Mom Diaries: My kids went Conkers for this place!
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Mom Diaries: My kids went Conkers for this place!
But you will need a change of clothes, or two!
When I had only one child, I so loved the idea of half term, now I have kid one and kid two and the mere mention of half term sends me into a tailspin of sheer panic. How on earth can we afford to go out every day? But the alternative is staying in, with kid one and kid two! Staying in everyday is no longer an option if I want to survive the week. So I must search for fun and inexpensive things to do which we haven’t done a thousand times before. It can’t be just me, parents, tell me you feel my pain?
I recently happened upon a place called Conkers in Ashby-de-la-Zouch. Looking on the website the prices seemed reasonable. In all honesty I did not have high expectations of a fun filled day. Nevertheless, I booked and off we went for our day of outdoor adventures.
We arrived and walked through the front entrance to find an interactive floor. I cannot tell you how much my two small children enjoyed themselves running around and trying to touch the images flashing beneath them. I could have stayed there all day, if kid two hadn’t discovered the dreaded stage with the HUGE do not climb sign on it. Yes, you guessed it, that part of the day was over, not only did she climb, but she jumped and rolled and climbed some more, prompting a lovely member of staff to ask me to take control of my little adventurer. Swiftly moving on!
We had some lunch which unfortunately was overpriced and not completely satisfying but you can’t win them all, before heading outside. We discovered an array of play areas. Some with sand, some with mud and some with water. Of course, kid two ran straight for the water prompting a complete outfit change within the first 30 minutes of our arrival. Note to parents, if you have a kid two, take many changes of clothes!
After prying kid one from the play area and plopping kid two in the safety of her pushchair, we moved on to find a barefoot mud walk. Yes, me and my husband then played a quick round of rock, paper scissors for the clean up! We managed an assault course and a walk in the fairy maze, discovered some dinosaur fossils and then we found the tree top slide.
This was fun! Kid one and two could have lived there (and I was tempted to let them!). Time and time again climbing the stairs and walking across the rope-bridge gave me severe heart palpitations with every single step my toddler took and each dive down the slide.
By now kid one was tired and a little grumpy and kid two was way too over-excited, so we headed back indoors.
We sat in the 3D cinema which was included in the price of our ticket. This is rare! The kids sat in amazement as they watched whilst feeling their chairs move beneath them. Kid one trying to keep the glasses and kid two of course attempting to break the glasses. After the short movie we discovered an educational section. Kid one was not happy about this. Education outside of school hours is strictly forbidden.
The kids had now reached the point of no return. One crying for everything in the gift shop whilst the other is trying to chew through my arm to get down and do it all again. It was most definitely home time.
Each one of us came out feeling like we had truly had a great day. There will absolutely be a repeat visit, this had been a memorable family day to say the least.
Written by Samantha Franklin