliant would it be to have a BBQ in December? Toasting marshmallows on Christmas Eve? Yep, I’m dreaming now…

H gets confident at Coombe Mill, Christmas at Coombe Mill

Of course, there’s the morning feed run – H loved it, and got stuck in after running around and looking a bit cross. The animals ran away from her (err, that’s what they do… you need to pick them up with a sense of purpose rather than hope they’ll come to you). Once she had picked up her first there was no stopping her and her confidence grew. Feeding the animals and wandering around with Farmer Nick and the other kids was a brilliant experience for her. She loved picking branches from the trees and feeding them to the donkeys. I loved that she did it without a second glance back to Shaun or I, apart from when she proudly showed us what she had done.

H feeding donkeys at Coombe Mill, Christmas at Coombe Mill

I think that’s another important Coombe Mill thing. It’s brilliantly geared for children to do things and adults to take a bit of time out (while still casting a watchful eye over them of course), that you can switch off from it all. Add that Cornwall thing of a patchy mobile signal, and you can really get away from your phone. You have to when there’s no signal! Talking  of signals, H loved operating the one on the train line which runs every weekday. This service is way more reliable than Southern Railways and probably runs over Christmas too!

H working the signal on the railway at Coombe Mill, Christmas at Coombe Mill

My overall impression of Coombe Mill was having the space to breathe again. Every Christmas we tend to stay at home and slob out… and if I’m to be honest it’s a lovely family thing, but not a special moment for H. She knows no different. I remember at her age having a pillowcase at the bottom of my bed and checking all the time to see if Santa had been. Christmas Day was a big family occasion with grandparents, aunties and more. Sadly that’s impossible with her surviving grandparents living in York and Australia!  She’s also reaching that age where she could stop believing in the next year or two. I want her to have one big magical Christmas before things change.

Coombe Mill Fairy Garden

This is why I think Christmas at Coombe Mill would be just that. We’d all switch off and enjoy some quality time together as a family and as part of the Coombe Mill celebrations. I’m hoping the BBQ Hut will feature too, of course!

This is my entry for the Christmas at Coombe Mill competition over here.  Even if I don’t win, we’re going next August and I CAN’T WAIT!!!!!

OMG We're Staying at Coombe Mill next year face

by jo

Yurt Life! Our stay at Kingsmead Centre

We recently had our first summer holiday of the year (yep, we’re greedy, we’re having two), and headed to Cornwall. We had a wonderful week there and as usual didn’t have enough time to do everything. Every time we venture to Cornwall or Devon I like to break up the journey a bit and stay overnight somewhere. On the way back this time we stopped at Kingsmead Centre near Taunton for two nights in a yurt.

Yurt Life at Kingsdown Centre - wonderful setting!

I had no idea what to take for our first camping break – though let’s be fair, it’s glamping rather than camping. All we needed was towels and food and toiletries – bedding is included, as is wood for the fire. We didn’t need to use the fire in the end as it was so warm and cosy, though did use some for the BBQ outside which is included in the price – made from an old washing machine tub! What a brilliant idea!

campfire

You’re provided with a cool box to keep anything you’d normally put in a fridge – and within the shower block area there are more fridges, though they’re popular. You can refill your cool box with specially marked Kingsmead frozen blocks when they thaw.

yurt food area

You get your cups, plates, cutlery, cooking tools all neatly stored in the chest next to the cooking area – heck, there’s even a small gas stove inside, perfect for filling up the kettle first thing. You really are spoilt!

double bed in the yurt

Sleep-wise, there’s a comfy double bed with a super warm duvet on it, as well as a fold out futon and bedding stored in a chest at the bottom of the bed.

H on her futon in the yurt

So what else is there in the yurt? A bookcase, a chess set, a table and chairs for sitting down and doing civilised stuff (like play chess – Shaun taught H). It’s a lot of space well laid out.

Playing Chess in the yurt

The Woodland Yurt at Kingsmead Farm is made from local materials too, which I thought was pretty cool.

Outside of the yurt, you’ve got important things like a shop in the reception area (a slightly longer walk) which is open until late most nights with all essentials. There’s a laundry room near there too which we didn’t need to use. The toilets and showers are brilliant – with one electric shower and one wonderful one that is tap operated. It was easily the best shower I had on my whole trip! I was able to share the cubicle with H and have loads of space too, but take some shoes which are good for walking on wet floors (like crocs, flip flops). The toilets are fine too – there were two of them in each room. Between the toilets is the previously mentioned room with fridges, which has a wonderful memory tree – I left a note there!

Kingsdown Memory Tree

Kingsmead has a strict no noise policy after 9pm, and 10pm at weekends which everyone stuck to apart from the idiots who pitched their tent next to us. They stayed up talking LOUDLY until 4am… which was annoying. We should have reported them to the owners of the campsite really. I would say as long as you have considerate neighbours you’ll have a wonderful time. Noisy neighbours aren’t the campsite’s fault, so I have no problems there.

We paid £85 per night with extra for H – and I’d happily stay in the yurt again (although they have a gorgeous looking bell tent now too). It’s a good location for exploring some of Somerset and North Devon, or if you fancy just chilling around the campfire, doing just that. H went off to make friends and it felt like a safe place where she could – although be aware there are roads for cars to get to the tents, with a 5mph speed limit. H’s road sense isn’t quite there yet, but we’re working on it.

In summary, what did I think of our stay? Were it not for the noisy neighbours it would have been perfect, wonderful. The location is fantastic and it is somewhere I would happily book again. We don’t have any camping gear, so this is ideal – especially as we had a car full of things with us, so no room for extra things. H thought it was brilliant too!

Kingsmead Centre’s page for the yurt can be found here. It looks as lovely as that too – I can only hope we’ve done it justice!

by jo

Hidden Valley Discovery Park – A Wonderful Day Out!

It was a lovely sunny day when we were in Cornwall and we’d arranged to visit the Hidden Valley Discovery Park with The Boy and Me gang – two six/seven year olds and four adults who like solving puzzles and like quirky things. Read on to find out what we thought!

Welcome to Hidden Valley Discovery Park

Hidden Valley Discovery Park and I stumbled upon each other via TripAdvisor. I was looking up theme parks in Cornwall to see if there was anything that felt a little bit different – we have Merlin passes so don’t want another Chessington/Legoland-a-like. The reviews were brilliant – and it seemed to tick so many boxes. We HAD to go. The Boy and Me gang were well up for it too!

Hidden Valley Discovery Park was created back in the 1994 by Pete Jones, an engineering graduate who took much inspiration from the famous British engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel. It wasn’t until recently that the park has changed into what it is now – but what we found was an exciting, enchanting, quirky place which kept us occupied for the whole day, with plenty left to do.

Hidden Valley has a main building which houses a small shop with loads of interesting things in, a reasonably priced cafe, and the main entrance. You can get £1 off your entry fee if you have a voucher in some Cornwall discount books, or just install App for Cornwall on your phone. Once you’ve paid your entry fee, you’re handed a map of the park, some questions to solve in the Forbidden Mansion, and a credit card which is loaded up with some time to solve Crystal Maze style puzzles (Moriarty’s Missions) inside the mansion. You can buy additional time if you run out. The main objective is to complete the puzzles in the quickest time possible, to then light up the most lightbulbs in the main building at the end. Each puzzle has a three minute limit.

Hidden Valley Discovery Park quiz and trail and badges

Step outside of the main building and you’re greeted with a weird and wonderful world. To the left is a new  Cottage Garden which we didn’t have the time to explore. To the right is the Forbidden Mansion, the place we were looking forward to the most. Straight on is the station with the Portserswick Junction Light Railway – a mile of track which goes around the grounds.

Hidden Valley Discovery Park outside

At this point I’d tell you to look on Google Maps at the area the Hidden Valley Discovery Park exists in – it looks pretty small. You’d be surprised how much gets packed into that space!

We headed straight into the Forbidden Mansion. You enter via the main front doors, into a room and immediately we tried to find the answer to our first clue. Actually, we were probably trying too hard – the questions were all observational ones, things on pictures, things around the place – and there’s plenty of things. The questions are frequently changed too, so if you go back you can almost certainly guarantee it’ll be different. If you’re like us and can’t get it done in one day, then you can purchase a second day pass for £6 – but you need to be on-site to do it, you can’t do it online.

Hidden Valley Discovery Park Forbidden Mansion

You enter the main part of the mansion via a corridor, and it took me a few hours for the penny to drop – the main rooms aren’t inside the tiny house, they’re in the main building where the shop and cafe are! D’oh! I mean, it’s obvious when you realise. There is only one way around the mansion, and within each room there are doors which may lead to a puzzle, passageways only small children (and hopeful adults) can crawl though, and quirky rooms like the fabulous upside down room. Honestly, each room was a delight – there was something in each one which kept the kids occupied while us adults tried to solve the clues. This isn’t a place just for kids, it’s for everyone. I don’t want to show off too many photos from inside the house, as the surprise element is the best bit.

Which is why it is awesome.

After the mansion we headed to get some food, where there’s a good selection of hot and cold food, and all reasonably priced.

Once we had eaten we headed to the railway and travelled to the other side of the Hidden Valley Discovery Park where a Japanese landscape garden is being built. This is also where the two outdoor trails, the Indiana trail and the Sherlock Holmes one start – as well as there being a maze.

Hidden Valley Discovery Park mazeWe opted for the maze first – after all, they’re fun, Shaun gets smug when he makes it to the middle first, and I am resigned to getting lost somewhere in it all. As it was, us ladies got to the middle first, Shaun came second, and the kids came third with Mr TBaM bringing up the rear. It’s a fun maze too – you’re mid way and think you’re in the middle, but you need to keep going to get into the hut in the very middle.

Afterwards we did the trails – and went for the harder Sherlock Holmes one. On the map you’re given at the start is a grid, this isn’t geocaching, this is proper old school orienteering. Get the question wrong and you might be sent to a grid reference which has nothing in – so I’m glad there were four of us (plus the two youngsters who loved trying to find the clues – and I loved sending them climbing up hills to find them, saving my legs!). Some questions involved them being solved in a curious fashion…

Hidden Valley Discovery Park Sherlock Trail

I don’t know how long we spent there, but it was fun – exhausting fun!

We found all kinds of things on the way. The Hobbit House. A hut which has switches and things which might have been the end of the puzzle, though we’re still querying the answer to the last question.

Hidden Valley Discovery Park hobbit house

By the end of the trail we had almost run out of time, the park was set to close. The dads went back into the Forbidden Mansion to finish the last few Moriarty’s Missions and the kids went to have a play on the outdoor play area (because even though they were tired they still had energy for climbing frames) and an ice cream. We didn’t have time for the Indiana trail in the end – and we were at Hidden Valley Discovery Park for over 5 hours! In the end, this was our final score – not too bad I reckon!

Hidden Valley Discovery Park lightbulbs

The Hidden Valley Discovery Park website is over here. We will definitely be back next year after having had a fabulous day with fabulous company. You should go too!

Hidden Valley Discovery Park isn’t open all year, so please check their website before going. It looks like it’s open for school holidays though!

by jo

The BFG – Our Review of Disney’s New Film

We’ve just been to see The BFG at the cinema, and I thought it’d be a good time to do a quick review.

The BFG logo

The BFG needs very little introduction – Roald Dahl’s 1982 is a classic, and one I know I will have read. H at almost seven is massively into Roald Dahl, and has been looking forward to seeing the film.

It follows the book closely, and is a Very Long Film. I say this, as you need to be prepared. It comes in at just under two hours – so make sure you go to a cinema with comfy seats!

Sophie is played wonderfully by Ruby Barnhill, and in some ways reminded me of the actress who plays Matilda in the film of the same name – very spirited and knows her own mind. The BFG is played by Mark Rylance, and is put together so wonderfully – you’re not quite sure if he’s the good guy or not (and the first trailer that came out was REALLY scary), but when you know he is, you can really feel the goodness in him.


The BFG captures dreams, and Sophie catches him doing just that, so he has to take her away from the orphanage she lives in, so she doesn’t tell anyone he exists. She’s pretty happy about that as she hated it there anyway.

Once Sophie is in Giant Country, she realises escaping isn’t an option, especially when she discovers some human-eating giants. (I would say the parts where the human-eating giants are the mild peril parts, they’re not pleasant types!).

The BFG is able to hide Sophie from the other giants, and eventually she persuades him to take her to Dream Country, where he captures dreams in jars (if you’re in London check the BFG Dream Jar trail running until the end of August). Unfortunately he captures a bad dream.

They head back to London though Sophie loses her blanket around now. The BFG realises that the other giants will know she exists, and it’s too dangerous for her to head back to Giant Country. Sophie is dropped off at the orphanage once more, and eventually persuades the BFG to let her go back.

I don’t want to give too much of the plot away, but let’s just say the rest of the story involves the Queen, snozzcumbers, whizzpopping (even the Queen does), frobscottle (which causes you to do a spot of whizzpopping), and a golden phizzwizard and much more. Oh, and plenty of Giant speak.

It’s a Steven Spielberg film, and much as he succeeded with ET, it’s a similar formula on The BFG. Quentin Blake’s illustrations are a massive inspiration for the film, and I’m glad it has stayed faithful to the story and the images children will have grown up with. Oh, and it’s yet another fabulous Disney film!

It gets a BIG thumbs up from us!

The BFG is in cinemas now – and we’re also pretty excited as we got to see the new ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’ trailer – roll on November!!

by jo

The Big Little Tent Festival has Launched!

The Big Little Tent Festival launched on the 16th and 17th July, and it’s something which appeals to me. It’s a scheme set up to encourage families to camp – even in their own back garden. Read on to find out more.

the big little tent festival logo

The Big Little Tent Festival is happening right now! Do you have a tent? Does it get used very often? Or are you like me, you once had a tent which is lost somewhere between house moves, never replaced, so your child has never experienced a night outside under the stars?

We live in London, and we have a yard. This is, of course, a difficulty when it comes to camping. There’s no ground to put the pegs in which is quite annoying. I’d love to camp outside. I have memories of my teenage years camping out in my parents back garden, listening to the radio and having a brilliant time. Add to that the aforementioned missing tent, and it’s fairly safe to say we haven’t really got going on this one.

However, I think The Big Little Tent Festival is a great idea! Which got me thinking, as we’re soon going to be staying in a yurt – doing a spot of glamping, as they call it. So we’ve been sent a kit from The Caravan Club who organise the festival, in order for us to create our own. Just because it launched on those dates doesn’t mean you can’t hold a festival of your own over the summer.

Here’s what The Caravan Club have to say –

Thousands of children are missing out on the fun and excitement of exploring the great outdoors because of parents’ aversions to camping.

A new survey released today by The Caravan Club reveals that despite nearly two thirds (61%) of British parents camping in their youth; more than a third (37%) have never given their own children the same opportunity to make family memories on a holiday in the great outdoors.

The research has highlighted parents’ attitudes towards camping, with more than half avoiding trips because of the unreliable British weather (56%).  Other reasons include not having the right gear (22%) and fear of mud, dirt and wildlife (13%).

A surprising one in 20 parents have never spent time outdoors with their children despite more than half of parents (56%) admitting that their children ask to go camping.

Yet when it comes to who is responsible for introducing children to nature, there is some confusion. A whopping 82% thinking it is dad’s job; three quarters of those surveyed (74%) think it should be up to mums; and over a quarter (28%) think after-school clubs should be leading the way.   

The survey falls ahead of the launch of The Caravan Club’s Big Little Tent Festival™ in partnership with BritMums.  The campaign encourages families to pitch a tent in their own back garden, and enjoy the delights of camping; campfire cooking, outdoor games, exploring the local fauna and flora and creating shared memories all within reach of the comforts of home. 

big little tent festival

With this July set to be a scorcher, after the recent weeks of miserable wet weather, the Big Little Tent Festival™ will demonstrate what the British outdoors has to offer this summer and why families should be getting outside and having fun. The free festival begins on the weekend of 16 and 17 July.  Families are encouraged to join in the fun throughout the summer holidays, on a day that works best for them, right up until 19 September by downloading the free festival pack at caravanclub.co.uk/BLTF. The packs include wristbands, bunting to help create a festival atmosphere, recipe suggestions to be cooked over a campfire (or barbecue), festival flags and invitations for little ones keen to get their friends involved in the garden camp out.

There are plenty of chances to win prizes with The Big Little Tent Festival™ too – every family who signs up will be entered into a prize draw to win a European camping holiday. There are BBQ prizes across the social media platforms live from now until 19 September 2016 along with Keela outdoor clothing and Dometic cool bags. Simply share your photos and videos of you showing off your outdoor cooking skills during the Big Little Tent Festival™ using #BigLittleTentFest16 to be in with a chance of winning.

Families can follow the fun on Facebook
Twitter: @BigLittleTent
Instagram @BigLittleTentFestivaland join in the festival feeling with the hashtag #BigLittleTentFest16

by jo

Bottersnikes and Gumbles is Coming to CBBC!

Bottersnikes and Gumbles is coming to CBBC! We were recently invited to a launch to learn more about the show and to help spread the word.

Bottersnikes and Gumbles is coming to CBBC at the end of this month. It will live in the 6pm slot.

So what exactly are Bottersnikes and Gumbles? Based on the much-loved Children’s Books by S.A. Wakefield, and the illustrations of Desmond Digby, the creators of the show, the creatures are lovable Gumbles and evil Bottersnikes who have adventures in their land based around the Australian bush.

Bottersnikes and Gumbles - Introducting the Gumbles, Bottersnikes and Gumbles is coming to CBBC

The Gumbles are Tink (voiced by Jason Callender who is on CBBC’s 4 O’Clock Club – H was very excited to meet him!), Happi (voiced by Jeff Rawle of Drop the Dead Donkey, Harry Potter and Hollyoaks fame – again, H was excited to meet Cedric Diggory’s dad!), Toot (voiced by Richard Grieve of Neighbours, Home & Away and Emmerdale fame – we got to have a chat with Richard too), Willi and Jolli (voiced by Akiya Henry), and Merri and Bounce (voiced by Kathryn Drysdale of Two Pints of Lager, Tripping Over and St Trinians fame). They’re the good guys. They do fun stuff like hang around in their tree house watching the world go by and eat grubs.

Bottersnikes and Gumbles - Meet the Bottersnikes, Bottersnikes and Gumbles is coming to CBBC

The Bottersnikes are The King (the laziest and greediest, voiced by Richard Grieve), Chank (who wants to be King, voiced by Alex Babic), Gubbo (voiced again by Alex Babic), The Weathersnike (voiced by Miriam Margolyes), Glob and Smiggles (again, voiced by Richard Grieve) and Snorg (voiced by Simone Craddick).

Tink, Bounce and Willi are our main three Gumbles, and indeed when Bottersnikes and Gumbles comes to CBBC you’ll get to meet them properly. For now, there’s a trailer over at the CBBC website.

We had a chat with Richard Grieve which I’ll post about soon!

 

Bottersnikes and Gumbles is coming to CBBC on the 25th July at 6pm every day, repeated the following day at 4.30. There are 52 episodes, all eleven minutes long. The targeted age for these are 6-11 year olds. We’ve seen a few of the episodes and they’re all great fun.

As well as this, there will be a Bottersnikes and Gumbles game on the CBBC Website. H had several goes and she loves it!  She loves playing the CBBC games, so keep an eye over there – the game will launch in September.

You can follow Bottersnikes and Gumbles on Facebook and Twitter too!

by jo

BML16 – My Thoughts About BritMumsLive 2016

Yesterday was BML16 – BritMums Live – except these days there’s less of the mums and more of the dads (two of which were highlights for me with their keynotes) so it’s better known as BML. I was going for the third time, so knew what to expect… though really you don’t know exactly what to expect until you’re there.
BML16 start and end

So without going into a long ramble, let’s try summarise BML16 in bullet points….

• Meeting bloggers – I finally got to meet Paula from Mummy vs Work there. Years ago BritMums did a ‘Big Sis’ type thing, where they got experienced bloggers to help out newbies. I was paired up with three bloggers, two of whom I’m still in touch with, so it was lovely to finally meet Paula and her husband Phill after all this time! I hung out for most of the day with Mary from Over 40 and Mum to One, talking wine, politics, 80s pop music and all kinds of things, and it was a fabulous day. Plans will be made to meet again and have H hang out with her boy, Monkey wherever we meet!

BML with mary drinking fizz

• The brands. I never go specifically for them, so I like being surprised by what is there. I was really impressed with the following ones…

BML16 Diary Doll pants
– Diary Doll – It took me about five minutes to realise I was buying some pants from Carol Smillie. Someone (maybe a BML16 person) took a photo of me holding some pants up when I was working out which size I was (14-16 which Carol estimated when we were trying to work out my size) – and they’re SO pretty too.

BML16 Carol Smillie Diary Doll
– Bollox. I’d read up about them beforehand, and they’re a brand I want to support. Basically they have men’s undies which contribute towards male cancer charities. I bought a pair for Shaun who says they’re very comfortable – I suspect they’ll be his new running undies…
– Touchnote. I really like what they offer. Basically, you download their app and are able to send postcards from wherever you are from your phone. So, say for example we’re in Disneyland Paris and H has a fabulous picture taken with Mickey Mouse. I take a photo on my phone, I can create a postcard via the app, and get it sent to Shaun’s mum in Australia. Because they have a printing facility in Australia, it gets processed there! It isn’t cheap, but I love that postage is included in the price and that they have several centres around the world. They’ve also got a new service where you can get your photos printed which isn’t cheap – BUT – they have your whole photo on there, not cropped like some services do. So I’m looking forward to using Touchnote.

BML16 touchnote laminated dress up doll
– Fellowes Brands. I never thought I would want a laminator as much as I did, especially once I was making my way home. We laminated a Snow White style doll and two dresses which are now H’s latest thing, a dress up doll. We’re talking about drawing some more dresses so she can decorate them, or in H’s words “just find someone with a laminator so we can make more!” (if only it was that easy!)
I was impressed with their air purifier too – what a difference something like that would have made when we had our carbon monoxide leak.
– DC Thomson. The magazine people. H now has a Jacqueline Wilson magazine and I think we may be heading in that direction with her reading… she loves watching Hetty Feather on CBBC, so this was a good match for us. Add a goodie bag with lots of things perfect for an almost seven year old, and I hope we’ll be doing more with DC Thomson over the coming months.
– The Big Little Tent Festival sounds like a great idea, though unfortunately we have a back yard – but there are still ways to join in. It runs from the 16th July until 19th September and we’re going to look into this – plus we are staying in a yurt for some of that, so then may be a good chance to dip our toes into the water! They had a lovely room at BML16 with plenty of fizz and food on offer – their tiramisu was FAB!

BML16 Merci Maman Pass the Parcel Duchess Necklace
– Merci Maman. I was one of the lucky ones – at the very start we played Pass the Parcel, with one of their necklaces at the end. I’ve worn it for two days now and it’s so pretty! It was also the most expensive thing I was wearing, worth almost £80 (it’s the Duchess Necklace). I wasn’t sure if it included nickel in it, but was reliably informed it’s an EU regulation that jewellery can’t contain it any more so I should be okay. They do some very pretty jewellery too!

BML16 Clangers
– The Clangers. There was a Clangers Kindness Tree where I added a kind thing I’d done (I’ve given up my seat on the bus or train several times this last couple of weeks – pregnant ladies, people on crutches, when people seem to live in their phone bubble or behind a newspaper ignoring what’s around them) and gushed a bit about how I love The Clangers and have a toy somewhere I’m refusing to let H have. Having said that, when I got home with a magazine and a whistle she’s laid claim to them immediately, so I’m hoping she’ll stay interested for a couple more years!! I grew up with The Clangers and it makes me happy that the new version keeps the spirit going so well.
• Then there’s the speakers. Anne-Marie Cockburn did the BML16 Keynote talking about her book 5,742 Days which deals with her life after her daughter died, up to her 16th birthday. She was selling copies of her book afterwards and I picked one up. I can relate to writing when grieving, I did it a lot when my dad died and found it helped me a lot although it has remained private, and while it feels wrong to say I’m looking forward to reading the book, I’m going to be reading it soon. She was amazing and inspirational.

BML16 Fat Girls Guide to Running
• Julie Creffield was a proper kick up the backside inspiration. She has the blog Too Fat to Run – the Fat Girl’s Guide to Running, which started because people told her she wouldn’t be able to do something, couldn’t do this, and so on. So she decided she would, and now runs marathons, and has a fabulous motto in life – set Big Fat Stupid Goals, as well as encouraging fat girls to run. She forgot to mention a new campaign which is encouraging more women to run – Julie’s target is to get 1 million women running by 2020, and this one is to get 10,000 women running on the 31st July. We’re on holiday then so while running might be out of the question, I know we’ll be doing a lot of walking so I’m going to try and make this work for me!

charly dove bml16 summary
• Charly Dove had a brill BML16 photography session. I love her photos, and know I’m more the take the snap and make it better kind of person – whereas she thinks a lot more about the picture. So I had some handy hints in this session.

bml16 cherry healey
• Cherry Healey was funny. I bought her book today.
• The BML16 Bloggers Keynote – big shout outs to the two dad bloggers who made me laugh and smile – Tim Liew’s Pretty in Pink was FABULOUS and Al from The Dad Network’s video was so funny too.

Did I enjoy BML16? Absolutely. The one day format works for me, even though I was shattered by the end of it all. If BritMums Live were ever to go back to two days again, please give the option of buying a one-day ticket.
I forgot my business cards! Typical.
I managed to catch up with everyone I wanted to, and met lots of new bloggers too, and put a lot of names to faces.
I even stayed for the BiBs – I don’t normally stick around for awards, but I was having too much fun.

Will I go next year? Well it depends on the format and price. I felt like I got my money’s worth. Thank you Susanna and Jen and the BritMums team for organising such a fab event!

 

by jo

I’m Going to BML16

It’s a funny old world. Back when I first became a parent in 2009 and started my original blog not long afterwards, which eventually became The Adequate Parent and had my pregnancy blog merged into it, I had no idea networks existed for bloggers.

But then BOOM! BritMums appeared, although I think it was called British Mummy Bloggers back then. I followed a few bloggers but didn’t make any friends. Somewhere along the way I persuaded some friends to be bloggers and met some mums locally who were too, and three years ago we all headed to BritMums Live (as it was then known). It was loads of fun and I got to know and meet loads of other bloggers. So much, that I went the following year – although that didn’t go so well as I had big back problems and left early.

BritMums

So here’s 2016. This year I’m on my own. No bloggers with me, just meeting others there. It’s quite a big step for me – in the past year my anxieties have really started to come out more – if I get too stressed or anxious about something I will have a hot flash – and they last for quite a long time and I get a bit embarrassed about it too (the joys of getting older). So why am I going on my own then?

I have no idea. But I am. So if you see a mum with a bright red face and chest, it’s just me. Do say hello!

So, there’s some questions to answer. Let’s go then…

My name: Jo
My blog: My first proper blog is Sweetfoolthemouth which dates back to around 2003. I was on LiveJournal for a few years until eventually doing my parent blog about H (my almost seven year old daughter) and then starting Mum Friendly. I have a few others, but since the price of domains has gone up I’m going to be getting rid of a few.
Find me on social media at: @MumFriendlyJo @Schmindieblogs on Twitter (least active social network though I do use it), MumFriendlyJo on Instagram (pretty active), Jo Adams on Facebook (most active).
How I look: Tall, long dark hair, bad roots (currently, hoping to get that sorted by Saturday). Indie. Glasses.
Is this my first blogging event? No, I’ve been to BritMums Live twice, plus several others.
I will be wearing… not sure yet. Something I will feel comfortable in though.
What I hope to gain from #BML16: I’m not sure. Inspiration.
My tips for a great conference: Plan which things you want to go to and stick to it. I missed almost everything at the last BritMums through a lack of planning and horrible back pain. There will be a lot of people there and a lot of people = a lot of noise, so choose an area with your friends will be so you know roughly where to look when you’re trying to find them. Have business cards ready too, even if you don’t give any out. Everyone else is probably as nervous as you.

See you there….