Dinosaur Mania

 Is your child an aspiring paleontologist or has an unhealthy obsession with dinosaurs. Look no further! Here's a list of some of the places around UK to quench that dino thirst! If you want a more detailed review, they will be found inside the brackets next to the places specified.

London

Crystal Palace

National History Museum

Bristol

Bristol Museum and Art Gallery

Isle of Wight (https://mummylife0912.blogspot.com/2020/03/isle-of-wight.html)

Dinosaur Isle, Sandown- https://www.dinosaurisle.com/

Blackgang Chine, Blackgang- https://blackgangchine.com/

Dinosaur Expedition CIC, Brightstone - http://www.dinosaurexpeditions.co.uk/

Devon

Dinosaur World, Torquay - https://www.torquaysdinosaurworld.co.uk/

Somerset 

Wookey Hole - https://www.wookey.co.uk/ (https://mummylife0912.blogspot.com/2020/02/wookey-hole-somerset.html)

Hertfordshire 

Paradise Wild Park, Broxbourne - https://www.pwpark.com/ (https://mummylife0912.blogspot.com/2020/02/paradise-wildlife-park.html)

Knebworth House, Stevenage - In the garden, behind the house there's a big dinosaur trail with life-sized dinosaurs dotted around. 

Buckinghamshire

Gulliver's Land Resort, Milton Keynes - https://www.gulliversfun.co.uk/

Dorset

Dinosaur World, Dorchester - https://www.thedinosaurmuseum.com/ (https://mummylife0912.blogspot.com/2021/09/the-jurassic-coast-uk.html)

Norfolk

ROARR Dinosaur Park - https://www.roarrdinosauradventure.co.uk/ (https://mummylife0912.blogspot.com/2020/01/in-and-around-norwich.html)

There's always shows and most of your local museums will also have a dinosaur section so don't forget to check for these too.

Theatre Reviews

We were introduced to theatre by one of my best friends more than a decade ago and it is a gift that we will cherish forever. We love musicals! We can't get enough of the live performances, stage design, costumes, etc... So much talent in one little space. Yes it is expensive. To help with the costs, this is what I do:

    1) Pick seats towards the back or in upper circle

    2) Use London Theatre Week discount which runs for 2 weeks from end of Feb

    3) Kidsweek in June also provides great discount with workshops too! A perfect outing during the                   summer holiday     

Here's what we've seen so far in the Weest End:

1) Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, West End - we love seeing one of our favourite books come to live on stage. We love seeing the lift and other great trickeries

2) Legally Blonde, West End - I think this was the first ever musical I have ever watched and it was so good. It was entertaining and was a great confidence booster

3) Billy Elliot, West End - a beautiful moving musical about a boy and his passion for dancing! It made me tear up

4) Wicked, West End- we watched this twice. It is my kids favourite. The story of the Wicked Witch from Wizard of Oz. When I first watched it, I didn't understand it but then I saw why the kids loved it when we watched it the second time

5) Lion King, West End - what an amazing experience! It is beautifully staged and you have animals walking amongst you. It is visually stunning

6) Jungle Book, Norwich Theatre - This was a great local production.

7) The Addams Family, Wimbledon Theatre - This production was true to the movie!

8) Icarus, Unicorn Theatre - another local production which is suited for older kids as the story seemed to be a bit too complicated for my under 10s.

9) Avenue Q - definetely not for young kids. It is a puppet show but hilarious!

10) The Phantom of the Opera, - This was majestic to say the least! It has great songs and the storyline was so romantic.

11) The Twits, Richmond Theatre - We loved to see of our favourite Roald Dahl's stories coming to life. There were as yucky as the story!

12) Hamilton, West End - 

More reviews will be added on as we see more!

Parks in London

 1) Alexandra Palace - the palace comes with some great grounds. We love it when it's Bonfire night because there's a funfair, fireworks. The Palace holds lots of events and also has an ice rink. Behind the palace, there's a boating lake which is great for kids.

2) Regent's Park - this is the home of ZSL zoo but it also has an outdoor theatre which is great for summer days. It has lovely gardens and lake.

3) St Jame's Park - A little park in front Buckingham Palace. It is beautiful during Daffodils season or when flowers are in full bloom

3) Hyde Park - what a big park. Known for it's festivals during summer or known for Winter Wonderland. There's a boating lake, wild swimming in the Lake. It also has a discovery centre with great activities for kids too. It also holds Kensington Palace and Gardens.

4) Holland Park - this is a beautiful park with lots of different flower display It also has a small Japan garden and a great big children's playground.

5) Victoria Embankment Gardens -  small park with a nice water feature and a cafe overlooking River Thames

6) Richmond Park - Known for its deers and it's beautiful azaleas display in the famous Isabella's Plantation, this is park which no one should miss. It is a big park so you can spend a whole day there. There are children'd playgrounds too.

7) Battersea Park - another great park south of the river, with a zoo and go ape places. It also has a nice sculptures and Asian temple building.

8) Crystal Palace Park - this was a small park but it's famous for it's Dinosaurs.

9) Hampstead Heath/ Golders Hill Park - You can easily spend a whole day in there. Yu have the beautiful Pergola but if you walk north, you come across Golders Hill Park which holds a mini zoo and a buttlerfly house as well as a playground.

10) Gunnersbury Park - A beautiful park which with a temple and a gothic tower. It also holds 2 ponds and has a museum. It's quite a big park and just walking around it can take 1hr. It also has 1 playground and a leisure centre in it.

11) Bushy Park - another Royal Park with free roaming park. It's not as big as Richmond Park but still huge. You can spend a whole day just walking around the woods and gardens. Maybe not great for small kids but great for older kids who love walking or cycling around. The walled gardens was beautiful with lots of streams running across the gardens. It was idyllic. On the other end of the park, towards Hampton Hill, you can see a nice cascade. A great park to walk around.

12) Chiswick Park - a beautiful park with a beautiful house, a lake and luscious green. Great for a walk with a small play area for younger children.

13) Langley Park - This is a very big park so didn't explore the full extent of it but there's an abortorium and a beautiful garden that is in full bloom in late April and May with rhododendrons, It has something for everyone.

Places to visit in Buckinghamshire

 1) Roald Dahl Museum, Great Missenden - Lucky was at one point obsessed with Roald Dahl and so this was a great little museum to visit. The museum had a lot of activities going on and so do check their website for holiday activities (https://www.roalddahl.com/museum). Lucky loved sitting in his massive chair and read one of his books. It's a little museum so it can be done in about 2 hours.

2) Hellfire Caves, High Wycombe - These chalk caves hold great holiday-time activities. We went there for Halloween which was excellent. We were able to cover the whole cave system and loved the character interactions. The mood was very creepy too. If Halloween isn't your holiday, they do activities for Christmas but please check their website (https://www.hellfirecaves.co.uk/) . The visit took no more than 90minsutes. They had a nice cafe onsite. There's also a nice park nearby so you can make a nice day out!

3) Chiltern Open Air Museum, Chalfont St Giles - One of our favourite open air museums. Another place which holds many events. We went there for a Unicorn and Dragon day. Despite the rain, we had a great time with some great workshops which took us around the whole museum. We met unicorns, we saw a whole dragon sleeping in a house. They was storytelling in a yurt and other multiple activities. It took us a whole afternoon to enjoy ourselves!

4) Gulliver's Resort, Milton Keynes - A great theme park for a family with young children. It had a dinosaur park and a water centre too. We spent a whole day there and had time to do repeat rides too. 

5) Black Park Country Park, Slough - This was such a  big park. We went there for Go Ape but there are many other activities going on. It is well shaded with cafes dotted around. 

6) Windsor Park, Windsor -  This is a Royal Park and to be fair I had lots of expectations when I was reading about Saville Garden and Virginia Water but it was disappointment. But we got our steps in!

7) Bletchley Park - The home of the code-breakers, it is a great museum with plenty of activities to learn everything that this place and its people did and how they helped in WW2. It has many buildings designated  to different parts of code-breaking including a great display about Alan Turing. There's plenty of activities for kids. It also has a nice lake where you can picnic around. Once you buy the tickets, you can revisit within a year

8) Legoland, Windsor - this is a theme park which we always go back to. Having a Lego fan in my home, is a great plus because I feel like the best mummy ever taking hi there. It has a huge splash park and plenty of rides for little and big ones! A great day out guaranteed

Peppa Pig's World and Paulton's Park

 Yes it's mainly known as Peppa's Pig World but it's also a theme park so it's a place for young and old alike. We did an overnight stay with another family at nearby New Forest with trips to the beach to make the most out of our weekend.

We hit the park first think in the morning as we had 4 kids under 7 who were Peppa Pig crazy and so wanted to make the most of it. There were no problems getting the kids up early on this occasion. Despite all the preparations, it seemed that all the parents had the same plan and so it was very busy as the gates opened! The weather was a bit chilly but that didn't stop the fun. There were so many rides and lots of character interactions at multiple times! Despite the queue, we did all the rides. In between, there was a zoo so we had time to look around it and had a nice picnic surrounded by animals and ducks!

There was a little splash park which the kids loved. The cold weather didn't bother them at all.

Once the kids were happy to leave the park, the adults had some fun in the theme park. Most of the water rides were kid-friendly and so it was fun for the whole family. There were a few rollercoasters and the queue were non-existent.

We had plenty of time to do repeat rides in the whole park.

Overall, we had a great day at Peppa Pig World with all of us being so tired which means a successful day!