Hampshire

18 Places that will host a Children’s Birthday Party

Posted by Louise NorthHantsMum on 28th September 2012 in Birthday Parties 1 Comment

I’ve only hosted one birthday party for my little one, so clearly I haven’t been exposed to how these experiences can “escalate”. So, as I’m still green behind the gills with regards to parties (Goody bags? Have I not spent enough already?!?!?!) I’ve put together a post with a list of places that will host a birthday party for your little one.

I will be publishing a post next week that will look at cheaper ways to host a children’s birthday party. So if you are looking for birthday party inspiration, check out next weeks posts.

If you are planning a children’s party any time soon…Good Luck! 😀

1. Lymington Sea Water Baths – Pool available to hire for children’s birthday parties. (probably better for a summer party 😉)

2. Little Nellies Diner (was Nelsons Diner) – on the way to Newbury. (They do AWESOME milkshakes!). Minimum £8.95 per child but they can tailor depending on your budget.

3. ActiveTots – Bramley. Minimum £8.50 per child.

4. Intech Science Centre – Winchester (How cool would it be to have a birthday party in a Planetarium!)

5. Play Days – Basingstoke

6. Fun House Basingstoke – Soft Play

7. Basingstoke Sports Centre (Is it sad that I remember going to a birthday party was at the Sports Centre some 30 odd years ago. Wow. How ancient am I? It was a wicked party though! lol)

8. Finkley Down Farm – Andover

9. Queen Mary’s College: Our swimming pool is available for hire, and for children’s parties, throughout the year.

10. Bowling Alley, Leisure Park

11. Pizza Hut Parties, Festival Place or the same Business Park as ToysRUs.

12. Pots2 Paint, Viables.

13. Beale Park, Pangbourne, Reading

14. Jakes Indoor Softplay and mini farm, Sandhurst.

15. Birdworld, Farnham

16. The Hawk Conservancy, Andover

17. Atmosphere Trampoline Park

17. Any suggestions as I ran out of ideas!!! (Check out the post below with a list of 6 ‘extra’ places to host a children’s birthday party)

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9 Foody Places to go as a group of Mums with babies/toddlers

Posted by Louise NorthHantsMum on 18th September 2012 in Babies, Cafe's, Food, Restaurants, Toddlers 0 Comment

Are you looking for somewhere to meet up with several of your friends, their babies and pushchairs/buggys?

The list below are some of the foody places you could visit that welcome large groups of Mum’s and babies:

1. Queens College Arms – Tadley road

Recommend booking in advance and asking for the “big” table. They have baby changing facilities onsite and bottle warming facilities. Very friendly and welcoming of Mum’s and babies. For bigger children, there is a climbing frame in the pub garden.

2. Little Roses Tea Shop – Elm Tree Garden centre, just up from the Queens College Arms

They have excellent baby changing facilities and even provide free baby wipes and nappy bags! There is a changing station and several highchairs upstairs if you don’t want to take your pushchair in. Recommend looking in the Chests/tables as there is a treasure trove of toys that will keep children amused for a while. Very welcoming of Mums and babies.

~~3. Dayers – Chineham Business Park~~

~~This place is normally empty in the mornings. They do good breakfasts and cake. Gets busy at lunchtime, so maybe not the best place to go for lunch.~~

Unfortunately they don’t have baby changing facilities (they used too!) but they do have large toilets so if you don’t mind doing emergency nappy changes on your changing mat on the floor, you should be ok.

4. Dobbies Garden Centre – Tilehurst (25 mins from central Basingstoke)

If you fancy going a bit further afield or live near Reading, it’s worth checking out the restaurant of this Garden Centre. They have a large restaurant with a big outside eating area. Seems to be quiet because it’s outside of central Reading.

5. Wyevale Garden Centre – Sherfield on Loddon

They have a large restaurant and outside area. The baby changing facilities are good, but are in the ladies toilets. I recommend signing up for the Gardening Club as you rack up the points quite quickly which give you discounts in the store and restaurant.

6. The Cafe Project, The Dome, behind Asda in Brighton Hill

Open Tuesday to Friday’s from 9.30am.

7. Portsmouth Arms – Hatch Warren

8. Costa Coffee – Hampshire Centrecourt Hotel (Behind the large Tesco’s)

The Service is slow but you can sit indoors or outdoors and there are baby changing facilities

9. Conkers Garden Centre

9 things to do in Basingstoke with a newborn

8 Cheap Restaurants in Basingstoke

11 Places to Breakfast with children in North Hampshire

School catchment finder, Report on school admissions and Ofsted Reports in North Hampshire

Posted by Louise NorthHantsMum on 19th September 2011 in Education, School 0 Comment

Following on from the Education posts there are some very interesting links below (Thanks Su for forwarding them on!).

I don’t want to scare anyone but you may be intrigued to see where your little one falls in the catchment lottery for when they start Infants school in North Hampshire and where they will be allotted for Junior’s and Senior schools: School catchment finder

The report on School Admissions is a really interesting read, particularly at the end of the report where it is listed the number of children that have been accepted into the school and whether brothers and sisters have also been accepted: Report on school admissions

If you have a little one starting nursery soon you may also find the following website useful as you should be able to check up on the Nursery’s latest Ofsted report.

You can also find Infants, Juniors and Senior schools Ofsted reports from this linky: Ofsted Early years and Childcare

Sorry if I’ve scared anyone but I hope you find the above useful. It would be great to hear your feedback…

Montessori Education

Waldorf Steiner Education

Waldorf Steiner Education in North Hampshire

Posted by Louise NorthHantsMum on 6th September 2011 in Education, North Hampshire, School 0 Comment

There are no Steiner education schools in Basingstoke. The nearest schools are listed below:

RINGWOOD Ringwood Waldorf School (1974) EC to 10 (270) Folly Farm lane, Ashley, Ringwood, Hampshire BH24 2NN DfE: 835/6022 Tel 01425 472664 mail@ringwoodwaldorfschool.org.uk http://www.ringwoodwaldorfschool.org.uk/

Interest Groups (non-accredited by SWSF) HAMPSHIRE Wildflowers Kindergarten, Kilmeston Village Hall, Alresford Hants SO24 ONR Enquiries: Brockwood Park School, Bramdean, Hants SO24 0LQ Tel 01962 771458 helena@wildflowers-kindergartens.co.uk http://www.wildflowers-kindergartens.co.uk/

What is Steiner education?

Steiner education…

Works for all children irrespective of academic ability, class, ethnicity or religion;
Takes account of the needs of the whole child – academic, physical, emotional and spiritual;
Is based on an understanding of the relevance of the different phases of child development;
Develops a love of learning and an enthusiasm for school;
Sees artistic activity and the development of the imagination as integral to learning;
Is tried and tested and is part of state funded, mainstream provision in most European countries;
Is respected worldwide for its ability to produce very able young people who have a strong sense of self and diverse capacities that enable them to become socially and economically responsible citizens.

Who was Rudolf Steiner?

Rudolf Steiner (1861 – 1925) was an innovative academic born in Austria whose ideas founded the basis of Anthroposophy. He applied his ideas to education as well as agriculture, medicine, architecture and social reform. The Steiner Waldorf Schools Fellowship acknowledges Rudolf Steiner as the founding inspiration of modern day Steiner schools, but does not promote Anthroposophy or endorse every aspect of it.