Playmill in Cromford

We have tested quite a couple of play centers around here and one of our favorites is the Playmill in Cromford. It is a genuine hidden treasure, not only because it is so great for little kids, but also because it is rather difficult to find. I am really glad that one of my friends took us there, because we would probably still be cruising around, had we been by ourselves. The place is located in a fantastic building, squeezed into the valley that surrounds it and feels a bit off from everything else. To reach the parking lot you have to drive up a very narrow, curvy and steep driveway and I had several moments when I silently questioned Ls state of mind, because it looked nothing like a place where you would expect a play area.
 

 

And yet it was and a very nice such indeed. Not enough with being located in a cool building, it also gets a bonus for its free parking, which is quite rare around here. The entrance fee of 3.80 P/child is also acceptable, given that you are unlikely to do it every day.

What I really liked about the Play Mill is it´s open space. It is roughly subdivided into 5 areas, the climbing frame, an open area where kids can ride little tractors, trikes and the like, a big sandpit, a place for babies and really small children and a cafe, where the parents can sit down and sip a cuppa, while being able to overlook the whole area.

 

Our kids went straight to the sand pit and played happily with the little diggers, spades and buckets for a really long time. With no fights at all! It was awesome, not only because the kids got along so well but also because L. and I got to have a proper adult conversation, with complete sentences and no interruptions or lost threads.

The thing the kids enjoyed second most was the climbing frame with nets, "bumpy stairs-cases" and a twin lane slide, where they could slide down next to each other, holding hands.

We had a marvelous time and I really hope we manage to go there again before we leave England for good. (Whenever that is, but that is a different story.)

Eat me, I am good for you!

They stare me in the face and shout "Wowwowow, not so fast lady, are you sure you just want to walk past us. Have you really had your share?". Or so it seems.  I am talking about all the fruits and vegetables in the supermarket, which proudly carry their big labels "one of your 5 a day".  Most of the time this strategy of selling their bodies works; at least on me. I nearly always grab some extra berries, apples or other fruity looking stuff, just to make the echo of  the "Have you REALLY had enough?"-thought stop. It´s not that we have an unhealthy diet in this house, but for some reason I am always worried that the "supposed-to-be-fruity-ish" side on our plates is not big enough. How much are 5-a-day anyways? One grape is certainly not enough and neither are 5 blueberries. So, what is? 

After being quite annoyed by this ever-returning, nagging question I finally turned to my good friend Google and he found the answer on the National Health Service homepage for me. So once and for all:  

One adult portion of fruit or vegetables is 80g and the portion a child needs correlates roughly to the amount they can fit in the palm of their hand...

...and even more details on the exact portions can be found here. Problem solved. From know on my dear fruits and greens you can flash me as much as you want to but you will not manage to overtake my cart against my will ever again. If you are nice however, you can still get a ride with us, just because we all like you.

This said, it´s time for me to go. Have a lovely day you all!

PS: For those of you who wondered, wine does not count as your 5 a day, no matter how much you drink. Sorry guys!

Common sense has left the building

One of S. favorite CDs is called Benjamin Blümchen as a pediatrician. It’s about an elephant (who is very famous amongst German children), which has to substitute for the real, measles-stricken, doctor.

My favorite part is, when a mom comes into the clinic with her daughter, complaining that the child is always tired and does nothing but read. Benjamin tries to find out what is wrong with her and starts to ask her questions: " What is your favorite game at daycare?" Instead of the girl you hear the mom holler: "Daycare??? My Kathrin does not go to daycare. There are horrible kids that could teach her bad words!" "Oh" says Benjamin "ok, no daycare... mhhh, what do you like best at the playground then?" "Playground???" you hear mum shout "We do not go to the playground. Kathrin might climb on things and fall and scratch her knee!!!" Benjamin starts to get a bit desperate "But...but...äh, do you like to ride your bike then?" "Ride her bike, are you crazy? That is way to dangerous, she might get run over by a car...!" Benjamin looks at the girl and says:  "But what are you doing all day then, when you are not allowed to play, to be with other kids or ride the bike?" "Well, I lay down on my bed and read", says the girl. Benjamin's cure for her is a receipt that ordinates  going to the playground, playing with other kids, climbing and scratching her knee at least once a week.

Isn’t it brilliant? It makes me chuckle every time we listen to the CD, because it so nicely illustrates the apparently increasing over-protectiveness amongst parents and also the society per se.

I have previously written about the fondness of kids-harnesses over here and seeing a kid strapped into one still amazes me time and time again. I just cannot understand why people prefer to have their kids on a "leash" instead of just holding their hands. Is it really that dangerous to walk around?

Unfortunately, I could not find any numbers on accidents related to harness-less kids that escaped from their parents, while on a walk and got hurt but instead I stumbled upon a UK-wide poll from 2007, which found that half of 7-12 year olds have been stopped from climbing trees 21% had been banned from playing conkers and 17% were not allowed to play chase. Amazing, isn´t it?

It really makes me wonder how those kids will do later in life? It’s not like life gets nicer the older we get or that dangerous situations no longer exist. How will those children know their limits, if they never get a chance to test them? Looking back to my own childhood, some of the best memories I have involve trees, rivers, woods, playing chase and bike rides around town. And yes, of course, I fell and cried, got bruises and scars but do I look at those moments in regret? Not at all. Seeing my scars is more like a trophy, a daily reminder of the great times and the freedom I had as a child.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that one should not be careful at times and it is important to do some risk assessment before you let the kids do certain things, but at the same time it is necessary to not only focus on the dangers but also on the possibilities. The two go hand in hand. Always. In your life as well as in that of the children. The more children are deprived of those choices, the less likely are they are to learn judging situations for themselves. And that, in my opinion leads to, that we turn into a society of chickens, afraid of everything and seeing dangers lurking in every corner. Risk taking is a big NO NO and our boundaries are getting tighter and tighter and soon we might not even be allowed to use the toilet before reading the safety instructions.

 Luckily, we are not really there yet but our awareness/fear of new threats and hazards from hitherto unknown sources increases by the day. This is the latest example I stumbled upon the other day in our local Waitrose store:

Who would have known they are such vicious little bastards!

Honestly, who wants to live in a world where you have to have signs like that? Where is our common sense? Did it die and we did not realize it? Or is it just me, thinking this is crazy? I would love to hear your comments.

Rhubarb crumble

Rhubarb season has finally started and nobody is happier than me. I LOVE rhubarb. Love how the fantastic combination of sweet and sour tickles your tongue, how the green and red colors of the stems melt into each other and how it seems to have summer written all over it.

I spied my first rhubarb of the year yesterday (yay!), bought it and turned it into a rhubarb crumble this morning. I used a recipe that I have been using for several years, but being a scientist, experimented a bit with the ingredients. The outcome was tested on 4 moms who, after some rhubarb induced tongue twisting, face bending and eye twinkling, judged it "very good". I agree, this might not be a good indicator, given that the English are generally very polite but 3 of the girls asked for the recipe AND that I count as a sign that they really liked it. If you find it sounds mouth watering you are lucky. I am in sharing mood.  Give it a try, hopefully you like it as well and it is easy as...well...pie. Here you go:

The topping

1.5dl (150ml) white flour

 1.5 dl (150ml) oat meal

 2 table spoons sugar

125g butter, diced

and my additions:

hand full Macademia nuts, crushed

1/3 bar white chocolate, crushed

The filling

500g rhubarb, sliced

1dl sugar (I took less!)

1 tablespoon corn starch

 Preheat oven to 225C

For the filling: 

grease oven proof dish with butter

mix rhubarb, sugar and starch and put it in the oven proof dish

For the topping

Mix all ingredients with your hands or a machine until you get crumbles. Put it on top of the filling and bake for 30 minutes, or until the top of the crumble is golden and crisp. Serve warm with vanilla ice-cream (or something else vanilla-ish).

Enjoy!

"Busyness" as usual

After weeks and weeks of sunshine and blue sky, the English weather is finally back to normal. It has been raining cats and dogs and even little icy haildrops, while the sun has gone into hiding behind dark, gray clouds. The farmers are pleased. I am not. I begged for someone to turn the sun back on, but was rewarded with nothing but angry thunder and lightning. So I gave in, accepted that we would be stuck in our house for the rest of the day, dug deep down into our arts and crafts box, we all turned into creativity mode and tarraaaa, here are some of the results:

Our obligatory quaterly handprints. One from S.

...and one from I.

Modern art, bids are welcome!

Very hairy and "leggy", yet incredibly charming

Artist at work...

Not so artist at work. One finger-full in my mouth, one finger-full on the paper...

... one finger-full on my clothes, one finger-full in my mouth... Well, I guess you get it.

Our fingerprint animals. What they are is up to your imagination alone.

Flower power?

 Mind you, we might not be the most artistic family, but at least we had fun. What do you do on rainy days. Inspire us!

Wales, Wales and more Wales

Rhossili bay and Worms head

I love being at Rhossili beach!

View from Cafe Vista in Tenby - which served not only stunning views but also the best pie I had since we live in England. If you ever go try the Heidi pie. Yolladi-yolladi-yioladi-hoo.

 

Tenby beach

We had a serious amount of digging going on...

...when S. was trying to reach the other side of the world

Peace and rest in the hotel room? Why would we want that? Aaaaaaand action.

Hiking up and down the dunes

Not much can top a nice picnic

On the way back to the beach

Will she manage to throw this rock into the sea? Or one of the other 2472937 that she tried?

We are so funny, are we not?

Beach again! Hooray.

This time we picked the southern part of Wales, after a recommendation from a friend.

Since we were late out with our room bookings, we ended up in a hotel in Swansea, called the Village Prem. After reading some of the reviews, I was a bit uneasy about going, since people had complained about terrible breakfasts, long cues for check-in/ breakfast/elevator and shabby and untidy rooms, but luckily we did not experience any problems at all. Our room had an ok standard and it was definitely a good base to stay for the week. We also had access to a pool and the gym, which was a real treat even though we did not use it very extensively. 

The first day, the weather was a bit so-so and we decided to wait with "beaching" and visited Cardiff instead. Neither one of us knew much about the welsh capital, and it was therefore a really nice surprise to find a busy, easily accessible town, where innovative architecture sits alongside historic buildings. We especially liked one of the gallerias, with cute little vintage stores, cafe´s and a french/italian flair.Very charming.

After strolling around for a bit, we had a nice lunch in one of Jamie Oliver's restaurants. The food was not mind-blowing (yet good!) but the interior design of the restaurant and the staff were awesome. The place was super child friendly, with a great variety of food to chose from and crayons and coloring paper to keep the little guests entertained. Once the waiter arrived at our table S. introduced our family by telling him our first and last names and that we were from Sweden. He looked at her quite seriously, took her hand, shook it and told her that he was pleased to meet her and that his name was so-and-so (I cannot remember) and that he was from Ireland. After some more chitchatting S. got a bit disappointed in him, when he did not know, where the playground was, but he made it up to her, when returning with directions scribbled on a piece of paper just a few minutes later. It was hilarious. 

After lunch, and a stroll through town, we went to visit the castle, which is located in the heart of the city. How it was? Well,  have a look and judge for yourself.

Princess Knight

The main building

What a nice idea, maybe we should get one for home. ;)

Princess S. charming the dragon.

Inside the main house

Lovely the details

 

 

 

All right folks, that is it for now, our apartment requires my attention, as it looks like it´s been hit by a tornado (or two).