Review: Rare Breeds Centre, Kent

On Sunday Mr C was off early to Heathrow on business so I decided to pack the kids in the car and head off to The South of England Rare Breeds Centre In Woodchurch, Kent. http://www.rarebreeds.org.uk/

We arrived bang on 10.30am when it opened so had the benefit of no visitors for a little while. The girl selling tickets happily greeted us and we paid our £6 admission price for anyone over 3.

My initial impression was that it was more like a farm and quite small but as I read the map, I could see there was more to enjoy beside the animals and on a warmer, sunnier day this would be enjoyable. My son led the way around the animals, past the ferrets, the owls, the chickens, turkeys and pigs. There were ginger pigs, little clean pink pigs, large hairy brown pigs wallowing in muddy styes - Little Miss enjoyed making oinking noises to all of them. There is a section called Creepy Crawly World which housed one of the biggest snakes I had seen and a few other reptiles. It was very warm in there and a few exhibits seemed to have 'escaped' or been moved which was a shame.

The Children's Farm area was lovely and noisy with goats, sheep, piglets, rabbits and visiting birds. At 11.30 they got some of the animals out of their pens and children were encouraged to pet them and this was the highlight of the morning and hence pretty busy. Little Miss loved the albino ferret with red eyes and Mr T enjoyed the rabbits which he stroked with his gloves on as he didn't want to get his hands dirty! The piglets had a good nibble and snuffle at our welly boots which caused great amusement.

After the animal session we wandered out to the duck pond and the aviary which had some beautiful birds in it but didn't excite my two much. I think the draw of the playground outside was too much and they had a good run about. In summer this would be a nice area for a picnic. We didn't walk on much further as the kiddies were peckish so we made a beeline for the restaurant just outside the farm.

The Granary Restaurant & Terrace was large but not very enticing. They did offer a couple of kids meals and a carvery but not much in the way of healthy snacks or fruit. There were no little apple or orange juices in the fridge but just sugar-laden Fruit Shoots. The staff were young jobbers and didn't really care and we had to wait too long for the kid's meals. Generally the food was ok for a quick visit but overall the experience could have been so much better and a restaurant like that should make a little more effort to supply healthier options for children. The walls showed pictures from Competition winners from August!

After that we headed back into the farm to have a go in the soft play area. There was a good climbing frame and slide set up for kids and one area was full of balls but hard to access with a baby. The baby section had some padded blocks for them to climb but it would have been nice to have some balls in there too in a ball pit. My son loved it but there wasn't a lot for my toddler to do without climbing up too high and getting stuck.

I was dismayed to see ride-on toys in there as kids always badger their parents for a ride on them instead of running around and thought £0.50 was a lot for a ride.

The farm is run as a charity but I feel a few easy changes could be made to make it more enjoyable. There could be maps put up on buildings to save on printing maps for every visitor showing 'You are here'. This encourages kids to read the map too. There could be some simple wooden signposting as we nearly missed the aviary and playground as we didn't initially read the map. Each cage or pen should have a label saying what animal was in there; many were missing which makes it difficult when little people ask what animal it is. The hand washing facilities were good and plentiful though mixer taps would prevent burnt fingers. The restaurant needs some attention too. My experience is that centres like this can make some really small changes to make it more educational and interesting. Without wanting it to jump on a band-wagon, I think it should encourage kids to learn by providing more information and encouraging eco, local and healthy messaging.

But overall we had a nice time and the kids were exhausted afterwards. We went on a Sunday in January - I feel the farm would get very busy in the Summer holidays and I imagine the Meet the Animal sessions would be over-run. It is nice to have a farm facility nearby for us to visit and I know we will be back despite the little niggles.

One drink too many...a life shattered

Living in a village has it's challenges for anyone who has just moved from a city. But choosing to live in a village requires a lot of planning with regards commuting, kids schools, distances to shops and when all these issues are considered we all take for granted one thing: that we have transport. Now for most that means that we drive and we have access to a car on a regular basis.

When we moved out here we had to borrow Dad's car for 2 months as a station runner for Mr C on his commute in the early hours. As it had to be returned at Christmas we had to buy a runabout for a couple of grand which coincidently has been back in the garage more than on the route to the station I believe! However my point is is that we can't rely on Tubes, a regular bus route or an onslaught of black cabs or even hundreds of minicabs.

We have a few minicab companies in the area but we are talking about 10 cabs! If you haven't booked your cab 2 days prior, you don't stand a chance of getting home from a party or even the station after a work drink. This leads to problems for someone with a London mentality who is unaware of these shortcomings. But also being in the country leads you to think that there are no police about and therefore you can stretch limits and drive after a drink.

This theory was blown out of the water this week when I joined a friend in the local pub for a quick drink. My friend is also an ex London Mummy who has moved to the village 9 weeks ago. We decided to meet at 8pm and when I arrived she had ordered a bottle of wine and was busy chatting to some locals at the bar and paying for it.

We sat down and chatted about settling in and how things are going whilst having a glass of wine. I had about 2 medium glasses and she had marginally less than me. We called it a day at 9.30pm as I was tired and left the rest of the bottle on the table much to the amazement of the barmaid. Outside the pub we hugged and I said my goodbyes, turned my torch on and hiked it off in the direction of my house. We both live about 500m from the pub in opposite directions so I didn't give a thought to her return home.

I chatted to Mr C , went to bed and when I checked my phone in the morning there was a text from my friend's husband requesting that I send her home; sent at 12.04am!! I was instantly in shock and dumbly texted him back a message asking him if he was kidding, I left her at 9.30. Fear was consuming me that she had gone missing. I called Mr C who had already left for work. By sheer coincidence he had seen my friend's husband at the station and was able to put my worst fears to bed, sort of.

My friend had decided not to leave her car in the pub car park but to drive home. She reversed into another car and the owner's boyfriend called the police. My friend was taken to the station, breathalysed and arrested. She was found to be nearly 3 times over the limit. It turns out she had had wine at home earlier too, prior to joining me.

She is a 33 year old professional, business owner & mother of 2 under 4 years old, well brought up, never broken the law and has made the biggest mistake of her life.

Her court date is a week away so she is yet to find out the exact details of her punishment but believe me, she is already punished whatever they say.

She will have a criminal record; from this she will have problems getting finance, maybe a new mortgage; she may not get a visa into certain countries like the US for holidays, she will have to declare this at job interviews and CRB checks to name a few things. She will lose her licence for about 2 years due to the amount she was over; her husband will have to do all the nursery drop-offs and commute to the station. She has just applied for primary places for her daughter - they are all a drive away. The impact this will have on her life is immense.

It has shocked me that a life can be shattered in an instance. This can happen to any of us if we are stupid. I know for sure that I am going to be stricter than I have been in the past and know my limits.

I want to keep my lovely life in the country just as it is.

A piece of cake? - not really...

Friday morning - that means a date with my new 'friends' at the village hall. I say 'friends' because I am not sure I count them as friends and I am certainly not yet one of their friends I am sure!

But either way it is a weekly toddler and baby playgroup in the village hall which I feel compelled to visit. The playgroup is an odd one but that's another story. It is different than most playgroups as it is more for the mums than the kids! There is always at least 2 freshly baked cakes for us to feast on at 9:30am and barely a beaker or biscuit for the kids in sight! The chairs are laid out in a circle for maximum mum-chatting, with the toys spread around the room or even next door. You almost think it is a time for mums to turn their backs on the kids and gorge cakes; kind of ok really!!

Today it was fun from my perspective..today I was replaced as 'playgroup new person' by another new resident! I felt the burden lift! It almost felt like everyone was more chatty to me as I was more familiar to them. I got invited out to the village mum's pub drinks tonight too!

So let me explain a little about this local playgroup: it is organised by a lovely, polite, 30 something girl who supplies it with half of her own toys. Serving teas is the domain of an older lady, clearly with a mission in life..she is the wife of a local pastor belonging to a born again Christian church. I try not to look her directly in the eye; I am sure she belongs to the sort of church that my Dad used to warn me about in the 70's!! There is always a risk that the beverages are being drugged; better watch that one! Then there is a close clique of timid but friendly mousey types. In my first few playgroup visits I found them to be very friendly and warm but not quite my type of person. But, you know, can't rule anyone out in the early days. It was like Fresher Week I suppose. After numerous conversations, the penny dropped... They were all part of the same church! Oh God, (perhaps the wrong exclamation in this situation) but I realised I was in deep doo-doo. Church attendance was not anywhere on our agenda; we didn't even marry in one! Panic and cold sweat! I had to find some other 'friends'!

My 'prayers' were answered and over the weeks, more girls turned up. Some ex-Londoners; one who knew the landlord of the house where my friend lives; it was all hope and felt more familiar to me! I made an effort to try and break into the next new clique without offending the other set!

So that's where I am at...very slowly meeting people and making acquaintances, maybe friends will follow soon.

And so we moved to the country..

We have finally upped sticks and left the big smoke! I am still 'Another London Mummy' as I believe London is in my blood and I am not sure I will ever stop thinking like a Londoner!

So, we are Mr C (now 42; hard-working, commuting wage-earner), Mrs S (now 40; home-maker, Mummy of 2 and full-time snot-wiper amongst other child-rearing tasks), Mr T (3; energetic, boisterous, gorgeous little lad), and the latest addition Little Miss I (1.5, charming, strong little toddler and the apple of my eye)That is my lovely family making a new start in the 'burbs!

Let me tell you a little about our new home. We are living in an Edwardian detached country house that needs a fair amount of work but nothing too urgent. It is in a 'chocolate-box' village with a shop, church, primary school and two pubs. It couldn't be more different from the hustle and bustle of SW London but it is beautiful, charming and hopefully we will be very happy here.

My story will now be about the ins and outs of settling into country life and the trials and tribulations of meeting new friends and surviving as a London Mummy in the country!

Scaredy-cat toddler

Almost overnight my toddler seems to have discovered 'fear'. This fear has materialised itself in many ways and parts of our day; nighttime wakings, out in the park and out with friends.

Nighttime: Mr T is waking in the night around 2 or 3 am and we find him howling and standing in his cot. When I talk to him he just says 'living room'?! 3 nights in a row that was all he said so I reassured him we were all in bed and not in the living room. Mr T was always a great sleeper in the dark with no light but due to this waking I have started giving him a little nightlight dog to settle him with. This seems to coincide with teething for his 2nd molars, oh and obviously our newborn arriving! So I am none the wiser really, any suggestions appreciated..

Outside: sudden fear of tractors and their engine noise, snails, worms etc, dogs. Now a dog ran up to us and punctured his favourite ball a few weeks ago so I can understand some resentment there! But a complete hissy-fit when I showed him a worm on the path and pulling me away saying 'no mummy' was a surprise! I assured him the worm won't hurt me but we still had to move on!

Friends: I have finally experienced the 'hiding behind legs' that kids do. This time when visiting friends or relatives!

Even though I am sure these are all natural traits of a toddler, it is still challenging again for us as parents! I suppose that is why this phase in development is so exciting as the little mites change so often!

Pink bump has now well and truly arrived

My last post was when I was Another London Mummy of one lovely boy and now I am mummy of two. The gorgeous Miss I was born on 07/08/10 by c-section again in South London. She is a delight and is now approaching two months old.

There have been countless times over the last months when I have wanted to blog but a shortage of spare hands was normally the reason for not typing! Juggling one toddler and one newborn has been a challenge on many levels:

1. Physically, my toddler seems as heavy as a lead weight to lift; I was sure on leaving hospital that he had gained half a stone under my husband's care but it seems I was just used to lifting newborns so he felt like an elephant! My c-section has also made handling Mr T hard and means I have had rely on him climbing in and out of high chairs etc which has given him a new found freedom which he is keen to deploy!
I am going through the usual sleep deprived nights with Miss I although thankfully she is only waking once in the night so it seems bearable to me!

2. Mentally, my toddler has become a 'real' toddler displaying all the challenging signs of frustration and pushing boundaries. No surprise really seeing as his whole world was probably blown apart when he realised he was no longer focus Number 1. This has had a huge impact on the little man and especially his relationships with myself and Mr C. I want to go into more details about this on a later blog as I have found it hard to adjust to our changing relationship and am working hard to maintain the lovely, close bond I have with my son.

'Juggling' is the only word I can think of currently to describe how to manage two kiddies: some days are like being on the Krypton Factor where it is a challenge working out how to get everyone to an event or class - who is sleeping when, who needs feeding when, who is dressed, which buggy or mode of transport do we need, do we need snacks, oh, and then there's me to get ready too.

Whoa, deep breath, step back and long for 7pm when all are tucked up in bed and you can pat yourself on the back for being a good Mummy! (Another reward could be a massive glass of wine but I am currently breastfeeding and trying to avoid that at the moment!)

It's a pink bump!

Whoa!

I am now 22 weeks pregnant and on Friday we found out that Mr T is going to get a sister in August! We both had a hunch this time that we might be having a girl but when the sonographer told us we felt a little shell-shocked, but pleased! I think we are both so used to having a boy that a girl seems a little alien to us? Anyone else felt the same?

So we will restrict the 'pink' and things will be fine, eh? First time around we hadn't managed to find a girl's name we were 100% on so we have a challenge ahead! I have the book out all the time and dip in when I can! Shortlist consists of about 20 at the moment! So we have some work to do there! When I am a little clearer, I will share some ideas!


On another note, does anyone know of some good outdoor activities or playgroups in the Earlsfield / Tooting / Wandsworth area? I thought I might try out the Tooting Locality Early Years Team Activities in the Park - Tuesdays 10-12 Smallwood School...did anyone go last week? Will let you know how Mr T and I get on!

xx