What a difference a year makes

Last Easter, we went to the Cadbury's Easter Egg Trail at Petworth House and loved it.  It was probably around this time last year that I moaned at Angmering Daddy for signing up to Wildfowl and Wetland Trust.  A year later, we've just been to three very different Easter events.

On Good Friday, we went to WWT Arundel for the Giant Duck Hunt.  Despite my moans last year, we have made the most of our WWT membership.  It's a great place to go for family walks and duck feeding.  Admission is free for Munchkin, and it's nice and flat for AD, who doesn't do hills very well.  The Giant Duck Hunt is run on similar lines to an Easter Egg Hunt - you follow clues to find the animal or bird associated with each plastic duck, and get a chocolate prize if you find them all.  Unlike traditional Easter Egg Hunts, it's running for the whole of the Easter Holidays.  WWT Arundel also have indoor crafts, pond dipping and boat trips running throughout the Easter Holidays.  Basic admission prices are £10.86 for an adult and £5.45 for a child over 4.  Other admission options are available, including family tickets and a 10% discount if you book online.  Most activities are included in the admission price.

The Giant Ducky at WWT Arundel

We are also members of the National Trust but might be discontinuing this.  When we visit NT properties, we tend to be confined to the gardens and cafe, plus the occasional self-guided tour.  What pre-school child wants to go on a guided tour of an old house, run by a grown-up, for grown-ups?  Not mine!  We went to the Cadbury's Easter Egg Hunt, because we'd enjoyed it so much last year.  We were rather disappointed.  Last year, we got to make a chick.  This year, I had to do a quiz aimed at primary age children.  Munchkin got nothing from it because she can't read or spell.  Last year, the trail started near the bottom of the hill, and AD got the minibus back to the car park at the end.  This year, we had to walk a long way up the hill - AD wasn't expecting this, and sat out most of the Easter Egg Hunt.  Munchkin became desperate for the toilet when we were in the middle nowhere so I had to carry her down the hill to the ladies.  The sign-posting and map quality were poor, meaning that we had trouble finding the start-point and some of the eggs.  We will be finding another Easter Egg Hunt next year.

On Easter Sunday, we went for Breakfast with the Easter Bunny at Wyevale Findon Garden Centre.  We've previously had a very successful breakfast with Father Christmas at Old Barn, another Wyevale Garden Centre, so thought we would give the Easter Bunny a go.  It was well worth it.  In addition to cooked breakfast, followed by soft-play, Munchkin got to meet the Easter Bunny.  (She was fully aware that it was person dressed up as the Easter Bunny!)  The Easter Bunny gave her not one, but two toy rabbits to take home, plus a Lindt chocolate rabbit.  She was given two Easter biscuits to decorate when she'd finished her breakfast.

In other news, we are starting to think about schools for Munchkin to start in 2016.  She got a little upset when we told her she would have to wear a uniform.  I hope she doesn't insist on going to a school where they wear her favourite pink and yellow!

Trails and Thomas

We've been out and about for a big chunk of the Easter weekend.  On Good Friday, we did the Easter Egg Trail at Petworth House.  We signed up as National Trust members a couple of years ago and aren't exactly making the most of our membership. The trail cost £4 per child. As members, we got free parking and admission to the house, though we didn't look round on this occasion.  Munchkin was given a goodie bag which contained all the bits she'd need to make an Easter chick. We followed a trail around the park, which led us to instructions on how to make our chick. At the end of the trail, you present your chick and are given an Easter egg as a reward.  We really enjoyed it, but get the impression they might do the same thing every Easter, so we'll have to try somewhere different next year.

This is the chick we made.  The poor thing has been dismantled twice and is currently awaiting surgery.

On Saturday, we went to see Thomas... Toot Toot! Thomas the Tank Engine is a firm favourite of Munchkin's so we were disappointed to hear he wouldn't be making an appearance at our local Bluebell Railway this year.  However, a web search revealed that he would be at the Watercress Line in Hampshire over the Easter Weekend.  At £18 per adult and £12 for a child over 2, it wasn't cheap but you got a lot for your money.  Family tickets are available for two adults and two children for £54.  Had we booked in advance and used the promotional code 'NICK' on the Days Out With Thomas website, we could have got a 10% discount but we chose to just turn up on the day.  Thomas will be back at the Watercress Line from 9th to 17th August.

This was a really good day out.  The railway had clearly done this before and had an efficient parking system (the only drawback being that the disabled parking was a bit of a hike from Ropley station) and had shipped in additional toilets and baby changing facilities.  Parking at Ropley was free, but you had to pay & display at the other stations.  The railway meets the mainline at Alton if travelling by train suits you better than driving.

We saw a lot more than just Thomas.  Many of the trains and brake vans had faces on them.  We rode on Thomas's train -I don't think he had Annie and Clarabelle with him though- and in the cab on a "Friend of Diesel's", in addition to having a couple of standard steam train rides between stations.  The lady giving commentaries at Ropley station, where Thomas was, was excellent.  She presented the whole thing as if she was talking to Thomas.

Munchkin went on her first ever tea cup ride and loved it.  There was also a giant inflatable slide for older children.  We spent some time in the Imagination Station at Arlesford station, where she enjoyed playing with wooden trains and bricks, and acquired two temporary tattoos; one of Thomas and one of Percy.  We also met the Fat Controller, Bulgy the Bus and George the Steam Roller.  There was so much to do elsewhere that we never made it to Alton station.

I discovered that there is a train in the Thomas series with the same name as Munchkin and Googled it for more information.  It turns out there is a Thomas wiki.  I found it highly amusing that the wiki is used by train geeks who argue over the statistics of fictional engines!