The Little Big One and I enjoyed a thoroughly literary day on Sunday as we headed to the brilliant Bath children’s literature festival. It’s no secret that both of my daughters are mega bookworms (I was as a child too). But I enjoy reading books with them as much as they enjoy being read to. I’m no stranger to literary festivals, having worked in publishing in my previous life, but introducing the Little Big One to the people behind the pages of her favourite books was great fun – for both of us!
With a ten day long programme of events on offer, and a line-up that includes renowned authors such as Julia Donaldson and Michael Rosen, and familiar characters like Hugless Douglas and Elmer, the Bath children’s literature festival is a fantastic event. Talks are categorised by age and although the Little Big One is 3, we snuck into a talk for age 4+ by children’s picture book writer Jarvis, of Alan’s Big Scary Teeth fame.
Jarvis’s talk was hosted in the beautiful Holburne Museum (worth a visit at any time as they often have child-friendly exhibitions and events on). It was entitled Drawing Fun with Jarvis and it was an entertaining mix of storytelling, drawing tutorials and contests. Being the author of the books, Jarvis told the tales in a hugely captivating way and did a great job of getting the kids to interact and listen by testing his audience with questions based on the stories that, if correctly answered, resulted in prizes! And the drawing element was brilliant. By the end of the show every single child in the room had learnt to draw a worm… and an alligator (with varying degrees of likeness!)
Afterwards Jarvis was kind enough to sign the Little Big One’s own version of an alligator and draw his version alongside – something to treasure for years to come.
That afternoon we made a trip to Mr B’s Emporium – the most magical bookshop I’ve visited. We bought a copy of Jarvis’s book (the Little Big One didn’t win a book at the talk so we obviously had to remedy that) and the girls got lost in a heap of other stories for a good while. We were all in our element… even the hubby found a book and got lost for a moment. If you have bookworms in your family, I’d highly recommend a visit when you’re next in Bath.
At Mr B’s we picked up a special Bath children’s literature festival treasure trail sheet – there are 7 favourite children’s book characters hidden in locations across Bath for book fans to find; a great activity to complement the main festival events.
If you have a bit of time over the next week, do check the festival out (it’s on until Sunday 6th October). There are plenty of events still to come, just visit the website for more details.
This week I attended that rare form of toddler group: one where I’m pretty sure I was as, if not more, entertained than the children! At times I was enjoying myself so much that I almost forgot the kids were there. But then I zoned back in and caught sight of the Little Big One running towards me wearing an unfeasible amount of head gear including a sparkler headband and some star framed glasses and I remembered that I wasn’t, in fact, at a real gig. I was instead at a toddler group, surrounded by small children and bundles of fancy dress and shaky instruments. But I was listening to a great cover of ACDC’s Back in Black. Yup, this was not your standard toddler group play list… Humpty Dumpty and Incy Wincy didn’t even get a mention!
Rock the Tots is one of two music-based groups that I’ve attended in the last couple of months (the other one is Music for Miniatures – more on this later) that bring “real” music to children; inspiring a passion for music that parents and their little ones can share together. Here’s more about them.
The more contemporary of the two, Rock the Tots, is run by a lovely musical couple called Stephanie and Craig. Craig plays guitar and sings (in a number of different styles) and Stephanie sings and works her magic with puppets and props. They pair songs with fun on-screen visuals that capture the children’s attention and they have a great range of dress-up props and shaky instruments that the kids can work their way through during the session; as I mentioned above, the Little Big One took full advantage of this, at one point wearing five different pieces of head wear, shaking a sparkly pom pom and singing into a microphone simultaneously. She’s a rock star in the making.
Every month the music has a different theme. September’s theme was colours so we were treated to renditions of Purple Rain, Fields of Gold, TheYellow Submarine… you get the picture! Despite this being a preschool group (it’s for under 5s), its very much choreographed with grown-ups in mind (which I loved). Not only have nursery rhymes been completely vetoed (as well as the examples above, we heard covers from the likes of Coldplay, KT Tunstall, Jimi Hendrix and Joni Mitchell) but Craig’s impersonations of the artists are spot on (I particularly enjoyed his Eiffel 65 – yep, you remember that classic 90’s song Blue… da ba dee da ba daa). At a couple of points he threw in the odd anecdote about a song or band too; anecdotes that went way over the kid’s heads but gave us grown-ups a bit of a laugh or a flutter of nostalgia.
Now it’s not always easy for parents to loosen up and relax at these events so to break the ice, there was a game of say what you see that saw the original lyrics of “Whoa, Black Betty, bam-a-lam,” replaced with things like “bramble jam” and “panda lamp” which was a great way to get the parents engaged and was very funny too.
The event ended with a colour themed story – bringing it back to the kids. Wow, Said the Owl is one of our family favourites so it was the perfect finale to a great morning. October’s theme is Spooky fun but I’m told there won’t be anything too terrifying! Dates tend to appear on their website the month before, so you’ll find October dates here.
Prices: £4 per head but if you are bringing a second sibling they offer a small discount – a siblings ticket will cost you £7. We got ourselves a loyalty card too – get 5 stamps and your 6th gig is free!
Venues: Gigs take place in Bath, Bristol and many places in between, including Corsham and Bradford on Avon. Check the website for a full list of locations.
After embracing our inner rock stars at Rock the Tots, we took the pace down a level at Music for Miniatures and indulged in a bit of classical music. Now, if I’m honest, we don’t really listen to a lot of classical music in our house (apart from the occasional nod to it with the Ballet for Kids playlist on Spotify). We’re plebs, I know. Having said that though, our house is always filled with noise and the girls seem to love music of any kind so I figured Music for Miniatures would broaden their musical horizons a little bit.
Music for Miniatures is all about introducing live classical music to babies and young children. It was started by musician and mum, Julie, who is joined by a host of other musicians to bring high quality live music to families, without the stress of trying to keep little ones quiet and still. Classical music has been proven to be calming for children of all ages (and grown-ups too!) but at these concerts, it doesn’t matter if babies cry and toddlers babble and totter around because they are encouraged to explore, dance, pick up a shaker or scarf and get right up close to the performers. There’s something really special about seeing different instruments up close too – my two were fascinated by the oboe and the Little Big One couldn’t wait to have a tinkle on the piano at the end (her daddy plays it and she loves joining in).
Each concert has a different focus – at one event you might be watching a jazz quartet and one week it might be all about percussion or horns. The concert we attended was called A Musical Zoo and all of the songs were animal themed, which was a great introduction to classical music for my two. There were the obvious animal themed tunes like Swan Lake (which was a big hit with our ballet loving Little Big One) and Flight of the Bumblebee. And there were some more subtle links to animals where we were encouraged to listen to the sounds within the music and pretend to be whichever animal it made us think of; for example, the bouncy tones in Benjamin Britten’s Bacchus saw us become jumping kangaroos. The girls loved getting involved and we all enjoyed the beautiful music.
Prices: £8 per adult/child pair, £4 per extra adult, £3 per extra child.
Venues: Concerts take place in Bath, Frome, Street and a few places in between (we went to one in Midsomer Norton).
On Tuesday our brave Little Big One made her first acquaintance with a reptile. Not just any old reptile. A python, no less. She actually held the python in her tiny hands (albeit with a trained animal handler holding her hands to take the weight. It was her hands that were making contact though). Oh and she stroked a bearded dragon (so did the Not So Tiny One, though she’s never really one to pass up on the chance to do something daring).
This all happened at Hestercombe gardens near Taunton. A lovely place at the best of times, I’m sure, but a great place to visit in the school holidays. Their summer programme is fabulous! We visited on one of their Terrific Tuesdays and had the joy of attending a Really Wild Show where we were acquainted with the aforementioned beasts. The show brought us face to face with some very curious creatures – as well as the python and bearded dragon, we met a lizard that can lick it’s own eyeball and a tarantula. The show was fascinating, fun and very informative (the Really Wild Learning team do birthday parties by the way).
After the show we wandered over to the Orangerie where there were more animals for us to meet – three lovely alpacas. Freshly confident from her heroics with the snake, the Little Big One hand fed one particularly hungry alpaca and we petted them for a while. Personally this was more up my street than the reptiles, but of course, I didn’t let on!
The Orangerie was also host to some arts and crafts activities, all with an animal theme. We made a paper chain snake (easier to handle than the real thing) and a floaty fish wand.
Once our activities were complete the girls whiled away a big chunk of time in the little play park – accessible without a ticket (it’s just before the main entrance). There’s a picnic area here too, although it’s not covered (which isn’t ideal in the rain, as we found out). Annoyingly you’re not allowed to eat picnics in the gardens (I can only assume this is because of concerns over littering) so this designated picnic spot is the only place you can (openly) eat your own food. The cafe serves a great hot chocolate though.
As we were busy enjoying all the fun that was laid on, it didn’t leave us with much time to enjoy the rest of the gardens, aside from a very quick peak at the formal garden (which isn’t accessible by pram, unfortunately. Too many steps). This seems to be a recurrent theme here at Hestercombe – lots of steps and uneven ground makes using a pram a little tricky. However, the Georgian landscaped gardens do look beautiful with many attractions to see including a waterfall, a Chinese bridge, a mill pond and a watermill. The mill pond and watermill can be seen from the accessible route which is marked on the visitor’s map. But many of the other attractions, including the waterfall, are harder to get to so next time I’m taking a backpack carrier for the little ones so that we can enjoy the full tour.
I would certainly suggest visiting in the holidays if you can – Terrific Tuesdays are on for the rest of August with the timetable as follows:
But at £6.25 for a Bishop’s Palace member adult ticket (as a partner garden, BP members receive half price entry – it works the other way too), I’ll definitely be returning outside of the school holidays. Kids under 5 go free.
If this smiley hot chocolate face doesn’t sell it to you, I don’t know what will…
It’s the weekend. You may have a quiet couple of days ahead with no plans. Or you may have friends coming over and are yet to decide how to entertain them. Well, if, like us, you enjoy exploring the local countryside then you’re sure to love these walks. And if, like us, no walk is complete without incorporating a local pub where cold beverages and yummy grub is on offer, then you’ll be even more pleasantly surprised by this list. Read on and get those weekend plans Locked Inn (pun intended. *See item 5 on list).
Wookey Hole Inn, Wookey Hole
Duration: 45 minutes each way (or 30 minutes if you return via the road) Terrain: Pram-friendly with some hills Type: This route has the benefit of being circular, or linear if you return the same way you came
The walk… For all you Wellsonians out there, this is a brilliant country pub walk that can be done without even getting in the car. A rare thing indeed. It’s also a walk that can be done with a pushchair (or a sling, depending on your preference). So top marks all round from us. Heading up from town, the walk takes you up Ash Lane and onto Milton Lane (where you’ll face the steepest incline of the route) before heading out of town and into the countryside with gorgeous views across Wells and beyond. You then follow a semi-sheltered path that runs alongside the Split Rock Quarry, uphill first and then switching to downhill as you start the descent into Wookey Hole village. The last 10 minutes or so of the walk is on road (Wells Road) so do take care if walking with a pram. It’s not too busy but you’re likely to meet a car or two. Wells Road merges with the High Street and you’ll see the pub on your right hand side. On the way back, you can choose to return via the same route or go the quicker way along the road (Wookey Hole Road) and follow the footpath all the way back into Wells.
The pub… The Wookey Hole Inn was owned by the guys that now run The Sheppey in Godney (another favourite of ours) so it’s got bundles of character. The roast dinners are delicious and it has a good varied menu. They welcome children with open arms – every table has a pot of pencils and a white paper tablecloth so they’re actively encouraged to get creative. There’s also a garden that is great in the summer (it’s on a slight hill but, as long as you’re keeping an eye on them, the kids can happily run around).
The Litton, in Litton village (near Chewton Mendip)
Duration: Around one hour Terrain: Sling only as there are a number of stiles to navigate. Can get muddy in wet weather too. Type: Circular walk
This is a firm favourite of ours. So much so that I’ve written a blog post dedicated solely to it. Fabulous pub with an even more fabulous circular walk that combines all (and more) of the must-see sights that every good country walk should include. What’s more, the pub has created a beautifully illustrated pocket map of the walk for its visitors to download or take as they explore the area – it would be rude not to combine the two. And you’ll certainly deserve that lunch when you’re done. Read more here.
The view from the top of the Dam
The Railway Inn, Sandford, Winscombe
Duration: Various distances. The walk follows the old Strawberry Line railway so you can opt for a short amble or a longer walk, depending on your mood Terrain: Flat and prammable – a mixture of grass, gravel and tarmac but it’s footpath or road all the way Type:Linear
The walk… This one is around a 35 minute drive from Wells but is well worth the trip. The Railway Inn is owned by Thatchers Cider and sits on the site of the Thatchers orchards and factory. It’s also on the Strawberry Line, a disused railway line that runs through Mid-Somerset so walks from there are nice and flat. If you’re walking from the pub, turn right onto the road, walk for around 300m and there are two options: turning left onto the Strawberry Line takes you towards Winscombe and turning right takes you towards Congresbury. The Winscombe way is shorter and more direct (it takes just over an hour to reach the village) and the Congresbury route is a little more meandering, coming on and off the Strawberry Line a couple of times and incorporating a bit of quiet road walking too. Congresbury is around 13 miles away so it’s unlikely you’ll do the full route but you can walk for as long as you like and turn back anytime you’re ready. On this route, you get to stroll through some of the Thatchers orchards, which is pretty interesting, but (I must warn you) you also have to put up with the God-awful stench of a sewage plant as you turn off the first section of road and return to the Strawberry Line. Don’t worry though, the smell disappears as quickly as it arrives!
An array of signage signals the start of the Strawberry Line and the way back to the pub!
The pub… The Railway Inn itself is a lovely pub with a great outdoor space, complete with a wooden train (that the Little Big One loved playing in) and a large grassy area for running around in. There’s also a toilet outside with changing facilities, meaning you don’t have to tackle the busy pub and oodles of stairs if you need to get there quick!
The Talbot Inn/ The Walled Garden, Mells
Duration: As long or as short as you like Terrain: Flat Type: Linear
The pub… Mells is a beautiful little village near Frome, about a 25 minute drive from Wells. Here, you have the option of dining pub-style at the Talbot Inn (it has a kids menu and a grassy area just off its outside courtyard where children can have a run around) or heading opposite into the more relaxed Walled Garden where you can have sandwiches, salads or pizza (from their very own pizza oven) while enjoying the tranquility of the beautiful gardens and nursery. There are an abundance of different seating areas to choose from (including a covered greenhouse area) but while there’s lots to see, there’s not a lot of space to let children loose. You can save that for the walk!
The beautiful Walled Garden in Mells
The walk… If you take a little amble through the village – past the post office and village store – and take the second left turn, you’ll discover a wonderful little woodland walk that follows the river. About 10 minutes into the woods, you’ll come across a waterfall and shallow area that is just perfect for paddling. It’s just beautiful! The path can take you all the way to Great Elm village if you’re in it for the long haul, or you can choose to walk as far as you like and turn back when you’re ready.
There are a few parking options in the village. We parked in the free car park adjacent to the recreation ground (there’s ample space) but there’s also limited parking at the Talbot Inn and, if you’re visiting the Walled Garden, you can park in the Mells Barn car park too.
The Lock Inn, Bradford on Avon
Duration:Multiple options Terrain:Generally flat and prammable, although the canal path may get muddy in wet weather Type: You can opt for a circular route or come back the way you came
The pub… We love visiting Bradford on Avon. We have close friends that live there and we got married there, so it holds a special place in our hearts. It also has a number of blooming great pubs and some lovely canal walks too. Our pub of choice is The Lock Inn, which has a lovely large beer garden (and a funky little dining area on a canal boat if you fancy something quirky). The food is homely and served in giant quantities (which is always a winner in our eyes). And it’s right on the canal so you can wave to passing narrow boats and watch the activity at the nearby lock that gives the pub its name.
The great thing about a canal walk is that it’s also perfect for bikes
The walk: From The Lock Inn, you can walk around the picturesque town of Bradford on Avon or opt for a river and canal walk instead. There’s a lovely circular canal route that’s about 1.5 miles long. You can extend this walk to include some field paths too (this adds a further 1.5 miles onto the route and may make it trickier with a pram). The local council has created a very helpful guide to walking in Bradford on Avon which includes directions and maps to all of the above. You can download it here.
We popped along to Palette and Pasture’s Open Farm Sunday event at the end of June and what a revelation it was, on all sorts of levels! Based at Pyle Farm in Trudoxhill, just off the A361 on the way to Frome (around 25 minutes from Wells), it’s home to Paul and Rachel Candy (and their menagerie of animals) who, between them, manage a 200 strong herd of dairy cows and multiple businesses, including arts and crafts, seasonal pop up events and their delicious farm-produced gelato.
The Open Farm event is one of four pop up events (they call them “Country Markets”) that occur throughout the year that enable the family to showcase their brilliant businesses and provide visitors with an insight into the inner workings of the dairy farm. Here are five reasons why it’s well worth heading along to one.
Palette and Pasture’s Somerset Gelato is divine. My, it tastes good. I mean, really good. Flavours range from the classics – rum and raisin, strawberry and mint choc chip – to the more unusual – Jaffa cake, white gold and cherry and banana sorbet. The best thing is that the flavours change each week so you can always try something new. We opted for pear and it was a real crowd pleaser. The ice cream is made from cows milk rather than cream. According to those in the know, Pyle Farm’s milk is naturally sweet, so not only does their ice cream contain less fat, it also has less added sugar. Ideal!
We learnt some really cool facts about cows and dairy farming… whilst riding on a tractor! We hopped on a trailer to join one of Paul’s fabulously engaging tractor tours of the working farm, where we learnt some fascinating facts about cows. Did you know, for instance, that cows drink up to 150 litres of water a day? Or that they lie down for 12 hours a day but actually only sleep for 20 minutes? Incredible. The farm’s 200 dairy cows produce a massive 4500 litres of milk a day and some of this goes into making their delicious gelato, which is great news for us. Oh, and they supply local cheese maker Barbers too!
It’s not just cows. They have a host of other animals you can meet. Right next to the ice cream parlour, you’ll find the family’s smallholding which is home to a couple of pigs (in the summer months), pygmy goats (that you can feed), chickens and some geese. It’s a real family affair here, and you’ll probably be enthusiastically greeted by one of their friendly dogs too.
There’s a great outdoor play area. Our two loved the digger pit and push along tractors, but there’s also a pedal tractor race track and a mud kitchen. Perfect.
Your visit will support a great local, family-run business. In addition to the dairy farm and the fabulous gelato, Rachel, who is a talented artist, sells paintings too. At their Country Market pop-up events they also like to support other local craft and food traders so the events are a great advert for shopping local.
The dates for Palette and Pasture’s upcoming events can be found on their website but for the remainder of the year these are the dates for your diary: Sunday 27th October – A Day on the Farm: Zombies and Pumpkins; Sunday 15th December – Santa and Snowflakes.
It’s worth knowing that the ice cream parlour is also open at weekends – Friday to Monday 11-5 – so you can head over anytime to enjoy a gelato, visit the animals and have a play.
Last month, we took the girls and the in-laws for a short break at Center Parcs in Longleat. It’s not the kind of holiday the hubby and I would have looked at before; we’ve always thought of it as an expensive option and we’re the type of family that likes to get away and do our own thing, rather than stay somewhere with everything at your fingertips. Anyway… after an unmissable deal popped up, the hubby booked it on a whim, quickly locking in the grandparents too.
Well, through fear of this sounding like a sponsored post (I promise, it most definitely isn’t) this was hands down our easiest and most wholly enjoyable family holiday to date! Unbelievably there was zero stress too. And I mean, zero stress. I told you it was unbelievable. I just can’t praise Center Parcs enough. Having young children certainly changes your perspective on holidays. Up until now, we were the types to research holiday spots reminiscent of our youthful, carefree days, where the accommodation was quirky rather than practical and off the beaten track instead of all-inclusive. As we’ve discovered, this type of place is almost impossible to find when it needs to accommodate two small people. It also tends to involve more hassle when you’re there too, sometimes having an effect on the overall enjoyment levels of the holiday.
Now, even those that haven’t visited Center Parcs will know that it is NOT that holiday. It’s a complex. With cabins that are designed to be functional and all look the same. With an abundance of entertainment options and restaurants serving every cuisine under the sun available on tap. And with a tropical swimming paradise just a short walk away. It’s basically a cruise on land. But, and here’s the but. With very young kids in tow, this is exactly what you need. It’s convenient, easy and has everything young children need to enjoy themselves. And everyone knows that happy children make for happy parents.
Our cabin was perfectly located, far enough from the central drag that we felt like we could escape a bit, but close enough that we could walk to the main village with a pram. We were close to the top of the Cascades walkway, so it was just a short meander downhill to the beach and beyond. We also had a land train stop just a minute’s walk away. The land train, of course, was a massive hit with the Little Big One who insisted on riding it every day. Our bulky pram didn’t fit on – next time we’d definitely take an umbrella folding stroller – so the Not So Tiny One was able to take her naps in the pram while some of us walked to and from the cabin to the village (about a 25-30 minute walk). The cabin was set within the forest so it felt secluded and a bit “wild” (which pleased us) and was positioned above a pond, which meant that we got to see an abundance of wildlife from our living area. Ducks came up to the doors at bedtime looking for food, squirrels played chase up and down the trees outside and on one particularly early morning, we were lucky enough to see two deer frolicking by the water. A huge privilege that made the super early start more than worth it. There have to be some benefits to having early risers in the family!!
As this was our first Center Parcs experience we decided not to book too many activities upfront and to just go with the flow when we were there (there are an unfeasible amount of great options available though). Having said that, I treated myself to a Pilates class which gave me a rare hour of freedom (and was lovely), and we booked the Little Big One onto a toddler rollerskating class, which was well worth it – she got loads out of it and was super proud when the grandparents rocked up halfway through to see her skating All By Herself. To be honest, this was all the extra entertainment we needed. The swimming complex is a real winner and we went once a day, sometimes twice (this would seem absurd under normal circumstances, but we just packed an extra set of swimmers! This is Center Parcs us. I like Center Parcs us). As well as the main pool and the numerous slides and flumes, there are two brilliant splash parks – a pirate themed one for the bigger kids and another filled with taps, pumps, tunnels and sprinklers, which was perfect for keeping the toddlers amused. As we had the grandparents in tow, the hubby and I took the opportunity to brave the big water rides alone (brilliant fun) and we also enjoyed the outdoor thermal pool which felt really spa-like and luxurious. Our favourite bit of all though was the Lazy River rapids which both girls giggled and laughed their way around about a million times!
Aside from all of this though, it was a really good place to just be. Being in the forest surrounded by trees feels fabulous. And there’s so much to do and see outside. We took the Little Big One’s bike and she loved having the freedom to just go. There are a multitude of parks for all ages. And the lakeside beach is beautiful (I think Longleat is one of the only resorts to have this). On our final morning, we were lucky enough to be at the beach to witness dozens of carp gathering at the shoreline, only to be joined by a curious heron. Not a sight you see everyday.
We booked a Monday-Friday stay and the four nights cost around £500 for a three bedroom cabin (which had ample room for all of us – four adults and two children). We kept additional costs down by preparing batch meals in advance so all evening meals were sorted but we did treat ourselves to a couple of lunches out (it would have been rude not to!) Perhaps the biggest bonus of all about this holiday was that Longleat is a mere 30 minutes away from home. So on the last day we spent the morning at the pool, visited the beach, had a lovely family lunch, played in a couple of parks… and were still home for the girl’s dinner time!
As far as holidays go, it really was the easiest, most convenient and relaxed holiday we’ve been on. In fact, we enjoyed it so much that we’ve only gone and booked to go at the same time next year, this time with my parents. See you then, Center Parcs! x
Oh and our cabin had a blackboard for recording all of our adventures – a really lovely touch.
I can’t believe I’m writing this but our Little Big One reached the grand old age of THREE last week. How is that right? Three seems so grown-up. It’s pretty exciting watching her grow though and blossom into such a wonderful little human – bright with a fabulous imagination and plenty to say, full of energy and blooming hilarious.
Well, how to celebrate this exciting milestone? When I asked her what kind of party she’d like she was quick to answer: “I’d like a Three Little Pigs themed party Mummy!” Well, in our house, Three Little Pigs is not only a top 5 go-to storybook but it’s also one of our favourite games. It also happens to be a great theme for a party! Result. (By the way, our fave version of the book is this one written by Mara Alperin – a modern retelling of the story, with some great descriptive text and a happy ending!)
Cue a quick scroll through Pinterest followed by muchos fun planning some piggy themed decorations and party food. My inner Kirstie Allsop had a field day making piggy faces and sketching Big Bad Wolf silhouettes to hang around the garden, and the Little Big One and her friends even joined in to help create some snout masks for the party games (I can’t say all of them were used but they enjoyed themselves and it whiled away an afternoon… ;-)).
The food was even more fun. As anybody who has been to one of our garden parties before knows, we love to put on a centrepiece of pulled pork. This seemed particularly fitting (if a little macabre) for this gathering! With our theme in mind, I labelled the dish “Pulled Pork Straw” (those familiar with the story will know that straw was one of three house building materials used by the pigs… stick with me here). Along with the straw, we added some “Stick Snacks” into the mix – carrot sticks, cucumber sticks and those incredibly moreish potato stick crisps; and some “Brick Cakes” (a tray bake Cherry Bakewell cut into brick shape portions).
The piece de resistance was the birthday cake – you may guess that I was particularly proud of this one – featuring Three Little Pigs, a Big Bad Wolf and straw, sticks and bricks! After three years of attempting, in most cases, rather ambitious cake icing projects, I feel like I really nailed it this year. I must let you into a little secret here. I’m not the best baker (I blame the oven) so I like to cheat a little with birthday cakes. To reduce the stress levels and give me time to focus on the decoration, I use the cheats way and buy a Betty Crocker pre-mix (*other pre-mixes are available). That way I can spend all the time I’d spend baking, making it look pretty!
We also had a bit of fun with the drinks too, creating a watermelon pig, complete with a tap so that the little ones could help themselves to a glass of delicious fresh watermelon juice.
The Little Big One had a fabulous day and so did we! The grown-ups got to enjoy a few glasses of prosecco in the sunshine while the children played together, enjoyed a couple of party games and ate cake. With school on the horizon next year, I fear that our simple garden party days may be numbered. Once all those invitations to parties at soft play centres come flooding in and words like “magicians” and “face-paints” and “Disney princesses” get bandied about, the Three Little Pigs just may not cut it anymore. Well, we’ve been able to enjoy three years of adult-friendly entertaining so I think we’ve done pretty well. Better brace ourselves for plenty of mayhem next year!!
For all those times when caffeine is the only answer. You might be a sleep deprived new mum or a grandparent in need of a quick cuppa and a sit down or you may just be looking for a great lunch spot to catch up with friends. Either way, here’s my top picks for baby and toddler friendly coffee spots in Wells.
LOAF
By far my favourite place to hunker down for an hour, not only for its toddler-tastic play area, complete with playhouse, kitchen and slide, but also for its delicious coffee (the decaff latte is the best I’ve tasted) and fabulous range of artisan bakes. One of the few places where you can genuinely sit and enjoy a cuppa while the kids entertain themselves (which, let’s face it, as a mum is nigh-on impossible in most places!) Oh, and babychinnos are free!
COFFEE #1
This small chain coffee shop is great for kids; it’s noisy (perfect for covering up the din of fussy babies or excitable toddlers) and has colouring pencils and paper to keep little ones entertained.
THE BISHOP’S PALACE
Sit outside and soak up the views while toddlers burn off energy in the grassy areas surrounding the cafe (although be aware that the croquet lawn is out of bounds!). Lawn games, such as giant Jenga and Connect4 come out in the summer months. After your coffee, you can head into the grounds (free to members) and hunt for the dragons in the Dragon’s Lair. During school holidays you can grab a coffee at the Hungry Dragon kiosk situated within the gardens, but opening hours are sporadic so I’d recommend getting yourself a takeaway or bringing a flask from home if you’re feeling desperately in need!
CAFE TWENTYONE
Best for small groups given the limited space, this cafe located right on the market square serves delicious lunches and cakes. The staff are super friendly and massively accommodating where children are concerned. Two things to note are that there are no baby changing facilities (there are at the cathedral though, which is just around the corner) and you can’t take prams upstairs, so unless there is space downstairs, it’s babes in arms only!
PICKWICKS
I only include Pickwicks in this list as it was a lifeline for me and my NCT group in the early days of motherhood. It’s large and has spacious booths at the back that are perfect for providing privacy for breastfeeding mums and keeping fussy babies out of earshot from other customers. Good changing facilities too, and, simple lunches that are edible with one hand (which as all new mums will know, is important!) The staff aren’t necessarily the friendliest but for practical reasons alone, this is a good bet.
The Parent Play List 