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This tranquil donkey sanctuary with signed paths and a shop and picnic tables is home to around 100 rescued donkeys. Some were taken in injured, some had been mistreated or simply abandoned and others were exhausted after a life as taxi donkeys or rescued from poorly managed zoos. The spacious sanctuary covers several acres and the donkeys look so happy. An ideal day out for children who can adopt a donkey (but not take it home, of course) for as little as €20. Our blind donkey Alberto sadly died but we then adopted Leon who is doing well. The British run refugio is a subsidiary of the sanctuary in Sidmouth, Devon.
Signed from centre of Fuente de Piedra, nr Antequera, Malaga Province, Spain.
Fuente de Piedra Railway Station
www.elrefugiodelburrito.com
Pull on your brightly coloured gnome hat and leave your cool ironic detachment at the door. The Bradworthy Gnome Museum and Reserve, in the wilds of north Devon, is not for the faint-hearted, but it will give you and your childen more laughs per minute than any other small museum in the UK. There is not just an indoor museum, devoted to gnomes of the past, there are also four ares of woodland and wild flower gardens with gnomes of all shapes and sizes round every corner and lurking up quite a few trees. And when you collapse, mentally exhausted, to round off your visit with a classic cream tea, you can marvel at the fact that you have just visited the only museum in the UK to have been proposed as a candidate for the Turner Prize.
The Gnome Reserve
West Putford
Nr Bradworthy
N Devon
EX22 7XE
01409 241435, www.gnomereserve.co.uk
Arising out of the shocking statistic that in Cambodia, 1 in 7 children die before the age of 5, an organisation (Friends Without A Border) was set up enabling a hospital to be built & opened in 1999.
A number of local restuarants / bars / hotels support the hospital. We found pamplets / collection boxes at the Khmer Kitchen restaurant and resolved to make a donation to the hospital when we got back from Cambodia. Our small way of trying to help.
The Friends without a Border has a centre which people can visit to learn about the work of the hospital.
Friends Centre, Acha Mean Road, Svay Dangkum Commune, Siem Reap [between Sivutha Boulevard & PPokambor Avenue].
www.fwab.org [for online donations]
A theatre company for children that actually does what it says. No clever remarks/jokes aimed at the adults, but instead a clearly understandable story with songs, audience involvement and lots and lots of fun!
Brunton Theatre
Ladywell Way
Musselburgh
East Lothian EH21 6AA
The Centre National de la Mer is a vast aquarium on the northern edge of Boulogne Sur Mer and a good place to take children and young people.
It offers a broad experience of the world of the oceans, as well as showing hundreds of species of fish and marine mammals in spectacular tanks, against which you can press your nose to the (toughened) glass as sharks or barracuda swim by, alarmingly close.
Adults may find it a little too didactic an experience because, in typical French fashion, there is a very great deal of information presented to you, both at the start and at every stage of your visit. It is also rather hot and, again, adults may find that, like me, they are forced to visit the excellent bar to refresh themselves before returning to the Everglades, or the Deep Oceans or whichever part of the Centre they were at when the need for sustenance overtook them.
Children, young people and adults with energy and curiosity will enjoy Nausicaa enormously.
Nausicaa, Centre National de la Mer, Boulogne Sur Mer. www.nausicaa.fr
Long gone are the days of my childhood, spent hunting for huge, edible pink crab with my great-uncle on the rocks of West Pentire. However, Vugga Cove on Crantock beach still holds many delights for rockpoolers, young and old.
This archipelago of pools is a tapestry of oxygenating wispy lime green and the burnt umbers and siennas of bladderwrack. Skylarks sing overhead as you hunt with bucket and net for fish and crab. The tiniest of creatures await to be inspected; sea lice, baby translucent fish, shrimps. Two-inch long stickleback and little shore crabs lurk in crevices.
Later, hot and sticky from the chase, you can swim in the warmed waters of Peggy's pool before the tide sweeps in to cover it.
Crantock beach, near Newquay, Cornwall
You sit on the side of the harbour and dangle a net/hook into the water and wait. After a while you pull the line back up and hope there's a crab or two hanging onto the end. You can buy a crabbing line from nearly all the toy/corner shops around Padstow for about £1. We found that by tying and net or an old vest onto the hook and filling that with 'welks' you caught more crabs as they attached themselves to the net. You can buy welks from the local fishmongers for a pound a pot. Or simply ask to have the leftovers of the fish parts which they will give you for a small contribution of 50p or so. Another tip is to take a fishing net, as we found the crabs fall off. So once you pull the line out of the water, put the net under crab and it will fall off into it - then you can put it into your bucket filled with water and watch them move about. Once finished crabbing however, then done thing is to take your bucket to the waters edge and tip it over and watch your crabs run back into the water. It's so much fun, and if visiting Padstow harbour, this is one the the things you MUST try.
Harbour Office
West Quay, Padstow, PL28 8AQ
01841 532239
About three miles east from the pier at Herne Bay are some fantastic rock-pools. They cover a large area and are entirely made up of weirdly flat boulders, so it looks a platform game. You can happily spend time jumping from boulder to boulder, or playing games to work out the quickest way to the sea without stepping on the sand. The boulders are covered in weed though, so be careful you don't slip.
Best of all, there are lots of little rock-pools between the boulders with crabs, anemones, little shrimp-things etc. And the flat boulders provide the perfect standing platform to watch them all.
The whole place was totally deserted on a warm Saturday in June - a hidden gem!
Once you head back to Herne Bay, Ernie's Plaice does excellent fish and chips (eat on sea-front) or you can have a classic Knickerbocker Glory sat in one of the kitschy red booths at KC's Ice cream parlour. Their chocolate-orange ice cream is especially nice.
Turn right (as you face the sea) and walk along the sea-front, then down onto the beach when it finishes. Rock-pools are about 3 miles from the centre of town at low-tide only. Or you could drive to Reculver Lane and walk down from the church car-park (much closer).
You’ll find plenty to do in the city of Bologna itself, but you can take a day trip if you hire a car to Mirabilandia, which is about an hours drive from Bologna.
Mirabilandia is a theme park with its own beach area and beautiful gardens but most people visit Mirabilandia for the fantastic thrill rides.
This family owned and run ski chalet with direct ski access and fantastic creche is where we spent our best holiday ever in New Year 2009. My eldest started on skis; my little one loved the wonderful nannies at the creche.
Skiing was excellent with the portes du soleil right on your doorstep. Each evening, after the chalet served a delicious children's tea, we got the kids in bed and enjoyed the superlative cordon bleu dining and excellently chosen French wines served in the chalet.
The owners and staff were great, the atmosphere warm, friendly and helpful and the service exceptional. Delightful en-suite rooms, ideal for families. Our starlight plunge in the hot tub was one of the many highlights!
The Disney Photopass is available in Disney World, Florida (I can't yet confirm the other parks). It is basically a free barcode to get photos taken by Disney photographers around the parks.
It's free to get the pass - there are photographers all over the parks (including the water parks) and they will take your photo for free. They will also often use your camera as well, if you ask nicely.
The first time you have it done, they give you a photopass. This is a bar code (and ID number) to identify your photos. You can then use the same pass for every photographer around the parks and they all go to the same account. Then, register online and it is possible to browse through the photos they have taken (or in one of the photo stores in the parks and Downtown Disney). You can pick photos for prints or - recommended - get all of your photos on a CD.
The photo CD is around 140 US dollars including tax (Feb 2009) and you get three "free" 7" x 5" prints with it. This seems a lot, but if, like me, you are never in any holiday photos because you are keeper-of-the-camera then it is a great way to get some nice snaps to prove you were there. Once you have bought the cd you can make as many prints/copies as you want at home/via cheaper printing outlets (you buy the copyright licence with it). In fact as long as you are not using them commercially you can pretty much do anything that you want with them.
I did it for the first time this February (as a couple) but it seems to me that if you are on a group/family holiday you can easily get 100 photos of your group in a week and split the cost between a few of you and it becomes a really economical way to get some lovely photos. There are also enhancements, such as Disney borders that you can add to copies of the photos. The online editting is pretty good and there are even some magical additions (such as Tinkerbell) that can appear in your hand, etc - which although cheesy are surprisingly nice in some photos.
www.disneyphotopass.com/, Walt Disney World, Florida
This tour will take you down paths less trodden and provide you with a different outlook on Rome and its superb landmarks. The tour is taken at night and, as mystery and your imagination take over, the guide will provide an entertaining side to the capital that you are not likely to get during the day. Particular landmarks explored include the Corso Vittorio Emanuele II and the beautiful Campo de Fiori. This is a really cool way to explore this magnificent city, especially if you have children.
Sant'Andrea Della Valle Church - Corso Vittorio Emanuele II
A new purpose-built children's theatre (2006) with two auditorium just behind the London Assembly Building by Tower Bridge. It consists of a main stage and studio theatre.
The Unicorn Company was founded by Caryl Jenner in 1947 to promote theatre of the highest standard for young people. They are presenting their own productions with their ensemble company and productions from other children's theatre companies from the UK and places like Japan and Sweden.
Tooley Street
www.unicorntheatre.com
Box office 020 7645 0560
Every time we go to London we love to visit the science museum (South Kensington) and have such a special time walking among space ships, planes and many more; will not miss the basement area where there is a lot to do like experiments with water, foam house building etc.
If we can we will treat ourselves and book the IMAX tickets. Then we walk through Hyde Park heading to Selfridges on Oxford street where the top restaurant (Food Garden Café) has a range of yummy stalls like pancakes, Lebanese, Japanese, Chinese, baked potatoes and fresh fruit juices and smoothies. It's real treat, and kids love to choose their food.
After food we'll go to the floor with children's clothes and toys, which is really unique. Around Christmas they display a lot of pedal cars and other traditional toys for children to try and it's very special.
www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/visitmuseum.aspx
www.selfridges.com/index.cfm?page=1186
Located on the shores of a lake in Killaloe just outside the city. Fab place - beautiful decor with picture windows. Great steaks, a huge menu and wine list and the kids loved the pizza from a real fire oven.
Killaloe,
Co.Clare
061 622790
If you are visiting Córdoba with children take a ride in a horse drawn cart, the kids will love it and you will get to see this wonderful Andalucian city in peace and comfort. if you are nice to the driver he will even let the kids ride in front and lead the horse - with a little help!
Very friendly country where the people love children. We visited Nizwa and enjoyed the goats (through we didn’t let on what would happen to them), the Wahabi Sands and small villages and finally the Green Turtle place. We all enjoyed it immensely and it possibly is the most child-indulgent place we have been to in a while.
Ciao Bambino is an online guide to family-friendly vacation properties with many accommodations in Italy. I used them to research a family reunion trip for 17 people. It's easy to use and has age appropriate ratings - this is great if you have toddlers/small children and need things like highchairs, cribs, etc. Many of their properties are apartments with hotel amenities which is a great combo.
Cushchine Cottage is a small, family-friendly, beautiful, self-catering rental set within an animal farm park. It's ideal as a base for all of Kaikoura's attractions (about a mile from the town centre) and includes free access to the Farm Park, and you can help out with their early morning feeding.
The cottage has two bedrooms (sleeps up to seven), an equipped kitchen, lounge with wood burner, sofas and TV, free use of a gas barbecue and fabulous views of Mt Fyffe. Towels and bedding are included, and it only costs $100-180 a night (depends on numbers and time of year).
We spent two nights in a more expensive motel, before staying an extra night in the rental cottage. We enjoyed it so much, we chose cottages for the rest of our NZ trip!
Ask them about a lovely walk to a nearby river, less than a mile away, with two huge natural swimming pools - it's a local secret!
12 Kowhai Ford Road (about 1 mile from Kaikoura town centre)
03 319 5033
www.cushchinecottage.co.nz
A superb family-oriented farm park run by a lovely english couple. They've a wide range of farm animals (wallabies, llamas, ponies, lambs, donkeys, rabbits, ducks, horses, peacocks, chickens and chicks, guinea pigs, chinchillas... the list is practically endless!).
The aminals are super-friendly, and come right up to you. They offer free pony cart rides, and you can help bottle feed their younger animals. It's a cute, small, personal kind of place, with magnificent views of snow-topped Mt Fyffe.
We ended up there when our Whale Watch trip was cancelled and, to be honest, our kids are still talking about it, and have long forgotten the whale trip which they didn't appreciate at all (amazing when you consider the whale trip was about ten times the price!). It's not as 'flash' as another park we visited in the UK, but the hands on experience was truly memorable, and became one of the highlights of our NZ holiday. They've also got a small beautiful self-catering rental cottage - we loved the place so much, we stayed an extra night in their cottage and benefited from free access to early morning feeding and free farm park entry. The kids loved it - shame we didn't know about it before we arrived.
12 Kowhai Ford Road (about 1 mile from Kaikoura town centre and railway station)
03 319 5033
www.cushchinecottage.co.nz
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