Santa Safari - Hawkstone Park & Follies

Last year we went to Lapland just before Christmas so this year we decided to go all out for Santa and just do one 'special' visit rather than a few at local fairs/town centres etc. We decided upon Hawkstone which is just north of Shrewsbury.  It is £17 per adult and £18 per child during daylight hours and £20 per adult, £22 per child during twilight. We decided to go during daylight as I thought I may get better photos but actually the majority of it was in the caves so it would have been nice during twilight.

You meet at the hotel for a cup of hot chocolate and get taken by land rover to the caves up at the top of the hill. You pass under the wishing arch and arrive at the top to be greeted by elves. I do feel the car ride could have been made to feel more festive. It would only take a few small touches such as playing Christmas songs in the car, the driver could have been dressed more festive, perhaps some tinsel in the car etc. It didn't feel the 'magical adventure by Land Rover' that they market it as.

Once you are at the top an elf gathers you together and runs through some health and safety. There are two reindeer in a small wooden box which I thought was a little odd as they looked a bit cramped and we were told you couldn't touch them. I felt a bit sorry for them, they could have had a bigger area to wander round in.

Families were staggered when entering the cave so that everyone didn't go through at the same time and there be a queue for santa. This was a nice touch.  As you walked through the caves there were different festive/wintery scenes such as Winnie the Pooh and friends, Minions where the children could have a go at remote control ice skating with them, Trolls, Unicorns & Fairies and Mario Kart where they had a little car race track and podium for the children to have a go with. At each section an elf greeted you and chatted to the children, leading you on to the next section of the cave again making sure everyone was staggered.

You came to a bench surrounded by festive trees where you waited for Santa behind a closed door.  Again an elf came to the door and lead you through to Santa who was sitting in a lovely big sleigh.  Everyone could sit in the sleigh and he had a box in front of him the children could sit on so they didn't have to sit on his lap if they didn't want to.  He was a fabulous santa, gave them a present but perhaps could have done with spending a little longer talking to the children though. 

You are then lead out of the back of the caves where you are met by a wonderful view of the Shropshire countryside.  Down a path (which was nicely lit and would look lovely during twilight) and back to the land rovers to take you back.

Overall it was something a bit different, the caves were fabulous, it could just do with a few extra touches here and there to make it worth the money as it is expensive when you have to pay so much for the adults too.  I am not sure it is worth the money? However it is a different experience you wouldn't get anywhere else.

Wonderland Telford at Easter

We decided to go to Wonderland Telford for their Easter event and chose to go on Easter Sunday.  It has been years since I went when I was a child, at least 20 years if not more so I had completely forgotten what was there.  We walked round and saw all the little houses from the nursery rhymes which Macy loved.  There were things like Snow White's cottage, three little pigs, humpty dumpty, crooked house etc etc.  They weren't overly interactive in that you just peered into them, although you could go into the Hansel and Gretel house.  There was the White Rabbit's maze from Alice in Wonderland and the White Rabbit was there to welcome you.  

In terms of rides there were some fair rides aimed more at young children - under 10s.  The 'Easter Egg Hunt' took place around the Christmas Village and actually didn't involve any Easter Eggs as they say this is because of allergies children may have, I did however then find it a little odd that one of the presents was a little packet of sweets.  So the children went from house to house collecting little presents from the characters such as Snow White, Goldilocks etc  I think Macy ended up with a pencil, notepad, sweets, paper plane and bubbles. 

Macy is almost 4 and she really enjoyed it, I think if she had been a bit older she may have found it a little boring as the rides were very tame.  I think it would be nice at Christmas time as there is a whole village which is Christmas themed.  The park is looking a bit tired and could do with a bit of an update.  I am not sure I would have wanted to pay full price for the tickets, if you can pre book and get their discount it is a nice family (half a day) out.  If the weather is nice you can go to Telford Town Park as well which is great for all ages.

Clays of Broseley, Shropshire

I had wanted to try Clays of Broseley for my mum's birthday but wasn't overly keen on their menu when I looked at their website, I fancied steak so I sent them a message and to my surprise they replied and said yes we can put some steak on the menu, what sauce would you like and gave me a choice!  Wow, how is that for service!!

We parked in the public car park which was only over the road as the restaurant doesn't have parking.  The front of the restaurant is welcoming with a nice canopy.  We walked in and it is lovely and bright and clean and contemporary however we were seated downstairs which was a bit of a contast.  Lovely bare brick walls, with nice mood lighting, really cosy and welcoming yet still contemporary.

We started looking at the menus and there on an extra sheet was the special for today which was the steak in a red wine sauce I had spoken to them about.  They also had venison on their regular menu which is my favourite so hubby and I ordered one of each and swapped half and half :)  They also didn't have a childrens menu however the waitress advised that they could do smaller portions of anything on the menu for my daughter.  

We had crositini with olives and goast cheese for our starter which was beautiful and so tasty, they brought out a basket of bread with some stunning sundried tomato bread.  My daughter had mini fish with mashed carrot and swede and mashed potato and they were good enough to bring this out with our starters.

The venison and the steaks were cooked to perfection, they really were, we couldn't fault them and not an ounce of fat on them.  The sauce was beautiful and tasty and plenty of it.  We both had the baked white chocolate cheesecake for dessert which came with raspberries and raspberry coulis, this was beautiful and fluffy and tasty. I finished off with a baileys coffee which came with a lovely little meringue with a chocolate coffee ganache running through the middle.  

All in all a lovely meal, fantastic personalised service, lovely setting, I really could not find any fault!
 

The Hundred House, Norton - Game Night

The Hundred House is a local favourite of ours, it has 2 AA rosettes and prides itself for using local produce as well as herbs from their beautiful gardens.  We had gone in for a bite to eat earlier in the month and seen the game night advertised, being a big venison fan we booked it.  The price was £26.95 for three courses including bread.

Mark and I had the same starter of Mini Beef & Venison Burger, Moydens 1665 Smoked Cheese, Dill Pickle Relish served in a Brioche Bun.  The burger was really tasty and juicy, with a relish that complimented it perfectly, my only gripe about the burger was the brioche was a little dry.

For main course Mark had Wild Boar Faggots seasoned with Thyme & Parsley, Braised with White Wine Tomato, Beans & Bacon, as Mark said they weren't just faggots, they were really tasty and juicy with perfect accompaniments.  I went for Roast Hauch of Venison, Turnip & Prune Gratin, Cavolo Nero, Juniper & Port Wine Sauce - I know venison for starter and main, it is my favourite and you don't see it that often so I have to make the most of it when it's there!!  This was beautiful, the venison was cooked to perfection and sliced lovely and thinly, there was just enough sauce - quite often in some of these restaurants they just drizzle a little on to make it look pretty and there is never enough.  Here, there was enough to make it look good (ie not flooded in sauce) but also enough to taste good.

For dessert we both chose the same which was Rich Dark Chocolate & Blueberry Roulade with White Chocolate & Mint Ice Cream.  The desserts at The Hundred House have never excited me, we have probably been at least 10 times and never once have I seen a dessert that jumps out at me on the menu and I am a dessert person.  The choice was this, apple pie or pannacotta.  This was nice but it wasn't amazingly tasty like the starters and mains tend to be, the ice cream was very good and I am not normally keen on ice cream but the roulade was just a roulade and nothing special. 

It was a lovely night, nice food, cosy fires - looking forward to game season and another game night as we will be back again!

Shrewsbury Food Festival

The weather forecast was fabulous and Macy and I had a free day so we decided to visit Shrewsbury’s Annual Food Festival.  We both get bored being cooped up inside so it sounded like a great way to enjoy the outdoors too!

Their website advised to follow the park and ride signs which would take you ‘near’ the Quarry where the festival was being held.  As soon as we were off the M54 the park and ride signs were easy to follow and we ended up by Meole Brace Retail Park (by Toys R Us, Pets at Home, Sainsburys etc.)  As I got on the bus I checked we were going past the festival and the driver confirmed he was, we were dropped off at a stop which was only a short walk to the Quarry.

Entrance was £6 for adults and £1 for children, as we entered we were given a wristband for Macy for us to put an emergency contact number on which I thought was an excellent idea.  Programmes were free (something of a rarity at these sort of events!) and all the activities for the children once you were in were free.

 There was loads for the children which was great and unexpected.  There was a marquee with some animals in – cows, pigs and chickens.  Then there was a huge marquee full of children’s activities for all age ranges ranging from lego, drawing tables, floor puzzles to craft activities.  A pen outside had some ride on tractors etc and there was face painting as well as children’s cookery school.

The event was huge, probably the biggest I have been to and there were lots of tastings.  Also lots of different outlets for lunch which ensured the queues weren’t too horrendous.  So many of these food fayres don’t have a lot of places for lunch and you end up queueing for ages, but this wasn’t the case here.  The only thing they were lacking was ice cream, there were only two vans and as a result the queues were horrendous.  However I am glad they were as we ended up having some lovely strawberries with some caramel cream instead so it was a bit healthier than having ice cream!

We arrived at the festival shortly after they opened at about 10:15am and we didn’t leave until about 2:15 there was that much to see and do, it was fabulous and definitely a date in the diary for the next one!

We came home with some goodies!

Willo Game

Mark texted me to say he fancied a barbeque when I got back from the festival so it was my job to find some nice sausages.  I had come across some wild board sausages and some venison sausages on one stand but had felt the texture was a little lumpy so I had a look round for more.

I stumbled across Willo Game who has some venison merguez sausages for tasting – so venison is my favourite meat and when I have been to France I have always loved their merguez sausages so for me this was a match made in heaven.  The sausage was lovely and smooth so I decided to buy some.  It was three packs for £10 and there are about 8 sausages in a pack so this was a bargain, the other stand was the same price but there were less sausages in each pack.  I settled for venison merguez, Toulouse wild boar and wild boar, chilli and garlic. 

We barbequed the three types of sausages and none of them disappointed, they were all a lovely texture without any hard lumpy bits.  The merguez were the tastiest sausages ever, the chilli had a bit of a kick and the Toulouse were also really tasty.  Will be ordering meat from them in the future

http://www.willogame.co.uk

Millie’s Meerkat Barn

It was a rainy Sunday afternoon so we decided to take Macy to an indoor play to stop her going stir crazy!  We had not been to Millie’s Meerkat Barn in Bridgnorth before so we thought we would try it.

It cost us £6.50 for two adults and a 16 month old - £1.50 each adult.  I was a little disappointed as when you look at their website they make it sound a lot bigger than it actually is.  The under 3s area was a small padded area with some large soft shapes in it, no ball pond, no small slide – that was really disappointing.  Everywhere else I have been no matter how small have at least had a ball pond and most have a small slide as well.  The area for the older children was okay and they all seemed to be enjoying it and not getting bored, there are two large slides, a bouncy castle section and some rollers etc but again it isn’t overly big.  The bouncy area is quite large yet most children seemed to enjoy running round and down the slides.  There is also a bit of a court area to play football/basketball in.  So to be honest I thought it was a bit expensive for what is there - £1.50 for an adult is too much, most are 50p and they are usually a lot bigger.

The café was good and they did some nice coffees and a good range of hot snacks.  It’s not somewhere I will go again as there are better soft play centres that are cheaper!

Harvester – Telford, Southwater

We decided to go for breakfast, it is £4.99 each and is unlimited continental and cooked breakfast – we thought we couldn’t beat that really!  Breakfast ended at 11.30 so we got there at 10:15.  It looked like the mad rush was over as there were quite a lot of empty tables that needed clearing, it took about 15 minutes for us to be seated, not a good start as they could see we were trying to hold Macy who is getting heavy and bored by this time.  There was no reason we couldn’t be seated, one waitress didn’t look like she was doing much and the other was filling up some juice – it would have taken 2 minutes to seat us and go back to what they were doing – customers should come first!

We were eventually seated and ordered our cooked breakfasts – the toaster had broken so we had to order toast, they ran out of black pudding, crumpets and tomatoes.  We ordered unlimited coffee for  £2.25 per person.  However after one cup, the machine wasn’t filled up, eventually it was and we got a second cup, it ran out again and wasn’t filled up.  Juices ran out so all that was left was cranberry.  There weren’t any spoons for the cereals nor teaspoons for stirring coffee.  Our cooked breakfast arrived an hour later, Mark’s poached eggs were really overcooked and mine were undercooked – whites were still runny.  Half our toast arrived – this is an hour after we were seated!!  I have not had such poor service in a long time and we will not be going back to a Harvester again any time soon!!

I have also fed this back via their website and also Facebook - they have not even bothered to respond. 

4D scan

We decided to have another 3D scan as part of me wanted to confirm gender (heard a lot of people having boys when they were told girl!) and also heard tales from people who had growth scans and came across problems.  Unless you have a high BMI or aren’t growing enough you don’t get any further scans after 20 weeks which is a long time really and I wanted a bit of reassurance that everything looked okay.

 

So we decided on the Bronze 4D scan at 4D Baby Face, Newport, Shropshire.  They are currently doing an offer to include a free DVD so that definitely gave me the final nudge to book.  I am 32 + 5.  The little monkey had been doing somersaults most of the day but as soon as we got in the car to go she went to sleep, so I had a chocolate bar and Mark tried to wake her up, she did move a little bit but didn’t really do much.  She was covering her face with her hand but we managed to get her to move it to get some photos of her face, had to be quick though as she would put her hand back as soon as she moved it!  Eventually though she went to sleep with her cheek resting on her hands so we got a good shot of her face.

 

So yes she’s still a girl and they also measured her and said she is currently weight 4lb 12oz.  It was a great scan and we had a good 15-20minutes in there, they put the ultrasound on a large screen in front of you, it’s amazing to see and well worth every penny.  The sonographer (Toni) is brilliant and spends her time with you trying to get some really good photos.  We must have had about 20 images on CD plus a DVD movie as well.

Henris, Shifnal

We dined on a saturday night with family, we managed to get a table the same day but only had the option of one time to dine at - always a good sign when somewhere is busy!

I thought we were dining at a French Restaurant, however on entering the restaurant we were greeted with Spanish music which I thought was a ltitle strange.  The waitress then explained it is actually a Mediterranean restaurant with a French twist - ah ha that explains it!

The decor is lovely and modern with a gorgeous patio area outside which must be lovely in the Summer months.  The restaurant also has it's own car park which is a bonus in Shifnal!

To start, my mum and I shared the whole garlic baked camembert which was lovely and runny.  It came with some really tasy olive and other sorts of bread, it was also presented nicely.  I am allergic to pears and it came with a pear chutney which was a shame, I think a nice red onion marmalade would have worked nicely with it.

 

For mains I was going to chose the rack of lamb but unfortunately they didn't have it and only had chops which I don't like so I decided on the lemon and thyme poussin with dauphinoise potatoes and a tarragon jus. This was beautiful, the poussin was lovely and tasty, the dauphinoise potatoes were scrummy and the sauce was to die for!!  We had a lovely selection of vegetables consisting of baby corn, carrots, sugar snap peas.

I still had room for dessert and settled on Eton Mess, this again was lovely and sweet, plenty of meringue and good sized pieces of strawberry!

So overall we all had lovely meals, couldn't fault anything.  The service was attentive and the staff ensured we always had exactly what we needed.  We shall be returning!  http://henrisbarandbrasserie.co.uk/

The Dartmouth Arms

I decided we should go out for NYE as it will be our last year being just the two of us, so we booked a table at The Dartmouth Arms, Burnhill Green – my favourite Italian.  I wanted to eat at 6pm then get home and chill out together to see the new year in.  They had a set menu.  I started off with cheesey garlic butter bruschetta which was lovely and had plenty of cheese and garlic.  Mark had meatballs and oh the tomato sauce was to die for, so rich and tasty!

Main course I had chicken in a tomato and pepper sauce with garlic roast potatoes and veg – proper chicken breast, not bashed and flattened like most places!  The potatoes were a little dry but otherwise the sauce was very tasty.  Mark had a mushroom and fillet steak linguini and that was beautiful too, very tasty, not too creamy but really tasty sauce.

For dessert I had a toffee temptation which was a vanilla ice cream with a praline filling and a toffee sauce topping – it was really tasty and something a bit different.  Mark had a huge slab of tiramisu which he said was very tasty. 

It was £29.95 for the set menu which I thought was good value for New Years Eve and lovely food, decent portion sizes too!!