Month / January 2017

by jo

Beddington Park – The Swans Need Our Help

Beddington Park is one of our many local parks. It has football pitches, an outdoor gym, a play area, a great cafe and a huge area to walk around. Within this huge area is a lake, populated by ducks, geese and swans. Recently, this note appeared.

Beddington Park swans notice 2017

We decided to have a walk around there. Despite living so close to the park I’d never spent a lot of time around that part of it. We had some bread and it made sense to try and do what we could.

Beddington Park

When we arrived at the park it was cold. The kind of cold where if you keep walking you warm up, but a hats and gloves kind of cold where you need to wrap up well. H was on her scooter, she had wanted to cycle around the park but having been ill the previous week I suggested she should take it easy!

Shaun was horrified as we drove there… but it made sense parking near the Pavilion Cafe so we could have some lunch there afterwards. This gave us plenty of time to stretch our legs, feed the swans and try and find some cygnets.

Beddington Park

There’s a big bridge which goes over the lake, ideal for looking for cygnets. Unfortunately we couldn’t see any. There were swans, so we fed them, hoping that it was enough.

Beddington Park

It was good to get outdoors again. H had three days stuck inside as she had a temperature that wasn’t shifting. I’d worked from home for two of those days, and Shaun did one day. We needed to breathe again, but not go too far. There’s so much to do at Beddington Park – even if it’s walking around, scooting around, playing or having a quick spot of lunch there. There are even BBQ’s dotted around the park which you can use (although I wouldn’t fancy it in this weather).

Beddington Park

The full text of the letter in Beddington Park :

HELP NEEDED PLEASE
The swans on the pond are struggling as they are so hungry. The adults are coming and going as they are quicker to realise there is little natural food for them. The cygnets are still learning.

Having sought guidance from the Swan Sanctuary please feel free to feed them bread despite what you have been told.

To share fairly I take a full loaf and skim the slices individually across the water. Someone will no doubt say to you that bread is no good for them. They’ve got little else at the moment so let’s help by at least feeding them.

Rita Mullins
Chairman
Friends of Beddington Park

Beddington Park

Country Kids

by jo

Sherlock Holmes and the Disappearing Diamond by Sam Hearn

Sherlock Holmes and the Disappearing Diamond is the first fiction series that Sam Hearn has written and illustrated. We are taking part in a blog tour, here’s our review.

Sherlock Holmes and the Disappearing Diamond

Sherlock Holmes and the Disappearing Diamond is a story about John Watson starting the Baker Street Academy. While there he meets Sherlock Holmes and Martha Hudson, and the three of them try and solve a mystery.

The story tells through various ways which appealed to H. She liked the comic book illustrations and detective notes. You also read the story through school assignments, media reports and Watson’s blog.

Holmes and Watson go on a school trip to one of London’s top museums which is home to the world’s most famous jewel, the Alpine Star. But, someone has stolen the jewel.

They find the jewel, and the police close the case. Yet Sherlock Holmes isn’t so sure that it should be. John and Martha work with him to try and solve the mystery.

Our copy of Sherlock Holmes and the Disappearing Diamond arrived on a day H was off sick from school. Until the postie had arrived she had been ambling from one activity to the next, not focused on anything. Since she started reading the book she hasn’t put it down. It’s a winner here.

It’s a nice easy read, and with the pages laid out like they are, it makes it a good attention-grabber. There’s plenty going on inside.

H says “I like that it’s like a comic strip, but also like a book. It’s half comic strip, half book. I like the detail in the pictures and how everything is in a logical way”

I asked her what she means by logical

“so it makes sense” she replied. “I like the blog part too.”

I asked her about the story

“They find the jewel, but it’s a fake. I like how Sherlock Holmes and John Watson and Martha Hudson all realise this and work out how to find the real one.”

I like how the start of the book has a few pages of character introductions. That kind of thing helps me a lot!

In summary, Sherlock Holmes and the Disappearing Diamond is a good, fun read which she hasn’t put down. H recommends it for 7-10 year olds who like books that have mysteries in them which get solved.

We have one final question. Who is Sam Hearn….?

Just Who is Sam Hearn

Sherlock Holmes and the Disappearing Diamond is published by Scholastic. You can buy it now from all good booksellers, plus of course, Amazon. (affiliate link)

Sherlock Holmes and the Disappearing Diamond Blog Tour

by jo

Dobble – a Great Fun Family Game

Have you heard of Dobble? We had, and it intrigued me. A card game which was suitable for all, pretty easy to learn how to play, and is down to observational skills. It has been on our wishlist for a while now, and we were lucky to be sent it by Esdevium Games right before Christmas.
dobble

Dobble is a really straightforward game. In fact, it’s so straightforward we were playing it within two minutes of opening the tin. The rules are really simple – there are 55 cards. They have eight pictures on them. You turn two cards over at a time, and spot the matching picture.

dobble cards

That might sound easy, but it isn’t – often the pictures are different sizes. Sometimes we’ll play and I’ll spot loads in a row, but then H will spot as many too – it’s a very random but good game.

This is the bit where maths come into it. There are over 50 symbols, there are 55 cards and only one will match per card. No two cards are identical either. With 8 symbols on each card, I’m still trying to get my head around how they manage to do it. It’s really simple and really clever.

dobble tin

H loves Dobble – she played it over Christmas with her cousins, her Nana, her Aunt, her Uncle and of course Shaun and I – and everyone enjoyed it. It’s the simplicity – and that everyone is on the same level.

You can expand on the simple game, and have tournaments. The Dobble instructions have points per image too. We haven’t gone there yet as we’re still having too much fun with the basic game!

playing Dobble

There are also other mini games you can play which again we haven’t got to but will. There are five games in total.

I love that it’s a simple, straightforward game that up to 8 people can play. It doesn’t take long to master – it’s like an easier version of snap – you just need to spot the symbols and there will be a match every time. There’s a simplified version for younger children, Dobble Kids.

You can buy Dobble now – it’s available through all good retailers and costs £10.49. Amazon have it here (affiliate link) The link on Esvedium Games is here.

We were sent Dobble to review, it gets a big thumbs up from us and is the kind of game we’ll be buying people for presents this year – it’s a lot of fun!

by jo

A Trip to Folkestone and Sunny Sands

Folkestone always made me think of ferries. That’s about it. Same as Dover, again ferries, although Dover of course has white cliffs too.

Every New Year we make a trip to the seaside. As creatures of habit we’ve always alternated between Brighton, Eastbourne or Bognor Regis as they’re about the same distance. This year we wanted to try somewhere different – and Folkestone won.

Sunny Sands is right next to the harbour at Folkestone and is the loveliest of beaches. In January it’s pretty quiet, but I can imagine it would be busy in warmer months.

Folkestone mermaid

As you enter the beach, to the right is a statue of a local Folkestone girl, modelled in the same way as the Little Mermaid in Copenhagen. She’s sitting on the rocks looking out at the sea. The Folkestone Mermaid. I love finding quirky things like this!

Unfortunately the light didn’t let me get a good photo, but you get the idea.

Arches at Sunny Sands

Along the sea wall at Sunny Sands are archways. They’re sea defences which have recently been restored to help preserve the coastline for years to come.

You sink into the sand at Sunny Sands like it’s a giant memory foam mattress.

The beach itself was great, loads of space to walk by the sea and of course H went for a paddle with her shoes on for a second time. I have no idea why. Fortunately we had spare socks and her wellies back in the car.

Paddling in shoes at Sunny Sands

A quick bite to eat for our lunch (fish and chips for the non-vegetarians of course) and we wandered around. I would love to live by the sea – as soon as we got out of the car my aches and pains went away immediately and I felt like I could breathe again.

When we visited Sunny Sands this was my favourite photo. I love the reflection of H in the sea, but also how carefully she’s trying to get her feet wet. She succeeded again. I stand by my claim seven year olds are a bit crazy.

Look at those deep footprints in the memory-foam sand. Squish…

Sunny Sands Folkestone

We’re joining in with Country Kids this week – and it isn’t that long before we’re staying at Coombe Mill – I can’t wait!

Country Kids

by jo

ChewyMoon Snack Boxes – Our Review

ChewyMoon Snack Boxes have just launched and we received one to try out. H can be fussy with food and I’ve stuck with the same snacks after school, so I liked the idea of a bit of variety. Even better if someone else does the hard work for me!

ChewyMoon box

ChewyMoon Snack Boxes are mail order letterbox sized child-friendly snacks. Seeing as I have a child who loves getting things in the post, it felt like a good match.

I used to be a Graze Box subscriber and wrote about it here. I used to love getting snacks in the post as I’m a creature of habit. This is still the case, but also means H has the same lack of variety in her snacks.

ChewyMoon snack box

ChewyMoon Snack Boxes are like child friendly Graze boxes. You get five small boxes with a snacks inside. Here’s what they say : We at ChewyMoon aim to provide parents like yourself with healthy snack alternatives for children. ChewyMoon offers the UK’s first nutritionally balanced subscription snack box for children between the ages of 4 and 10. Our snacks are made from natural ingredients, with no refined sugar or nasties. We provide five snacks in a box, together with a ‘fun pack’ comprising comics, fact cards and totem toys, making our box just as much fun as it’s healthy.

Our ChewyMoon Snack Box arrived and H claimed everything straight away. The cards are fun – we already have a gazillion YoYo cards from Bear Snacks. This means we now have another set of cards to collect. If you get 25 you will win a ChewyMoon toy – there’s more information in the FAQ section.

ChewyMoon box open

We took snacks out and about with us, and saved for after school. She definitely prefers dried fruit over nuts. We’ve now signed her up to receive a box each week – and you have an option not to include nuts.

Within the ChewyMoon interface you can rate the snacks. If there’s something you know your child won’t like you can mark it up that way. Of course if there’s something they do like you can rate that too.

ChewyMoon rate snacks

Each box costs £4.99 – and that includes postage. It’s pretty good value and I like that she can choose which snacks to go for. I like that they’re easy to take with you on a day out or keep in the cupboard for after school. Everything is recyclable.

You can try a ChewyMoon trial box at a cheaper price, or just go for the regular box which can be cancelled at any time.

We were sent a ChewyMoon box to try, all opinions are our own.