A pocket of my life

 For olivia's birthday we decided to take a trip over to Knockhatch adventure park in Hailsham, this is a theme park aimed for children with many different things to do such rides, softplay and animals too. On entering the park we were immediantly welcomed by animals, including rabbits, birds and a walk around with goats and wallabies too. we then took a slow walk around the animal areas, you can buy a pot of feed from the gift shop to make it interactive for all the family. The animals enclosures are  good size, are clean and the animals look happy and well looked after. Olivia even got to stroke some very little lambs. After this Olivia went on the quadapillar, a ride which consists of a gaud pulling some barrel carriages behind, its takes you on a little ride around some of the animals and runds for certain times through the day. After we found the froggy soft play area and cafe, this was great, it is a large space with a good size soft play, plenty ...

Animals, rides and a huge play area, what more could you need for a great day out. Drusillas has all this to offer in one area. Last weekend we took a trip across to Drusillas Park, this is a local zoo to us and I was so excited to take the girls back. We arrived around 10.20 so we could make a full day off it. We picked up our zoolympics book and Animal spotter book as we went in and started to find some new furry friends.  On the way round there are tasks to do compare you to animals such as how high can you jump, or how fast can you run, these can be recorded in you zoolympics book. There are stamp areas for you spotter book too. When you enter you are immediately greeting by animals, these are the smaller ones including spider monkeys, sloths and marmosets. The animals are very active in this area and really get you excited for the rest of the visit.  There is one route around so its very hard to grt yourself lost. The animal spotter also keeps you on track too...

Wow! What a place! We took a family trip out to Hever Castle and gardens last weekend and I could not have fell in love more with somewhere. Hever Castle was once the home of Anne Bolyn and her family so for me this was an extra reason to love the place. Over the weekend Hever was holding a 1950's event with dancing, a spitfire on display, and lots of artifacts including rifles, prams and bits and bobs that take you straight back to the time. So many people had dressed up for the occasion and if you wanted to you could get your hair done in the 1940s pin style.  The whole day was amazing, we parked in the main car park and entered though the Italian garden, a beautiful pergola running down the edge of some well kept lawns one side and waterfalls the other side. This leads onto one of the many lawns thay surround the castle. The castle itself is beautiful, surround by a moat which was being used to show off some amazing model boats and Chitty Chit...

Yesterday we took a trip to Lime tree farm in Brookland, this is around a half an hour drive from us but it was well worth the trip.  This is a small family farm which has created a beautiful area to pick some pumpkins with the family and get some cure photos too. They have set up some lovely displays to get some cute pics and have so many pumpkins around for you to pick from. The field is quite small but they have managed to fit a lot not making it too cramped. The display that made us laugh was the tractor with the skeleton as a driver.  The farm had a wide array of pumpkin from blue pumpkins to odd shaped double coloured ones and all so reasonably priced too. We decided to pick some odd pumpkins at just £1 each, Lils got one that looked like a mushroom and Olivias one is covered it little bobbles. The prices started at £1 for the small up to £4 for large pumpkins.  Lime tree farm create this display to raise money for charity by accepting donations to Pilgrims Hospices...

If you want a lovely family afternoon out then I would highly recommend heading to Bodiam Castle in Sussex, we have been a few times now and its one that the kids love and during half term they have a fantastic event on with a magical prize to claim.  Bodiam castle is part of the National trust and is a beautiful castle surrounded by a moat full of fish, its one that I say really looks like a castle with towers on each corner. Sadly a lot of the castle is gone in the middle but you are still able to climb two of the towers to see the amazing views from the top, but beware, the stairs are steep. The girls took part in the spell quest on their journey around the castle and had to help save the castle from the Wicked Warlock, around the castle are different rooms to explore which have been decorated, some have spells to learn and others a potion to explore. They have some photo opportunities around the castle too to add to the memories. The event costs an extra £3 per child which incl...

We have recently had a day out at Drusillas Park in Polgate in the South East of England for Lilly's birthday, she got a special sticker to wear to show off and the staff were very attentive to this taking the time to wish her a Happy Birthday. This is a place that me and Liam have been to but when we were children do it was very different to when we both last went. There is a huge array of animals to see when at Drusillas including a lot of different species of monkey along with some more unusual animals such a penguins and sloths, including a baby sloth born back in August. There is also a small amount of farm animals and an opportunity to milk a (fake) cow. All the enclosures are clean and with indoor and outdoor options for almost all the animals. There are also opportunities to walk through some animal enclosures where the animals were with you including bats, sloths and rainbow lorikeets, the last one is where Liam made a friend who didn't want to ...

We have had a recent trip to Brighton sea life centre for Olivia's birthday treat, we were over that way and decided to make a day of it. When visiting the sea life you need to book in advance which is easily done on there website.  Upon entering the centre you are welcomed to the aquarium and have a couple of photos taken just before you go into the first section, these are available to purchase at the end. I did decide to get our family one, along with a photo of Olivia with there special guest, Peppa Pig, they are £12 for one or 2 for £15. Peppa pig is available to see at certain points during the day until the 4th of June. The first part of the aquarium starts in a colourful illuminated room which some smaller sized tanks, there is a lip for younger children to stand on so they can get a better look, about half way up there is a tank for rays and cat fish, a small area to be able to touch star fish, a conservation area and a small cafe area. Past that there were more tanks with...

Yesterday we took our annual trip to Sharnfold farm for some Halloween fun and it did not dissapoint. This year we took part in the Halloween trail which gets better with every visit with more to see and more effort put in every year, the only downside this year was the PYO field was closed due to the weather. We arrived the the farm about 11.45 and went into collect our wrist bands, we had prebooked but the tickets cost £5.95 for children over 4 and £4.95 for adults. There is a prize at the end of the trail to collect from the main office.  On arrival we could see some Halloween decorations already which certainly gets the kids excited, you firstly enter a play park which seems to grow every years, there is a tractor for the children to climb over, a sandpit, some ride on toys, a traditional slide and swing and there is also a wild part with bits to learn about wild life and more.  Once you enter the main part you are greeted by your first animals, this year it was some adora...

Yesterday we took a trip to Rudyard Kipling's house in Burwash for a little adventure with the kids, Batemans is part of the national trust and is a beautiful place to visit. You are able to walk around the house and see the home that the Kipling family made there home, the gardens are this property are absolutely gorgeous even when its muddy and wet, and the added bonus is Park Mill which you are able to look around and learn about creating flour the old fashioned way.  There is a small tea room which sells cakes, drinks and small lunches which include soup, jacket potatoes and sandwiches. There is also a gift shop which includes sweet treats, nature toys and other beautiful items which help keep the house open for all to see. At the bottom of the gardens there was a little surprise in the form of an old mill, named Park Mill, this property is open to the public and includes the equipment that would have been the original in the mill, a small box of story telling toys ...