Where to Take the Kids - Great Family Fun!

Hainault Forest Country Park is the perfect place to take the kids when the weather is fine! There's a little farm where they can see the animals, there are goats, donkeys, pigs, cows, rabbits, ferrets - to name but a few. My 2 year old daughter especially loved the goats, you're not allowed to feed the animals but she pulled up some grass and followed one particular goat along the fence saying "here you go, dinner". The goat in question eventually took pity on her and ate her frugal offering!

Once you've visited the farm, you then have loads and loads of space in which to have family fun - although if you're planning on a game of football, it's best not to do so too near the lake! My 4 year old boy was distraught when his Thomas The Tank Engine ball ended up in the middle of it. I did ask a passing swan to head it back, but it stuck it's beak up in the air and blatantly ignored me!

It's also the perfect place to fly a kite! What memories it bought back, running down the hill trying to get the kite airborne! I think I had more fun than the kids - in fact my eldest looked at me a bit like that kid does on that advert - you know the one, where the mum's been on the yoghurt drink and rollerskates up to the school! If you don't have a kite, I bought a great stunt one online, I'll add a picture below so you can see - come to that I'll add a link to where I got it from in case you want to relive your childhood too!

Before we went, I made a visit to Toys'R'Us and found a terrific "Mega Games Backpack" - it was even on special offer at £9.99. This was great value for money, it was packed with great stuff for us all to play with, including the one shown in the picture below which I hadn't seen since I was a kid myself - needless to say I think I had more fun than the kids with this one too...

All in all we had a great time - it didn't cost anything to get into either the park or the farm, we took a picnic with us and there was a kiosk there, which conveniently opened at lunchtime and where we could buy tea/coffee and ice lollies - who could ask for more!

For more details about the park, please visit their website directly at:
http://www.hainaultforest.co.uk

Take the kids to London's Transport Museum in Covent Garden and see their fantastic displays of buses, trains, trams and trolleybuses. I took my 4 year old and 2 year old - it must be said without much expectation of them behaving themselves - and was totally amazed when they behaved like perfect little angels all day and absolutely loved the place! My 4 year old especially liked a segment of hopper bus which protrudes from the wall upstairs, as he could sit in the driver's seat and pretend he was actually driving it! I must say that I'm glad he doesn't drive the buses around here though - he wanted to charge me £10 for a ticket!!! Both kids also loved the black taxi cab where they could sit in the back, buckle up and pretend they were going on an adventure on their own. We also sat in the carriage of an old-fashioned train while I explained to them that it was probably very similar to the Hogwarts Express that Harry Potter travels on - as the world's biggest Harry fan, this impressed my 4 year old no end!!

As a mother myself, I know how expensive it can be to take kids out anywhere. London's Transport Museum offers terrific value for money. The admission charge is £5.95 for an adult (£4.50 for an OAP or student) and children under the age of 16 are FREE (as long as they are accompanied by an adult). All you need to do is take a packed lunch - they even have an area with tables and chairs where you can eat your sarnies comfortably!

All that's left to say is that I thoroughly recommend everyone visits themselves to see what I am ranting eloquent about. I really believe it's a great place to go - and no, I'm not on commission! The details are as follows:

Web:
http://www.ltmuseum.co.uk

Address:
London's Transport Museum
Covent Garden Piazza
London
WC2E 7BB

Telephone:
+44 (0)20 7565 7299 [24-hour recorded information]
+44 (0)20 7379 6344 [main information]

Opening times:
Daily 10.00-18.00 [Fridays 11.00-18.00]
Last admission 17.15
Doors close at 6pm on 4 September 2005.
For events and activities after this date see Talks and Events http://www.ltmuseum.co.uk/learning/talk_events.html

Transport:
Tube: Covent Garden, Leicester Square, Holborn, Charing Cross
Bus: The Strand, Aldwych
Rail: Charing Cross, Waterloo