I always have a lot of questions about accommodati I always have a lot of questions about accommodation when we stay anywhere as a family so I thought I’d share this little tour of our room at @windjammerlanding which was a pretty perfect place to stay.

It’s the ‘Ocean View Two Bedroom’ which was like a little house, with an upstairs and downstairs, built into the hillside. Both rooms had outdoor space and their own shower rooms. Such a great option for a family.
A little photo dump from our holiday in St Lucia. A little photo dump from our holiday in St Lucia. We’ve been back a few days now but still miss the heat, the food, the pool, the constant sounds of wildlife and the lovely people. It was such a great holiday and I’m sure we’ll be back one day.
And just like that, Athena is 12! What a joy it is And just like that, Athena is 12! What a joy it is watching her grow and what a wonderful young woman she is becoming. We could not be more proud. Love you Pickle, have a great birthday.
We’ve just got back from two glorious weeks in S We’ve just got back from two glorious weeks in St Lucia staying at @windjammerlanding and it was just the holiday we needed. Two weeks of sunshine and relaxation in what must be one of the most beautiful islands in the world. 

We can’t wait to go back again in the future. Here’s just a little snippet of our trip.
AD - Press Tickets | We had such a nice day at @na AD - Press Tickets | We had such a nice day at @national_motor_museum despite the rain! The children loved the Little Beaulieu play area and we loved exploring the National Motor Museum and Top Gear exhibit before having a ride on the monorail! We went on an old open topped bus, explored the Beaulieu Manor House and loved the gardens. 
Beaulieu is always a great day out - whatever the weather. This summer they have a whole ‘Summer of Fun’ planned, with activities most days - parades, bird shows and hundreds of sculptures within the grounds too. If you’re looking for a day out this summer definitely think about heading to Beaulieu.
AD - Press Tickets | Tonight we took the kids to t AD - Press Tickets | Tonight we took the kids to their first concert - but it was so much more than just a concert! @abbavoyage is incredible. With CGI ABBA and a live band, it’s like being at an ABBA concert 40 years ago but with modern lighting, effects and sound. ABBA look and sound real, it’s a mind blowing experience.
The set includes all the songs you know and love as well as a few less familiar ones.
You can’t take photos during the show which actually made a refreshing change. A whole arena focused purely on the show and soaking up the moment. It’s definitely something the four of us will always remember.
Now, I’m off to sing Dancing Queen all the way home.
AD - Press Trip | We had such a great day at @phdo AD - Press Trip | We had such a great day at @phdockyard today. They have a fantastic Ultimate Explorer ticket that lets you visit all the attractions as many times as you like for 12 months - and after a day at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard we can see that you need more than one day to really do everything!

We explored HMS Warrior, HMS Victory and the Mary Rose Exhibition - which is incredible! We also saw where ships are built and restored and spent time in Action Stations where the kids climbed and did an assault course.

Portsmouth Historic Dockyard is such a fun, educational day out with something for all ages - we can’t wait to go on their harbour tours next time we visit!
AD | WIN!! Would you love to win a holiday? To cel AD | WIN!! Would you love to win a holiday? To celebrate #100YearOfARoads National Highways have launched their #ARoadsToSummer competition! It's all about celebrating summer holiday moments, time together, fun in the sun, days out and more.

So why not be in it to win it? To enter, all you have to do is send @nationalhways a DM on here with a photo or video of your favourite holiday moments. You can also comment on their Facebook or Twitter #ARoadsToSummer posts with your holiday photos. I've shared a few of our favourite photos to give you some inspiration.

The best six entries will each win a £500 @nationaltrust holidays voucher! SO what are you waiting for? Dig out your favourite holiday photos or take some new ones to share!

The #ARoadsToSummer competition runs from 24 July to 10 September 2023. Winners will be announced in September 2023.

Good luck!
Oh these two! Every day I feel lucky to have them. Oh these two! Every day I feel lucky to have them. As school draws to a close at lunchtime, I’m looking forward to a whole summer with them. My favourite people.

They’ve both had a great year at school this year. Troy’s first without his sister by his side and Athena’s first at secondary school. 

They both had great reports, always did their best and have made some really lovely new friends this year. I could not be more proud of them.

Now, let’s go and enjoy the next six weeks before school starts all over again!
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Christmas, Days Out, Days Out and Attractions/Events, Reviews · November 29, 2016

A Winter’s Tale Christmas at Chessington World of Adventures Review

Disclosure: We were invited on this day out for the purpose of this post however all opinions are my own.

I used to live a ten minute drive from the Chessington World of Adventures resort and I went a few times as a child but hadn’t been back for over fifteen years until we were invited to review A Winter’s Tale, this year’s Chessington Christmas event.

As with all theme parks, they pretty much close from October to March but Chessington World of Adventures’ A Winter’s Tale Christmas offering gives you the chance to visit the park in winter, see the park lit up and dressed for the festive season.

When we arrived at the park it was so quiet and there was plenty of parking. I took the children’s double buggy but they could have probably walked although there are lots of buggy park whilst you’re inside so that you can leave your pushchair and enjoy the activities.

A Winter's Tale at Chessington World of Adventures - map
Reading the Chessington Maps

What is Father Christmas like at Chessington World of Adventures?

Our first stop was to go and meet Father Christmas. This is always a highlight of any festive day out and I have never seen such happy and realistic elves as we did at Chessington World of Adventures.

A Winter's Tale at Chessington World of Adventures - elves
Friendly elves!

They were all so lovely and friendly and they each had their name stitched onto the back of their cloak. They were fantastic!

We were led up a path through Christmas trees which made you feel like you were in the forest and elves showed us the way, chatting to the children throughout until we reached Santa’s cabin and we were invited inside.

A Winter's Tale at Chessington World of Adventures - more elves
A Winter's Tale at Chessington World of Adventures - elves

The cabin was quite large and the children got to spend about five minutes with Santa, telling him what they’d like for Christmas and talking about whether they’d been good this year.

A Winter's Tale at Chessington World of Adventures - Santa's cabin
Santa’s Cabin

They were each given a gift and had a photo taken and then we were led out of the cabin and back into the woods in search of reindeer. On our way another elf gave the children a bag of Organix treats and we had a chance to look at the photo with the option of buying it for £10.

A Winter's Tale at Chessington World of Adventures - Meeting Father Christmas
Meeting Father Christmas
A Winter's Tale at Chessington World of Adventures

We had a look at the reindeer but they were inside away from the cold but there were opportunities to have your photo taken with the reindeer at various points during the day.

Instead, we headed for the SeaLife attraction and had a great time looking at the fish and underwater creatures with the kids being most excited about spotting Nemo and Dory!

A Winter's Tale at Chessington World of Adventures - Sea Life
Sea Life Aquarium

What is the special Christmas Pandamonium Live show like?

It was then time for the Christmas Pandamonium Live show. I’ve never seen Pandamonium before and so had no idea what to expect but it turned into a really lovely live action show based around a Christmas story being read where pandas come to life just for one day at Christmas.

A Winter's Tale at Chessington World of Adventures - Pandamonium
Pandamonium Show

LP and Little Man loved the show and they really enjoyed the audience participation – singing along, doing a special wish dance, helping to decorate a Christmas tree and feeding the pandas. It was a great show that could be enjoyed at any age.

Are there animal shows on at Chessington at Christmas?

After the show it was time to watch the sea lion show and the children loved watching the sea lion glide through the water, jump out, play with toys and do funny things for the audience – there was a lot of cheering and laughing from the crowd throughout.

A Winter's Tale at Chessington World of Adventures - Sea Lion Show
Sea Lion Show

We then went to explore the other animals, taking time to look at the gorillas – and there were so many more than I was expecting with plenty of young ones too. Sadly, the windows of the enclosure were quite fogged up due to the cold and so it wasn’t very easy to see some of the animals that clearly.

There were also tigers, lions and other smaller animals to look at in the same section of the park. The children always love looking at animals so it’s great that you can see the ones at Chessington World of Adventures pretty much all year round.

A Winter's Tale at Chessington World of Adventures - Tiger
The Chessington Zoo

What other festive activities are there?

By this point we were pretty cold so headed for the Elves’ Kitchen where the children were able to decorate gingerbread biscuits. This is a really sweet activity and had biscuits in snowman and train shapes for them to decorate.

A Winter's Tale at Chessington World of Adventures - The Elves' Kitchen
Elves’ Kitchen

The icing pens were quite hard for little hands to use so LP and Little Man gave me instructions on how to decorate their biscuits and we had a team effort. They were pretty pleased with the finished biscuits!

A Winter's Tale at Chessington World of Adventures - Decorating gingerbread
Decorating Gingerbread
A Winter's Tale at Chessington World of Adventures - Gingerbread train
He chose a gingerbread train!

I took the children into Hocus Pocus, the ghost house, and one of the only rides open. Sadly though I think, even though they were allowed to go in it that I wouldn’t take them again until they were older – let’s just say there were tears at the end.

But, walking around and seeing the penguins made it all better. LP loved seeing the rest of the animals – the penguins, giant guinea pigs that I always forget the name of and marmosets.

There was also a children’s petting farm but LP and Little Man were too cold by this point to walk around it and were happy to look from afar.

A Winter's Tale at Chessington World of Adventures - Animals
A Winter's Tale at Chessington World of Adventures - Otter Feeding
Otter Feeding
A Winter's Tale at Chessington World of Adventures - Penguins
Penguins

The whole of Chessington World of Adventures was beautifully decorated, with a big Christmas tree and bows and lights everywhere you looked. It was such a lovely, festive day out and you could easily spend a whole day there – watching animal shows, seeing animals being fed and just enjoying your time in the park at a much quieter time of year.

A Winter's Tale at Chessington World of Adventures

One thing that always irritates me, though, is having to pay for parking at theme parks. I paid £3 to park and on top of this the barrier opened automatically when I left – so I paid needlessly which is always frustrating. I think really, £3 for a car of 2+ people, each paying a large amount to visit Chessington is an expense that shouldn’t be necessary.

But, for £20 each I think that the Chessington World of Adventures Winter’s Tale is great value. Each adult ticket includes a hot drink and a mince pie or biscuit, under one’s at free and the children come away with a nice present from Santa too. Compared to other Santa visits I think Chessington has a lot to offer and we would definitely consider going again next year.

Chessington also has a short break Santa Sleepover experience available in the Safari Hotel which includes time in the Savannah Splash Pool & Gym – great for a rainy day. You can find out more here.

Here’s a little video of our visit:

Winter's Tale Christmas at Chessington World of Adventures

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

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Comments

  1. Plutonium Sox says

    November 29, 2016 at 10:04 pm

    Ah this looks like a nice Christmas day out. It’s a shame there weren’t a few more rides open though, I think my two would be a bit disappointed about that.
    Nat.x

    Reply
  2. Laura - dear bear and beany says

    November 30, 2016 at 6:11 pm

    I didn’t know Chessington did a Christmas event, it looks like they offered a lot and that is great value. We went in the summer and I was surprised how much both my girls could go on. And yes I was frustrated that I had to pay for parking!! x

    Reply

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