We were all in the same place today, Monday 2nd December, from 15:30 to 17:00. I synchronised my watch with my Sister-in-Law's and dropped Aaron off with her, and my 2 nieces (well 1 as the other was yet to be collected from school but you get my snow drift), as I headed off to that West End, for an afternoon of cocktails and ski wear. The fact that I have never been skiing was not going to keep me at home. No Siree. I never dreamed that Aldi (who are considered budget) and skiing (which is considered a pastime of the upper / middle classes) would have anything in common. But, that is where you are wrong, or I, at least, am very wrong! Ski wear is no longer something that has to cost hundreds of pounds, or it still is, unless you get yourself to Aldi this Thursday. The range will hit stores on 5th December, but it will be on Specialbuy which means when it's gone, it's gone! Don't come crying to me if you miss out. Aldi's press release says:
With a range of quality gear starting from just £1.99, kitting out a family of four could cost less than £155 - representing a saving of 61% (around £245) on similar high street brands.
I got to see a big portion of the range today and took away a few samples. They even wanted us to be able to recommend it, having put it through its paces, so we adorned Salopettes (£16.99) and Ski Jackets (£19.99) and wore them into the London Ice Bar which fluctuates between -5 and -7 degrees. A session in there lasts 40 minutes and we weren't active at all, so we did get to feel the cold, or sorry, be surrounded in it - we were warm, the ski wear stood up to the test. A few minutes in, I had to put my hood up, but I was nice and toasty. The UK is threatened to go into minuses from this Friday onwards, so it seems Thursday is your perfect time to head for an Aldi near you and get suitably attired for the cold snap about to hit us. You don't need to go skiing to dress up warm though. There are fabulous CHILDREN'S and ADULT'S thermals in the range, which I think could see you through from this weekend to March, in the UK, or whenever it will be when it decides to get warm in 2014. In 2013 it was late June (never known Spring to be cancelled before but it certainly was this year)! I took away a fab pair of snow boots for Aaron today, which retail at an incredibly reasonable £8.99. As the photo shows I also discovered an affordable Irish Cream - yum!
I will tell you more about the range in a post that I will write for The Family Panel, as Claire kindly introduced me to Aldi, which meant that I was able to go along today. Night night, AND HERE IS THE GUEST POST THAT I WROTE FOR FAMILY PANEL: Aldi's Affordable Ski Range. Liska xxx
Here's some more information about their luxury mattresses for children, for our special little people, so that they can sleep like a Prince or Princess:
Personalised Princess & the Pea (girls) and Captain Black (boys) Ranges
There can be only one mattress fit for your Prince or Princess. A personally embroidered, luxury bespoke children’s mattress is the only option.
The English Mattress Company (TEMCO) (www.theenglishmattresscompany.co.uk) has been making the very finest handmade mattresses for over 120 years and knows what it takes to give children the best night's sleep. They have now launched a unique bespoke children’s range of mattresses, providing little princes and princesses with a royal sleep like no other.
To launch their new range The English Mattress Company has launched a Made to Measure Luxury Range. Because the mattresses are custom made and built from scratch, they can create pretty much any size or shape under the sun. From circular to a coloured mattress – even embroidered with HRH.
It’s a big moment for children when they get their first ‘big bed’, and sometimes even more so for mums and dads. Children usually sleep on the same mattress for around ten years, typically for most of their formative years and often into their teens, so choosing a good quality mattress is vitally important for their quality and quantity of sleep – and that of their parents!
Princess and the Pea is a children’s luxury mattress for little girls, which comes complete with a single (wooden!) pea and book, plus their own name embroidered onto the mattress.
For boys Captain Black children’s luxury mattress has been launched, with golden doubloons and a pirate book, as well as their name on the mattress of course.
Each luxury children’s mattress is manufactured to order and wherever possible, the process is done by hand. Not only will children nestle in the splendour of luxury but the high quality materials make for endless nights of slumber fit for kings and queens.
TEMCo use the most advanced materials to make their mattresses, combining the best of the new with the techniques and expertise that have taken centuries to perfect. These include a Visco Elastic (memory) foam layer that contours to a child’s body shape for maximum support and a natural Talalay Latex layer – the most comfortable, durable and supportive material available. The mattress is then finished with a health guard quilted top layer which is anti-bacterial and anti-dust mite which, unlike some rigid cotton covers, allows the springs do their job while also offering support for areas of the body that need it like the shoulders and hips.
The children’s Single (3`) mattresses are delivered to customer’s homes with a white glove service. If mum and dad want a new personalised mattress too, they also come in a full range of sizes including Single (3`), Small Double (4`), Double (4`6”), King Size (5`), Super King Size (6`). Full details of the luxury adult range are online at The English Mattress Company
***
Disclosure: This is a sponsored post in the sense that The English Mattress Company have kindly covered the cost of my entrance to Mumsnet Blogfest, which is Saturday 9th November 2013.
Feeling Christmassy yet? This is the beginnings of my review which I will keep adding to. Right here goes: The logistics in terms of booking dates, event dates, opening times, prices, etc.... are here: Harrods Christmas Grotto 2013. I am not going to copy and paste as there is so much info there! What we LOVED about it:
Having a look around the store beforehand, and getting in the Christmassy mood in Toy Kingdom, which I would say gives Hamleys a run for its money! Toy Kingdom is on the 3rd floor, so once we were done we popped up to the 4th floor where the grotto is. Choose carefully; for some items they have toys priced at the RRP, but for example, a Gruffalo teddy which I have seen in Kiddicare for £17 was £34 at Harrods!
THE WINDOWS. Harrods always gets this right and boy, they did not let us down! I almost want to go again so I can study them for longer and perhaps video them all. I have now included some pics in video below.
We brought Aaron's balance bike, as it is our wheels that means we don't require a buggy. Round the back, at door 2a, we were able to leave it in a left luggage department for only £1!
You queue before you get to Santa. There were staff, in costumes, every few feet. They were really in the mood, and each and every one stamped each and every child's passport. I will photograph it to show you.
Each child was given a safety pin tin badge to wear, which Aaron let me pin on him with pride! Again, I will photograph it.
Each child was given reindeer antlers, which Aaron loved wearing.
We were allowed to take photos and videos all the way through, right up to the door where we went through to meet Santa. This meant I got the lovely one of Aaron with Mrs Claus etc...
In Santa's room they take a professional photo and they keep taking it till you like it - there is a screen for you to view it on, right there in the room. We only required 2 and were happy with the 2nd.
Santa was chatty and cheerful. He had to talk to Aaron and his 2 cousins and made them all feel special.
The lady who showed us through to the room knew all of the children's ages.
Santa said he's sending an invisible ROBIN home to make sure the children are good until Christmas. It was magical the way the robin tweeted on the palm of his hand.
In the "magical library setting" you go through whilst queueing there is a globe, that produces stars on your hand if you stroke it - this felt so magical it put tears in my eyes. You can see it in my video below.
There are screens on every wall in the library, so between that, and all the cheerful staff in costumes it is a very cheerful festive queue to be in.
When meeting Santa he gives the children a chocolate each and an exclusive Harrods book.
The £10 admin fee it costs to book it, can be offset against purchases via your rewards card so in effect it is free (if you turn up!). My Sister in law booked it, so with the £10 she bought things for my nieces. I didn't buy anything in Harrods and luckily Aaron was happy looking at all of the toys, and interacting with them, so didn't demand anything. He was in awe the whole time we were in the store. I was glad of this as I had the £9 cost of a travelcard to get there, £10 on McDonalds and the photos which I will come onto now.
There are many packages for the official photo taken. I chose the £28 family option which gives you 1x large print a 4 x small ones. All of them in a STUNNING velvet frame!
I am sure there will be things I can add to the above, so I will keep thinking :-) Yup, I have decided to photograph what you get to take away:
a pic of everything but I forgot the pin badge which is still attached to what Aaron wore today - ooops!
The "book" that Santa gives every child as their "gift".
The reindeer antlers that every child is given on arrival to wear whilst in the library and in the Grotto.
(a) and (b) the front and back of the "book".
The passport that makes traversing the library (queue) so much fun along with the fact that so many costumed staff stamp in and interact really well with the children.
One of the small (framed) photos that was part of my chosen £28 package. The frame is velvet and stunning!
3 of the 5 pages in the passport!
I'll have to take a pic of the pin badge when I get chance - it is lovely/vintage looking! Bye for now! Liska xxx P.S. you have to have a Harrods Rewards card to book The Harrods Grotto! Luckily my lovely Sister-in-Law does! The grotto opened yesterday 2nd November, as per the tweet below, but we attended today Sunday 3rd November 2013!
Harrods Santas Grotto for 2013 is now sold out! But you can enjoy it here - this is my video of our time there (the magical library you go through to get to Santa):
P.S. we are going again in 2014. Hip Hip Hoooraaaahhh!
So BritMums Live for me began with a meet up at Starbucks that had been arranged on the BritMums' Butterflies Facebook group.
The only photo I took in Starbucks was this one of the radiant Missy B. Send her some love as she is in hospital.
I was on schedule to arrive about 15 mins early, but I got to the station and realised I did not have my phone. NORMAL me would have gone on ahead and played the martyr being without my phone all day. But at the ripe old age of 40 I have realised, a little too late, that sometimes putting yourself first is the sane and healthy thing to do. I knew the ladies would talk amongst themselves while they awaited my grand entrance arrival and that they did :-) You cannot spend the weekend at a social media conference and NOT have a phone. Thank God I made the right decision as I ended up staying over night - photos of our gorgeous "The Montcalm" room in my other BritMums Live blog post.
On arrival there was a queue to get in as is usual. But it is a queue with a difference. It is a queue of like minded people where you already get to start to mingle.
Two butterflies were already on hand as we walked up the stairs to the hub:
THEY don't know what they were doing (having now seen the photo) but it is clear that they were practicing for the wand session in the Warner Bros Lounge - right ladies?
So after Susanna and Jen welcomed us to the event, we had a keynote speech from Kirstie Allsopp. I think I am the only person in that room who has only seen her on TV a handful of times but I can really relate to her point that she only wears dresses. Due to my muffin top in jeans, THAT has been me of late too. She was so engaging and such a natural speaker that I wrote THIS on my agenda:
At that point I did not realise I would be further blown away by Katie Piper and Katy Hill (on Saturday). +BritMums really did themselves proud withe their choice of speakers this year.
My first session was still in the main room
Brand Panel Debate - what do bloggers and brands really want from each other
To be honest there were many points during this where I switched off, as I could not really see the speakers due to them all sitting on a sofa. Somehow that stage needs to be even higher. So I ended up enjoying the free notebooks on the table and doing things like this with Emily from Family Four Fun:
The only notes I took were:
TK Maxx has a dedicated Head Of Social Media Whereas used to be just a PR Team. Has its own budget now. TK Maxx still a big TV advertiser. Growing. They asked that we proactively contact them. Christine Mosler said she approaches brands herself.
Then it was time for tea and coffee :-) and more time mingling with peers and sponsors. The hub was rocking this year!
At 17:00 I had a choice to make but I chose:
Putting your best foot forward - How to present your blog to brands along with media kit tips.
The star of this session was Helen from Actually Mummy, as she was SO transparent in sharing what works for her AND what she charges. She said she would later email us the media kit she uses and do you know what? She ALREADY has done!!!! Was also lovely to see Juggle Mum and THE Rosie Shelley
Notes from this session:
Juggle Mum said "I am not juggling here, I have already scheduled a tweet [something I have NEVER done] and the first person to RT it will win my book". My lovely mate Jenny who was sitting next to me won it :-) She said working with brands can raise your profile and gave the example of her being a Butlins Ambassador which she said raised her profile. You can see why considering her Butlins You Tube video has had 9k hits. The Butlins exposure made her more VISIBLE which meant that she was approached by other travel related companies and got to make a video about a Wallace and Gromit ride. She's even done a video challenge about a day without paper. For this she received £300!!! Her best month ever in terms of earnings from her blog is £800 - but in addition to that she gets paid for freelance writing and public speaking!
Actually Mummy! or rather her MUM ;-)
I didn't take that many notes from Actually Mummy
speaking as I videoed the whole thing. But of course I lie being the serial note taker that I am:
After 3-4 months blogging she
started to get approaches. Got paid small amounts.
2 people PM'd her
and were kind enough to send her their media pack. Helps you to look
professional. Your blog is your brand. First question you should ask
is "what is your budget?" Start realistic and build it up - can't start at £200 straight away! Oh she also said sometimes blogging doesn't increase your incomings but rather reduces your outgoings (as you blog to get things free). [This can really work if you approach brands and don't passively sit back].Actually Mummy's prediction for the future:
paid for links will stop, but brands will pay for posts for specific
audiences but less of them.
I then went to:
Getting Paid
Helen was there again as she stood in for someone who could not make it. Luckily the content was different. I don't seem to be able to find any notes from this session. Maybe I have it on video. I am yet to upload my videos as my priority last night was uploading the Remembering Kerry one, which took 190 minutes.
***
That was the end of the official part of the day and it was over to the #Bibs award ceremony but with plenty of drinking and mingling first. I HOGGED the Vitamix cocktails stand (being a Vitamix proud owner since 2007 or 8 - bought for £399 at Vitality) and drank about FIVE of their delicious cocktails. I then moved onto champers, and then at the awards ceremony tables I may have had a couple of glasses of wine ;-)
After the Bibs, Clare and I went to check in to the Montcalm, and then high tailed it to the Chiswell Dining Rooms to meet Monika et al!
Yes they are not sugary but that is the whole idea. Vitamix is all about HEALTH and VITALITY - just on this occasion we added ALCOHOL :-)
Heaving - Mums like a free drink without kids in tow! LOL!
Well done Spen!
Happy at the Chiswell Dining Rooms - great food and great deal (£27 each)
FAB dessert!
The set menu is superb!
Day 2 saw me starting the day eating TWO bowls of porridge in the Hub. If you read my OTHER BRITMUMS LIVE POST you will know this already :-)
The Saturday Keynote was Katie Piper. I was probably the only person in the room who did not know much about her story. I was hanging on her every word. As soon as I have enough money I will be buying all three of her books, starting with the one about daily inspirations!
In the burns unit she was surrounded by other disfigured people and her loving family, she was secure. Things only went wrong when she went back into real life. She said "human spirit radiates true beauty" and I just had to write it down. "Attackers could only attack what they could see!"
The turning point for her was Channel 4 making the TV Show "My Beautiful Face". 3.5 million people watched it! People stopped her in the street in an encouraging way and she instantly went from victim to survivor! She read out a poem called "Katie my Old Face" which had me in tears.
Her and her family used to watch lots of comedy box sets as she could not manage to avoid sex or violence on regular TV (try it, she says it is impossible - thank God I only have children's TV on nowadays).
She once had a tube in her tummy and once laughed so much that blackberry juice came out. She said her family have never laughed so much. Her 19 year old sister stayed in and watched Alan Partridge with her for 2 years and kept her in touch with fashion! Except Katie had lost so much weight she was in aged 9-10 jeans!
She said a very poignant thing which is that when we want to change we need to start with our thoughts - so very true!
"Success is a journey not a destination!"
She can be found at @KatiePiper_
and @KPFoundation
Again Channel 4 are to make a TV Show but this time it is about fashion and beauty and she is so so proud to have been asked. She then read out a dedication to her Mum (who was in the room) in the form of the Serenity Prayer. Everyone at home really must have wondered why we had all stopped tweeting. There could not have been a dry eye in that room!
The first session I went to Saturday was
Become a YouTuber
Crumbs said that:
You Tube is about the conversation and audience.
Lots of students make their meals.
They have lots of family friendly meals.
Very real and very immediate - people tell you straight away if they don't like it. One of the sisters works in TV for her day job and she said you don't get that kind of immediate feedback there.
Keep videos short - less than 5 minutes.
Their HOW TOs get a lot of views.
They like a Black Metal Vegan Chef in the States.
You Tube has 1 billion users worldwide so is worth spending time on.
I think the next notes were from Lindsay Atkin
There is a you tube space at Google head quarters. [Where is it though????]
You can turn up and use the equipment and there is food you can help yourself to. (I will SO SO SO be trying this out!)
Brands ARE willing to invest in YouTubers.
YouTubers have get togethers if you get involved in the "gated" community!
There's one called Summer in The City but it is sold out! 3k people last year 8k this year just to show the rate of growth You Tube is experiencing!
Follow @youtubegatherings on Twitter!
Lindsay Atkin is @liliesarelike on Twitter.
The next notes are from Christine Beardsell who did the session by herself this time last year
For SEO it is important to get the video file name and first two lines of the description right and relevant.
Thumbnail is also important
Uber search tells you what people are searching for!
It was then time for coffee and pastries - it's a hard knock life for us! :-) Having been there since 8 it felt like lunchtime, except... it wasn't ;-)
Social Media Crash Course
I spent coffee stressing about what session to go to next, as I knew that Mammasaurus and Mummy Barrow would make a SUPERB comedy duo, but their session was listed as for beginners. But none of the others attracted me (it was only later that I found out how very good "Are we really addicted to the internet" was). Anyway I made the right decision as (i) there was free chocolate and not as we know it (ii) they WERE pure comedy (iii) the room was standing room only but we craftily did have a seat and a table (iv) I made a lot of notes at this session.
Sharing buttons on chocolate - how very very coooool!
Jenny's "talk to the chocolate cos the face aint listening" face ;-)
My notes from here:
Think of platforms as an extension of blog.
Put in time before seeing a result.
Make social links at top right corner of blog (I am yet to do this #yikes).
Be social on social media (I liked this so much that I tweeted it out during the session).
Think of self as a brand.
Have same user name on every platform.
Have active accounts.
Don't link twitter and Facebook.
Put words before the @ so that all of your followers see it.
Oh the next notes are about Pinterest and I HATE Pinterest :-( here goes anyway!
Have a blog board of images from latest posts.
Portrait photos (not landscape) are easier to pin.
Overlay relevant text using picmonkey.
You can Pinterest old posts - you can even ADD an image to an old post.
Pin in evenings in UK
2-3 a.m. for U.S.
4-5 a.m. for the Aussies.
Use natural light not flash for great shots.
Change board covers if you want to update your account.
Mammasaurus does not overlay @ name as finds they then get shared more!
Pinterest very soon will allow you to schedule pins.
Reserve your account on platforms you may not be on.
Put a bio on there and say I am active "here"
Unfollow bitchy people - life's too short!
I then went to:
How I Did it
The Potty Diaries took her blog to Moscow with her :-) @A dad called Spen did it when they were having naps. He said we should write from the heart and that it is easier to say than to do!
Stand out - write a post only you can write!
Your blog is successful if fun!
They all SPOKE from the heart as well as blogging from the heart. Many tears were shed throughout the room, and I could not even count the amount of tweets we received afterwards.
I THEN BUNKED the next session...... I have never done this at a conference IN MY LIFE but I was overwhelmed AND I had received a rather special phonecall that needed returning.
Afternoon tea and coffee felt a bit undeserved after my truancy but I am glad I was in the hub as I got to meet HEDWIG
We then had the Bloggers' Keynote session which is normally my favourite part of BritMums Live, but I was just waiting for "A Time To Honour Kerry". Don't get me wrong I enjoyed EVERY single blog post read by its author, in all manner of different ways, but I was on tenderhooks.
If you were not there, let me share with you why:
Thank God Nick (Kerry's husband) suggested we all have a drink after (we needed it), and toast her (he even provided the dosh)! We snuggled, we exchanged memories and we had a BIG group hug. It was particularly great spending more time with Actually Mummy and Emma Mummy Mummy Mum, Alice My Life My Son My Way and Red Ted Art's Maggie (I just MUST buy her book!)
You were with us in our hearts and minds throughout the event!
BritMums Live did not put me in debt thanks to my sponsor alexandalexa.
We've just come back from a weekend at Drayton Manor. We stayed Saturday night (15th June) at Drayton Manor Hotel.
We had to decide whether to drive up Saturday late afternoon, have dinner and the night there, then theme park or, travel early and have two full action-packed theme-park days. Wouldn't be our natural choice but our special boy Aaron was 3 years old on Saturday and LOVES Thomas and Thomas Land. So we chose the latter. In fact, this was our 3rd visit to Thomas Land; our 2nd time staying at the hotel. On arrival on Drayton Manor grounds, we could not find a space in the Drayton Manor Hotel carpark and did not realise the ones that say Tower Suite and Hamilton Suite were also places we could park, so we actually drove to the theme park car parks in the end and did not check-in until after a day at Thomas Land. Our luggage remained in the car all day, which wasn't a problem. When we did later check-in, we were pleased. Our room was airy and spotless.
All three of us liked it:
The bathroom was modern and spotless too:
The thing that strikes you about Drayton Manor Hotel on arrival, and also the thing that leaves a lasting impression is how beautifully landscaped it is. I think years ago I would have taken this for granted and it would have 100% gone over my head, but as a Mum who sometimes gets stressed and runs that very same 100% on adrenaline, the landscaping had an "ahhhh" effect on me, which tangibly lowered my blood pressure and had me breathing more deeply - no exaggeration! Aaron fell asleep REALLY early, and with hindsight, THAT was my chance to go and "chill" and walk around the grounds... missed opportunity right there.
If you like the above photos and would like to seem them full size, go to my Google Plus Drayton Manor Hotel photo album. Please read right through to the end of this post, for my "pros and cons" of the hotel. The reception area feels slightly like a conference hotel, but is softened by the character people, the carousel, and the Thomas Land hotel shop.
The carousel is a lovely touch and only works if you push the red button (if you are on the far side of it, don't assume it is off or broken like I did the last time we stayed):
I love the "character people", who help to stop the hotel from feeling too corporate. Aaron went and talked to them all with Daddy.
All of the above give little ones something to do, if there is a queue to check in or check out. I can't comment on our dinner Saturday night, in the restaurant sense. Aaron was very poorly and so he fell asleep early. We took the option to order room service, which the hubby later confided he preferred anyway, as he was worried about Aaron misbehaving through dinner. The room service menu was good and actually the prices were reasonable. See if you agree:
Click it to big it (the pic that is)
This is what we had - the cold beer went down very well and I liked that it wasn't in a can or a bottle:
Bless Aaron. After a busy birthday in Thomas Land he fell asleep on the sofa bed. It was really convenient for us as it was already pulled out AND the bed was made!
It was while he was asleep as above, that I should have treated myself to a walk of the grounds.
Aaron and I went down to breakfast at 8, leaving Daddy to get ready (he's ALWAYS slow)! We looked around for the Character Breakfast but it was in a room off a room as below, and we hadn't booked for it:
The room off the restaurant that leads to the room used for the Character Breakfast!
The Character Breakfast - yes that is The Fat Controller sat right there in the middle!
Aaron played with trains for most of the time that we were at breakfast - there's 3 play tables dotted around the restaurant, but be warned, DO bring a train as they are not provided and the last time we came (October) there were SO many tears from Aaron (and I was tweeting about it) that they had to OPEN the shop at 2100 to get him one! You need a wooden style Thomas train, that fits wooden tracks, as the die cast ones will not fit.
The train he is playing with above is a wooden train called "Smudger", which I actually bought in the Theme Park Thomas Land shop on Saturday as despite knowing the above, I still managed to forget a train, but I am glad I did as what I bought fit the track better :-)
He did spend some time at the breakfast table with me - it wasn't all at train tables as above. He even ate a whole plate of scrambled egg, despite being ill all night. I was happy as that meant he was set and energised for day 2 in the theme park.
We sat there till Daddy came down at 9!!! (he promised he'd be down at 08:40) and we even stayed with Daddy till 09:30. I then sent the two of them out to the gorgeous hotel garden so I could go upstairs and tidy the room. Daddy said "pack don't tidy" but for me you cannot do one without having done the other and the room was trashed a mess, despite us staying only one night. Despite being up there from 09:30 to 10:00 we still didn't check out until nearly 10:30. They didn't tell us off, which surprised me, as check-out is a strict 10:00 (which also surprised me given it was a Sunday). Every hotel I have ever stayed in does 12:00 check-out at weekends. Ah well.
The train tables do get very busy and children do fight over track space, until they start to learn to move around each other so do expect to have to supervise and ideally get a table near where they will be:
In the morning, there's a really convenient walk from hotel to theme park:
You start to see attractions as you walk along which builds up the excitement!
Drunken Barrels (below) is the first ride you come to but it's very average... we did not do that Saturday or Sunday as we experienced it in October.
On day two I went on the LONDON EYE lookie likey and loved it:
I don't want to make this review grim, but basically when he woke up, from that sleep I show you above, he vomited. I somehow could tell it was coming, and got him to the bathroom, so all the bed linen was saved. All day he'd been too excited to eat, so all he brought up was his bottle of ribena and some of Daddy's crisps that he'd eaten. So, it was NOT anything he'd eaten whilst there if you get what I mean. He then came into our bed, (I had the opportunity to get his PJs on - Thomas ones OF COURSE) and to cut a long story short, it happened a few more times. These times the bed linen was NOT saved, so I had to make many calls to reception. Their patience, understanding and help was way beyond the call of duty even taking soiled ones away (which I'd dumped in the bath) so as not to smell out the room. It came across as really considerate, but maybe they were also thinking of not having a smell linger for the next guests. The beds had waterproof mattress protectors on, so I needn't worry about soiled mattresses. I said to the hubby that it was actually a good thing it happened there and not at home, as at least it wasn't adding to our laundry pile and we could focus on Aaron and not on worrying that we were running out of changes of bed clothes. Each time he woke he insisted on drinks, as he was dehydrated but they each in turn came up (ribena as above, then 3 oz of a bottle, then orange juice). I went and got a bottle of water from reception and he woke me every half hour for the whole night having a sip each time, till morning when the whole bottle was gone. He kept the water down, and thanks to its recovery properties WAS able to spend a day in Thomas Land the next day.
Thank God I brought 3 pairs of PJs (two of them Thomas) as we did need the two Thomas ones!
In our bed before later going back into the sofa bed. Oh what a night!
It did take it out of him though, so he did have an afternoon nap on Sunday even though he's grown out of them:
This gave us chance to walk back from the tea shop near Spencer's Adventure Playground, to the main park and have a wander before he woke up. I will do a separate blog post about our time at Thomas Land. It'll be a while yet though, as doing the last Thomas Land review August last year took me 9 hours to put together (due to photo and video content), and I want to edit some great video content for you again this time, even better than my last review. My God, my last Thomas Land review is my 3rd most popular blog post EVER! THOUSANDS of people have read it :-) and I even get emails from the States :-) Pros and Cons of the hotel
Pros
Spotless room, hotel, grounds and restaurant
New hotel
Friendly helpful staff
Rooms with everything you may need (including a safe, fridge, etc...)
Our room was way way nicer than the one we had in October (which was two singles) - this time we had a proper double room AND a sofa bed for Aaron.
Evening kids entertainment was available from 1700 to 1900.
Character Breakfast (we did not try it).
15 Thomas Themed bedrooms (we did not book one).
The Manager of the front desk was on duty Saturday night AND Sunday morning (she finished at 10 p.m. and started at 7 a.m.) so she was available for all of my queries etc... very professional. She was the one bringing me fresh bed linen (until the last occasion after she'd clocked off) and gave me the complimentary bottle of water that kept Aaron hydrated throughout the night (which he DID keep down).
Cons
They don't seem to be consistent with giving the Thomas welcome pack - we did not receive one.
Check in does feel like checking in for a flight, with a script that they roll off similar to "have you packed your own bag". It needs to be a bit more theme parkie, but I guess I am particularly fussy about this, having experienced Butlins. There probably wasn't time for them to say much more to be fair, given that I had Aaron in the buggy who was impatient and a queue of people behind me, same.
We got a newspaper on Sunday morning, which we were charged for and did not request, despite them being free in the restaurant (I still have not read it - oooops)
The checkout of 10 a.m. is really wrong in my opinion. I would like a lie-in, leisurely breakfast and the option of checking out by 12, although with a theme park to head off to, maybe that's NOT such a good idea actually.
