Holmbush Farm World - review

You know, it's funny the sort of things you start to really look forward to having assumed the role of parent (that otherwise would have ranked somewhere around "*shrug* - if you like" in personal interest stakes)...so I actually fell out of bed (treading, painfully, on a plug) quite eagerly when Thomas started calling for me at 7am on Sunday morning...then hobbling downstairs to make breakfast and packed lunch whispering to Thomas about all the animals we were going to see (his excited response being to repeatedly slap me on the cheek and ear with his free arm saying "T", "T", "T")...

When we got there (about twenty minutes after opening), alarm bells *should* have sounded at the sight of a *completely* empty car park (most of these other sort of attractions usually sporting some sort of queue) -

- but put it down to the bad weather forecast and glancing up at the merciless sun (grimly pulling on his balaclava and picking up his Kalashnikov) smeared Thomas with factor 50 (which he didn't seem to mind too much) and swore quietly during my fruitless search in the back of the car for a hat...

Anyway, when Flyingpops' friend Susan arrived (our companion for the day), we headed off over to the "Farm World" entrance -

- where we coughed up £6.50 each (for the adults), Thomas was free (being arguably "too young to really appreciate it" - although his smiles and pointing, of course, reveal quite the contrary to be the case in actuality)...slightly older kids would have cost £5.75, or it's £23 for a family ticket, so not "Chessington" expensive, but certainly not a cheap day out...

Anyway, a tour - Right inside the entrance is the cafe/gift shop -


- which were merely functional, a fairly good soft play area -

- not a patch on Donyngs though, and then it's out to a little courtyard where the "Hay Maze" is -

- which actually is just a pile of hay bales and some interestingly shaped logs -

- across the way from which is the entrance to the barn, where there are a number of bored or sleeping animals (but you can get extremely close) -




- a number of mini tractors -

- a timed (11.00am sharp) cow milking demonstration, but there was no explanation, nor anywhere to comfortably sit or stand to watch...


Outside in the field, there is probably the best attraction in the place, two *huge* inflatable pillows -


- which Thomas wasn't so sure about (but I can see how much he will enjoy them once he's walking/jumping properly) and a very exciting adventure playground with a wild west theme -

- you can see it in the background on that shot if you zoom in, I didn't seem to get a shot of it for some reason, and a timed (11.30am sharp) tractor ride -

- which *very* cheekily was an extra 80p each -


- and drove us past a wholesale fencing retailer and some sheep -

- and that was it...the entire place had been *completely* exhausted in just over one hour...! Quite who decided that the name "Farm World" was appropriate I'm not sure, but obviously their world is rather small and has fairly little in it to entertain them...

So, my advice would be - go to a different farm (there are loads around here with much more to see and do) unless your kids are very happy doing imaginative play (on their own) for hours in a large adventure playground while you look on...as they certainly won't be learning very much about farming or livestock...

Anyway, more pictures here, if you like this sort of thing... ;)

Donyngs Redhill Soft Play

Just realised I forgot to post about this...last Saturday, no, not the one just gone, the one before that, in a welcome break from Saturday Morning Baby Swimming, Flyingpops and I took Thomas to Donyngs sports centre in Redhill for "soft" play (as opposed to what, I'm not quite sure I want to consider)...admittedly he's not quite old enough to *really* do much of it himself, but (like his mum) he's a great one for people-watching and spends a lot of the time ignoring the fact that you've put him on a slide and just stares with fascination at the toddler 20 yards away crashing a scoot along car into one of their friends shins...

Oddly Thomas actually gets in free, even though the entire experience is sort of angled for his benefit, it's Mummy and Daddy who need to pay entrance (although it's only a couple of quid, so I shouldn't moan)...

Anyway, he had a go on everything, after some initial reservations -

- he got into the spirit of the "Ball pool" -

- had a little go in one of the (many) little cars -

- did some mountaineering -

- had a sit on the "no adults" (boo!) bouncy castle -

- and did some exploring (quite happy to wander off from us by about ten meters before realising how far away he had got and crawling quickly back chattering loudly)-

- and then we stopped for a drink and a snackie (we all needed some cold water as it's incredibly hot in there), even though it was raining, the doors were wide open and four *huge* fans were blowing...

...I can see this becoming a regular thing, especially as Thomas gets steadier on his little feet... ;)

Just packing...

Thomas playing
Originally uploaded by finkangel.

...ready for our day out at the farm! ;)

Window Cleaners stuck in Canary Wharf

So this is what greeted me at the end of my lunchtime walk back to the office...a quick check with all the interested bystanders revealed that it wasn't a terrorist attack (or anything like that), this is the response that is merited in Canary Wharf when some window cleaners get stuck...

...up in the office a similar scene...so I took a few pictures of the (ongoing) rescue attempt-

- the (many) firemen sitting around and smoking on the roof opposite-

- and the appliance they have managed to get into the cofferdam dewatering hole (building crossrail) which couldn't *quite* reach them (zoom in on the picture and you can pick them out with the white helmets)...

Hope it all turns out okay!

Update - both guys now safely on terra firma...

Finks Links #98

Friday! Oooo...so close to #100 now I can almost taste it! ;) Not that it means anything special of course, apart from "reaching 100", but that does sort of feel good (in a bloop-bloop "Achievement Unlocked" sort of way)... ;)

Lost as a 1987 PC game...

Now (thanks to Sony) Cats can tweet...no...seriously...

For Heavens sake, stop it...

...(following the theme) a personal letter from Steve Martin...

...and now I feel old...The Goonies is 25 years old... :S

So my friend's four year old likes to pretend he's Batman...

...and finally a rather unfortunate ad placement fail and a very miserable actual size fail...

Enjoy the weekend...! I'm planning at least six BBQs! ;)

Thomas' new Den...

Came home on Friday to find a new addition to the living room - Thomas' new "Den" - it's basically a large self-erecting tent in the shape of a big red car which Flyingpops insists looks "a bit like a Beetle"...while the Jury is still out deliberating that one, one thing is for certain...


...Thomas *loves* it...Flyingpops installed all of his toys and books around the edges and Thomas now spends hours concentrating extremely hard at pulling all the careful piles of things into a jumble, effectively burying himself in heaps of teddy bears and flashing, muffled-talking electronica...in fact, he liked it so much that Flyingpops bought two more in Tesco on Monday and a little crawling tube to link them all up, so now we don't so much have a baby, as a little hamster, rustling quietly inside his little vivarium, only the odd crash of plastic blocks or garbled chip-music nursery rhyme to tell us where he has got to... ;)

Laughton Cuckoo Spring Fayre 2010

Well we certainly picked the right day to visit Laughton this year, other than Saturday all it seems to have done is blow a gale and rain pretty much continously (in the way of Bank Holiday weekends, although the weather does seem a bit better today - as I sit here in the office grinding my teeth)...as it was I ended up getting quite nasty sunburn on my neck (so sort of lose/lose in a way)...

Anyway, we had a lovely time, seems (and actually is) like years since we last enjoyed staying and exhibiting at Laughton (but we have a fairly good excuse in the way of baby Thomas)...who, as you can see, had a lovely time -

- (don't call child protection, that was done to him by his naughty Grandpops, I rescued him immediately to pose for a photograph - and you can see how impressed he was with his treatment)... ;)

Anyway, just a few of the sights -

- the new barn is finished now, and very nice it looks too -


- we sat and watched a certain Scammell do it's tour of the arena (Thomas was very impressed with the commercial vehicles) -

- poked around the stalls, the usual sort of interesting stuff -









- even a(n incredibly popular) mobile hairdressers this year (of all things!) -

- and a very busy ice cream person...

We had a little walk around the fun fair -





- (didn't go on anything though) and then just enjoyed the sights and sounds and smells of the rest of the show -






- a very enjoyable day...and I'm sure we'll be back camping next year (rain or no rain)... ;)

Loads more pictures over here, if you like this sort of thing...

Thomas playing Xbox 360

Well that didn't take long...walk into the kitchen to check if his breakfast had cooled down to a baby-friendly temperature, hear his cute little squeal of delight and enthusiastic shuffling noise as he crawls towards (unseen by me) target at warp factor 9 - the next thing I hear, which spooks me considerably, is the series of booms and crashes that signifies the Xbox 360 is booting up, flexing it's muscles through the surround sound system...

Thomas has found my wireless controller, and then managed to hold the centre power button for long enough to start up my games console...clever boy... ;)

Don't think Daddy will be leaving that laying around again...