Farnham - NorthHantsMum

Things to do/Places to go with a baby when it’s raining

Posted by Louise NorthHantsMum on 22nd October 2013 in Babies, Rain 2 Comments

Claire sent me a message asking me if I could do a post on things to do with babies in the rain: ” I’m finding it hard when the weather is bad to find things to do that are baby friendly and fun for me? ”

Great suggestion for a post, especially with the weather as it is! Hopefully this is helpful!

Check out this post first: http://www.northhantsmum.co.uk/activities/baby-classes/

Softplay

Softplay – Bouncing Tots and Active Tots have areas for small babies.

Swimming

Swimming – Basingstoke Sports centre has a small pool that is kept at 32 degrees and open between 12 and 1.30 on a week day and is an open session.

I would also check out the QMC pool as we swam in there last year and it was really warm! Also check out my recent review of Basingstoke Aquadrome.

Pots2Paint

Pots 2 Paint – Viables Craft Centre

A great way to get some special Christmas (or birthday) presents done. Handprints or footprints of your little one whilst they are tiny, will be treasured forever!

Baby Massage Classes

We did a baby massage class through our local children’s centre and I really enjoyed it. It was a great opportunity to bond with my daughter when she was tiny.

There are also several Mum’s in the area who run their own Baby Massage classes. I posted a list of them recently HERE.

Find some Mummy friends!

There are lots of Mum groups in the area who are on Facebook. It’s a great and easy way to keep in touch. If you are feeling a bit lonely, then post something up and you will be overwhelmed with the response. You can find some of these groups HERE.

North Hampshire Mum’s are VERY friendly and supportive :-D.

Grab a coffee and cake

There are LOADS of little cafe’s in the area which are very supportiive of new parents. My favourite for new parents is Elm Tree Garden centre (which I haven’t been to for ages!) which even supplies wet wipes in emergencies!

I also really love the Parlour Tea rooms, but it’s very popular now (for a good reason!) so you need to book in advance. It can get VERY busy.

I still haven’t been to the Tea Bar at the top of town either, which looks lovely too!

Go for a walk

Yes, I know it’s raining. Sometimes though, it’s just good to wrap up and get out of the house. Put the waterproof cover on the pushchair and just go out of the house and get wet. It’s not going to hurt either of you to get some fresh air, just make sure your baby is well covered.

We love Basing Wood and the Lime Pits (as I’ve raved about before!) but there is a great list of local walks suitable for pushchairs HERE. You can also see a reviews I’ve done recently on Alice Holt and Farleigh Mount.

Go (window) shopping

There are lots of local independent shops in the area. You can find a list of them HERE.

Also, you can’t go wrong in Festival Place. It’s mostly covered and sometimes it’s nice to just wonder around or people watch.

Debenhams cafe has a bottle warmer and microwave if you are weaning.

Places to Go

This is actually a tough one. Especially when it’s raining. These are some of the places that I went too when I had a small baby, that I found were supportive of Mum’s with tiny ones.

Milestones Museum
The Vyne – although watch out for the gerriatrics who can get upset over buggies being in the way :-D.
RHS Wisley Gardens – yes, this is a bit of a trek, but they are very baby friendly and even have a discreet baby feeding area in their main restaurant.

Do you have any other suggestions for new parents who want to get out and about with their little ones when it’s raining?

24 things to do during the summer holidays with young children in Basingstoke

Posted by Louise NorthHantsMum on 27th August 2013 in Babies, Children, Summer Holidays, Things to Do, Toddlers 0 Comment

This is an incredibly long overdue post, but as it’s the last week of the school holidays you might be desperate for some inspiration, so I thought I would post it up anyway!

Many of these suggestions are free!

1. Swim in an outdoor pool.

You could investigate rivers, reservoirs, lakes or canals with towpaths as this will be a new landscape for your child to take in, e.g.:

Or you could just play in the water at Festival Place (the big green phalic things!! lol) or check out the baby swimming pool and the stepping stones in Eastrop Park.

There is also a new splash park which was opened in May 2016, near the Spotlight centre. We are hoping to visit it soon!

2. Walk through the Woods

A trip to the woods can also be exciting – see the woodland trusts nature trails for inspiration – or bike rides. Don’t forget to check out my Basing Wood, Farleigh Mount, Basing Lime Pits, Micheldever Wood and Alice Holt reviews.

3. Visit an Ice Cream shop

We have some friends who live in Birmingham which has a fantastic ice cream parlour in the city centre. We always make a trip here, as the children really enjoy it. It’s become a bit of a tradition.

Sundaes Gelato is in Basingstoke and is perfect for an ice cream or sorbet!

4. Fly a kite

Crabtree has to be the best place for this in Basingstoke.

5. Pretend to be a pirate

My little one is obsessed with pirates at the moment. When she’s bigger, we hope to take her to the Historic shipyard in Portsmouth.

She was christened on HMS Victory, so I want to see if they have finally sorted out her plaque!

6. Play ball games

I never realised how much fun you can have with a football till my little one started kicking one!

7. Go on a bear hunt (or a Gruffalo hunt if your little one has read the book)

We are very lucky because we live very close to some little wooded areas which are perfect for bear hunting.

If you don’t live close to some wooded areas, have a look at this post HERE.

8. Go to a Country show

You may be just in time for the New Forest Show this year (it was in July), but maybe something to think about for next year.

It’s a great opportunity to see shiny tractors, lovely animals and yummy things to buy and eat. Or check out some other country shows that are coming up HERE.

9. Go to the Zoo.

Marwell is probably the closest zoo to us, but I went to London Zoo in April 2014 when she was three years old with my little one and can thoroughly recommend this too. Just don’t walk it from Waterloo like we did!

10. Sleep under the stars

We are going camping next weekend and I’m looking forward to doing this!

11. Build a sandcastle or have a sand Castle Competitions

Fleet Pond

Frensham Ponds

Or go to the Beach! The Nearest “Beaches” to Basingstoke are Fleet Pond on the way to Fleet and Frensham Pond, just past Farnham. Otherwise, head to West Wittering, which is great for toddlers.

12. Run through the sprinkler

Not particularly environmentally friendly, but great fun!!!

13. Create your own perfume

I was obsessed with doing this when I was about 8 years old. All I needed was a jar with a lid, some water and a rose bush. My poor parents had to clean out the remnants! lol

14. Roast some marshmallows

“Burning Nights” are a big thing in our house. We have a chiminea and Miss NHM loves it because we can roast marshmallows over it. We recently learnt something new about counting to “50” after you’ve roasted your marshamallow to ensure you don’t get burnt.

15. Go on a train adventure

For a proper train adventure, check out the Watercress Line or Exbury Gardens and Steam Train. Otherwise, just a trip from Basingstoke to Winchester or Farnborough will probably be exciting for little ones.

16. Rainy day card making

Click HERE for some ideas

17. Explore art and music

There are lots of music classes in the area or maybe just a trip to the Anvil or the Haymarket will be inspiring.

18. Learn a new language

Borrow some books in a different language from the library. There are even children’s books in different languages at the Basingstoke Discovery Centre.

Or maybe investigate Linguatastic, the local language school.

19. Fruit Picking – Local Pick Your Own’s

Check out my previous post on local Pick Your Own farms HERE.

20. Climbing Trees

Basing Wood is perfect for climbing trees.

21. Painting Rocks

I want to do this next year with my little one, as I think it will make less mess then! lol.

22. Have a BBQ

You can’t beat a BBQ in summer! Check HERE for a previous post about outdoor BBQ facilities in the area.

23. Daisy Chains

All you need is an area with daisies in. Hours of fun!

24. Go to a farm

Try Finkley Down Farm, Miller’s Ark, Manydown and Bucklebury Farm.

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Review 2013: Birdworld

Posted by Louise NorthHantsMum on 22nd August 2013 in Reviews of Days Out 0 Comment

Birdworld

Holt Pound, Farnham, Surrey, GU10 4LD

(near Alice Holt. See my review about Alice Holt HERE)

Play

We went to Birdworld at the weekend and took one of our friend’s 8 year old and 5 year old with us. We had free children’s tickets that we won at auction for the “Forget Me Not Baby Angel” charity event in May, so wanted to cash these in.

It took us 35 minutes to get too from Basingstoke and we went via the M3 and Farnham. You can also get to Birdworld easily from Basingstoke via Alton.

There are essentially three parks at Birdworld: Birdworld, Jenny Wren farm and Underwater world. We went to all three parks and our favourite was the Jenny Wren farm, mainly because the children were able to handle some mice and baby guinea pigs! Even the stroking of a python didn’t beat the handling of the mice!

In Birdworld I liked that you could go into some of the enclosures and see the birds up close. We managed to get a good view at the Penguin feeding but most of the penguins were moulting so there weren’t that many on display. We then wandered down to the Pelican feeding which was fun to watch.

We spent a lot of time at the feeding station, watching how the food was put together for the birds, as my little one was fascinated with this. After lunch we headed to the Jenny Wren farm and I was hoping we would be able to get into the Heron display, but we missed it by two minutes as the mice handling was more interesting! lol.

We had the most fun in Jenny Wren farm. The two oldest children loved sitting on the tractors and my little one loved being able to get up close with the rabbits in their enclosure. She also enjoyed seeing the chicks that were on display.

On the way out of the park, we also really enjoyed the peacock walk and the willow maze in Birdworld. The children spent about 20 minutes chasing each other around in the maze and there was a bench nearby so we could watch them having fun safely.

The two older children loved the play areas, especially the 7-14 year age appropriate play area. They spent ages trying to ring the bell at the top of the climbing poles.

We went through Underwater world on our way out. It took about 10 minutes, as the children were getting very tired. Be warned that the tanks are high up, so if you have a little one, you will need to carry them through Underwater world.

Tips

When you go through the entrance, ask for the children’s competition questions. Unfortunately we weren’t automatically given these, but they did help with keeping the 8 year old entertained. There is also an alphabet to look out for, which kept the bigger ones engaged.

Follow the signs for “Suggested route”. This route gives you the best view of everything that’s available.

If you want some peace and quiet, head to the Peacock walk. This was empty for the whole 30 minutes we were in it. There is also a secluded bench which would be great for breastfeeding.

Food

We took our own picnic, so I can’t comment on the food. They did have a good deal of two hot meals for £10 which looked very reasonable.

The picnic area was in a good location and had a play park next to it. Just watch out for the wasps from the bins.

Facilities

Seemed good on the whole. The gardens were exquisite and we spent some time smelling all the herbs that were in one of the herb gardens on the way to the Penguin Tank.

Baby Facilities

Weren’t great. My husband did the nappy changes that day and he said that the nappy changing room was grim. He liked that there was a step in there for the little ones to get to the sink though. However, he said the nappy changing room was so grim, that we did eau natural changes outside for the rest of the day!

Parking

Is free!

Prices

Are expensive (aren’t they all!). I was very surprised with how expensive it was, considering what was on offer.

In summer, an adult is £15.95, a 3-6 year old is £12.95 and a 7-15 year old is £13.95. A family pass is £49.95.

However, under 3’s go free!

Rating 4 out of 5

We had a nice day out, but I did feel we had to string it out with lots of time in the play parks onsite. Plus, given how grim the baby changing area was and how expensive it was, I think 4 out of 5 is a fair rating.

Review 2013: Alice Holt, Farnham

Posted by Louise NorthHantsMum on 30th April 2013 in Reviews of Days Out, Walks 0 Comment

We had lots planned for the Easter weekend, but didn’t do any of it because my little one had a stomach bug. We’ve been trying to make up for it since then and been to quite a few places. So I have lots of reviews coming up over the next few weeks. Hope you find them useful!

Alice Holt

I’ve been to Alice Holt several times, but not with a couple of toddlers in tow. We went to Alice Holt when my little one was a few months old and it was great to get some fresh air and go for a big long walk. The paths are suitable for most pushchairs, and a couple of routes are designated for wheelchair access.

We parked in the first car park on the right (the one most people initially park in) and went for the walk that was on the right. It’s between 1 mile and 1/5 mile. I think we did the 1 mile, which both toddlers coped with. There were some wooden scupltures and a picnic bench at once point, the toddlers played with the sculptures as they were tactile sculptures. Then further around the walk were several bivoacks made out of wood. We had much fun going in between these. One was supposed to be for wheel chair access, but it didn’t actually look accessible. Great idea though!

We went on a Friday, so it wasn’t very busy and we didn’t see anyone else on our walk. However, I’ve been on a weekend and it can get very busy in the car park, so either get there early, or continue past the first car park and park in the second car park which is behind the new toilet block.

It took us about 30 minutes to get there from Basingstoke, and we went through Farnham rather than the Alton route.

Playarea

Was AWESOME! I wish we’d had play areas like this when I was little. The two wooden houses were fantastic, but without doubt, the pirate ship was the BEST!

Food

The food was excellent. I was really impressed. Definitely worth the money. It wasn’t too expensive either, for what it was. There were a couple of “healthy” options for little ones too, not just the standard sausage or fishfingers or chicken nuggets with chips.

There are lots of picnic tables around Alice Holt and we saw several groups of Mum’s with their babies, out for a picnic and some fresh air. This would be a great place to meet with a group of ante-natal or post-natal friends.

Parking

Is quite expensive for what it is, BUT you don’t have to pay an entrance fee, so I don’t mind paying it. It’s £4 for 3 hours parking, which was enough for us, with a walk around the forest (with two toddlers and a baby), some time in the play area and lunch.

Facilities

Were excellent. They’ve just built a new toilet block which was obviously in really good condition. The baby changing facilities were excellent and everything worked as it should. There is also an information block attached to the new toilet block, but it hasn’t opened yet. You can also hire bikes, including the trailors for little ones. Go Ape is also available here.

Rating

4.9 out of 5

(We would have given it 5/5 if the pirate ship steering wheel actually moved! But then we realised this would be a really bad idea from a Health and Safety perspective, but still!)