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mrssavageangel

First time mother just trying to figure out where to go from here.

holiday

Bluestone Resort Wales – A Review

05/06/2015 by MrsSavageAngel Leave a Comment

If you’re a regular reader or follow me on any social media, you’ll know that a couple of weeks ago, we were lucky enough to spend the week as a family in the beautiful countryside of Pembrokeshire, West Wales. I couldn’t believe it when Bluestone National Park Resort asked me if I’d like to bring the family to visit. Ben and I lived in Swansea from 2009-2011 and Wales (and the Welsh), hold a very special place in my heart. In fact I didn’t realise how special, until I blubbed going over the bridge. What am I like? I’ve wanted to take Oscar to Wales since he was born, and despite looking into it a couple of times, we’d just never found anywhere we thought could work for him and for us. I won’t lie to you when I say I was a little nervous. Oscar’s Autism means he can be unpredictable and Pembrokeshire was a long way to go for him to react badly (4.5 hours from our home in Surrey), but I can’t explain just how well everything went. It was as if Bluestone sprinkled a little bit of Welsh magic over all of us.

So we arrived on Monday after a straightforward journey, made all the easier by the iPad and a couple of Thomas and Friends films. Believe me when I say you get no badges for getting your children to their destination by singing and reading with them, when neither of these things work and a iPad strapped to the back of the headrest does. Check in starts at 4.30pm, which allowed Oscar to go to preschool in the morning and for us to arrive in time for check-in to be in full flow, which meant queuing in the car.

TOP TOP #1: If you can arrive earlier in the day, do. Although you can’t get in to your accommodation until 4.30, you can check in and use the park’s facilities, meaning you avoid the queues when everyone else arrives. This may be particularly useful if you have children who don’t deal well with queues.

Everyone arriving at the same time means some queing
Everyone arriving at the same time means some queuing to get into the park

Despite the short time queuing, the iPad did sterling work until we were able to get into our accommodation with no fuss and a warm welcome. And when we did we were so impressed. All accommodation at Bluestone is self catering lodges ranging from studios to those that sleep 14 people. As we had originally planned to go with friends, who then couldn’t join us, we had one of the gorgeous Grassholm Lodges, which sleep 8 people in three twin and one double room. This all came with three bathrooms, one of which was a wet room and one an ensuite. Having so much space was a luxury in itself, especially as we’re used to a two bedroom terrace cottage!

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Just one of the twin bedrooms. The boy already making his mark!
I was probably most excited about having a decent size kitchen for a change!
I was probably most excited about having a decent size kitchen for a change!

The kitchen really was incredibly thoughtfully equipped (I cooked dinner for Oscar every night and for Ben and I twice with no bother) and we both noted how all the electronics were such good makes. It’s the little things no? It’s worth mentioning that the lodges do not come with washing machines and there’s no laundry on site, so be sure to bring enough clothes for the duration.

TOP TIP #2 Kitchens have everything you’d expect in a modern luxury lodge, including a dishwasher. Bluestone kindly provide a welcome pack of kitchen essentials including dishcloths, tea towels and 3 dishwasher tablets. You can also buy packets of three tablets in the park shop for £1. I really wish I’d realised this before, so I wouldn’t have fretted about taking cloths and washing up liquid and would have packed a few of my own dishwasher tabs.

A helpful welcome in the kitchen
A helpful welcome in the kitchen

The lodge was so light and airy and the temptation was to just stay in, enjoying the space, but there was so much else to do on the park. On the first night (and subsequent evenings) Oscar was thrilled to make great use of the park’s pub garden and adventure playground. As I’m sure Ben was!

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So spacious and airy. Wonderful!
A quick evening tipple at the Knights Tafern
A quick evening tipple at the Knights Tafern
The Treehouse, withy all its bridge and tunnels was a great hit with Oscar. Not sure Ben enjoyed it quite as much!
The Treehouse, with all its bridges and tunnels was a great hit with Oscar. Not sure Ben enjoyed it quite as much!

The park is built around a central ‘village’, which has a grocery store, bakery/coffee shop, off license, gift shop, pub, various restaurants and a Spa. Ben and I are both big spa fans (hey, who isn’t?!) so we knew we wanted to try out Bluestone’s WellSpa, but we knew we wanted to go together. I’m sure the ability to share childcare was the reason we saw quite a few extended family groups around the park. Although we didn’t go in a group, Bluestone is totally set up for this kind of holiday, with large lodges and even interconnected ones! So because we were ‘sans grandma’, we booked Oscar into the Mini Adventure session. This was a three hour creche session for 0-3 year olds held in the Adventure Centre (they also run similar age appropriate activities for 4-7 year old and 8-12 year olds). I booked the session in advance and explained about Oscar’s Autism. The staff weren’t phased in the slightest, and assured me that they’d looked after autistic children before. I was also reassured to hear the creche was in a locked room, with a maximum of 6 children, with two members of staff. The worst that could happen is that he’d hate it and wouldn’t stay (or they’d have to call us to come get him, which they promised to do). Three hours and no call later, we picked up a very happy little boy, who’d done crafting, baking and played with trains. Best £24 I spent all holiday!

The Mini Adventure session was Space themed. Oscar had an amazing time!
The Mini Adventure session was Space themed. Oscar had an amazing time making his Alien!

While the boy was aliening it up, Ben and I made full use of the time to check out the Spa. The treatment list was extensive, but we chose to just relax together in the Thermal Suite. I loved the Brick Sauna and Ben liked the Herbal Steam Room and we both loved the heated outdoor plunge pool. What a treat!

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I was rather taken with the changing rooms!
The chill out area had a very apt name. Pronounced cutch for those of you not down with the Welsh language.
The chill out area had a very apt name. Pronounced “kutch” for those not down with the Welsh language.

Time together as a couple can be rare, but we loved that Bluestone gave us the opportunity to make the most of it. We loved the creche and we also booked a babysitter for the Wednesday night, through the park’s very friendly and helpful customer service team. Oscar sleeps well anyway, but I’ve never seen him go down so easily as I did on holiday. This meant by the time the babysitter arrived, he was fast off and we could enjoy our meal out. We chose the recently updated Oak Tree Restaurant, which mixes Italian inspiration with Welsh produce. The sharing plate starter we had with baked Perl Wen Cheese was a revelation! So good in fact I forgot to get a picture of it!

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So good it’s gone!

The Oak Tree was one of several places to eat on the park. The choice was appreciated and we ate in many of them over the week with prices being reasonable across the board (not something you always find when you’re a captive audience. This was also the case in the Village Stores with a great range of groceries available at everyday prices). Although we bought a lot of food with us, having done a shop the day before we arrived, we also ate out several times. The food we had all over the park was good and I particularly enjoy my flame roast mackerel, down in the woodland restaurant Camp Smokey. Such a unique venue, it’s nestled deep in the middle of the woods and all food is cooked over open fires, just like a real All American cookout! Had Oscar not had the only melt down of the week as we sat down to eat, we so would have be finishing our meal by toasting our own marshmallows! It was such a shame it didn’t work for him as the food was delicious. But one melt down all week? I’ll take that!

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Camp Smokey, for the full outdoor camp fire eating experience

Our best eating experience of the week, had to be in the Wild Wood Cafe. We had been for a walk on the nature trail, after Oscar had woken that morning and still in his pyjamas declared he wanted to go for a walk by telling us ‘shoes’ and ‘buggy’. It was a beautiful day so we headed to the Nature Trail followed by a walk round the lake.

TOP TIP #3 The nature trail is beautiful and I highly recommend it. However be aware that it’s not a gentle stroll. Anyone with mobility issues would struggle and while we coped with our trusty 3 wheel Out n About 360, a lesser buggy (particularly the fold up umbrella style) would not make it. Slings or walking might be best.

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On the trail
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This was the easy bit!

After a super morning’s walk we headed over to the Adventure Centre, a building the size of a small leisure centre bursting at the seams with fun. We spent some time in the main room, playing on the bouncy castle, with the lego and in the soft play area but mainly having a good old explore. We also spent some time that afternoon in the Circus Room, an entire room devoted to the joy of Under 5s. They use the room for paid for Toddler Sensory sessions, but on the day we visited it was free to use all day. The boy found his new favourite toy in the ride on roller coaster – he’d have taken it home with him if he could!

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Jump!
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Lego Zone. Cool wall, but its missing something…
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Yeah that’s better
The AMAZING Circus Room. Soft Play and Sensory for the Under 5s. and we had the place to ourselves!
The AMAZING Circus Room. Soft Play and Sensory for the Under 5s. and we had the place to ourselves!
Oscar's favourite part of the week I think!
Oscar’s favourite part of the week I think!

When it came time to think about lunch we decided to try the Adventure Centre’s own restaurant, the Wild Wood Cafe. Oscar’s historically been good at eating out, but since he’s been too big for a high chair he struggles to sit and not want to get down for long enough. Add to the fact that this was all new to him, I had no high hopes for this lunch. However, I didn’t bargain on the wonderful atmosphere of the Wild Wood Cafe. As the name may suggest it’s made up to look like an enchanted wood. The lights are dimmed and the seating design really imaginative. Lunch in a bird’s nest anyone? We took Oscar in and let him have a run round exploring everything. As everyone else in there was also a parent of a small child no one batted an eyelid! The room was presided over by an enormous tree and Oscar was very taken with the throne. Yes they have a throne, which is used in the regular interactive dinner shows! They sound like awesome fun, just not for Oscar yet. Anyway after a look around he came and sat down, waited for his dinner and ate it whilst sitting the whole time! I make a big deal of this as it’s the first time he’s ever done this since outgrowing the highchair. The food was delicious (Ben was so impressed at how good his Steak Baguette was) and if you’re visiting with small children I urge you to take them at least once. It’s one of my favourite memories from the week 🙂

Have dinner in an Enchanted Forest
Have dinner in an Enchanted Forest
It sure enchanted my boy. Here he is, sitting and eating!
It sure enchanted my boy. Here he is, sitting and eating! Notice the throne in the background!

When I asked Ben what his favourite memory of the trip was, he said without a doubt the peace. Bluestone is set in 500 acres of beautiful Welsh National Park and the fact that cars are parked away from the lodges once they’re unloaded meant the pace of life on the park was a relaxed one. You can hire golf buggies to use during your stay. We decided not to this time, however if we’d been with a bigger group or anyone with mobility issues these would have been a life saver, as the park itself is rather hilly. The wildlife was everywhere and tame as you like, which thrilled Oscar as his new words that week were ‘bird’ and ‘animal’!

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View from our bedroom window the day we arrived
Ducks on the lake
Ducks on the lake

Our love of the Welsh countryside meant that we couldn’t go all that way and not explore the surrounding area, just a little. There were so many things to see and do close to Bluestone, but living in a landlocked county meant I desperately wanted to go to the beach. On recommendation from a friend back home, we broke with tradition and eschewed the popular Tenby, heading instead for Barafundle Bay, 30 minutes drive away. Now I wouldn’t recommend this beach for everyone. It’s sheltered and quiet, yes, but that’s partly because it’s only accessible via a half mile walk across the cliff tops and then down a long steep stone stair case.

TOP TIP #4 The guides say this beach is not accessible by buggies and to some extent they are right. However, if you really, really wanted to you could take your buggy most of the way and stash it in the bushes at the top of the steps, as we saw one couple do that day.

Oscar’s never really been to the beach and choosing Barafundle Bay was something of a risk. Not being able to take the buggy, being half a mile of difficult terrain away from the car, we could absolutely have chosen another location. But we would absolutely have missed out on the most amazing experience. Oscar walked/ran excitedly just ahead of us almost the whole way there. I think he appreciated the freedom, but not once did he make a dash for it (to be fair we were on high alert and had he shown any signs of bolting we would have scooped him up and high tailed it back to the car.) We thoroughly enjoyed the walk there and when we arrived? Well! No wonder it’s been voted Best Picnic Spot in the UK and in the Top 12 Beaches in the World before now.

With the wind at his heels! And in his hair!
With the wind at his heels! And in his hair!
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Me and my guy
Woah.
The BEAUTIFUL Barafundle Bay
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The steps down to the bay
No trip to the beach would be complete without a castle!
No trip to the beach would be complete without a castle!

What a day! And we totally chose the best day of the week for the weather too. The day we came to leave was dreary and reflected completely the way we were feeling. So sad to say goodbye to such a wonderful place. Although we had to check out at 10am, we were able to use the facilities until 3pm. This being the case we packed up the car with everything but our swim things and headed over to the Blue Lagoon. It’s everything you’d expect of a pleasure pool and had a great toddler/baby area. At least I thought it was great. Oscar enjoyed it but was tempted by the big pool soon enough. He’s quite confident in the water, but can’t swim and would not wear any kind of flotation device, which meant it was a very tiring experience for me. He LOVED the wave machine and the fountains and even went down the lazy river with me, but in the end I had to call time on the swimming. I just couldn’t keep up with him! I think if he’d been older he would have been in there every day. As it was I’m glad we tried it, but I’m not sorry we only went the once.

The Blue Lagoon Pool
The Blue Lagoon Pool

To be honest though there’s little we did more than once. The playground maybe, or getting ice creams from the Bakery. We were there Monday to Friday and we only got to sniff what Bluestone is about. But what we saw made us all happier than I could have imagined. The facilities were exactly what we needed as a family and the staff unremittingly helpful, friendly and good humoured (even the guy cutting the lawn on the ride on mower gave Oscar a big smile and a thumbs up when he saw him watching!) We couldn’t have asked for anything more. Would we go back. Yes. Definitely. Wales will always have a special place in my heart and Bluestone is a great place to visit what was once our adopted home.

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Heaven

We would like to say a massive thank you to Bluestone National Park Resort for generously providing us with accommodation in return for this review.

I was not paid to write this review and as always opinions are my own.

Please check out www.bluestonewales.com for more information.

You can also find Bluestone on Twitter and Facebook

 

 

 

Filed Under: Children, Family, Review Tagged With: asc, asd, Autism, Barafundle Bay, beach, Blue Lagoon, Bluestone National Park Resort, Camp Smokey, childhood, children, creche, Cymru, Family, food, happy, holiday, Holidays, lodge, Mini Adventurers, Motherhood, mummy, Oak Tree, Park, Pembrokeshire, Play, play fun, pool, Pre-school, Review, Self catering, Spa, staycation, Toddler, UK, Vacation, VisitWales, Wales, WellSpa

Slimming World Update – Week 90

09/04/2015 by MrsSavageAngel Leave a Comment

Hiya

How’s your week been? I hope you’ve had some of the good weather we’ve had this week. Man alive it’s sooo good to feel the sun on my skin and the grass between my toes again. I always thought Autumn was my favourite month, but the older I get the more I love the summer. I think I was born to walk bare foot! The sunshine just makes everything feel more hopeful.

We’ve had an amazing week in real life too! It was Oscar’s third birthday last Thursday. I know, my little itty bitty baby is now a strapping three year old, with a shock of blonde hair and the cheekiest grin. We had a day out on Thursday for him, which if you missed you can read about here and then a full on celebration on Saturday at The Hen House, in Haslemere. I’ll be writing a post about that shortly, but suffice to say we had an awesome time.

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But as far as the food has gone this week? Well, let’s just say it’s not been quite so awesome. On top of Oscar’s birthday shenanigans the house has also been awash (sort of) with Easter chocolate. Add to that party food, the odd tipple to celebrate and cake, well let’s just say this week was a write off.

At least I assumed it was.

Last night’s weigh in was a weigh and run. Not because I didn’t want to stay, but because I was coming out the back end of a 24hr bug and feeling ropey to say the least. To be honest, I could have just not gone at all, but I felt that would only compound the chance of me continuing to gain, so regardless of the fact that I felt rough and was going to have to face the result of an Easter/Birthday week, I made the effort and went.

What I wasn’t expecting, in any way, was the result I got.

OK, so I want you to understand I DO NOT know how this happened (unless the sun can melt weight!). I also DO NOT mean to advocate Prosecco and M&Ms as a weight loss method. But yes, this week I have had a loss. And a rather substantial one at that. I lost 5.5lb taking me to 6 stone 2lb lost. When I looked at the scales I was convinced it said 5.5lb ON. I sort of sighed. Then my sad face turned to a shocked face and I had to be asked if I was OK. I continued to be baffled all the way home. I seriously can’t explain what is going on with my body at the moment, and I’m well aware this week might come back to bite me on the behind next week. However, it has given me a much needed kick in the right direction.

Funnily enough a couple of other things have happened to bolster my motivation this week. Firstly I had a message from a friend I haven’t seen, or even spoken to, in about 8 years. She said she’d just seen a picture of me (ahh good old social media, how I love thee, you weird little thing!). It said:

I hope you don’t mind me messaging you out of the blue but I saw a picture of you and did a double take so I just had to tell you how bloody fantastic you look!

This friend was someone who helped me enormously when I lost some weight back in 2006. She was my inspiration, in the way I hear people tell me I have been for them. So it was super flattering to hear her say how impressed she was with my progress and a real boost. Secondly, I was looking at getting some boots online. I haven’t bought any boots since winter 2013, and I know it’s the end of the season but they really are falling apart! I used to buy my boots from the plus size retailer Evans, as their wider fit suited me. Now, although my feet are much smaller than they were, they are still wide fit (I’ve had wide feet literally all my life – I was an H fitting as a child). So I thought I’d take a look on the Evans website, to see if they had anything in the sale. Now, I haven’t visited their site for aaaaages (I’ve not needed to) and almost as soon as I landed on their homepage, I just felt so very sad. Like, I don’t really know how to explain it, but sad that this used to be my life and desperate that I don’t want this to be my life again. I had a quick look around, feeling worse and worse and closed the browser. I didn’t get any boots.

So all these things combined to make me think a bit really. To make me not want to slide back into oblivion. And I’ve come up with a new target for myself. I want to get back to what I was just before Christmas. And I want to do it by the time I go on holiday. To do that I need to lose 8.5lb in 5 weeks. I think that’s realistic.

And I don’t ever want to have to shop in Evans again.

I’ve got some super meals planned this week, including a couple from the Slimming World Fake Away book:

  • Pan fried Salmon, stir fried vegetables and noodles
  • Steak, SW Chips, salad, mushrooms and red cabbage
  • Black Bean Pork with peppers, green beans and noodles
  • King Prawn Dopiaza with spinach and rice
  • Chicken and Aspragus Risotto

And I’m feeling really focussed for the week ahead.

Let’s see if can’t limit any damage the last week may do to me next week! I’m going for a loss of 2lb.

Enjoy the sunshine and smile.

We can do this.

Xxxxxx

Sim's Life

 

 

 

Filed Under: Slimming World, Weight Loss Tagged With: birthday, easter, food, health, holiday, inspiration, Losing weight, Motivation, Personal, Slimming World, Toddler, Weight, Weight Loss

Hazy days of Summer….

09/09/2014 by MrsSavageAngel Leave a Comment

So it’s September. Leaves are falling and I swear you can smell Autumn in the air already. I can’t believe the summer has gone so fast. Three months. Over like that (snaps fingers in case you didn’t get that!) Someone asked me today what we did this summer and to be honest, I couldn’t really answer (except for our little holiday). It’s not that we’ve sat at home doing nothing (the weather’s been too good), but not having a car really does keep you to the local area. So to remind myself more than anything here’s a little round up of what we’ve done over the past three months.

Parks

So many parks! We’re really lucky where we live, in that we’ve got load of parks, many within walkable distance. They’re also free and provide opportunities for my active son to throw himself around. When he’s not on the swings (always with the swings). What’s not to like?

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Happy on the swings at High Lane
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Action shot in Grayshott Park. Plus the only one we found with a properly lockable gate. I love this park 😉
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Loving the space at Hammer Park
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Peekaboo in Lion Lane Park. It’s the only one we don’t really enjoy. When I say we of course, I mean me. It’s only really due to the busy roads that surround it. I’m He’s just not really ready for this one.
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And while not technically a park, we loved our trips to Applegarth!

The Garden

A bit like the park, but without the swings and the potential for him to break free and head to the road. We love our garden and this year it really has become the boy’s domain. Even the veg aren’t safe from those little hands. Suffice to say we’ve had very few tomatoes this year!

Oscar's Garden
Oscar’s Garden
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I’ll ‘help’ Mama!
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Watering the ‘brees’ (strawberries)
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Oscar through the tulips
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We had so much wildlife in the garden this year. including tonnes of beautiful butterflies
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Space to run
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Hmm, after pulling up the onions he parked his cars in the bed….
... and then transplanted the fledgling tomatoes to the strawberry planter. Sorry Daddy!
… and then transplanted the fledgling tomatoes to the strawberry planter. Sorry Daddy!

Finding fun in everyday things

Several times this summer, on days when we’ve stayed in the house, he’s suddenly become bored of the toys he has. That’s when we raid the cupboards and see what we can find to have some fun. Again it’s cheap, or in the case of water play, free. Yes it might not look the most thrilling to us, no exploding baking soda fountains or ooblek (not that I don’t want to try these one day) but to the boy it’s just dandy!

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Hoovering up lentils is supremely satisfying! I have no idea why!
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Spaghetti and a bottle. And Cheerios
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Shorts & wellies? That’s my boy
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Burying and finding things in boxes filled with old cereal
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Pouring

Playdates

When did the term ‘playdate’ even come into being a thing? I don’t remember it from my childhood. Ho hum, I guess it does accurately describe what we’re doing. Making a date to play. And play we have. At our house, at The Hen House, in friends gardens, in parks. There hasn’t been a week this summer when we’ve not had various people over or been out visiting.

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Our friends Lou and Leia visited from Texas.
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Spending time with Autumn in her garden
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We had the NCT girls over several times. Rudy & Sammy thoroughly enjoyed the teepee
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First go on a trampoline in Matthew’s garden
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Having dinner with the bestie
Some days were busier than others. But if it doesn't go in the diary it doesn't happen!
Some days were busier than others. But if it doesn’t go in the diary it doesn’t happen!

Holiday

This year we took Oscar on his first holiday to Moonfleet Manor. I’ve written about it at length here, but suffice to say it was a super experience. Either side of the break we had something of a staycation, which involved trips to the park and ice cream at Dylans.

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Perfect evening in Weymouth
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The boy had chocolate, I had Raspberry Ripple.

New friends

This summer we made various new friends. Katy (aka@ModernMummy) and her girls, as well as another Katie and her son Charlie. But, this summer we have also made some tiny weeny new friends. So many of our friends have been pregnant/had babies this summer I’ve been to three baby showers and had loads of tiny baby cuddles. This summer we’ve welcomed Mollie, Lawrie, Georgia, Ella and Esmee to our world.

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Mollie & Me
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Baby Georgia
Handsome baby Laurie
Handsome baby Lawrie

 

Phew what a busy time! And yet when I was asked, I couldn’t say what we’d done! I guess it just goes so fast, it all blurs into one. It’s made me realise just how fast time can pass. As I’ve said before, Oscar starts preschool in January. It’s only four months away. And if it goes as fast as the summer, well we’ll be there in a blink of an eye. We don’t really have any plans for this ‘term’. I’d like Oscar to have as much fun with me as possible, playing with cars, or crafts or whatever he fancies and always focussing on language development (he starts a Chatterbox course at the local Sure Start centre at the end of September especially for this purpose). But sometimes I’m sure the days will pass in a blur of cheerios and Thomas the Tank Engine. I hope to have days out and I hope to see him play with his friends. Then there’s Christmas and all the potential for fun that comes with that (yup I already have a Christmas Pintrest board going).

But really, I’ll just be happy if he’s happy.

Grubby, but happy
Grubby, but happy

 

Filed Under: Children, Family Tagged With: Baby, childhood, children, Development, Family, friends, holiday, Holidays, mummy, Play, stay at home, summer, Toddler, Vacation

Toddler on holiday at Moonfleet Manor

19/08/2014 by MrsSavageAngel Leave a Comment

I’m sorry for the radio silence over the past week. When we decided to go away for a couple of days, I chose to take a weeks holiday from everything, including blogging and Slimming World. I have to admit I missed writing terribly. The whole time I was away, I was making mental notes on how to describe our trip. I’ll write more about how I found the break from Slimming World on Friday (after I’ve weighed in eeek!), but for now I want to tell you about our trip to Moonfleet Manor.

You may remember, a few weeks ago, I talked about holidays and more specifically holidaying with my toddler. If you missed that one you can read it here. Anywho the crux of the post was that we decided to take a leap of faith and try out a very different holiday for us. One that we hoped to speak to all our needs.

Which is how we found ourselves zooming down the A3, towards Weymouth, last Tuesday morning.

We had chosen (on recommendation of a friend) to try out one of the chain of Luxury Family Hotels. They have eight properties dotted around England, all of which look like grown up country hotels, but which place equal importance on the needs of all their guests, whatever their age. We chose to go to Moonfleet Manor in Weymouth partly because of personal recommendation (thank you again Michelle) and partly because it was no more than 2.5 hours away. We often travel to see family in Devon, which at 4.5/5 hours really is pushing the boy’s (and our) limits of how long he can stay in the car, so 2 hours sounded just right. As it turn out the journey there and back passed without incident and we timed our departure to mean he slept for most of the way for both trips. Bonus!

We arrived before check in, but were made to feel welcome straight away, being shown into the garden and supplied with lunch. And this set the tone for the rest of the stay. The staff couldn’t be more helpful and no request was too much. When we realised we’d left Oscar’s bottles at home for night time milk, we tentatively asked reception if they had any we could borrow. They did and bought him a bottle of warmed milk, up to our room, within minutes. Had we remembered his bottles (and marked them with his name) they would have also taken them away to be cleaned and (if we still needed them to be) sterilised.

Our room was a double, described as a “compact room, with a double bed and room for one cot/single bed”. We were pleasantly surprised with the amount of space this ‘compact’ room came with. We requested a proper wooden cot for Oscar (yup we still have the bars up at home) yet there was plenty of room for all of us. The room was well equipped, with a bath (important if your bedtime routine includes one as Oscar’s does), a TV & DVD player (again great if TV is part of your bedtime routine – we planned to use our iPhones, but the Wi-Fi signal was patchy. I would definitely take DVDs of any faves if we were to visit again) and the most amazing view from the balcony. Which was another little detail we loved. The balcony was a beautiful, and solid, five foot high twisted willow barrier. It meant we could happily leave the patio doors open with no worries of him falling/climbing/flashing the neighbours. Perfect.

Super view from the super safe balcony
Super view from the super safe balcony

The attention to detail continued in the dining room. All the tables were generously spaced apart, with highchairs provided. As soon as we sat down for high tea (Oscar usually eats at 5 so we stuck to this while away, although we could have chosen to eat later at 6) a bowl of carrots, cucumber, pita and humous were bought out to stave off any hunger grumps until dinner arrived. The children’s menu had something for every taste (from baby purees to Naan bread pizzas) and age (with toddler and older child size portions). The boy is a big fan of carbonara, so we thought we’d give the mac’n’cheese a whirl, to much success. We chose to take our own bag of toys and colouring books to every meal time, but we really needn’t have bothered as the dining room had their own supply.

First Mac'n'Cheese
First Mac’n’Cheese

Food for the grown ups was just as well thought out. The menu changed one starter and two main courses every night, meaning you always had the choice of something different. The first night I tried Salt Cod and went completely off plan the second night with delicious Pork Belly. The dining room in the evening was a very different place to the day time, with candles on every table and no young children, largely thanks to the baby listening service available in every room. We (read I) was a little anxious at leaving Oscar the first night. Would he settle? We kept his routine as much the same as possible then put him in the cot. I read him a story, explained I’d just be downstairs and left him, to minimal grumping. I must admit I did jump up like a meerkat every time the receptionist walked through the lounge for the first hour (and actually went to check in with her before we went into dinner. She showed me the bank of phones all plugged into the baby listening service, not one of them making a noise!) but I needn’t have worried. He settled brilliantly and although I did see reception come find a couple once during the evening it wasn’t us!

Time for ourselves was one of the most attractive features of Moonfleet, as not only do they have a baby listening service, they also have a creche, which we booked him into (for two hours a day) when made our reservation. I was so excited to drop Oscar off on the Tuesday afternoon and he ran in without a second glance back. However, I know my son and to be honest should have known that leaving him with strangers for the first time ever, on the day we bought him to a place he’d never been was a BIG ask. He managed an hour before having a complete spontaneous melt down. The staff realised this wasn’t a momentary outburst and, quite rightly, rang reception who came and found us in the lounge. Retrospectively I am really proud he managed that hour at all, but at the time I was convinced that the creche would no longer be an option for us. But we followed his lead and took him again on the Wednesday. We planned to only leave him for an hour, but when Ben went to pick him up, he was so busy having a whale of a time we left him for the full two hours.

I’m so glad we didn’t give up on the creche as it gave us the time to do things just for us. Things like read, sit quietly and avail ourselves of the spa facilities. The spa staff were just as friendly as everyone else ( I spent a very pleasant hour chatting to the lovely Chloe while she did a super French pedicure on me). One of my favourite memories was Wednesday afternoon. Oscar was in the creche, Ben was in the Spa and I was alone. I found a comfy armchair, ordered a cheeky glass of Prosecco and read a paper. It just felt so decadent.

Decadence
Decadence

What else can I say? I could go on for days. I could talk about the indoor playroom, as big as a barn full to the brim with fun. I could mention the swimming pools or the cinema room or Snoopy the hotel dog, but you can read all about those on the website. For me the thing the trip gave us was time. Together and apart. Oscar is by nature a curious chap. He needs to know exactly where he is and what’s going on to feel comfortable. He’s also a runner and constantly tries my blood pressure by running away from me. I knew taking him away could potentially be very stressful. And the first day had it’s moments. But, I don’t know, after his nap on the second day he seemed to wake up with a new attitude. One of ‘OK I’m here and I like it’. He stopped running off, he lead the way to the garden or to our room and held my hand if we needed to walk across the car park. Seriously, it was like watching him grow up before my eyes. He was so much more relaxed. And you and I know that happy bambinos mean happy parents.

Time well spent
Time well spent

Would we go back? Definitely. For longer and out of season. Two nights was great, but we were just getting settled and then had to leave. More nights would also give Oscar the time he needs to adjust. Going out of the school holidays (while we can) would not only make it a cheaper proposition, but would also change the age of the younger guests. More babies and toddlers and less tweens. Not that the age seemed to bother Oscar – he adored the ‘big boys’ and followed them round the garden copying their antics!

Would we try another Luxury Family Hotel? In a heartbeat.

A relaxed, happy heartbeat.

IMG_4958

 

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Filed Under: Children, Family, Review Tagged With: Baby, childhood, children, creche, Dorset, Family, food, happy, holiday, Holidays, Hotel, Luxury Family Hotels, moonfleet manor, mummy, Play, Toddler, Vacation, Weymouth

Slimming World Update – Week 55

08/08/2014 by MrsSavageAngel Leave a Comment

Hey.

Hows your week been? Mine’s been fab. Busy in the best kind of way, seeing some wonderful friends and getting loads done. My favourite kind of week. I went out on Saturday with my buddy Jo and without Oscar. It was so nice to just talk, without having to have one eye elsewhere in the room and to finish a sentence in the first attempt! We went to the Thai Terrace in Guildford. The weather wasn’t super sunny, but it was warm so we sat outside. The view was lovely. Having not been out for Thai in so long, I got a bit baffled by the menu and just went with whatever Jo had, meaning I got a delicious Pad Thai with Prawns and a four piece starter of things on sticks. Had I had my wits about me I know there were better things I could have chosen, but I decided it I’d just enjoy it and reduce my syns for the rest of the week. Which is what I did. I was straight back on plan after that meal, eating less than 15 syns every day. It was fine.

View from The Thai Terrace in Guildford

Which I why I was astounded and completely baffled (seriously I can’t explain how baffled I was and to some extent still am) when I got on the scales last night and saw I had gained 3.5lb!!

I wont lie to you, I had a bit of a cry on the way home. You can be as circumspect and objective as you like in group, but I felt so, well, cheated is probably the best way to describe it. I hand on heart did nothing different last week (bar one meal) than I did the week before (when I lost 6.5lb!). I know it averages a loss of 3lb over two weeks, but that wasn’t much comfort last night when I so desperately wanted to get my next award. Ah well. So now I have lost 6 Stone 1lb (89lb).

Normally I’d just say, OK on wards and downwards 😉 , but this coming week is a bit different. We’re going on our first holiday in three years on Tuesday. It’s only a mini break (I wrote about it here if you’re interested), but it is totally catered. I can go with a sensible head on, but I know I am not going to be able to stay completely on plan. I could stress about this, but do you know what? I’ve worked bloody hard for the last three years, both carrying and looking after my son full time. I deserve a couple of days relaxation. I’m not going to go mad (my tastes have changed too much to that to be honest) but I’m not going to let my time be ruined by feeling anxious about what I eat. I will however be straight back to it when I return though, that I can promise.

I’m have also decided to take my first ever Slimming World holiday since I started, meaning I shan’t be weighing in this coming week. It feels a bit weird actually. I’ve not missed a single weigh in since I started over a year ago. We’ll see how it goes.

So as I am going on holiday, and due to the lack of weigh in, there will be no update next week. In fact I plan to take a complete break from blogging next week. Again that’s something I’ve not done in over a year. I do hope you understand. Although I say I’m not going to blog, I may not be able to help myself 😉 Lets see how it goes eh?!

Ending on a positive note I just wanted to tell you about my latest purchase. I have been in that Joules again! tut tut Lisa! But seriously this was the only top I found all day that just looked and felt right, what can I say? Pssst (she whispers) Oh yeah and it’s a size 16 and I bloody adore it hehehe.

'Rose' Top Joules Size 16
‘Rose’ Top Joules Size 16

8924126183454

Have an awesome couple of weeks guys.

See you soon!

 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 

Filed Under: Slimming World, Weight Loss Tagged With: Family, health, holiday, Holidays, Joules, Losing weight, Motherhood, Personal, Shopping, Slimming World, Vacation, Weight, weight gain, Weight Loss

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It’s that time of year again when I lay all his It’s that time of year again when I lay all his presents out and say I’m ready for him to be another year older and then quip that I am NEVER ready for him to be another year older. But 10 man? I don’t know, it feels so… significant. Double digits, a decade, it somehow feels different from all the other birthdays. I can’t quite believe it tbh. Anyway as he’s having his birthday here (tomorrow) but his party in Plymouth next Saturday it has been decreed it’s his birthday all week. And what with the grand age he’s turning, I think that sounds perfectly appropriate.
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