Seasider in the City…food, drink, toys, laughter & golf!
Keep it local
Boggles, Twiggles & Thorny Crocklebogs!
18 months ago
A few weeks ago we started to read the Tom Blofield story ‘A Boggle at BeWILDerwood’, that tells of Swampy, a marsh boggle and the adventures he has in the world of Bewilderwood. Along the way he joins up with his cousin Moss and a twiggle named Leaflette and they journey accross the broken bridge, down slippery slopes, meet a thornyclod spider and a vegetarian crocklebog with a lisp called Mildred.
The language in the book is quite advanced (even for me!), but at the end of each nightly chapter a few questions ensured that J understood what was happening and where the story was going!
With some careful planning we finished the story on Friday night. On Saturday we set off, with our friends Charlie, Daz, Toby & Evan, on our very own boggle adventure, in Norfolk’s very own magical world of BeWILDerwood!
And it really is magical! We started off on a boat ride through the Dismal Dyke where you can see the Boggle Village, and onto the Sccaaaaary Lake, home of the star of the show – Mildred the Crocklebog! True to the book, Mildred has some rather unsavoury habits and snorted a load of water all over the boat, making us all jump!
The boat ride only really takes a few minutes, and then the real fun begins. Once you have decided which way to turn you are met with all sorts of things to do. We started off with some den building – an area dedicated to constructing your very own shelter, or in our case we claimed squatters rights on an already built den with J & Toby adding a few final finishing touches!
We then spent some time in Toddlewood Valley, one of 2 dedicated areas for the younger members of the family. There are tall towers, small zip wires and stepping stones to negotiate. This area was great but the eye’s of the boys (big & small) were fixed on the bigger stuff!
Huge treehouses, slides, zip wires, tunnels, the broken bridge and a very muddy mudlde maze kept us entertained for hours. in my quest to get a good picture of the boys coming down the slippery slope they came off the end and landed face first in the mud – and I didn’t even get a picture!
There are plenty of places to stop and get a drink or bite to eat and the prices are reasonable. Whilst we had a drink, J was drawn to the music coming from the Big Hat tent and went to join in with a dance all about the characters. Also in the tent were various craft tables where you could make your own handbag or tiara just like Mildred’s or have your face painted (for a small fee).
All the time we were on the look out for large coloured butterflies around the woods so we could claim a special reward at the end, if we spotted them all! The weather was not fantastic but due to all the trees we really didn’t get very wet! Because of the weather though we didn’t go along to any of the story telling times (I’m not sure if they went ahead in the rain) and we didn’t take part in the Crocklebog Challenge situated near the entrance and not particularly sheltered.
If you were wondering about last week’s Silent Sunday post, it was taken here at the FarTree where lost shoes end up!
At 4 and nearly 3 the boys were able to do most things, but equally the adults found plenty to amuse themselves too. The most surprising thing is how accessible everywhere was for a buggy – at only a few months old Evan couldn’t really do much, but he was able to see everything and go almost everywhere.
BeWILDerwood is a fantastic family day out, even the weather couldn’t spoil it. Even without reading the books you can’t fail to be taken in by the story surrounding it. A trip to the Bizarre Bazaar before leaving saw us bringing home our very own Mildred, who is now part of the family!
Whilst we were there they were hosting Mildred’s Crocklebog Capers, other events take place around the year – the next is at Halloween - Snagglefang’s Spooky Spectacular, see the website for details. Entrance starts at £8.50 and varies depending on height (those under 3 feet go free) and annual passes start at £30 – great value for such a fantastic adventure playground. It is open from February until October half term although not every day during term time.
We had a brilliant day out at BeWILDerwood, for the purpose of writing this review we were granted free entry which we were very grateful for!
Building a Bear – the Norwich way!
110 months ago
in Keep it local, Reviews
A few weeks ago we were invited along to our local Build-a-Bear Workshop in Norwich to make our own friend. I hadn’t told J where we were going so the look on his face when I told him why we were there was fantastic!
We were met by Natalie who took us through the whole process and totally captivated J – I really didn’t need to be there!
The first stage is to try and pick from the vast display of animals – ranging in size, price and interestingly smell!
J chose off the shelf a lovely labrador, but then proceeded to have a total meltdown when we told him he couldn’t have the one off the shelf & that we needed to choose an unmade one so we could make his very own!
After 5 minutes of sobbing we eventually convinced him that we had to leave him on the shelf or rabbit and Cookie Dough bear would get lonely!
One chosen we then had to pick a sound to go inside (really – do we need the dog to bark?) and then J helped to stuff his dog at the big stuffing machine!
[fgallery id=4 w=300 h=300 t=0 title="bear making"]
Next came the heart ceremony! J picked the heart he wanted and then proceeded to do a strange ritual involving blowing on it, rubbing it, tapping it on his head, elbow etc – all very odd to an adult but magical to a 4 year old!
[fgallery id=3 w=300 h=300 t=0 title="build a bear heart"]
Next a security barcode was placed inside, meaning that if it was ever found by someone and handed into Build a Bear they would be able to trace it back to us! The dog was quickly sewn up and we moved onto the grooming area where your animals can be treated to an all over brush.
We next chose an outfit – there was no doubt at all in J’s mind which it would be – he spotted it the moment we walked in. It had to be the Buzz Lightyear costume! Myself an Natalie tried our best to tell him it might not fit as they are really meant for upright bears but he was having none of it!
Natalie made it fit the best she could and then we moved onto the computer where J was able to help complete all the details for Jake’s birth certificate.
[fgallery id=5 w=300 h=300 t=0 title="Bear dressing"]
Jake was placed in a box for carrying home (he didn’t stay in there long) and we were given some information on the great birthday parties they host and also their Bearville website which is a virtual world for your new friend where you can play loads of games.
We had a great time with Build a Bear and Natalie was really fantastic – she obviously loves her job! Bears start from just £9 so there really is something for everyone & the range of clothing and accessories is amazing.
In short…Pawsome!
This was a review post. We were lucky enough to be invited to Build a Bear and receive a free animal so we could review them for you. My review is honest and in my own words.
Making the most of the sunshine
011 months ago
in Family, Keep it local
With us both working full time and golf taking up a lot of our weekends, poor J doesn’t get out much! He is at nursery 3 full days a week and his friends that live nearby all do half day sessions at pre-school so on the 1 day of the week when they are all at home we like to make the most of it. Without spending too much!
This means we long for the nice weather – when all the kids can get outside and we don’t have to rush to find shelter, or get home because it’s too cold. When we can go on an outdoor adventure! This time is so important, both for the kids, and us! They need space to run around and explore. Just being in a different environment leads to a more imaginative role play – not just the usual mummy/daddy/baby or fireman. Instead we have been animals and pirates. It also creates new talking points and learning opportunities, just playing I-spy with colours as well as letters opens up their eyes to things that might otherwise pass them by.
Here is what we got up to this week:
A picnic by the broad – I think we’ve been spotted!
…8, 9, 10 – ready or not here I come!
She’ll never find me here!
I’m the King of the Castle…almost…if I can just…
Must…catch…that…bubble!
This is my entry into the Tots 100 Blog Hop
Easter Bunny fail & a moment of magic
01 year ago
in Family, Keep it local
Instead of chocolate for Easter, we decided this year to buy J a present – Christmas seems a long time ago for a 3 year old! We told him that if he was good the Easter Bunny might bring him something nice. He has been so excited!
So yesterday morning his face was a picture when he saw that he’d been left a talking Jessie from Toy Story – his Round-up Gang was now complete!
Until we realised that Jessie had a wardrobe malfunction! A tear in her trousers that left a leg dangling precariously. There followed endless tears, Jessie couldn’t come to the BBQ and would be so sad on her own. She has never been out before! I promised that today we would go to the shop and get a new Jessie.
Come bedtime we had more tears, he didn’t want a new one because then someone else might get his Jessie. He wanted her to be fixed! Oh…
So today we headed to the Disney Store in Norwich, J looking worried and me keeping my fingers crossed we could pull this off. It was busy and my heart sank – there was a queue, this might not be easy. We got to the front and saw Tracey, we explained the problem and handed her over. I somehow managed to whisper the bigger problem without J hearing.
Tracey played the part like a pro! She told J (now on the verge of tears again) that she was going to take Jessie out the back to see the special man who would fix her. If we just waited for a few minutes she would be back as good as new. We went and looked at the Winnie the Pooh cuddly toys to distract him and then discovered the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse stuff.
Within a few minutes Tracey was back with a new repaired Jessie, cue big smiles all round and very grateful thanks from me. All the way home I heard how having a rip in your trousers is nothing to worry about really – it can always be fixed, and then excitement as now Jessie can sleep in his bed (along with every other stuffed toy known to man).
It was such a small thing to an adult, but to J it meant everything – Tracey created a true moment of magic for my son and I am very grateful.
And my plan backfired – thanks to an Easter egg hunt at my parents and 2 pet shops that we went into we now have more chocolate than ever!
Review – Snappy Snaps Norwich
01 year ago
in Keep it local, Reviews
When Fuelmyblog asked me to do a review of Snappy snaps in Norwich the first thing I did was visit the website – or at least I thought I did. I went to www.snappysnaps.co.uk and I was surprised that there was no obvious interactive area for uploading photos and creating your gifts, but as the review needed me to visit the store it didn’t matter.
It turns out that each store has it’s own mini-site and once you select that from the main site it transforms into a more recognisable photo store! The list of sites is here. I should have looked a bit harder!
I have never visited Snappy Snaps before and was pleasantly surprised by the amount and quality of photo gifts on display – I loved their photo bags! I was also not expecting to see passport photos being taken in store – it’s quite small so I didn’t think they’d have room to offer those services.
The guy that served me couldn’t have been more helpful! I had taken along 2 photos on a memory stick to be printed onto mugs – I wasn’t being awkward but one was landscape & the other portrait. He suggested that the landscape one stretched around the mug and the second mug would have 2 of the other photo printed onto it. He also checked that the photos were of a good enough quality – which is always something I worry about when ordering online.
I was offered the same day service, but as I was in no hurry I said I would collect the following week. However, the next day he called to say they were ready for me!
My mugs are great! Superb quality print and they’ve picked up the colours really well. I wouldn’t hesitate to use them again – and I’d even probably go in store as they really looked after me.
The only negative is they seem a little pricier than other places – a standard photo mug costs £10.99. All items are made in store so this is probably one of the factors but they have such a range of different products they are definitely worth a look.
This was a review post for Snappy Snaps & Fuelmyblog. I received 2 photo mugs so that I could review these for you. My review is honest and in my own words.
