The best family holiday in the Peak District: Darwin Forest Country Park

Darwin Forest Country Park is an absolute gem in the UK's Peak District. Having spent the past 4 days there I am genuinely excited about sharing this little known corner of the world with you. The Peak District itself is a fantastic place for a family holiday - and Darwin Forest is the perfect base in which to stay.

The Location:
Sitting on the east side of the Peak District National Park, Darwin Forest Country Park is close to everywhere you might want to visit. It takes no more than half an hour to get to any number of wonderful places - that is, if you want to leave the site at all.

The Peak District is in Derbyshire, close to Sheffield, Nottingham and Manchester. The closest airport is East Midlands, which Ryanair flies in to with some bargain busting flights.


The Accommodation:

The lodges at Darwin Forest are really special. Rather than a sprawl of identikit cabins, they are spread out throughout the park with lots of individual designs. Sizes and prices vary, so there really is something for every one. From Classic, Elite and Spa lodges to family cottages and exclusive ranges - the lodges go from 2 sleepers to 8 sleepers.

We were lucky enough to stay in The Meadow 'an exclusive small development of three sumptuous luxury lodges'.

Darwin Forest and it's sister site Sandybrook Country Park are family owned resorts, and the lodges on both sites are actually developed and built by the same family's other business. What this means for us is that the lodges are all built to a particularly high spec, with everything seamlessly produced.

You can also specify on booking if you want a hot tub. (Note: you want a hot tub).

We spent a large part of our time in here. Shooting the breeze and playing alphabet games. It's a fantastic family bonding time as it's a confined space with no other distractions. The warm water and bubbles just melt the stresses away and the kids adore it.

The bedrooms were cozy, comfy and had lots of light and space

The bathrooms were more 5 star hotel than log cabin in a forest, with the all important heated towel rail that kept the towels turning over as we used and re-used the hot tub. (Did I mention there is a hot tub...?)

Communal areas:

The lodge we stayed in was absolutely immaculate. So much so that I had a moral debate in my head about whether I could actually bring myself to use the grill in the kitchen. I felt like I was walking up to an oven in Harvey Norman and slapping a few rashers on to the shining metal rack. Luckily I got over myself and yes thank you - the bacon butties were delicious.

The kitchen had all the mod cons you'd expect and a few nice touches like plastic cups for the kids and a cafetiere for the grown ups.

The lounge was flooded with light all day and also had a lovely stove for those non-summer nights.

The decking area got the sun all day long and you can even borrow a barbecue from the reception area.

The Park:
The facilities in the park are fantastic. Everything you would expect and more. The outdoor areas are just wonderful. From the moment you open your cabin doors the trees, birds and wildlife are all around you.

The kids delighted in all the rabbits they found jumping around the park, and little bird boxes were dotted around the trees. Woodland walks, secret ponds, flower strewn meadows and surprise obstacle courses were all around.

A lovely playground kept them amused for hours, as did the football pitch. All perfectly located so that the grown ups could sit in the sun with a cold drink and marvel at how easy looking after kids is when you have the right facilities to hand.

And we didn't even get to the mini golf!

I took an early morning run through the forest trail on one of the days and can't describe how lovely it was. Nothing but me, the birds and the fresh clean air. Glorious.

What to do if it rains:
Yes, yes I hear you. What if you take the plunge and the rain stops play? Well thankfully Darwin Forest caters for those times too.

There is a really lovely swimming pool, complete with gym and beauty salon should you be so lucky.

There is also Little Monkey's indoor play centre and cafe. We sat outdoors in the sunshine and had lunch here on one of the days - which was surprisingly lovely. From my experience indoor play centres don't tend to serve the greatest food but this really was good.

The pub is perfect - indoors and out. We tested both extensively for the sake or research purposes. There is a restaurant attached and they are currently developing and extending this area.

There's an arcades room and snooker hall for the older kids too. We paid a visit to both and I may have had a quick game of Pacman just for old time's sake..

The damage:
No we didn't break anything. We even cleaned the grill in fact.

As I said rates vary a good deal depending on what and when you are looking. A seven night stay in an Elite lodge with hot tub for 4 people in August (peak season) is currently £1,419. A three night stay for 2 over the same dates is currently £459. For those with pre-school children, a week’s stay in October for 4 people in an Elite lodge with a hot tub is £699. The best thing to have a good look through what the options are and how much each costs.


Recommended?
Without a doubt. We absolutely loved our stay. Darwin Forest Country park is perfect for kids of all ages - whether you have toddlers, teenagers or anything in between. In fact it's a lovely getaway for extended families too - a couple of lodges taken together would be perfect for a big family meet up. Or why not bring the grandparents and get a larger sized lodge? (And maybe even a bit of free babysitting...).

One couple we met actually lived just 20 minutes away but still came to Darwin Forest to get away from it all - which says a lot really.

The park and surrounding area has so much to offer that you can really make the holiday what you want it to be. Whether that's climbing mountains and cycling tow paths, strolling around the woodland walks, visiting the local tourist attractions, touring country pubs or simply lazing round the lodge and dipping in and out of the hot tub.

I did mention there was a hot tub didn't I?

Disclosure: We were invited to stay at Darwin Forest Country Park as guests for the purposes of this review. All words and opinions are honest and my own. If you are thinking of booking and have any questions about our stay, I am more than happy to answer them. 

My video diary - Episode 3

Our 'Diary of a Netmum' series continues with this visit to the dentist.

Looks all cute and serene doesn't it?



Well that was before the middle one started pressing buttons on the 'gargle and spit sink' (yes that is actually the scientific term for it). Before we knew it there was water overflowing onto the floor and the off button wasn't working...

As the water (and panic) started rising I stopped filming - otherwise my growls and threats to the owner of the wandering fingers could have been shared...

Christine (the dentist) had to cut off the water at the mains and swiftly showed us the door - mortifying.

Lucky she's my sister-in-law though so can't get rid of us that easily :)

You hear that Chris?

How to build an Exploding Volcano

My Diary of a Netmum series continues on Netmums Channel,. This week we built an exploding volcano!

(Or should that be dribbling volcano...?)



We took this on as a half-term project - slowly building the volcano with layers of papier mache, letting a layer dry each day and finally painting it before setting the 'explosion' in motion!

Once we had finished with it the kids took it into school with them with some extra supplies of vinegar and baking soda. Their teachers and classmates loved getting involved.

Definitely worth the effort!

Linking up with Science Sparks and Red Ted Art.

Kate and Co. on film - Diary of a Netmum

I'm famous!

Well not quite. Unless 152 views counts as fame these days. Which I'm guessing it doesn't. But that's where you guys come in of course.

Over the next couple of months I'm going to be sharing my diary of family life in the Kate Takes 5 household with these nifty little Netmums videos. As you can see the cartoon version of me is uncannily similar to the real thing (though I would never wear those shoes) - I'm just disappointed Jesus didn't get a version of himself done, because sadly he's dead now.

No not that Jesus - this Jesus:



The first episode is now up on Netmums Youtube Channel where you can see the boys enjoying a bit of body painting. It was all good fun until the Goddamn dog picked up the paint tray and Baxter stood in the paint.....but we won't mention that hey.




So don't forget to pop over to You Tube and subscribe to Netmums Channel so I can turn one of these kids into the next Honey Boo Boo and retire to the sun sometime soon.

Lego Duplo - Photo Safari: A Review

We've had some fabulous LEGO DUPLO sets sent out to us this year as part of their LEGO DUPLO Ambassadors 2012 programme, but nothing quite as impressive as this LEGO DUPLO Photo Safari:

The 4 year old couldn't believe his eyes when he saw the size of the box and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised with how much use the contents have had since he opened it a week ago.

It arrived on a sick day for the 6 yer old so I let him get to work on it first...

It's aimed at ages 2 - 5 but he thoroughly enjoyed putting it all together.

The 4 year old LOVES this set. He has brought the animals to playschool, to the bath, to bed and for a 'walk' so far.

There are great little touches in the set such as the movable animals - the giraffe's neck goes up and down, the crocodile can open and close his jaws, as can the hippopotamus (or hee-popotumus as my boy says). The vehicles add to the excitement, and the characters complete the set.

Is there anything better than watching your 4 year old in role play as an asthmatic elephant....? Personally I can't think of one:



A huge thumbs up and 5 star rating from me on this one.

The LEGO DUPLO Photo Safari set retails at approx. £49.99. Toys-R-Us stores nationwide are currently running a promotion where you will receive a super cute plush DUPLO bunny when you spend over £25 on LEGO DUPLO.

Disclosure: I was supplied with the LEGO DUPLO Photo Safari for the purposes of this review. All words and opinions are my own.

A dream delivery from Wine Isle

Sometimes this work is tough. Really tough. Sometimes I have to put aside my clean living for the good of others and write about.....wine.

Of course I couldn't write about it without tasting it first though - so Wine Isle sent me this:

Wine Isle Taster Pack

Want to see what's inside? Here we go!




The beauty of Wine Isle is that all of the wines are handpicked by experts in the business who have whittled down their portfolio of wines to 100 of the very best.

It's a fantastically designed site with some great novelty extras such as a 'Passport' that gets stamped each time you buy and to which you can add your comments and scores, and an interactive map that allows you to read all about the producers of each wine and lets you click through to their own websites.

There are wines ranging from £5.99 to £85.90 and you can buy just one bottle or multiple cases.

If you like your wines I can assure you could happily while away an evening or ten on there.

Over the next few days weeks I, along with my good friends, (of which there seem to be many at the moment...), will test all the wines supplied and give our verdict on each of them.

Some of the 12.

If you'd like to join in the fun take a trip over to Wine Isle and enjoy a 'virtual vacation to a beautiful Isle of 100 wines, handpicked by our resident wine experts from an already handpicked portfolio of 400. These are the best of the best - guaranteed to please the palate and the pocket.'

Tasting notes for each wine

Cheers!

Disclaimer: I was sent the Wine Isle mixed Taster Pack for the purposes of this review. All opinions and content are my own.

Leapfrog Leapster GS Explorer - A Review.

First things first - I must admit to being a Leapfrog virgin. Many of their offerings have passed us by up until now, so when I was offered the chance to review one of their new Leapster GS products I thought it would be rude not to take part.

The older two children have a Nintendo DS so I thought the Leapster would be perfect for the 4 year old. It's recommended for 4 - 9 year olds but from first impressions I thought it would definitely be the lower end of the age range that would be most taken with it.

But I'm an adult. What would I know?

The minute the 8 year old spotted it she was in raptures. So instead of my obviously clueless opinion I'll hand you over to her. This is what she has to say about it...



Features:
The Leapster GS Explorer comes with:

-  2GB of memory, a camera and inbuilt video capabilities
- Motion-based play (as seen above with Splurgle)
- In-built microphone
- Stylus is attached to system (meaning no lost pens)
- Three extra apps from the online library of 300 is also included. (Apps range from approx. £4 - £25).

Other features:
- A large range of cartridge games are also available although we haven't had the chance to test any of those yet.

 - There is also a strong focus on learning and education and parents can keep track of their budding genius' progress by connecting to the Leapfrog Learning Path to see where they are doing well and where they need more support.

- There are plenty of fun yet educational apps to choose from and there is also the ability to adjust the difficulty rating so that just as they think they have nailed everything there is to know about the flags and customs of Europe you can crank up the level and have them crying into their petit dejeuner. (Cue evil laughter).

We've only just started exploring all the capabilities of our Leapster GS but I am sure there is enough stuff to keep all three of them engaged for some time to come. Worth the price tag in my opinion.

Disclosure: LeapFrog sent me the Leapster GS for the purposes of this review. The console normally retails at £64.99 but is available from Amazon now at £49.97.

Micro Scooters - Micro Sprite Review

As you may know already we are huge Micro Scooter fans in this house.

So far we have tested and loved the Mini Micro and the Maxi Micro so we were absolutely thrilled to make it a full set by trying out one of their aluminium two wheeler Micro Sprites.

To be honest I hadn't actually realised the full extent of the scooters that Micro Scooters produce - there really is something for everyone. Their product range starts with the adorable Mini Micro complete with seat and O-bar for toddlers ages 1 - 3, and go on to the Mini Micro and Maxi Micro three-wheeled scooters and then on through to the two-wheeled aluminium scooters and the stunt scooter range. And within each of these categories is a huge choice of styles and colours.

Middle boy who is six is very sporty and wanted something a little more daring than his sister and little brothers three-wheelers, so settled on the Sprite. He had had a similar scooter years before but it had been cast aside as too noisy and too cumbersome, never to be used again poor thing.

This one on the other hand seemed to tick all the right boxes even before it was even out of the, erm, box...

And here he is finding his feet...

I must say I really like the new scooter too. It is lightweight enough for him to zoom around on whilst making him work a little harder than a three wheeled one would. It folds up neatly for bringing in the car and has an extendable handlebar so that it can grow with him.

Brand new accessories:

The Micro Scooters site is packed with carefully selected quality accessories and I've heard a rumour that they are adding some brand new items this Autumn.

One of my favourite accessories on offer are these Scooterearz which have some brand new designs on offer:

Scooterearz £14.95 

You can use your Scooterearz on almost any children"s push along scooter. There is an elasticated cuff that you simply slide over the handlebars. Your Scooterearz will then stay in place although it can very simply be removed and transferred to another scooter (if you can bear to part with it!) . The black outer material is water resistant coated (although we would recommend removing Scooterearz from your scooter in a heavy rain storm). Your children simply place their hands in the fun fur opening (designed with an extra large gap in case they need a rapid escape!!) and grab hold of the handlebars as normal. Hey presto - snug hands and your child will hopefully have many happy hours on their scooter.  Scooterearz are the creation of  a Mum who knew that mitts go missing and so to fix them onto the scooter T-bar is the answer!

For more scooter related info check out my other posts:
Stunt and folding scooters - a guide for confused parents
Maxi Micro scooter - a 3 wheeled scooter for an 8 year old girl
Mini Micro review - a 3 wheeled scooter for a 3 year old boy
Create your own Micro Scooter

Disclosure: I was provided with the Micro Sprite free of charge for the purposes of the review. All opinions are my own.

Maxi Micro Scooters - A Review and short video

As you may know already we are big Micro Scooter fans in this house. The 3 year old has been zipping about on his Mini Micro since the start of the Summer, ignoring the death stares of his brother and sister with impressive indifference.

In fact this Summer has been a huge turning point for family life in general. The children have finally found friends of their own age in the estate and can't wait to get out the front door every morning to go and play. It's not unusual to open my bleary eyes at 7am to see the 5 year old standing in front of me fully dressed with his helmet on asking if he can go biking with Tom now.

The only flurry of rain on this parade is the fact that despite the 8 year old's best endeavors, and the fact that her little brothers can get from driveway to end of road in 0.6 seconds on theirs bikes, she still hasn't mastered the art of cycling.

So lucky for us Micro Scooters came to the rescue once again...





Micro Scooters - What's the big deal?

Micro Scooters have become such a massive hit around the world that it is hard not to spot them as you go about your daily business. But at over £90 (€120) they don't come cheap. So are they worth it? Well, in my humble opinion they really are. We had many years of cheap scooters that lay unused after the first week of ownership due to the noise, the falls, and the general hard work of the ride.

Micro Scooters are the Rolls Royce of scooters. Gliding perfectly and zig zagging around obstacles like a skateboard does. It takes seconds for the kids to master it. They are robust, fun and very ascetically pleasing. And did I mention their range of colours and accessories?

Although you wouldn't be buying one in every colour they do make perfect special birthday or Christmas presents.

If you're still trying to justify the cost then how about this - all the parts are replaceable so when your eldest daughter grows out of her purple one you can simply buy the separate parts in blue for her little brother - and voila - a brand new scooter is born.

Micro Scooters - Coming soon:
Micro Scooters have two new products launching in the next few weeks and I've been allowed to give you all a sneak preview.
First up is the Maxi Backpack which hooks on to the Maxi Scooter, RRP is £29.99 and comes with the detachable lunchbox as seen here. Perfect for back to school!

Secondly there are 'Zooters' which Micro Scooters explains - 'turns a scooter into a contemporary take on a hobby-horse. Not only will the range make identifying your scooter easier, it also allows kids to express their individuality. With prices starting at £10, the new range of accessories are great party gifts.'

For more scooter related info check out my other posts:

Stunt and folding scooters - a guide for confused parents
Micro Sprite review - a 2 wheeled scooter for a 7 year old boy
Mini Micro review - a 3 wheeled scooter for a 3 year old boy
Create your own Micro Scooter

Disclosure: The Maxi Micro Scooter was provided to me for the purposes of the review. Words, video and opinions are my own.   

The Best PR Delivery in the World Ever.

Last week we had a delivery.

I knew it was coming, It just didn't believe it until I saw it.

You see Warner Brothers have asked me to review some 3D movies, which I couldn't do because you need to have a 3D television, and a 3D player, and 3D glasses....

...which I didn't have.

But guess what?

I do now!!

So to show my appreciation I thought I'd make a little movie about how far TV has come since I was a child.

Hope you like it!


Over the next couple of weeks I'll be sharing what I've learned about 3D Home Entertainment and reviewing some fabulous Warner Brothers 3D Movies.

So stay tuned y'all!