Family Breaks in The Royal Garden Hotel, London (Review)

The Boy adores going to London, he thinks it's a really special place to visit because of the variety of things we get to do. We usually visit in the Summer and spend time wandering through the parks and enjoying the great outdoors. I had been eager for quite some time to visit London at Christmas time so we could see the lights and the wonderful shop displays.

A few weeks before Christmas, this was made possible when we were invited to stay at The Royal Garden Hotel in Kensington for the weekend. I have to say it is quite possibly one of the most luxurious, and child-friendly, hotels I've stayed in with one of the most amazing views over London.

Royal Garden Hotel view

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Ripley's 'Believe It Or Not' (Review & Giveaway)

Ripley's 'Believe It, or Not'

That's quite a confusing image at first, but step back and view it from afar.

What do you see?

You should see President Obama in a black and white image. Up close it's clear that the image is made from words, in fact the words are from his inaugural speech at his first term of office. This is just one of the impressive exhibits in Ripley's 'Believe It, or Not' which we were invited to visit during the Summer holidays.

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London Summer Attractions (Sponsored Post)

We usually spend a weekend in London every Summer, visiting our favourite 'old haunts' as a family and discovering new wonders to add to the list. This usually happens in June when I attend the Britmums blogging conference, but this year I went up solo and so we're consequently trying to find the time in the holidays to fit in a 'tourist' weekend in the capital.

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Days 223-229 of Project 365

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223. Mr. Bloom (We went to Margam Park in Port Talbot for the CBeebies Summer Roadshow, with a special show by Mr. Bloom. We were lucky and had press tickets to the show, which meant we had guaranteed seats even though it was free. I did take some cracking shots of Mr. B on stage, even if I did get 'heavied' about doing so.)

224. Golden (My wonderful birthday flowers. Love the depth of field on the 50mm lens I've got.)

225. Splash (I had frozen some of the Playmobil pirate treasure in a takeway container and put it on the tuff-spot for The Boy to get out. Once it had all melted then he realised he could sail his pirate boats in the water, and filled it up even more. The pirate islands were enlisted soon enough, and then he spent ages splashing the water about! Child-led learning at its best.)

226. Crinkle Cut (I bought one of the choppers that I'm always seeing the twins on Two Of Everything using, and The Boy helped me prepare tea. He loved it and I think his help will be 'needed' a lot more.)

227. People Watching (We met up with a friend and her daughter down in the Cardiff Bay Beach. The Boy spent ages burying his own legs and then examining everyone else and their activities.)

228. Joy (There's no mistaking how sad I am today; my brother came down to say goodbye to me today before he emigrates to Australia at the end of the month. I am heartbroken. I won't be visiting as it is too far and I can't afford it, so please don't suggest it. Yes there's social media but he will still be on the other side of the world, not in Oxford. This little boy cheers me up though, he is my joy.)

229. LolliBop (We spent the day in London at LolliBop in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, more to follow in a later post.)

TheBoyandMe's 365 Linky

The London Eye (Review)

Before our recent weekend trip to London, we spent a long time weighing up where we would go on the Sunday for our family sightseeing day. The problem with London is that while there's a whole host of places to go to and plenty to amuse a four year old child, it's difficult to find one suitable in unpredictable weather.

In the end the one place which had been prodding me in the arm the whole time, poked a little harder and I finally sat up and took notice.

I'd forgotten how peaceful it is 443 feet above the streets of London.

London attractions

We first took The Boy on the London Eye last year and he was besotted even at the tender age of three. This year his spatial awareness and general understanding of the world he lives in has developed, along with his general knowledge, and so spending half an hour spotting the places he'd visited the previous day with his daddy was far easier and more meaningful.

"Mummy, I'm trying to spot the soldier at Buckingham Palace. That's where the Queen lives, you know. The flag is flying today which means she's home."

Visiting the London Eye is easy, especially when it's booked in advance over the Internet via a site like Superbreak, and tickets are picked up in the central ticket office. This runs alongside the main courtyard leading up to the Eye, lined peacefully with trees and provides a large area to queue on one of the busiest days over the Summer season. Luckily, we went on a Sunday morning when most of London is still thinking about breakfast, and the half an hour queue was relatively short and moved steadily, one of the benefits of the Eye never actually stopping.

The vista from the Eye is amazing, and it has to be experienced to understand just how impressive it is. Buildings which are miles away can be seen easily from 135 metres up in the air, people look like ants, the sealed pods hide the noise and chaos of the streets below and allow the beauty of London to be seen as it should be.

Included in the price of the ticket is entry into the 4D film 'experience' and it is a must. It's described as a pre-flight show, presumably once tickets have been picked up from the office, however I think it's actually better after the flight on the Eye as it provides context for children. The effects are brilliant and I wasn't sure whether the bubbles we were trying to catch were real or if the snow falling was; it shows off the wonders of 3D films brilliantly and is the best use of a fourth aspect in 4D films.

Tips:

  • pushchairs must be folded down due to space restrictions, do this in the queue as the attendants won't let you on with it up;
  • take water because although the pods are air conditioned, it does get warm in there;
  • buy one of the £1 360° maps which help you find the various sites around London with the Eye as the centre;
  • bags will be checked, a metal detector will be waved around your body. All very discreet and unthreatening;
  • make sure you look at the views on all sides of the pod, the Shard and Waterloo Station train tracks are particularly impressive;
  • do visit the 4D film experience which is included in the price of the ticket, but don't be conned into posing for the green-screen photo before entering the cinema, they're not free.

Tickets to the London Eye are available directly from the website, however there are a variety of packages available that include entrance into the attraction and a hotel stay as well. Since the cost of hotels in London alone is extortionate, it is well worth investigating London breaks available with someone like Superbreak.

I received free admission tickets onto the London Eye for two adults and one child. My opinion is honest and unbiased.

Days 174-180 of Project 365

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174. Spiderman (We were fortunate enough to have a day sightseeing in London following the Britmums conference, and managed a trip on the London Eye for The Boy to locate the places he'd seen with Mr. TBaM the day before. Afterwards we were able to finally visit the Jubilee Gardens at its base, which we'd seen being built last year.)

175. Digging for Treasure (A simple day playing in the house and garden after an exhausting weekend. Nothing is better at the moment than digging for treasure. Especially with Toy Story sunglasses and a genuine pirate hat.)

176. Speedy (An absolutely beautiful evening meant that we were able to nip down to the local nature reserve, feed the swans and practice bike-riding amongst the bullrushes and bamboo.)

177. Playmobil World (More pirates, I know. What can I say? He's loving the hat at the moment. However, I returned home from work today to discover nearly every single piece of Playmobil he owns all spread out in the dining room, and 'pirate caves' created in the Ikea shelving. I love that his imagination is starting to kick in.)

178. Pavement artist (A simple activity which I often forget about; chalk drawing and writing on the patio, focusing on over-writing letters.)

179. On Target (We created a reward chart for The Boy this week, focusing not on behavioural issues, but on time and personal management. Having been for his Reception induction last week I'm very aware that he needs to speed up the rate at which he eats his meals – apart from anything else, the hour is driving us mad – as he won't have time in his lunch break to be chivied along. We've set him the target of eating within thirty minutes, and he's managed it at every mealtime! Other targets are getting dressed by himself – preparing for PE lessons – and tidying up. As a reward he was able to go to soft play with daddy while I was at the Summer Fayre this morning.)

180. Me and My Shadow (After the Summer Fayre, where I painted eleventy billion pink butterflies, we went for a long walk across Cardiff Bay Barrage to the pirate park, and scooted back. The sun was amazing and I love this shadow.)

TheBoyandMe's 365 Linky
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£20.46!

One vodka and coke, one kahlua and coke.

In a hotel in London.

£17.90!

In a well-known supermarket anywhere else in Britain.

And at that rate, MammyWoo and I had one drink.

Just as well that the rather fantastic Sally Whittle (Evil Overlord extraordinaire) had arranged free wine on each table in the MAD Blog Awards to help us enjoy the celebrations of the blogging world. Seventy bloggers, all female bar one, in pretty, bejewelled dresses with swit-swoo hair and make-up at a three course meal in a London hotel. Lots of high heels, squealing, underwear adjustments, photographs, hugs and a lot of blog love.

I had a great time meeting up with some of my real-life blogging friends (The Five Fs, Not My Year Off, The Crazy Kitchen and Coombe Mill) while having a brilliant time with the one and only inimitable MammyWoo.

I didn't win, she did. And I screamed because she did.

(To be fair I also screamed when Coombe Mill won).

This is my 24 hours in Londinium.

Thank you to every single person who felt that I was a good role-model for photography in the blogging world and nominated me, and then went on to vote for me. I'd be lying if I said I am disappointed that I didn't win, of course I wanted to! However, I'm not lying or being insincere when I say that being there as one of the top five has made my year when it comes to blogging. Thank you.

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