All three absolutely loved the randomness of sitting outside on a cold Monday night in February eating sweet treats they’d toasted themselves. They thanked us so many times, which was particularly gratifying seeing as it was such little effort and cost practically nothing. My eldest even read a bedtime story by firelight 🙂

Right now, I’m on the lookout for anything that deviates from the current lockdown tedium and mundanity. We managed to do a lot in the first lockdown, but during that period we were blessed with fab weather, which made everything a lot easier.

Next up is National Pizza Day on February 9th! We’ll be making our own. There’s a great recipe for dough and several different varieties in the girls’ Silver Spoon for Children cookbook.

Celebrate over Half-term

There is plenty to celebrate over half-term, least not a one week break from homeschooling (never before have I looked forward so much to an uninterrupted week of work).

Chinese New Year – Friday, 12 February

We’ll be getting the local takeaway on speed dial and making sure we include the girls’ favourites of crispy shredded duck and seaweed in the order. We might even have a go at making our own Fortune Cookies. There are also lots of Chinese New Year craft activities available to keep younger ones busy. Marks & Spencer has some great Chinese food inspiration.

Valentine’s Day – Sunday, 14 February

I’m not usually a big fan of Valentine’s Day as it’s rather too commercial, but this year we’ll make an effort as I know my three will really enjoy it. I’m thinking a candlelit dinner for five (which we can dress up for), plenty of chocolate and some nice flowers to cheer the house up (it doesn’t have to be roses).

Pancake Day – Tuesday, 16 February

Kids pancake day! Nutella is a massive favourite, but they also love the classic sugar and lemon. I must remember to get the Grand Marnier in this time. We didn’t have any last year (it’s my fave topping for pancakes), but due to the power of social media two friends and neighbours came to the rescue. Here’s the failsafe pancake recipe we use.

…And let’s not forget National Drink Wine Day for the adults. Cheers!

—

I’ll have a think about what we can celebrate in March. Hopefully it’ll be the return to some sort of normality!

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Entertaining the kids this half term

Bowling

Hollywood bowl is laying on lots of activities and prizes this February half term. Early birds bowling before 10am can get a 25% discount. Just enter the code ‘FEB2025’ at checkout.

Tenpin is offering two games of bowling and a burger meal for £8.70 for Juniors and £11.20 for Adults. This is available Monday to Friday until 5pm over the February half term.

Paintball

If booked via Groupon (link here) you can get a paintball experience for up to five at Paintball Network for £5. That includes 100 balls and light lunch each. For £10 and £15 you can get the same for up to 10 and 15 people. That’s a whopping 96% discount!

There are loads of venues throughout the country; players must be 10 or above.

Cinema

Vue – Children aged 2-12yrs can get cinema tickets from £2.49 every morning during the school holidays (accompanying adults also only pay £2.49 plus 75p booking fee). Vue’s Mini Mornings screen the best kids films and family films at lots of locations in the UK. Don’t forget, you can also pay using Nectar points

Odeon also has a great offer on during school holiday mornings. Adult and kids’ tickets at participating cinemas are £2.50 each for selected movies (there’s a 75p online booking charge per ticket). Showings vary between cinemas. See Odeon’s website for full listings

Golf

Topgolf is running its Eat, Drink, Play deal this February half term between the 17th and 20th (from 11-1pm and from 4-6pm) at its nationwide locations. Visitors get a meal, drink and two games for just £11 for juniors and £17 for adults.

Big attractions nationwide

Daysoutguide.co.uk in association with National Rail offers 2FOR1 on 100s of attractions nationwide including: LEGOLAND, London Dungeons, Thorpe Park, Liverpool Cathedral, London Zoo, Cadbury World, SEA LIFE Centres, Alton Towers and Chessington World of Adventures.

Go to: https://www.daysoutguide.co.uk/ for more details

National Trust

As always, I thoroughly recommend getting a National Trust membership. After the initial outlay of £126 for a family membership for a year (or £10.50 a month) you get access to 100s of great places countrywide all year round. It really is great value for money.

Kids eat free/£1 deals this half term

Plenty of high street favourites are offering kids eat free deals this February half term. Head to Bella Italia, Las Iguanas, Yo Sushi!, Brewers Fayre or La Tasca to bag a freebie meal this half term. You can even combine your weekly shop with a free meal for the kids at Morrisons. Carluccio’s, Toby Carvery and Stonehouse Pizza & Carvery  are offering £1 meals for children.

Something a bit posher or different?

Galvin, a family–run collection of restaurants founded by Michelin star brothers, is offering free meals for children 14th February- 22nd February.

If Vietnamese street food is your thing then get over to Pho for another freebie for the kids. For free Brazilian fare get over to Cabana.

Londoners can get childrens’ meals for free at Le Pont de la Tour right by Tower Bridge.

Even Gordon Ramsay is getting in on the act. Go to his restaurants from February 17th and children eat for free from the Tilly’s Treats menu.

Travel

National Express is offering half-priced children’s fares on its coaches this February half term. Just enter your travel details in its journey planner and the discount will be automatically applied at checkout. Get exploring!

Southeastern trains have Kids for a Quid all year round. If you buy one valid off-peak adult ticket on the operator’s services you can take up to four children for £1 each. Tickets need to be booked online or at the ticket office (not available from machines). Check terms and conditions before travelling.

Kids travel for £2 each on Southern if accompanied by a full-paying adult off-peak. Again check the terms and conditions first.

Lots of other train operators offer similar discounts so check online and bag yourself a bargain.

Happy half term!

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Venice with the children

I knew that I wanted to take the girls to Venice one day so they could experience this amazing city. I’d held off booking a trip as I didn’t think the younger two would fully appreciate it and I thought the walking would be too much. Sofia being eight and Maria and Gabriella a few months short of their sixth birthday. It was a great time of year to go (more about that in the Venice top tips below) and they were definitely old enough as they’ve been raving about it ever since.

Venice isn’t actually geared up specifically for children in the way that some cities are (here are some that definitely are) with special child-centric activities and cookie cutter childrens’ menus. However, like in most parts of Italy, shops, restaurants, bars etc bend over backwards for their younger patrons.

Accommodation

I looked at hotels, but family suites for five were very expensive and to be honest I wanted the children in a separate bedroom (though not a separate room in a hotel) for a bit of peace We managed to find an ideal place on Airbnb, which was reasonably priced and literally a minute’s walk from the famous Rialto Fish Market and three minutes from the Rialto Bridge. It was right in the centre but tucked away down a little street so nice and quiet at night.

Where we went and what we did

We were staying in the San Polo district. It is one of the smallest districts of Venice and away from the busy Rialto there are plenty of quieter back streets to explore and many very nice squares. Of course we went to the Rialto Bridge – and visited souvenir shops there so the girls could get a Venetian mask – and visited the fish market. However, we also went to Campo Frari (Frari square) and saw the lovely Gothic church Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari and just generally wandered around taking in the sights.

San Marco 

This is probably the most well known district of Venice and famed for Saint Mark’s Square (Piazza San Marco) and the Basilica San Marco (the cathedral). It was pretty busy, but being May, not as busy as it can be. We went into the Basilica and the girls all loved it with its huge expanse of shiny gold and ornate decoration; they especially loved it when we climbed up to the balcony. We were unashamedly touristy and visited Cafe Florian on the square. It is far, far more expensive than going to a bar down a neighbouring street, but hey, we had a drink on St. Mark’s square and we were on holiday. Then we did that other ultimate tourist in Venice thing and took a lovely Gondola ride, which we all loved. OK, we had two Gondola rides by the end of the holiday.

We didn’t go up the bell tower in St. Mark’s as the queues were too long. However, we visited the island of San Giorgio Maggiore (a short boat ride from St. Mark’s Square) and went up the bell tower of the church. We didn’t have to queue and the views were stunning though my photos aren’t the best!

Cannaregio

We visited the Cannaregio district to see the Venetian Ghetto (the first ghetto), the area of Venice where all Jews were once forced to live. This was a completely different side to Venice, but even away from the ghetto area itself and the tourist area near the train statin, Cannaregio had a very different vibe with many more locals. Here we encountered the wonderful Vino Vero one of my favourite bacari (bars). More details later on!

Walk at dusk along the Cannaregio canal; away from the crowds

Venetian Arsenal (quay Arsenale)

Nowadays it’s a naval base, but founded in 1104 it was once the largest shipyard in the world. There are armouries and maritime museums to visit, but time got the better of us. It’s a much quieter part of Venice and very nice for a stroll. Arsenale is also the epicentre of the Venice Biennale, a very large international art exhibition that is held every two years. We managed to visit one exhibition. However, if we weren’t with the children we’d have visited more.

Murano and Burano

The island of Murano is famous for its glass blowing workshops and is a great excursion to go on. It’s really easy to get to with lots of water buses from various stops; travel time is between 10 and 30 minutes depending on which you take. We had a lovely wander around and a look in at some of the enticing shops. When I asked, one of the shops was happy to recommended a family-run glass blowing factory. It was brilliant, not expensive at all (children were free) and the girls were fascinated. We saw the whole process – explained in English – of making a vase and then the very skilful demonstrator made a child-pleasing horse.

After lunch in Murano, we headed to the island of Burano, which was quite a bit further out, but still very easy to do in a day combined with Murano. Burano is a very quaint fishing village, famed for its lace production. It is cited as one of the most colourful towns in the world with each house painted in a contrasting vivid hue. It is very different to the rest of Venice and really pretty.

Beach day

After a lot of sightseeing, we had a beach day. We got a water bus (vaporetto) from the main island to the Venice Lido (where the Venice Film Festival takes place), which took less than 30 minutes. The Lido is a long skinny, sandy island that sits between the lagoon and the Adriatic sea. It had good facilities and umbrella and lounger hire wasn’t extortionate. It was quite strange to encounter roads, cars and buses again and was a lot more like mainland Italy than Venice. A beach day really broke up our trip nicely.

Food & Drink in Venice

Even if there isn’t a specific childrens’ menu there are lots of eating options. Although Venice is famed for its fish and seafood and has a number of fantastic regional specialities, you’re never too far away from pizza and more familiar pasta dishes. Calamari and spaghetti with clams (other favourites of the kids) are in plentiful supply.

Even in more upmarket places, meat and poultry can be simply cooked and they don’t mind making an off menu pasta with a simple sauce.

We found Trattoria Alla Madonna in San Polo district great for the family. It’s a traditional fish restaurant. However, there was plenty on the menu for the kids and familiar favourites as well as many authentic Venetian dishes; things such as baccala’ mantecato con polenta (puree of dried code with polenta), cuttle fish in black squid ink and raw prawns.

We avoided the Michelin-starred places that we’d hit as a couple. However, for a real culinary and wine treat in an elegant but approachable venue Chat Qui Rit is fantastic. Despite the name this place is 100% Italian. Really high end food and a wine list that made me practically weep with joy. We asked for spaghetti with a plain tomato sauce for the kids and they very happily obliged.

Then there were the cicchetti: traditional little delicacies of the area which can be described as Venetian tapas; lovely picky bits that are served with a small glass of wine in a bacaro (small bar).

The girls acquired a love of anchovies, octopus carpaccio and soft shell crabs! My husband and I filled our boots with Venetian speciality Sarde in saor (sweet and sour sardines).

Bars in Venice 

Our two favourite bacari were completely contrasting. Vino Vero in the Cannaregio district, just by the Jewish Ghetto, is modern and far from the madding crowd. It serves really varied wines and has a very extensive list. It also serves wonderful cicchtetti and unusually for a bacaro has outside seating next to a very peaceful part of the Cannaregio canal. Cantina do Mori in the San Polo district dates back to 1462 and claims to be the oldest bacaro in Venice. It is very traditional in style, charismatic and has just five seats; bacari are not places for lounging too long – think bar crawl with lovely eats. Both are popular with locals.

No trip to Venice would be complete without Prosecco and Spritz (Spritz by the way can be made with Campari and Select as well as Aperol, which both hail from the area). Pinot Grigio also comes from the area, but you can get really nice ones, not the insipid ones that we often get in the UK. I also rekindled my love of Soave another Veneto product.

Childrens’ highlights

I asked the girls what their favourite bit of the trip was. Here are some of their responses: Walking around the ‘secret’ passageways, riding on a Gondola, food and eating, the big church with gold (Saint Mark’s Basilica), the lovely buildings, the water buses, the water taxi, the bell tower, buying masks, the beach…

Venice top tips

• • Visit in April, May, early June, September, early October – This isn’t because the canals smell (they don’t), it’s just because it gets very hot and crowded

• • Wear in shoes you’ll be doing a lot of walking

• • Take a cover up – There’re so many beautiful churches to visit. However, bare shoulders can’t be on show and shorts can’t be short, short

• • Travel cards – Buy a tourist travel card. Anyone over the age of six has to pay full price (with the exception of wheelchair users and their carers). We made the mistake of buying daily for a six night stay – costly! TripAdvisor has a very good piece on tourist pass options

• • Check opening days/times – attractions, restaurants and shops often close on random days of the week. Check venues beforehand to avoid disappointment

• • Water taxi – it was €120 for the five of us to get a water taxi from Marco Polo airport to the Rialto Bridge. It was expensive, but took a fraction of the time and meant we didn’t have to struggle on public transport with our luggage. Also it’s a fantastic experience – you feel like you’re on the set of a Bond film

• • Views over Venice – Instead of queueing for the bell tower in busy St. Mark’s Square, avoid the crowds and go to the island of San Giorgio Maggiore. The panoramic views from the top of the bell tower of San Giorgio Maggiore church are spectacular

• • Take insect repellent for the evenings – Mosquitos are out in spring and summer

• • Murano –  You’ll be greeted by people selling visits to various glass factories as soon as you step off the boat. Don’t go to these as they can be tourist traps. There are plenty of authentic family run ones so just do a little research

The post A Family Break to Venice appeared first on The Parent Social.

All venues such as this seem quite expensive for a family of five. However Godstone Farm compares slightly more favourably to nearby Bocketts Farm. You can also save 10% if you book online five days in advance. Godstone Farm also has a really nice, almost community, vibe and is so well-staffed you can see where your admission price goes.

• Adult (16+)   £8.40
• Child (2-16 Years)   £8.40
• Child (Under 2 Years)   £3.20
• Child (Under 1 Years)   Free

The animals at Godstone Farm

There were plenty of ‘traditional’ farmyard animals such as pigs, sheep, goats and cows alongside the ponies, horses and donkeys. We also got to see lots of lambs and kids as many had been born over night (very cute!). Along with the many daffodils on display it certainly felt like spring was springing.

You can feed most of the animals and the girls loved doing this. They actually spent plenty of time with each of the different types of animals instead of just wanting to race around. There were good explanations about all the different breeds and plenty of facts, which added to their experience.

Outside we also saw llamas, alpacas and a huge variety of birds and poultry.

Next stop was the indoor animal handling area where there were chicks, chickens, rabbits and a number of other fluffy and furry things. The girls loved that they were able to dive straight in and touch the animals and weren’t nervous in the slightest.

There was also the opportunity to hold the rabbits but the girls wanted to visit the tea room for lunch so we took a rain check. After lunch we headed straight for our tractor ride. We bought the tickets (£1 per person) an hour before and had a designated time slot.

The other stuff at Godstone Farm

We all liked the Dino Trail where we ‘saw,’ amongst others, a Mammoth, Stegosaurus, Pterosaurus and T-Rex. There were plenty of facts and information, which my eldest daughter (seven) loved and there was the opportunity to dig for bones in sand pits, which appealed to my younger twins too.

After a tour of animals that lived millions of years ago we then had a look at their closest living relatives – snakes, spiders, bearded dragons, iguanas and a scorpion.

Following this it was play time and we headed to the Adventure Playground. It is very large and they thought it was brilliant. They could cheerfully have spent several hours there alone. However, it was dropping a bit colder -being mid-February – and a coffee was calling so we lured them away with the promise of indoor play! We didn’t visit, but there’s also the Red Slide Barn, which has a wooden climbing frame and slides and wooden play vehicles. It’s a halfway house being outside but undercover.

We spent quite some time in the Play Barn. It has a separate section for the under fours, which has a smaller play frame and lots of toys, but my three were straight onto the main frame. It’s definitely big enough to keep them entertained for well over an hour, but isn’t so vast that you can’t keep an eye on them.

We left feeling like we’d had a great full day of activity. As soon as we got in the car they were asking when we could go back, so definitely a hit.

• To celebrate Mothers Day, Godstone Farm is offering all mums free entry for the day

www.godstonefarm.co.uk

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1) Soft play centre 

Bank holiday Monday was a wash out. We headed to Eddie Catz in Wimbledon, South London – a soft play centre that caters for babies, toddlers and children up to about 12 years old. It offers classes and workshops under the ‘edutainment’ umbrella, but we were there purely for the kids to release plenty of energy, and boy did they. Some soft play venues that are aimed at that sort of age spectrum can be extortionate. I find Eddie Catz reasonably-priced. The facilities are good and the food went down very well, and again was reasonably-priced. All three loved the sizeable main play frame with all its scramble nets, tubes, slides etc, but my husband started getting a bit nervous about the two-year-olds disappearing out of reach and sight and took them to the tamer toddlers’ frame. The disco room was also a big hit.

2) Designed a Father’s Day mug

Last year’s effort (complete with wear and tear). It changes colour with hot liquid!

It has become a bit of a custom: the personalised photo Father’s Day mug. Each year for Father’s Day we design a mug for my husband using some of the family photos from the last year. It’s lovely to go through the year’s photos together and choose which ones to include. It’s really easy to do and there are loads of different options. We do get him another gift/s in addition, but my eldest likes giving this present the most (mainly because she loves photos of herself).

3) Baked and decorated biscuits 

Look at the concentration

I found the easiest recipe for biscuits ever on Netmums; it consisted of three ingredients (though I made it my own by adding Vanilla Essence) and all three girls were able to get stuck in with the creaming, mixing and kneading. Sofia had been bought Eddingtons Cinderella Cookie Cutters, so we used those. Like their older sister, the younger two are obsessed with anything fairytale and princess-related (bleugh!) so these caused much excitement. I let them all watch Jake and the Neverland Pirates whilst they baked and cooled, so it was a dream come true for them. I’d bought some squeezy tubes of coloured icing, so much time was spent decorating them. Then after dinner they ate them.

4) Arts and crafts 

I gave our arts and crafts box a Spring clean. Then doing our grocery shop (I’d say weekly shop, but I spend what seems like half of my week in the supermarket), I discovered that Sainsbury’s stocks loads of really well-priced arts and crafts items and sets. I bought sticky shapes for collages, paintbrushes and foam paint brushes, fancy pipe cleaners and a great canvas with a fairy design with paints and sparkly bits included for Sofia. The girls didn’t fight or moan for ages, so a definite hit and Sofia was super proud of her artwork, so we put it on display.

Sofia’s handiwork

5) Half-term play dates 

The perennial favourite: Simple, but effective. We went to someone else’s house armed with both healthy snacks and treats. The change of scenery and company works wonders.

The weather’s shaping up to be ok, so we’re off to Godstone Farm tomorrow… and here we are:

That poor rabbit!

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However, as my daughter’s start date gradually approaches, and having just been to buy some of the uniform from the school shop (cute cardis, little tie, sweet woolly hat, mini-sized gym kit, logoed school bag etc), I know in my heart-of-hearts I will be doing exactly the same. Apologies in advance to all of my friends that won’t be interested in the slightest.

Ahead of time, the obligatory child and uniform shot.

The next chapter 

I’m excited about this new chapter for Sofia, and I know she’s going to love it, but the idea of her starting school ignites conflicting emotions in me. With 21-month-old twins on the scene, I thought I’d really welcome having one less child to entertain on a daily basis. However, as the time draws closer, as well as selfish fears about the dreaded school run, I’m sad that we will no longer have the freedom to go where we want whenever we want; we’ll be confined to the school holidays when everything will be busy. I’ll no longer be able to choose our day-to-day schedule or wake up in the morning and spontaneously decide that we’ll go on a mystery tour somewhere.

I have started to think that maybe I haven’t done enough with her whilst we’ve had the luxury of ‘free time’, but our car fuel bills are testament to the number of groups we attend, the amount of visiting we do and the excursions we go on. I always seem to be doing housework. Perhaps sometimes I should have forsaken unnecessary vacuuming for an extra story or an additional trip to the park? Mum guilt: usually totally unfounded but ever-present.

In this lead up to D-day there’s been a plethora of forms to fill and dates to remember. I’ve actually found it fairly stressful as I’m very eager to get things just right ahead of this important milestone. Sofia is taking it all in her stride, she barely gave a sideways glance when I left her for the first time for an hour in what will be her new class; it’s me that has got the nerves.

And finally, aside from everything else, it’s just rather weird to think I have a school-age child. How did that happen? 

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