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.)

Peveril Castle

Having a little princess living in our midst, we have to make sure to expose her to some proper princess environment every here and then. And boy, what a good place England is to do so. Castles, castle ruins and ruins that may have been castles plaster the whole country.

We decided to visit a place called Peveril Castle, which is only marginally more than a stone´s throw away from where we currently live. It is really, really old (founded soon after 1066) and lies on top of a hill, from where it overlooks a cute little town called Castleton and large parts of the peak district. The weather was fantastic and already the drive to Castleton was a joy. The peak district seems to turn greener and greener (with lots of white "sheepish" spots in it) by the minute and offers a fantastic scenery.

Once we arrived in Castleton, we took a little stroll around town and decided to grab a bite before climbing up to the castle. We managed to track down a really nice little pub, called The George and were lucky enough to get outside seating as well. Sunshine, good food and a Bitter shandy and the world is your friend! I could have sat there forever, especially since the kids were little angels and behaved phenomenally well.  S. had a long and very serious chat with the people at the next table while I. just sat and happily popped one pea after another in her mouth. Everything was sweet, sweet harmony, almost like in a TV commercial.

After we had refilled our energy depots we decided to get going to conquer the castle, but on closer inspection it looked like more of a challenge than expected. It was not only quite steep, but it also seemed to be "off-road". No problem under normal circumstances, but we had not chosen our equipment very wisely and stood with a pushchair instead of a baby carrier. Buhuuu, so, what to do? Go up anyways or have the princess see her castle only from afar? "go, go, go" I hear you mumble and "go" we did. After a short chat with a very friendly lady in the ticket office, we realized that it might be possible to climb up after all. In her words "a few people had managed to get up with pushchairs" and even though this sounded a bit like a king telling his knight "a few people have managed to pass the dragon", we decided to give it a shot.

It turned out to be much easier than expected. The path up was paved and though with many steps, quite pushchair accessible. It took us maybe 15 min to get to the top, and this is with S. walking on her own and blowing a little "trumpet", like the one below, approximately every 10th second. 


We finally entered the place through the remains of a gatehouse and ended up in the main courtyard of the castle. It is surrounded by the remains of a curtain wall and contains also the rather well preserved keep, the foundations of a Great Hall and kitchens and other buildings. The latter turned out to be a perfect playground for kids that love to climb and S. was kept busy for quite a while. We also had a look at the keep, which I quite liked. It would be the perfect place for a nice party.

After about an hour and a nice chat with a swedish lady, we were all quite satisfied with our visit and returned down to town. We had some ice-cream and headed finally back home to our own little castle, where the princess immediately changed from "normal people clothes" to her princess outfit, mom prepared some quick dinner and dad and I. played "put things in a box". What a nice day!


PS: Our camera batteries did not cooperate during the trip but if you would like to take a peek at the castle just check out some pictures here.

Still alive

and up and running. We have grandpa over at the moment and as he is a very active person we are always on the move hence this low activity on the blog. Together with Grandpa came also the good weather and we had sunshine for 1 (yes ONE!) whole week. Fantastic. I wasn´t aware those long sunny periods exist in this area but we have used them wisely and did things like biking, running, walking and taking a trip to a Park called Conkers, which is an hour away from here.

Conkers is prevalently designed for kids and as many people had told me about it I was very keen on taking the kids. It is a really nice set-up, they have a great museum and a big outside area with different activities for kids of all ages. Unfortunately though, especially the outside area was quite shabby. The playground seemed really old and, well lets say, well-used, with isolation material sticking out, coloring that has come off and plastic handles and such that have definitely seen better days. Likewise, the labyrinth was not at all a labyrinth (we hardly understood what we were looking at) and other activities were broken. The train that connects the different areas was not working either, which was a bit disappointing especially for S. My last complaint is the restaurant, which really sucked. They had no healthy options for the kids. The lunch box contained only chocolate, super-sweet juice, crisps and a choice of either sandwich, chicken or fish fingers or a hamburger. No fruits, no greens. I really regretted not bringing an own lunch. Also our food was more than poorly prepared. My father in law had a soup that tasted nothing but pepper and my jacked potato locked more like a sad and wrinkled piece of coal.

Anyhow, before sounding to much like a bitter old b... that is rambling on about everything negative I should probably give the place some credit as well. Fact is that we spend a nice day at Conkers and especially the inside area is great and very well taken care of. S. loved the play area which resembles a jungle that is co-inhabited by fairies and spiders. There are lots of nets, tunnels, obstacles to climb over or under and for the bravest among us there are pitch dark slides that take you back down to the lower level. All very exciting. Also the museum was very informative, thought through and nicely done and I learned the one or the other. They also had some information on nuclear power, which was interesting with regard to what is going on in Japan. So taken together, it was a successful excursion and we all had a good time. AND the fun doesn´t stop here. Today we are going to go swimming again. Yiha! I will tell you more later, now it is time to get our things packed! Packed die Badehosen ein!!!

Also, I will write a bit about last weeks Shrovetime later on. Just need to upload a couple pics because they say more than a 1000 words.