Croome Park - February Half Term

On Sunday morning we headed home -

stopping off at the National Trust Croome Park

First up - a spot of den building...

followed by a walk around the newly restored Capability Brown Park.

Slimbridge and Gloucester - February Half Term 2013

We got away for the couple of days of Half Term -

 stopping overnight at a brand new Premier Inn in Walsall -

Saturday morning started with coffee in the redeveloped Waterside District.

We drove down to the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust reserve at Slimbridge -

the main aim was for Al to get lots of bird photographs - including the wonderful Bewick Swans.

While he was off in the hides -

we braved the cold to look around the reserve...

... and handled the amphibians in Toad Hall

Megan and a Natterjack Toad

Ben and A Tiger Salamander.

In the afternoon we left Al at Slimbridge,

while we went into Gloucester -

and explored the town and the docks.

We picked up a very happy Al  at 5 o'clock -

with a memory card full of photos of Flamingo's, lots of Bewick Swans

 and even a fish gobbling Bittern!

We stopped off at the Cineworld in Gloucester to watch Wreck it Ralph...

... before finishing the day at the at the rather lovey Wheatstone Inn.



Legoland Discovery Centre

When I asked Ben what he wanted to do this holiday, he answered "Legoland."

Whilst a trip to Windsor was out -

I thought we coud try out the Lego Discovery Centre at the Trafford Centre. 

The website gave the age range as 3-10, and he was too tall for a couple of the rides -

 but most of the activities were right up his street and we had a great time.

Miniland

4-D movie

Building and testing racing cars

Master builder class

Building duplo towers to test on the earthquake tables

{We booked 4pm tickets online at the discount price of £8 -

the walk up price is £16 which is rather hard to justify}

Bellowhead at Liverpool Phil

The good news: Bellowhead were as magnificent as ever

 (apart from a bit of wonky balancing and feedback on the first 2 songs)

The bad news: It was a seated gig, and we had the misfortune to be sitting in front of a very strange and particularly rude older lady who kept complaining

that we weren't sitting up straight enough and so she couldn't see.

Obviously the first time she mentioned this we assumed she was joking -

 after all, the Philharmonic stage is very wide, and there are 11 people up there - my head isn't big enough to block that out!

 But no - she got ruder and accused Al of lying, and chuntered on loudly to her daughter/granddaughter about us. It was putting a real dampener on things.

 And then in the second half she started poking me in the back and being extremely obnoxious. So, we gave up our seats, and went to find the front of house staff - who were lovely

(especially Yvonne) - and found us spare seats in a box.

In conclusion: We finished the gig in a  box - and we bounced, clapped and danced - as Bellowhead finished off the gig in grand style (despite their own anger at having laptops etc stolen from their dressing rooms). The dotty woman must have been beside herself as most of the audience were on their feet for New York Girls. We've decided that in future we won't bother with seated Bellowhead gigs - not worth the risk!

Llanndudno in a day

We had a quick day trip to Llandudno with Jude  to:

a) Check on the caravan

b) Have coffee at Waterstones

(the cafes been revamped)

c) Eat chips on the front

(dodging the seagulls)

d) Play on the beach

e) Do a little shopping

Sunday Afternoon on Wigg Island {More February Sun!}

Another day with the sun out!

It turned out to be a perfect afternoon for tree climbing ...

... and stick collecting.

Plus - Al took lots of bird photographs....

... and I spotted signs of spring.

And yet again - the river was beautiful.