Friday 7 February 2014

Adventure Friday 2 - Hawksworth Woods

So... If you go down to the woods today.... you're sure for a big surprise...
LOADS OF FUN that's what!!! 

If you have a look on the  Woodland Trust website
You can search for woodlands near you. I am aiming to go to most of the woods around leeds so will update all here.


WHERE:  Hawksworth Woods - Horsforth, Kirkstall  - 3 miles from leeds town hall.
WHO: 6 mommas, 7 2-and-3-year-olds, 2 9-month-olds









HOW MUCH WAS IT: FREEEEEEEE!!!
PARKING: You can park free on Hawksworth Road, there are entrances to the woods on both new road side and butcher hill.
Buses go passed both sides of the woods - 50, 33

The woods are long and narrow but really kid friendly. They're about a mile long so an easy one for walking and the paths are compact so you can take pushchairs in if you have really little ones. we like to go off piste a little so there was a lot of log and stone climbing.
Finding a den

Which way?

So... there was loads to do in the woods, we jumped in muddy puddles, I took empty plastic pots from the recycling with spoons and we scooped and emptied and scooped and emptied! 

It's difficult as a parent taking when you have good ideas that you want to share with your children, to step back and allow the journey that they need to have happen. So, armed with my massive folder of ideas I had to file them all away for this outing and played hide and seek and pretend cafes - pretending to eat steaks and pizzas. It was awesome!
 


 OK so... round up if we're giving stars:

Accessibility - 3 stars, FREE roadside parking, train about a mile and a half walk, loads of busses. Accessibility in the woods - great! pathways can travel with buggy.
Suitability for under 5s - 5 stars - obviously! It's nature!!!
Staff  - that'd be me... so I'm going 5 stars :-)


Happy adventuring!!!


Adventure Friday 1 - Eureka

So... I'm hugely behind on adventure Fridays reports and I've only just started but this was our first adventure Friday this year a few weeks back.

WHERE: Eureka -National Children's Museum - Halifax - 17 miles from Leeds Town Hall.

WHO:  About 6 mums with their respective 2 / 3 year-olds and a 9 month old.

HOW MUCH WAS IT: 
£10.95 an adult and children over 3. 
£3.75 for under 3s. 
You can then come back as many times within a year on the old ticket.
PARKING: £3 for 4 hours

Not really much to say on this one, their website is really clear and obviously being a children's museum it is perfect! Spacious and great to explore.

The staff are super friendly and overall a great feel to the whole museum.

Outside there is a fantastic outdoor play area with sand pit, and fun sensory path at the back of the museum.


Indoors for under 2s there are 2 small soft play areas and an under 5s creative play room which looks like a small early years classroom, so I quite like it there. There are fancy dress clothes, a reading corner,  water tray, light box and generally a craft going on on the main table.

Otherwise there are fantastic exhibitions both up and downstairs. 'A' loved the 'Our body' area and especially a robot tucked away in the corner very unassumingly (if that's a word?!).... IT talks! who knew! At one point there were 5 2 and 3 year olds singing baa baa black sheep to the robot. Definitely look out for that one. 

The cafe / restaurant does really good food. About £2.50 for a coffee, £4.50 for a kids lunch box, £5 for a sandwich, £6 for soup and a sandwich. As there are picnic areas here we tend to stick to that otherwise adventure days become quite expensive!!

I think if we were coming back - which we definitely will now that it's free entry for the next year, I won't try and rush round for 'A' to see different bits and just let her go wherever, she could quite happily have stayed in the pretend M&S store for an hour.


OK so... round up if we're giving stars:

Accessibility - 4 stars, parking right outside, train to the front door.
Suitability for under 5s - 5 stars - obviously! It's a kids museum!
Staff  - 4 stars, super friendly, helpful, could be found relatively easily.

Don't quite know what else to include? If anyone ever reads this maybe they could suggest what else would be helpful to know about these places.

Any done!
xxx