Tag: things to do in Yorkshire

Moonlight Drive-In Cinema

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I love finding unusual things to do as a family and when I found out that there was a drive-in cinema locally to us I knew I wanted to go.  Moonlight Drive-In Cinema is located at Diggerland in Castleford but they also have a site in Kent as well.

I’m a 50’s girl at heart, I love everything about the 1950’s, the cars, the fashion, the hairstyles.  So much so that we had a 50’s/rockabilly style wedding and danced (or should I say jived) all night to rock n roll.  It was my absolute dream.  And so the idea of a drive-in cinema really appealed to me.

We found out that they were showing The Incredibles 2 towards the end of the summer holidays and so as a last treat we took Luca to watch it from the comfort of our car.

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Sunflower Picking at Farmer Copley’s

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One of my favourite parts of the year is our trip to Farmer Copley’s for some pumpkin picking.  Well this year, they have opened up a new part of the farm for some PYO fun, this time sunflowers!!!!  And I think it’s also gonna be an annual trip for us.

I went along with my friend Sam to grab some lunch and then go find the sunflowers. We were really surprised to find it so quiet and the whole time we were there we were alone in the field.

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folly! at Fountains Abbey & Studley Royal

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I haven’t been to Fountains Abbey since I was a teenager on a school trip, and it’s been on our list of places to visit for a while.  In fact, I even stuck it in my post of places I wanted to visit this summer.  So when we were invited along to a bloggers picnic at the end of July I was very excited.

The picnic was held at the Studley Royal Water Gardens side of the beautiful World Heritage Site. When we arrived we were greeted by the immediate beauty of the grounds as we drove through the deer park.  We then made our way up to the Banqueting House where the picnic was being held.  Sat in front of the intricately designed banqueting house, surrounded by a wildflower garden and all the trees was just the perfect setting for any picnic.   Continue reading →

There’s a party in the woods.

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Luca turned six at the start of July and for months beforehand we spent hours searching for birthday party ideas.

I hate soft play and we go to enough soft play parties that I knew I didn’t want to add our own into the mix.  Some of the other ideas we had turned out to be ridiculously expensive for what you got and so we got a bit stuck.  Being pregnant I didn’t really want to host a party at our house this year either.

Then a friend of a friend suggested Greenman Learning.

Greenman Learning is a forest school local to us who hold all sorts of classes for both children and adults, and holiday schemes, but they also host parties too. It sounded perfect as we love being outdoors and for a summer party where better to be than in the woods?

We invited 15 of Luca’s friends to come and join us on the Sunday before his birthday and the weather was absolutely glorious for it. Continue reading →

21 Places We Want to Visit This Summer

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The summer holidays are fast approaching for us, Luca has less than a week of school left and then we have 7 ish weeks of uninterrupted time together. For once I am not working over the summer break either. I can’t bloody wait, whilst also feeling slightly nervous about how I’m going to entertain him for that many days (46 if you’re actually counting) without completely losing my marbles!! Ant has two weeks off late in August so at least I will have an extra pair of hands around then, but for the most part, it’s just me, the kid, the dog and the bump.

So to help get us through the holidays without too many complaints of boredom, I’ve decided to make a list of places we can go as I always find parenting so much easier when we aren’t locked up in the house. I’ve got both free and cheap days covered for when we aren’t so flush for cash and more expensive ones too. And I’m hoping to do lots of places we haven’t been to yet. The list started off quite small but as I went along more places kept springing to mind. So we probably won’t do all of these things but it’s nice to have a list to refer to if we need it.  I’ve got lots of options to choose from now, depending on the day, and most of them should be dog-friendly too.  Always a bonus. Continue reading →

Summer Fun in the Woods at Nostell Priory

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Nostell Priory is about half an hour from our house yet it’s somewhere we have never visited. Until now.

We saw that over the summer holidays they had loads and loads of activities on offer to keep the kids entertained. Most of them were activities from the National Trust list of 50 Things to do Before You’re 11 3/4. We’ve been working our way through the list slowly but surely so having somewhere close by that makes ticking some of them off without having to plan them yourself is always a bonus.

In fact, we had so much fun we visited twice.

The first visit was for the geocaching event.  We took Luca and his friend Kieran.  After a quick briefing from the geocaching expert, we were handed our GPS device and sent on our way.  The boys absolutely loved following the compass and watching the metres count down to the geocaches before searching around to find the hidden container. Continue reading →

Driving Diggers at Diggerland Yorkshire

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Diggerland has been on our list of places to visit for ages. It’s so close to where we live and we’ve said we would take Luca a few times. We finally got to tick Diggerland off our list a few weeks ago.

The first thing we commented on when we arrived at Diggerland was how close the parking was to the entrance. It’s perfect for leaving bits in the car, like a picnic, if you wanted to. You can easily nip out to grab it as long as you get a stamp on your way out so you don’t have to pay on your way back in again.

As we walked through the doors we were greeted by our first digger to sit in for a photo.  Once we had been through the main entrance you walk out into the park itself.  Luca was astounded by all the diggers that greeted us.  Whilst Luca got his head around all the rides to choose from we nipped into the café to grab a coffee. As I ordered coffee’s Luca & Ant jumped on the coin operated, indoor go-karts. I’m not sure who enjoyed it the most. Continue reading →

The Gruffalo at West Yorkshire Playhouse

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We all know and love The Gruffalo (and if you don’t where have you been for the past 18 years), so when we heard it was coming to the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds, we couldn’t turn down the opportunity to go.

The Gruffalo has pretty much been part of Luca’s life since he was tiny. He even has a few of the characters in teddy form. We have both the book and the film and no matter how many times we read or watch it, it never grows old.

It really is an iconic book of childhood now so we were really intrigued to see what the adaptation by Tall Stories would be like. As we sat and waited for the performance to begin Luca could barely contain his excitement.

The Gruffalo West Yorkshire Playhouse

It’s safe to say it really didn’t disappoint. It was lively throughout and the characters did a great job of drawing the audience in. There was lots of audience participation too, with the children having to help by roaring as loud as they could and filling in the infamous lines from the book. Continue reading →

#fdMiniCritic Review of Northern Ballet’s Goldilocks & the Three Bears

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On Friday 28th October we were invited to the Northern Ballet’s Goldilocks & the Three Bears.  Luca was asked by First Direct to attend as a mini critic and they sent him a pack to help him with his important role.  This included a good old fashioned disposable camera, which he never put down, and a personalised notepad and pencil.  It also included lots of goodies to throw a teddy bear picnic for his new teddy to help get him in the mood for the ballet. Continue reading →

Farmer Copley’s Pumpkin Picking

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One of my single most favourite things about Autumn is pumpkins. We eat loads of them, I decorate the house with mini ones and we carve a fair few for Halloween. And we love to pick our own.  It’s just not the same picking one up from Tesco with your weekly shop, all perfectly round and perfectly orange.  So we were thrilled when we were asked to go to Farmer Copley’s Pumpkin Picking Festival.  Nothing beats tramping through a muddy field, deliberating over which colour, size and shape you want to take home.

Farmer Copley's Pumpkin Picking Festival - wonderfulchaos.co.uk Continue reading →