Our Favourite Toys from Chad Valley plus Giveaway

We have had an awesome time as part of the Chad Valley Play Panel and have been given the opportunity to review some great toys.

Here are a few of those we didn't review on the blog as well as our Top 5 of their current spring selection.


First up they sent us this amazing 6 in 1 Multi Games Table,  the kids have loved playing with it and to be fair the adults have enjoyed a few games of pool too.

With darts, a bean bag toss game, push hockey, football and a target game this for me will be the perfect summer toy, we can easily take it outside and play with it well into the evening.

We were sent a rather wonderful Designabear Bunny who comes with clothes you can dress them up in, my daughter loves it and it is super soft and cuddly.

On to our Top 5 from their new 2018 ranges though....

1. My children absolutely love playing out in our garden, my daughter especially loves making potions and mud pies so this Mud Pie Kitchen would be perfect for her. I have seen people make these kinds of things but if you are a bit inept with a hammer and nails like me then this may be for you. - £99.99

2. And for summer picnics and a place to hide and play with toys how about this fab Wigwam Playhouse, at well over a meter and a half tall it is the perfect size for little and not so little children. - £29.99

3. My children are maybe a bit old for this now but I know once upon a time they'd of spent hours playing with little farm animals, building a farm and making all of the animal noises.  A set of 50 pieces means you have everything you need to create your own farm scene. - £11.99

4. Should we get some sunshine this year (crosses fingers, toes and everything possible) then this fabulous water sprayer will come in handy, the kids love being sprayed with the hose pipe but I must admit it gets a little tedious after a while holding it. This is great to get them jumping about whilst spraying them too.

5.  And finally we love this table top football table, great fun for all the family in all weathers. Not only is this the perfect rainy day activity but it also would make a great party game too.

And finally, you can win £75 to spend on making your own spring fun by entering the competition below. T&Cs apply

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Wonderful Wellies from Term Footwear - Review

Since we can often be found out and about in the countryside exploring, nothing is more important than good footwear.

As the saying goes there is no such thing as bad weather only bad clothing, so when we were offered some wellies to review from Term Footwear I knew they would come in handy.

Term' school shoes and outdoors is a British brand from a husband and wife team, who have been importing and selling a variety of children's footwear brands in the UK.  They started their business 6 years ago, to supply school shoes to the UK market and have learned much about the types of shoes British children need.  Term was born out of the desire to make a great shoes and boots that children want to wear. 

Term Footwear launched their brand with their own design of wellington boots, perfect for the winter weather!  The wellies are manufactured in the EU from high quality materials and conform to EU standards.  They are flexible and lightweight with an added advantage of a removable roll top sock.  The sock provides great warmth  and comfort (as wellies can be very cold in the winter) and when the spring arrives you can simply remove the sock and the boot will be one EU size larger, so they will last the child for the spring/summer too. 

The wellies come in several bright and funky colours and patterns, something to suit all tastes and with the inclusion of welly socks they are perfect for some winter outdoor fun. They also come with a handy reflective badge at the back, perfect if we are out walking in the evening

I would never normally buy footwear online, however the Term website comes with a measuring print out sheet, so you can be sure to get a good fit. The wellies cost £21.99 which are more expensive than your usual supermarket ones. However these are a sturdy welly and with the addition of the welly socks they will last a few seasons too, I love the super thick soles with contrasting colours and overall am pleased with them, as are the kids.


We were sent these wellies to form this review, all words and opinions are my own.

Winter Time Fun at Newstead Abbey

Happy New Year everyone. I know, I know, we are already near the end of January, but these past few weeks I have been working hard and looking after my two children, so me and my laptop have been having a break.

We are back now though with some pictures from our winter visit to Newstead Abbey. We love exploring the old gardens of this wonderful estate and with many different plants and corners to visit it is always a great adventure.

If you are visiting Nottinghamshire, then this beautiful estate once home to Lord Byron is the perfect place to relax and explore.

Whether you are here in the summer, winter, autumn or spring there is always something to see and do, wrap up warm with a hot chocolate or relax with a picnic on the lawns.

Just up the road from us it is somewhere we visit a lot, with so much to explore it never gets boring.

Whilst we were there we did a little photo shoot for Trespass, my son took some really lovely photos and is becoming quite the little photographer.

We managed to get  nice photo of the three of us, our new and adapted little family of three.

What have you been up to so far this year? I certainly wish all of my readers a wonderful 2017.

Autumn Leaves at Rufford Abbey

Nature and Autumn always seem to work together to create the most beautiful colours, for the last few years we have headed out into the woods to play amongst the leaves and this year was no different.

We headed up to Rufford Abbey, a usual haunt for some autumn leaf action. It started off as a sunny autumn day but no sooner had we got our wellies on it started to cloud over. But for us it didn’t matter, we all had our waterproof coats and wellies on, wrapped up so we were snug and warm.

We played in the woods, throwing leaves, running and jumping over logs, then we looked for mushrooms and acorns and talked about the seasons.

The children climbed the trees and even rode them like horses and the ever changing season never failed to give us something to look at and play with.

As we walked through the woods we saw a log pile, so all of us broke into the Gruffalo story, it is a great way to spend a lazy Sunday morning, reciting one of our most favourite stories.

As we got towards the ford it started to rain, so we watched a few cars splash through the water and then headed into the café for a warming sausage roll and hot chocolate, a standard for us on our winter visits.

It carried on raining so we headed back around the river, covered by the dwindling canopy of the trees, the little miss still munching away on her sausage roll and me holding on to the last bits of warmth from my hot chocolate. We came to some rather sodden and hungry ducks who were eager to eat any crumbs that dropped off my daughter’s sausage roll, we befriended a duck who followed us like a little puppy.

As we came out of the woods the rain had stopped but the wind whipped round our ears and so the children decided they wanted to go home and snuggle on the sofa, but not before they pretended to be birds flying with the giant leaves they had found.

I love Rufford Abbey and the fun we have there, it is a place we visit all the time and we still manage to find something new to explore or see. The ever changing seasons offer up new colours, fauna and wildlife and that's why we love it.

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An Evening Stroll

We had to move out of our house for a few days this week whilst the builders relaid our downstairs floor. So, in search of some peace and quiet, we headed to a little Airbnb property in Fiskerton, just outside of Southwell.

I love this area of Nottinghamshire, Southwell itself is a wonderful town with plenty of cafes, shops, the minster and of course the Bramley apple, with a fabulous heritage walk that takes you close to the original Bramley tree.

Our little home for the week was in a small village, with a great little pub and plenty of walks close by. We headed out after dinner in search of the last few rays of the sunshine which had proved so illusive all day.

Marching down the lane, the children headed towards the fields, over the fields and across the train tracks, we later got talking to the signal box operator and he told us this one will be closing in October, which is rather sad.

Through the long grass we headed, picking up some dandelion clocks on the way, a favourite pastime of the children and it never gets old. As the children and their Daddy ran through the grass it made me think about how much we need to get outside more, especially since we'd spent last weekend packing up the house ready for the builders.

With the sun shining down on us, walking down country lanes past white painted houses, it felt a bit like we were in France. We'd taken some bubbles, so we stopped in the lane and blew them, the children chasing them all too excitedly as they floated down the road.

Do you like to go out for an evening stroll? With summer on the way it will certainly make it easier.

Barbie Bubble-tastic Mermaid Review

Summer is the perfect time for some bubble fun, young or old, bubbles are most entertaining. 

Nothing keeps a child mesmerised more than colourful rainbow bubbles bouncing along on a summer breeze. So, mixing two classics, like bubble mixture and Barbie gives you a winning combination.

The Barbie Bubble-tastic  Mermaid is an easy to use and fun bubble making Barbie doll, great for the outdoors and the bath.

It comes with everything you need to get started including some bubble mixture, I think it could do with a bit more bubble mixture in the pack, as it doesn’t go that far but we always have loads from party bags lying round the house so it’s not a major problem.

The doll itself has a pull string at the back which makes the tail spin around with the bubble mixture on it, making bubbles as you go.

My daughter found this relative easy to master although did struggle a little at first, my only gripe is that a lot of the bubble mixture gets splatted about rather than creating bubbles, meaning you get covered in the stuff. Getting messy is completely me being an adult though, my daughter couldn't care less.  

My daughter was instantly in awe of the Barbie Bubble-tastic Mermaid and has been playing with her, both outside and in the bath, in my opinion the perfect places for her as it can be as messy as you like.

With the sun shining now, it is the perfect time to get out and fly with Barbie and the bubbles. The RRP for the doll is £20.99, with other Barbie dolls costing anywhere between £10-£25 I think this is about the right price. To bring hours of fun and to make bath time exciting this would be a great gift for any Barbie loving child.

NB: We were sent the doll for the purpose of this review, all words, opinions and pictures are my own.

Painting with Water

My daughter wanted to do some painting the other week but it was late and I didn't fancy getting all the paint and brushes out so instead I offered the chance to paint with water.

She had a little think but liked the sound of it so I got her a pot of water and some paint brushes and outside we went.

I showed her what to do and within a few seconds she'd understood what I was going on about and was painting on the wall outside.

The perfect mess free outdoor activity and great for summer.

Linking up to Magic Moments on The Olivers Madhouse

A Walk Around Local History

Not far from us is a country park which is home to one of the many great british landmarks, an old pit and the winding engine house that stood above it.

As you drive along the road to Bestwood Country Park you see the beautiful houses that would have once been home to miners for Bestwood Pit, beautiful little terraces with ornate friezes.

The park itself is over 690 acres so there is a lot to explore, today though we climbed the hill to find the adventure playground.

Walking up to see the winding house

You can just about see the hole but about 10 foot in it is filled in.

I adore the building, such an ornate and beautiful building for something that was such a messy job, guess that's how it was all those years ago.

Someone had carved a snake out of this tree, we seem to see so many tree carvings at the minute.

Finally after a steep hill climb, we get to the adventure playground, well worth the walk though.
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Not sure who was having more fun? Father or Son?

Finding little hedgehogs again (sweet chestnuts)

Attempting a game of noughts and crosses

Looking at the moss on a tree trunk

We found this old rotting tree, lots of bugs and creatures in it...

Including this wasp, guessing it was a queen having a snooze, hope we didn't disturb her too much!

You can just see the yellow in the middle of the bark.

Hiding under this lovely big tree, discussing it's den making qualities of course

Accessing the way out

Walking back home to find some puddles to have a last minute splash in

Puddles found and also a hole in my sons wellies, time to find some new ones me thinks.

Lots of squelchy mud

Pretty gorse flower, if you haven't smelt these before they smell of coconut.

Bestwood Country Park is a lovely green place not far from the city and a lovely piece of history of something that was so important many years ago.

Linking up to Country Kids with Coombe Mill