Tip toe through the .... Bluebells?

Our children believe in faires.. and pixies and goblins and Peter Pan.  Just as we want them too, they are only 6 and 3 and we try to encourage this magic as much as we can as before too long it will be gone and we will be very sad!  Childhood, in my opinion, should be about magic and mystery.  We have a Christmas Elf that comes every year Twinkle the Elf and she brings such marvel and mystery it is wonderful to watch.  Now that Eva is starting to loose her teeth, we also have the Tooth Fairy and thanks to the wonderful Miss Prim (my lovely friend Gemma) she now has a fairy house.

Each season brings with it a different fairy.  In Winter we had Blizzard the fairy, she would visit and leave small notes and treats every now in then.  Eva took great joy in writing letters to her.  Now Spring is upon us we have Buttercup the fairy.  Buttercup, the tinker, has promised Eva 20 fish for her 7th birthday!

One of my best friends lives in Morpeth and told me about a lovely place called Scotch Gill Woods or to give it it's local name, Bluebell Woods.  Unless you know the area you would probably miss it,  It is on the outskirts of Morpeth.  It is on the A197 Pegswood Road and you head past Morrisons and out that way.  There are signs, seeing as I am completely useless with directions.  

It seems to be a popular place so we decided one spring morning last year, to have a wander through the bluebells and see if we can find some fairies.

There is a layby/parking area beneath the woods and as long as you get there fairly early I cannot imagine you would have any problems parking.  Please bear in mind that there are a lot of steps to get up to the woodland and it is definitely not recommended for wheelchairs or pushchairs.

There is a guided walk provided by Walk 4 Life which is approximately 2 miles long but we just chose to explore ourselves.  Up hills, over little streams, past a care home (which was of course a spooky old mansion).  We spent a lovely few hours there.  It was so peaceful, despite a busy main road running alongside, we didn't notice the noise at all.  Absolutely beautiful and we are counting down the days until the bluebells are back and we can explore again.  We didn't see any fairies that time, but hopefully in the future ...

If you are interested in seeing more, there is a short video put together in conjunction with Morpeth Town Council and the Greater Morpeth Development Trust showing the invaluable work done by the Trust to improve the paths and woodland.  They have done an amazing job to make it so beautiful and accessible for us all to enjoy.

Bluebell Woods Video

Disneyland Paris - Part Trois - Hotel Cheyenne

We were finally here! The taxi ride was approximately 30 minutes and we were dropped off right at the door.  You just pay the driver at drop off as you would a normal taxi, there is an option to pay by PayPal before you arrive if you wish to do so.

First impressions of Hotel Cheyenne were fabulous.  It is themed on a Wild West town and in true Disney style, there is a lot of attention to detail.

The check in process was very smooth, there were a lot of staff in attendance and they were all very friendly and happy to answer questions.  We were given a whole information pack containing park schedules, maps and meal passes.  We were asked what time we wanted breakfast and were given breakfast passes for that particular time.  Don't worry too much if you change your mind, we did and it was easily rectified.  A pretty good tip for breakfast is, avoid between 8am and 9 am if at all possible,  We did not the first morning and it was absolutely crazy, queues out the door and people everywhere! The Chuck Wagon restaurant is huge but at this time it was rammed, my advice is either get there before 8am or come back later around 10am.  Lovely and quiet and you can enjoy your breakfast at leisure.

Our room was not ready for us on arrival, but there is a large luggage area where you can leave all your belongings and come back for them later.  Easy process and saves you hanging about waiting for rooms.

Each hotel (apart from Disneyland Hotel) has a regular bus shuttle service, approximately every 10 - 15 minutes to take you straight to the parks.  However, as we discovered, the Cheyenne was only about a 15 minute walk along the river from the park, we tended to use this on the way home mainly to avoid big queues.  We never had a problem getting a bus, it is a good and reliable service.

All the rooms are in separate buildings named after famous Wild West legendary folk, our room was in the Doc Holliday building.  The children loved looking out for all the famous names and it made them curious to learn more about the Wild West.  It was a brilliant theme, the whole place was set out like a wild west town complete with saloon and police house.  Brilliant! We loved wandering through especially when it was quiet and I could almost hear Clint Eastwood whistling as we explored!

When we got into our room, it was fine.  It was clean and tidy and had everything that you need for your stay.  The Cheyenne is only rated a 2* but there was nothing wrong with it, perfectly adequate and we were more than happy with it.  The room was in-keeping with the Wild West theme and the children loved the bunk beds complete with Sheriff's star night lights.

With our package, breakfast was included.  The Cheyenne serves a continental buffet style breakfast every morning and it is really good.  There were plenty of cereals to choose from, along with the usual continental fayre of cheese, various meats and delicious fresh rolls and pastries.  There was also lots of fresh fruit and berries, yoghurts and a couple of big toasters for you to use.  Unlimited tea, coffee, hot chocolate and juice were available.

We also sampled the evening buffet here a couple of nights as to be perfectly honest, we were too tired to trek about.  Again, lovely food, lots of choice, loosely based Wild West themed food, chilli, corn on the cob, ribs, baked potatoes, but you had to get in quick as once they were gone, they were gone. I think that may be my only complaint, stocks weren't replenished as much as I thought they should be.  But there was lots of other choices and some delicious desserts.  You got 1 drink per person included per meal but there was lots of water coolers around with jugs so you could help yourself to iced water at all times.

In summary, the standard room we stayed in was fine, there was an option of upgrading but for the amount of time spent in the room we did not think it was worthwhile.  All the communal areas, reception, restaurant, hotel store, the town were magnificent.  We loved the theme completely - Yee Hah!

The Chuck Wagon Restaurant

This Town ain't big enough for the both of us ....

Shrek-tacular

Our love affair with the Theatre Royal continued today.  We, along with a group of friends, went to watch Shrek the Musical.  Having read a couple of reviews and seen the advertising posters all over the place, we were extremely excited to see it.  The whole family all love the film and were looking forward to seeing how it played on the stage.

We booked our tickets probably about a year ago, as soon as it was announced and even then the 'cheap' tickets in the amphitheatre were already heavily booked which resulted in us being spread about the place.  Not to worry though as I managed to get each family group sat together.  One of the things I love about the Theatre Royal is that despite where you sit, the view is always good, which is handy when on a budget like us.

The show opened to Shrek and Princess Fiona explaining a little about how they got to end up in the swamp and the tower, a bit of background information is always useful!

The show was fantastic, it was filled with songs and dancing, wonderful costumes and all of the favourites from the film including Gingy and Pinocchio.  There were lots of laughs, including a few risque jokes for the grown ups :0).  All of the characters were wonderful, of course the main man Shrek was fabulous, the costume was brilliant and he looked just as he should.  Lord Farquaad stole the show, he was hilarious and the costume was ingenious.  I loved sassy Princess Fiona, she definitely wasn't the damsel in distress and had lots of girl power.  Eva and Luca's favourite was the cool and funky Donkey, full of wise cracks and silliness, he was definitely a crowd pleaser.  

The entire ensemble had wonderful voices, the Dragon completely blew me away, she was fantastic.

I won't spoil it all for you as at the time of writing there are still very limited seats to be had if you get in quick. Our group consisted of young and old and every one of us thoroughly enjoyed the show. Well worth the wait, catch it if you can.  Next stop, The Bodyguard in April....

Shrek, Theatre Royal

The Nutcracker - Ballet comes to Newcastle

I have never seen a ballet, a proper ballet performed on stage.  My daughter has been taking ballet lessons since she was about 3 and I did myself for a few years when I was a youngster.  Never to any sort of level but I really enjoyed it and so does Eva.

We have read the story of The Nutcracker but didn't really know much about it apart from it was set at Christmas time and was about a young girls adventures.  I saw that it was coming to the Theatre Royal in half term so decided to make a booking.  I gathered together some like minded friends and we booked up.

We went for the Friday evening performance and I started to look for somewhere, for a pre-show drink, that was happy to accept children in the surrounding area.  Eventually we went for Las Iguanas on Grey Street.  I have heard nothing but good about this place but never actually been.  I have to admit that their 2-4-1 cocktail happy hour had a little to do with my decision.

We got the metro into town, I am ashamed to say that until that night, I had not realised that you get free metro travel into Newcastle City Centre with your theatre ticket.  It is valid for 2 hours before and after the show and is a brilliant deal.

The cocktails were a great hit, well with the adults anyway, the food looked delicious, my friend ordered the loaded nachos and they were scrumptious.  The staff were brilliant with the kids, even giving them balloons and festival masks for them to colour in.  We were made to feel welcome and not a hindrance for having 3 young children with us.  We have made a plan to go back one night (without kids) and sample a few more of those cocktails, and the food of course!

So onto showtime.  We had quite good seats, the front row of the Upper Circle, this meant the kids could stand up if they like and weren't obstructing the view of the people behind.  I have recently booked many tickets for Theatre Royal through their groups department and the help I have received has been outstanding, particularly Robert and Amy.  They have great patience with my endless questions and queries!

The ballet was performed by The Scottish Ballet and it was simply beautiful.  The victorian front room all set up for Christmas was stunning with its feature Christmas tree and the scenes in The Land of Sweets were breathtaking.  Eva loved watching the wonderful dancing and the sparkling and colourful costumes made it perfect viewing for a transfixed little girl.  It was also just the right length for a 6 year old, approximately 2 hours including the interval.

We had a beautiful evening and I can safely say that our very first ballet was a big hit!

A Day at the National Railway Museum York

The last time I visited the The National Railway Museum I was probably about Eva's age so I don't remember that much about it.  Our friends visited last year with their kids and told us it was a great day out so when I spotted that a hero of mine, Paddington Bear was going to be there, we made a date for half term.

We had left it too late to get bargain train tickets so decided just to drive.  It is approximately 80 miles to York from our house and it took roughly an hour and a half with traffic. Having been to York many, many times over the years, I know it is an absolute nightmare to drive in and also to park.  You can park at the museum, it costs £9 per day but we decided against this with it being half term and also the special events that they had on, I had a feeling it would be chocka block!  Instead we opted for the brilliant Park and Ride scheme.  We found this by accident 2 years ago and it is really good.  There are six car parks to choose from, we chose the Rawcliffe Bar car park as this bus dropped us literally outside the museum.  It was a bargain also as and adult return ticket is £2.80 and that includes 2 children under 16.  Much cheaper and less stressful than trying to find a space in the centre.  The bus takes approximately 10 - 15 minutes to get into York and we found on arrival we made the right choice as the car park was indeed full.

The first thing that amazed us is that this wonderful museum is completely free to enter.  Upon arrival they do ask for donations but of course you are not obligated to do this.  We bought a couple of guide books for the children and were given a museum trail to do free of charge.  Armed with our map we set off to explore.

The first hall you come to is the Great Hall and it is just that! Full of the most amazing trains including a replica of our very own George Stephenson's Rocket.

The children had great fun running around and exploring all of the engines.  The whole place is very child friendly, although a lot of the older trains you are not allowed to touch, there are plenty that you can climb aboard, including a Japanese Bullet train and also a few engines to check out.

An added bonus on until May is Churchill's Final Journey a wonderful exhibition showcasing the train that took Sir Winston Churchill on his last journey from London to Handborough where he was buried with his mother and father.  The train is spectacular and there is a display and also video footage of the sad event.

Foodwise, there are a few places to eat but I found it to be a little bit pricey, £5.95 for a sandwich. Drinks prices were absolutely fine and the children's menu at the Dining Car in the Station Hall was good value also, we ended up just getting jumbo hot dogs and wedges from that! They were yummy too.  Food is good quality and to be honest we didn't mind paying a little more as the entrance was free. 

The Station Hall was where all the Paddington themed activities were.  There was a luggage label themed Paddington trail to do which was £1 per child.  This was a big hit, our kids love finding things.  They also coloured in a Paddington postcard and added it to a huge map of the world and dressed up in Paddington fancy dress, including wellington boots.

It was now time to meet the main man.  He had been appearing at various intervals throughout the day and was proving to be very popular! The queue was huge but it was extremely well managed, there were two members of staff keeping the queue moving and and it went down very quickly.  I have to admit to being completely in love with Paddington, I have loved him since I was little and he was just as beautiful in real life as I expected him to be.  Eva and Luca enjoyed cuddles and high fives before posing for the obligatory photograph.

After Paddington, we went outside to the South Yard and we had a ride aboard a real-life miniature steam train, all the way from Wales, courtesy of the Ffestiniog Railway.  The driver even allowed the children into the cab so they could see how the train worked.

The Station Hall is where all the Royal trains are housed, there are some beauties, including trains used by the Queen Mother and Queen Victoria.  There is also a train station set up from times gone by.  I loved it in here.

I will end this blog here as I could go on and on filling you up with facts! But why not experience it for yourselves?  We were here all day and still did not manage to see everything.  We found all the staff to be charming and helpful and had a lovely time.  An absolutely fantastic day out.

The Journey and Arrival, DLP Pt Deux

The time was drawing ever nearer and as we had booked the first Air France flight in the morning, 6.20am, my thoughts turned to getting to the airport.  I had been advised by the travel agent to check in 2 hours before as mornings are apparently extremely busy, it turned out not to be the case in our experience but it is up to each of you to decide what is best for you, don't want to get in trouble with anyone! With that in mind, I looked at airport hotels.  Quite a few of the hotels, with parking, are still quite away from the airport which would either mean driving and parking at the airport or getting a bus transfer.  There seemed little point to this, living fairly near to the airport, I had wanted somewhere from where we could just walk to the terminal from the hotel, especially at 4.00am. Bingo, I remembered our trusty friend, Premier Inn has a hotel right at the airport.  If you book enough in advance you can get the rooms for £29 which is a complete bargain and far cheaper than even parking at the airport.  Sorted.  Lift arranged with my mam and we were good to go. 

I was so pleased we did this, mind I did set about 15 alarms on mine and hubby's phone, along with the TV alarm in the room, I still did not get much sleep, I was terrified we would sleep in and miss the flight.  We didn't we woke up at 3.15 yippee! washed, dressed up and out by 4.15am.  There is about a 6 minute walk, if that to the terminal, it is actually closer than the long term car park.  If you need it though, there is a little minibus that will take you into the terminal but it is far quicker and easier to make the short walk. 

I had checked in online the day before, with Air France it is 36 hours before your flight and I had chosen our seats with a window seat for each child to keep them happy.   It doesn't save you any time as you still have to check in your bags but it means you can pick where you want to sit.  I am happy to report that flying with AF means none of this ridiculous paying extra for baggage, paying extra to put it in the hold etc, thankfully.  Each passenger gets 23kg baggage allowance to check into the hold, we had 3 cases and it didnt come anywhere near the weight allocation.  The kids had little suitcases that they carried on to the plane full of essentials such as Spiderman and Barnaby Bear.

The airport was quiet as a dormouse, there was a couple of places open, namely Boots and Duty Free, most places stayed shut till around 5.30.

Boarding and departure was absolutely fine, no problems there and the kids were just so excited to be getting on a plane for the very first time.  I have to say at this point that the customer service on the return flight at CDG was far superior, seeing we had children, the staff put us through priority check in and security.  They also allowed us to board the plane before the other passengers, this was all without being asked, they volunteered this information and it was gladly received, a lot more than can be said for the staff at Newcastle, however that wasn't a problem, it was just much better at CDG.

Then we were off! For most of the flight it was pitch black but we did see the most beautiful sunrise and the children managed a catnap.

Charles de Gaulle airport is absolutely huge and extremely busy.  Just be aware of this, it is easy to navigate however and as most people are all going the same way, just go with the flow! Not many toilets I noticed so try not to have 2 children desperate for a wee upon landing if you can help it!  It was a mammoth walk and tram ride to get to the arrivals lounge and there we found our delightful driver waiting for us with our name up in lights (well on a board anyway).  Up until now I had been questioning my decision to spend all that money on a private transfer, the instant I saw him all that doubt disappeared, especially when I saw the queue for the Disney Parc Hopper.  The car was brand new, spotlessly clean and parked right outside the terminal.  The pre-booked child seats were waiting for us also, perfect.

Next stop Disneyland Paris Hotel Cheyenne Yee haa!

Disneyland Paris - The place of dreams (part one) - The decision making

For a couple of years now, we have talked about taking our children to Disneyland Paris.  I gave up work when Luca was born so money is tight but it was a place we knew we wanted the kids to visit whilst it still was magical.  So in January of this year we finally booked up!  I was so excited, I have been to DLP twice before, but as an adult and obviously without my children, was so looking forward to seeing it through their eyes.

We booked the early morning flight out of Newcastle direct to Charles de Gaulle with Air France, I did it as part of a package booked through Thomas Cook as I wanted the safety of a package holiday incase of flight delays etc.  After much too-ing and fro-ing, we decided on the Hotel Cheyenne, a hotel styled in the form of a wild west town.  It is only a 2 star but I read extensive reviews and asked many people's opinion, originally I had wanted to go for Hotel New York but on this occasion we decided to save a few more pounds and book the cheaper accommodation.

I bought the kids a countdown plaque off Designs by Nikki so they could start counting down the days.  I did delay giving them this until August otherwise we would have driven ourselves mad!

So it was booked, we were booked to leave on 1st December for 4 nights and spend Eva's birthday in Disneyland Paris, perfect.  We also got quite a good deal by going out of season, we got 2 nights free and the kids under 7 were free.  That is my first tip, if at all possible, avoid school holidays and also avoid weekends if you can.  Saturdays in particular are crazy as a lot of local people have annual passes and use them at the weekend.

I agonised over the meal plan situation.  Everyone I know that has been has commented on the price of the food there, it is expensive to eat out in Disneyland Paris and they offer a variety of meal plan options.  We eventually decided to get the Standard Premium Half Board because we could use that in Cafe Mickey which is a character dining restaurant.  In hindsight, I should not have bothered getting the plan as to be quite honest, with our kids it was a bit of a waste of money as they eat like birds and would have been happy eating in the McDonalds in the Disney Village everyday!  If you enjoy eating out and your kids are good eaters, then I would say the plans are a good buy, you have a wide choice of restaurants in both parks to choose from as well as the various Disney hotels.  There are options to suit everyone, it really is a case of personal taste.  You are looking at an average of about 12 euros for an adult meal consisting of cheeseburger, fries, drink and an ice-cream, if you go for that type of food.  An all-you-can-eat buffet is approximately 25 euros per adult, that is a rough guide for you.

Finally, airport transfers, you can book the VEA Disney airport shuttle bus, at todays price it is 20 euros per adult and 16 euros per child (aged 3 - 11) per trip and roughly takes around an hour or so to get round all the hotel drop offs.  I read on tripadvisor about a company called Ezy Shuttle who provide private taxi transfers and there was only brilliant reviews about them.  I enquired and the price was 70 euros for a direct pick up from the arrival hall in CDG and to take us straight to our hotel, a complete no brainer, quick email to John who owns the company and we were booked.  He asked if we need car seats and advised we just pay the driver on the day.  Our driver would be waiting for us in arrivals and that he was.  An absolutely exceptional service both ways and I would  not hesistate to wholeheartedly recommend Ezy Shuttle.

Stay tuned for the next instalment ......