near – Mediocre Mum

Hatfield Farm Park Hatfield House

I was in a bit of a rush to write this up as they are open on Bank Holidays and tomorrow being one. But for those of you who read this later they’re open Tues through Sunday and Bank Holidays from 10-5.30.

Fun for the whole family!

I’m always on the lookout for family days out, that the whole family can enjoy, not just the kids and this is one of those. We have been to Hatfield House Farm Park before but had a truly great day out there today. The weather was in our favour.

Cheap!

One of the reasons that I love it is that it is reasonably priced when you think we spent £20 for hubby and daughter to go to the cinema yesterday. It’s £4.50 per adult and £2 per child and FREE parking. As farms go it isn’t anything out of the ordinary, but do remember I’m Canadian and my sister is married to a rancher, with 400 cows and they think it’s hilarious that we pay to go to farms, but the adventure playground is amazing.

It’s set in a dip in the woods, with ample shade and a replica of Hatfield House. As a St Albian, I’m very jealous of the quality of the playgrounds elsewhere. I do hope our council takes note as our local playgrounds are lacking.

My top tips:

Start at the adventure playground, but send someone to the restaurant to grab coffee. It’s diagonally across the car park, in the Stable Yard. You can also get a child-lunch box (£5.50 for 5 items) and have an impromptu picnic, but to save a few pennies, you may want to bring your own lunch. There is plenty of seating outside the playground.
We then did a walk around the farm, some unique breeds but wish we would have bought some animal feed at the entrance.

If you decide to ride on the tractor, make sure, when you’re looking at the back of the tractor that you sit on the right or else you end up looking at the car park and dual carriageway.

Take the time to wander up to the Stable Courtyard after, we weren’t interested in visiting the house or gardens, but plenty to see in the courtyard; Butchers, Toy Store, Sweet Shop, Burstons Garden Centre and a Pimm’s Stand! Don’t mind if I do!

Save the train ride till the end of the day when you’re heading for the car. It’s included in the price of a ticket.

All in all it was great value and I highly recommend it, but do bear in mind the weather as there is not a lot of cover.

My Friday Five: Local Parks (Herts)

With Half-Term looming, remind me to get loads of wine in, I thought I’d share some of our favourite parks to visit. For the most part they’re free; however there is a chance you’ll be fleeced when you get there.

The weather isn’t looking promising so you’ll need to wrap up!

As the Comedian, Billy Connolly once said

‘There’s no such thing as bad weather, just the wrong clothing, so get yourself a sexy raincoat and live a little’.

In no particular order here are 5 of our favourite Local Parks:

Stockwood Discovery Centre in Luton, technically it’s not a park but it’s free to go in there is an amazing outdoor play area, grab a latte in the cafe and watch your kids play, the children’s menu is reasonable and they have seasonal exhibits, currently they have DinoMites, which my daughter really enjoyed but it costs extra.

Cassiobury Park in Watford, parking is a nightmare but they have a fantastic play area, something St Albans should aspire to, there is a Mini Steam Train, hot dog stand and make sure you make the effort to wander down to the canal and see the Locks.

Aldenham County Park – one of our all time favourites, it’s free to go in but you have to pay to get out of the car park, if I remember correctly it’s about a fiver and take change. However, there is a great adventure playground, Winnie the Pooh’s 100 Akre Wood and a few Nature Walks. Back in the day it was all free but sadly they’ve gone a bit commercial and now you can pay for the Rare Breeds Animal Farm, Pony Rides and Tree Climbing.

Ashridge Estate – Fancy getting the kids outside to blow off some steam? Then this is for you. We love it. There is a cafe where you can get lunch, loads of trees to climb, kick a ball around the foot of the monument or they have organised activities during half-term (Halloween Madness and Skeleton and Skulls).

Knebworth Gardens and Dinsosaur Trail – sadly their Pumpkin Trail is sold out, but it’s a great day out, the Dinosaur Trail, with 72 life sized Dinosaurs, will keep them busy for hours and then you can drive around to the Fort and Playground, we love the slide that goes through the middle of the hill Note: This one is not free!

As I’ve done most of these, I will be at a loose end myself, so all suggestions (cheap) welcome!

Tree Top Flyers, Chase Canyon

‘Put your knees to your chest, legs apart, chin to your chest and grit your teeth’ sounded a lot like child-birth to me but in fact is the landing position for Ziplining.

I’m absolutely terrified of heights; well in fact, I’m scared of a lot of things but most of my fears boil down to a fear of death. However, I went Zip lining in Chase Canyon, BC, Canada with my niece, hubby and friends yesterday. Unfortunately, our daughter wasn’t old or heavy enough.

The scariest part for me was the training line, it’s not as high or long as the others, but the suspended stairway to the platform was unnerving as it swayed from side to side as you walked up it. My technique was not to look down come neither love nor money, if I did I would have bottled it.

On the way over to the platform, I had a quiet word with Daniel, one of the owners, just to let him know I was terrified of heights so he let me go first. He did admit later that they secretly like it when people are scared and on one occasion they had to ‘boot’ a lady off the platform; but she did ask them to do so. She was fine going up but chickened out at the top so when she wasn’t expecting it, after she was safely connected (obviously), they just pushed her off the edge. Apparently, she loved it and said thanks.

The drive up to the lines in the Canyon was hairy to say the least with a sheer drop on one side. I was so glad I was sitting on the other side of the van and spent most of the journey working out my escape route through the window in case it rolled, but once you got to the top the scenery was stunning.

The lines in the Canyon were not as scary as the training platform nor the drive up, but flying through the trees, over waterfalls and close to the Canyon walls was exhilarating.

They’ve only been open for a few weeks but we were truly impressed with the level of safety and customer service. They’re really a friendly bunch of guys that put me totally at ease. Thanks to the team at Tree Top Flyers for a great day out and we hope to see you again next year.

Lost for ideas….try a pick your own…

Don’t you just love summer holidays? Not! I’m only on day 3 and already on my knees. I don’t remember as a kid having such a fun filled agenda, my mum used to open the front door shoe us out and that was it for the rest of the day. Now I find myself busier than a party planner and getting paid diddly squat for it!

We have had a full on day, gymnastics followed by a picnic in the park but this afternoon we did something a bit different. We went to our local Pick your Own (not nose) and picked some strawberries and blackberries. I think they’ve missed a trick; they should really weigh the kids before and after and not the punnet as not many berries made it into the pots.

It was a lovely way to kill an hour! However, it dawned on me afterwards, ‘now what am I going to do with all this fruit?’ I’m no dab hand in the kitchen, a few people suggested making jam followed by scones. I nearly fell about laughing. Someone did suggest making wine with it and I was tempted. I already had a punnet of strawberries and raspberries in the fridge that were out of date, ready to be composted. My mate was going to make a crumble so I thought I’d give it a go as well.

It was really dead easy. I used the following recipe….

We had great fun! But now I know why I don’t bake just imagine we also made a trip to the shop especially for custard….

But her final words were….’I don’t like crumble!’

These kids don’t know they were born.