AD | Christmas has arrived at @thelexiconbracknell AD | Christmas has arrived at @thelexiconbracknell and there’s so much to entertain the whole family whilst you do your Christmas shopping! 

Visit The Lexicon Glow Room for a magical light experience that will dazzle you with 20,000 LEDs. It feels like the room goes on forever! Then, take a dip in the Light Pool, a magical ball pool with golden balls to be found and prizes to be won!

If that wasn’t all, have a photo in the giant Christmas bauble ‘sparkling selfie station’ and follow the Twinkle Trail, spotting baubles in shop windows to collect the clues and enter to win fabulous prizes this Christmas. Plus, share your sparkling selfie station pictures, tagging #thelexiconbracknell or email them to marketing@thelexiconbracknell.com and you will automatically be entered in a competition for the chance to win a restaurant gift card too. 

There are also special performances from local choirs, bands and singers and even the chance to meet Bluey, Hey Duggee and Chase from Paw Patrol! You can be sure that a trip to The Lexicon will have something for everyone over the festive season this year. We loved our visit to The Lexicon last weekend and know we’ll be back again before Christmas!

Find out more on @thelexiconbracknell website.

#TheLexiconBracknell #Merry&Bright
AD - Press Trip | What a lovely evening that was! AD - Press Trip | What a lovely evening that was! We had our first Glow Marwell experience tonight - and we loved it. It may even be the best light trail we have been to.

We spent well over two hours at @marwellzoo, enjoying the light installations, indulging in the food stalls and cafe, toasting marshmallows and even meeting Father Christmas! 

Glow Marwell was such a nice way to kick off the festive season - and it’s on all the way through December! If you’re looking for a really nice festive activity the whole family can enjoy, this could definitely be it!
AD | Are you looking for gifts for the grandparent AD | Are you looking for gifts for the grandparents this year? @famileo_uk is a wonderful gift, giving the recipient a personalised gazette of family news regularly throughout the year - and it costs from just £5.99 a month. 

Multiple family members can use the same subscription, all posting messages to be added to one gazette - and sharing the cost of the subscription too! It’s great for parents, siblings and children to all share their news with grandparents each week, fortnight or month. 

We’ve been sending my dad Family gazettes for a while now and he absolutely loves them. It means we tell him all the little things that are happening and not just the big news you remember to mention in phone calls. The children get to upload their own messages to their grandad and it’s definitely made them feel closer, building a stronger relationship despite living far apart.

Find out more about Family over on the blog - link in bio - and buy a subscription for your nearest and dearest this Christmas. It’s a gift they will definitely love to receive.
Two weeks of Fred & George! I won’t be doing the Two weeks of Fred & George! I won’t be doing these updates every week but I like having somewhere to put all these photos!

They’re now three months old, super loving and happy, making biscuits and purring constantly.

They stay in ‘their’ room overnight but explore the house during the day, getting more confident as time passes. They even got to the point of relaxing on the sofa with us last night.

Fred & George are now very much part of our family and I can’t imagine them not being there now - even at 7am when they’re miaowing at the door for breakfast!
AD | Stuck for screen-free entertainment that your AD | Stuck for screen-free entertainment that your kids will love? Claim your FREE Banjo Robinson activity pack today!
 
Reading for pleasure is a key indicator of a child’s future success, but if your child doesn’t love to read, what can you do? We know it’s not always easy keeping kids entertained and away from screens, so we’ve partnered with the award-winning @banjorobinson to gift you a FREE activity pack, worth £9.99.

Here’s a little look at the Banjo Robinson subscription - Troy loves it! Travelling to world with Banjo is so much fun! You can read our full review over on the blog and claim your free activity pack too - link in profile.
A whole week of Fred & George. We weren’t meant A whole week of Fred & George.

We weren’t meant to get more cats just yet but sometimes the universe sends you things when you don’t expect them.

These little guys needed a home and a family to love them. And we had a home and a lot of love to give. We still miss Leia but this pair are definitely helping make me feel whole again.

They are both used to us now, and love us. They’re less nervous, give us cuddles and let us pick them up. They’re still living in our spare room but starting to explore the rest of the house under supervision. 

They play fight constant. Love toys, especially a crinkly feather thing on a string attached to a stick, and love being up high. They are an awesome pair and we are so glad to have them.

Thank you @millbrook_rspca @rspca_official for trusting us with ‘Lonestar and Starfish’. We could not love them more. 

#catsofinstagram #catstagram #catsofig #catsofinsta #catlovers #adoptdontshop #rspcarescuecat #kittensofinstagram #kittens_of_instagram
[AD - Press Trip] I’ve just finished writing abo [AD - Press Trip] I’ve just finished writing about our half term break at @pottersresort and it’s over on the blog if you want to go have a read.

I wanted to put some of my favourite photos on the grid too as the kids did so many fun activities - they had THE best time. 

Giant swing, segways, climbing, archery, laser clays… there was so much to do that we couldn’t fit it all in - we need another trip!
And there ends our October half term - well, apart And there ends our October half term - well, apart from Troy who has a bonus week off!

This half term has been pretty lovely. Troy had his school residential the first weekend and then we had a really lovely few days in Norfolk before heading home and picking up two new members of our family - Fred and George. 11 week old rescue kittens who have pretty much stolen our hearts.

It’s been so nice to have a chunk of quality time with this pair and now I’m looking forward to the Christmas holidays. These two are the best company and I really do live for the school holidays. 

How has your half term been?
[AD - Press Trip] We’ve loved spending half term [AD - Press Trip] We’ve loved spending half term at @pottersresort in Norfolk. With great food, an action packed schedule of entertainment and activities plus everything included in the price of your break - even drinks - it’s a fantastic way to holiday as a family, giving quality time together in the nicest of surroundings. 
I’ll write a full review soon but for now here’s a little Reel  of our trip.
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Days Out, Days Out and Attractions/Events, Reviews · June 11, 2020

Social Distancing at Kew Gardens

We haven’t been out of the house much since lockdown, literally only to our local park. Every nice place to walk or have a picnic near us has been flooded with people from what I’ve seen shared on social media so it has felt safer to stay at home.

But when lockdown was eased and many gardens were allowed to start offering ticketed entry I booked for our family to go to Kew Gardens. I hoped it would be a lovely and safe day out for us and a step towards getting back to normal.

Kew Gardens promised reduced numbers, social distancing, all indoor areas closed but plenty of outside space to enjoy. Toilets and refreshment stands. But how would it actually work in practice?

We booked a 10am entry time which gave us a 45 minute time slot to arrive at Kew Gardens in Richmond, London. They have time slots all day from when the gardens open until a couple of hours before closing time. We parked easily on a side road opposite the gardens – free at weekends – and queued up at the Victoria Gate entrance. There were colourful flower stickers to show people where to stand to remain 2m away from others.

Kew have created a one way system for arriving and leaving the Royal Botanic Gardens. The main entrance, Victoria Gate, is entrance only and you cannot leave that way. there are other exits – Elizabeth Gate and Lion Gate – that are just for leaving the gardens and you can’t get in at them however, Brentford Gate is open as usual for both entrance and exit. It all works really well and has plenty of staff making sure people adhere to the rules.

When we got to the front of the entrance line we were shown forward to a booth, held our booking info up to a staff member who was behind glass – tickets are all booked online – and helped ourselves to a map.

There was hand sanitiser available and we didn’t come into direct contact with anyone at any point. The member of staff briefly told us what parts of the gardens were closed and where to find toilets and refreshments before we started our day.

A huge part of Kew Gardens are the glasshouses –  Temperate House, the Palm House, the Princess of Wales Conservatory, the Davies Alpine House and the Waterlily House – are closed. These are closed but are incredible to see from outside anyway.

The children loved exploring Kew Gardens and we spent time in the Rose Garden, Mediterranean Garden and Japanese Gateway as well as so many places in between. The Great Pagoda was amazing to look at despite not being able to climb it and Queen Charlotte’s Cottage was beautiful too.

We visited on a pretty wet day so only spent about three hours in the gardens. We saw and enjoyed so much but only really scratched the surface. You could easily spend a whole day at Kew Gardens despite the closures if the weather was nicer.

All the Kew Gardens restaurants are closed and visitors are encouraged to bring picnics with them, taking rubbish home with them afterwards. We took a picnic and there were plenty of places to have it – with benches, picnic benches and wide open lawns throughout the gardens.

There are refreshment stands around the gardens for getting drinks and snacks which we bought hot drinks from. The prices were affordable, it was completely cashless and there was social distancing and a good queue system throughout.

All shops at Kew Gardens are closed, apart from the Victoria Plaza outdoor garden shop, so we couldn’t get our traditional day out magnet – it just gives us an excuse to visit again when lockdown has eased further!

The Children’s Garden play area is currently closed and the children are looking forward to going back and playing in there just as soon as we are able along with the Treetop Walkway.

As you can tell so many things are closed but Kew Gardens covers a huge 300 acre area. It’s full of formal gardens, lawns, forest, water features and just so much to look at that the closures don’t really matter.

Throughout our day at Kew Gardens we felt safe. Everyone abided by the social distancing guidelines, the toilet queuing system worked well and there were plenty of places to get hand sanitizer or wash our hands.

I hoped that Kew Gardens would give us a step back to normality, a safe and enjoyable day out without too many people around and it did just that. It was easy to get to and park, had really safe entry procedures and at no point felt even slightly busy or crowded. I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a day out that’s suitable for the whole family. We can’t wait to go back when the weather’s nicer.

You can find out more about Royal Botanic Gardens Kew here and their sister site, Wakehurst, is also open with ticketed entry. You can read more about their social distancing measures and anything else you need to be aware of here.

Social Distancing at Kew Gardens

In: Days Out, Days Out and Attractions/Events, Reviews

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Hi everyone! I'm Donna. Mummy. Blogger. Social Media Manager. Traveller. Lover of stars, rainbows and gin. Firm believer that tea and cake can fix most things.

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