The Ice cream farm - Mama bear's review

Review time – The Ice cream farm.  -  The Ice Cream Farm website

So I had heard nothing about this place and yet everyone I have mentioned it too has known about it and wanted to go for ages. I must walk around with my eyes closed. Hubby me and the kids set off excited and ready for fun, but mainly ready for the aforementioned ice cream.

Arrival –

We got there about an hour after opening time and they were already filling the overflow car park. There was a lot of spaces between the car parks but I’d arrive early to avoid disappointment. I think I was more excited than the boys, it was so colourful and inviting.

When you arrive you just wander straight in as entrance is free, that is unless you want to pay upfront for several play activities. They have an option which will reduce the individual cost of activities by paying for a bundle in one go, and you don’t have to use them all in one visit, you can bring them back next time. But otherwise great as no queuing to get in. There is loads of sign posts around the place so really easy to find your way around, even for a dunce like me.

Activities –

The park as soon as you walk in is AMAZING. Suitable for all ages, in fact it took everything in me not to run at it myself. There is ice cream and bright colours everywhere, I literally felt like I had won the golden ticket and was walking into Willy Wonka’s factory, especially with all the umpa lumpas running round, (actually I think they were just children but imagination never hurt anyone). Only thing to think about is if you go on a sunny day, there is very little shade so ensure hats and plenty of sun cream.

The ice cream tree in the middle has a countdown and when it reaches zero you hear magical music and bubbles and foam blow out of the top. Every kid in the park loved it and joined in with 10 second countdown, hands in the air and smiles on faces.

Fudge farm is quite basic; however, it is free so what do you expect. There are pigs, chickens, rabbits and a few donkeys. More than enough to amuse younger children. Just again no shade so watch out on the 10-12 sunny days we get in the UK each year. On a side note the farm has great hand washing facilities which is nice to see. 

Honeycomb canon is a wonderful idea and was a nice break from the sun, (or rain if you go on a normal British day). It is a huge indoor water and sand play area. Both of my 2 under 2 loved it and every child in there was running around and enjoying themselves. I even saw some adults joining in and having water fights. It was very reasonably priced, Mr B who is 8 months was free and Mr S who is 21 months was only £3.00. You were allocated an hours play time to prevent congestion, which was more than enough time. It was full of taps, pumps, twisters and sandpits. It really was a child’s dream and a fantastic sensory experience with both wet and dry. I would travel back again if only for this. You do need to bring a spare outfit and towel for the kids or they are going to be wet all day.

There were several other activities which unfortunately my two were a bit young to enjoy. I will be taking my 8-year-old stepson next time and he will defiantly be taking part in the other things. There was Strawberry falls mini golf, complete with a strawberry waterfall, Mini quad bikes, JCB diggers to make giant ice cream scoops, indoor soft play and a loft which I believe was like a mini arcade.

Food –

 I read online before we arrived at The Ice Cream Farm that they did not allow picnics. It explained that due to entrance being free and the extra activities being so reasonable priced, food was their main source of revenue. As soon as I read this I panicked. There was no menu online so I presumed it would be stupidly priced and I would need to sell a kidney on the way out to feed the family. I was very pleasantly surprised. Everything on The Pantry menu was reasonably priced, I’d even go as far as to say cheap. I ordered 2 toasties, chips and a meal for my son and it came in at just over £10. Winner. At that price I wouldn’t bother bringing a picnic even if I could. There were other food outlets which seemed to be just as fairly priced. On my next visit I will defiantly be visiting the pie stand.

Dessert – 

 Well the clue is in the title. There was sooooo many flavours that I will have to go back just to try the others. Between the four of us we were swopping and scooping at each other’s so we had a nice variety of flavours, and again paid a fair price. The queue was a little long, but I expected this as it’s part of the novelty to get an ice cream. It moved really quickly as the staff were clearly master scoopers. The lady who served us was really friendly and patient with hubbby when he just couldn’t decide between Ferrero and mint choc chip.

Gift shop –

 Lovely little gift shop on the way out, which had a little pocket money table as well for if your already spent up. I could of spent all day in the little book corner but by this point I had two very tired children so made a swift exit.

Overall a perfect family day out. Reasonably priced entertainment for all ages. Tasty food at a fair price and magnificent ice cream. We spent about 4 hours there and could have spent longer if little legs weren’t getting tired. Thank you The Ice Cream Farm for a great day, I’m sure we will see you again soon.

Mama bears stepcub

When I married my hubby I made vows. Vows where I promised to love him, care for him and stand by him, (even when he is annoying me). In doing that I believe I made these promises to my step son also. Mr J and I have an amazing relationship, which is growing stronger every day. I am not going to lie and say it has always been perfect because at the start it was hard. When you are starting out a new relationship having a mini person constantly reminding you that he has a mummy, who his daddy used to love is hard. It didn’t help that his mummy didn’t particular like me either. There were times when I wondered if I would ever be able to have a bond with this child and it used to truly upset me, because I knew that if I loved hubby I had to love this mini part of him. 

Then I had an interesting thought, I realised that I needed to relax and stop trying to force this step mama/stepson relationship.  I needed to let it grow naturally and it worked. Over time we have created our own perfect relationship where, in Mr J’s words, ‘I’m better than his daddy’. Winner. I’m not a big fan of the whole step mama title, Mr J already has a mama bear and in my opinion the name mama is reserved for her. He is quite happy to call me Blue, a nickname hubby gave me when we were dating that just stuck. Mind you that’s not just a Mr J thing it’s also what most of his family call me as well, to the point that it’s weird if they call me Claire. 

It must be so hard to have two sets of parents. I know we all thought as kids 2 sets of presents, 2 birthday parties, 2 bedrooms and all of that is true., however he also has to contend with 2 sets of rules and 2 sets of siblings. I once got cross at him for swearing in front of Mr s and Mr B, after lots of tears and time on the naughty step Mr J explained that he is allowed to say this word at mummy’s and he didn’t know it was swearing, cue me feeling like the biggest bitch in the world, I had just disciplined a 7-year-old who in his eyes had done no wrong. It is hard to manage especially now I have my own children in the house as well. I don’t want them exposed to certain behaviours, however sometimes they will see them from Mr J, purely because his mummy and step dad have a different way. I can’t expect him to understand this and change the minute he arrives, “right Mr J, put your daddy’s house head on now please”, it just doesn’t work that way.

Mr J is a lovely child and a fantastic big brother with a wonderfully unusual imagination. I walk away from a conversation with him thinking, how do you see the world the way you do without some form of hallucinogenic drug. He literally never stops talking, words fall out faster than his brain can process them, which is probably why he comes out with such peculiar one liners. I wanted to include a list of his best comments so I asked my niece and nephew what funny things he had said lately. Their answer summed it up, “I don’t know, he just always say’s weird things all the time”.

11.       On a recent trip to Dunelm with my sister, Mr J was staring at the display beds, (which as we all know are small as they are not real beds, they are simply to display bedding sets). Mr J went on to shout across the store, “auntie B, why are there so many beds for midgets in here”. I am aware ‘midgets’ is probably highly un pc, but 7 years olds haven’t developed the pc filter yet. 

22.       A few weeks ago Mr J told me that he had told his teacher than gran was very rich. I questioned why he thought this. “well everything in her house is made out of silver and diamonds”, (she has a grey and silver living room and likes sparkly bits and bobs). 

33.       While staring out the window in the car looking very thoughtful –

 “are you ok Mr J”,

“yes, I’m just looking out the window and thinking”

“what are you thinking about”

“I’m thinking that the window is see threw”

44.       Mr J said to me last weekend’ “imagine if we were all fish”. I asked him what would be different, his reply was so simple and yet so true. “we’d all be fish”

55.       “I’ve been talking to some friends at school, we have decided when we are older we are all going to live together in a big house, no girls though, not because I’m gay just because I don’t like girls”.

Talking of living in a big house, our house has felt huge this week as my parents have been on holiday. For those who don’t know we moved back in with my folks in January while we save for our own house. It is fine as the way the house is we have a lot of our own space, however this time on our own again has been nice, (mainly because it’s been acceptable for us to walk around in our underwear in this heat). Its really boosted my savings head as its reminded me what we are saving for. So its decided, no more midnight eBay auctions where winning becomes a fight for pride, no more impulse sale buys for things I’ll use once and pack away while completing night feeds and defiantly no more in game purchases on candy crush, no matter how hard the jelly king is.

Good day to you. x

Mama bears crappy day

Yesterday was a bad day. No that doesn’t give justice to how bad it was. It was a dreadful, terribly dog shit day. That just about sums it up. It started off so well. Mr B slept in until 8am which is a record for him and Mr S was happy to lie in my bed watching cbeebies while I cat napped, (be honest mums, what would we do without Mr Tumble and his spotty bag). We went in the garden where they both played nicely and then they fell asleep together on the chair. Perfect morning…….. then it happened. 

I lay down and closed my eyes on the sun lounger and at that moment Mr B screamed and I mean screamed. I jumped up and saw blood all over his face. Que mummy panic, cold sweats, shaking and wondering how long an ambulance would take at this precise moment. Turns out he had bit his tongue in his sleep, however he continued to cry and cry and cry. So obviously Mr S woke up and was terrified by all the screaming and commotion, he ran to me crying and shaking while demanding up. Neither would settle and both were clearly still tired so I decided to go in and try and settle them in their own beds.

On the way upstairs, (3 flights of stairs while carrying them both), Mr B pulled a chunk out of Mr S's curls, prompting more screaming and writhing resulting into me clinging onto them by their nappies. Once I had them settled I went down to get my drink out of the garden and stood in a dog shit. Marvellous, (sarcastic). By the time I had cleaned up and called the dogs a lot of angry words under my breath, Mr B was up. No word of a lie he cried and whined for the rest of the day.

When Mr S woke up he wanted to be continually held, that is until he decided to be mummys big boy and go and play on his slide. Ahhhhh, sigh of relief. I put my feet up and phoned hubby to tell him how bad my day was and how of course it was all his fault for being in work when he should be helping me, when a shuttlecock came over the fence from the children playing next door. Being the wonderful neighbour that I am I threw it back to them which in Mr S’s eyes was an invitation for him to spend the next 5 minutes inconsolably crying, pointing at the fence and giving me the stink eye. I explained several times that we can’t just go in peoples gardens and he could play with me, he ignored me and got louder. He is so rude, not listening, just like his father.

By this point I was at the point of breaking. I bundled them both into the kitchen secured them in their highchairs and began their tea. Funny how crying children sound louder in the kitchen. I checked they were both securely strapped in, then went for a mummy wee, which is code for going to the bathroom, shutting the door, sitting on the floor and having a little cry. Then getting up stronger and ready to start again. It’s similar to a daddy poo, which is when daddy goes in the bathroom, LOCKS the door and sits on Facebook. Don’t even get me started on how daddy always needs a ‘poo’ when there is something to be done. That’s a whole other blog. (he just read this and defended himself with, “it’s not always Facebook, sometimes its Instagram.”)

 I’m not ashamed to admit that sometimes I just have to walk away. If I know my boys are safe, fed, watered and clean its sometimes best to just have a minute, let them have a minute and then start again, (p.s this works with hubbys as well). Mr S refused tea and threw every last crumb of my hard work to the dogs, Mr B ate every last bit while making sure that he got just enough in his hair.

Now I have a rule, if a child is cranky put them in water. I knew they would not give me chance to run them a bath so I switched on the shower. Mr B got in and was instantly happy. It was as though he hadn’t spent the day screaming and tongue biting, why didn’t I do this sooner. Mr S however was not happy and gripped me so hard his nails broke the skin. I suddenly realised the sooner I get them washed and pyjamaed the sooner this sucky day is over and I can drink. At this point I stood up took a deep breath and thought there is only one thing to do, pick him up, get in the shower and sit there with them. I was in that much of a rush to end this horrific day I didn’t even undress. When hubby walked in from work there we were, the three of us sat in the shower basin. Mr B splashing manically, me clothed, wet and broken with Mr S cradled on my knee having his hair washed.

Now these bad days don’t happen too often but when they do my gosh they are hard. All is well that ends well though. I ordered Chinese, I ate the bar of dairy milk that I’d put away for father’s day, (warning hubby that if he mentioned my diet at any point I would stab him with my chopstick), I had a gin and watched Big Bang Theory. What can I say, I love being a mum.

Good day to you

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