Living in London is absolutely where my husband Jonny and I want to be at the moment, he’s a musician and that’s where the work is and although I’m definitely not ready to give up the hustle and bustle yet, it is nice to get out of the smoke and have the odd break in Norfolk where we’re both from. Aside from everything else it’s just a real luxury to be able to say to someone “Can you have Florence for a bit while I have a sleep/go to the gym/have a bath/go out for a drink…” Someone of course, being my Mum! I wonder if you ever get too old to rely on your Mummy? I hope I never do and I really hope that Florence can rely on me in years to come the way I do with my Mum. She’s flipping fabulous and as we’ve been staying with her this week she’s completely excelled herself by doing all the sewing for my new business venture of making gorgeous baby tabards. They are soon to be made in India in large quantities so I think my Ma will be most pleased to hear she can close her sweatshop down in the breakfast room and resume her usual service of tea making and giggles for our next visit… It’s not all been business, business, business this week though, we’ve done a lot of fun things too! I bought Florence a sand and water table for the garden, we don’t have any outdoor space at home so when she comes to her Gram’s I want her to have as much fun in the garden as she can and as the weather here has been utterly brilliant she’s been having an absolute whale of a time! She’s been a bit spoilt for choice with all the garden toys actually as my Mum seems to have an addiction to buying things for her, lucky girlie! We’ve also been out and about sampling the delights of the toddler clubs in Norwich where Florence deposited a toy rain maker in my bag and I didn’t find it until we were half way home – whoops! (We’ll bring it back next time we go)! Aside from that we also had our new regular Thursday day out for the under fives! Hope you enjoy reading about it…

When I realized that we were going to be in Norfolk this week I got in touch with the team at BeWILDerwood, advertised as a curious tree house adventure park in Hoveton near Wroxham and they very kindly invited me and a gaggle of my gal pals and little’un friends to come and try the delights in their forest of bewitching magical-ness. We arrived to bright sunshine and glorious greenery all around us and as we entered the park we were met by really enthusiastic and helpful staff meaning the day got off to a really promising start. It’s hard to put into words what BeWILDerwood feels like because it is, for all intents and purposes just a foresty woodland with walk ways, play equipment and water but actually it is so much more than that, it really is a treat for all the senses not just the visual. It is however, done in such an understated and un obvious way that to try and draw you a picture with words couldn’t possibly do it the justice it deserves. When you enter the park on stilted wooden walkways that take you over a bog and river and into a play area of such gargantuan portions it invoked in me the need to climb and swing and scurry along precariously high netted beams and I’m supposed to be the adult, goodness knows the excitement that must have been felt by my gang of under fives consisting of two 17 month olds, a 20 month old, a new born and two 4 year olds. In every nook and cranny and up every tree there’s something to see! Be it tiny doorways leading to teeny steps up the trunk of an old tree that would take a small creature, Crocklebrock or Twiggle on to it’s very own walkway above your heads or a charming display of shoes dangling like Christmas baubles from an over grown tree branch. There are surprises around every corner including every so often something glistening and shining on the floor with a trail of sequins that who knows where it came from? The first play area we arrived at next to the stage for story telling and just past the Scaaaaary Lake is specifically for the under fives, one of two areas designated specifically for toddlers called Toddlewood Valley, the second being Toddlewood Hill. Here we had perfectly sized slides and swings with a combat net to climb over and all set on fun hills with their very own miniature walkways. Our little ones LOVED it while the two four year olds, a couple of Mums and eventually my little girl danced high above us on a par with the tree tops as they followed an elevated assault course finished off with a daring slide… (It might be best to note here that one of us found out that a short skirt and a fast slide don’t mix particularly well)!

As we moved round the park more and more delights unfolded, zip wires for not only the big kids (including me) but also tiny ones with special baby seats for the littler visitors and I have to say with our lot they all went down a treat! When we first arrived we noticed there was a large group of disabled children, one of my friends is a teacher for special needs children and she wondered on our first arrival if it wouldn’t perhaps be quite a challenge for children with disabilities to enjoy BeWILDerwood but by the end of the day I think she was considering a class trip. There is a special play area, not devoted to because as with everything at BeWILDerwood it was open to all, but geared up for children in wheel chairs and with walking difficulties and actually I can’t think of somewhere I have been with better disabled facilities. All the staff were on hand to help the children who weren’t able bodied go on the slides and experience everything along side their able bodied friends so in that respect the park just cannot be faulted. It was right by these giant slides that we decided to stop for lunch, we had a great big picnic table which we all sat round and had our home made food with a cup of tea from the café which at £1.50 was really quite reasonable. After lunch we all split up into different areas of the park, the boys went back to the zip wire (I had another go on the slide) the little ones went and played in the exceptional second toddler play area which has another gorgeous little walkway leading up to a tiny house, two slides and a sand pit and my sister in law sat under a covered in area with loads of bean bags and comfortably sat and nursed her 12 week old baby in privacy yet she was still able to see us all. We all re grouped for the Twiggling and Boggling at 1.30 in the big hut which is a chanting, dancing, ribbon twirling extravaganza lead by the staff at the park. Even my tiny baby nephew enjoyed the dancing (or his mum did) and we all had a brilliant laugh! We were just about to go and join in with the story time when the heavens opened and scuppered our plans but we can’t blame BeWILDerwood for that now can we! So we missed the interactive story telling and subsequently were too early for the boat meaning we had to miss it as by now we were all soaked through and just couldn’t wait any longer. It was just a shame they only had one boat on today or we could have made that our last activity of an already very fun packed day.

All in all BeWILDerwood was a great experience and to be honest I don’t think we even saw a half of it! Apart from the story telling and missed boat trip there were also countless other things like the tunnels that we just didn’t have time to investigate and will have to save for another day, but it’s always better to leave wanting more I say! On balance, after talking to my friends we concluded that if you have a super confident walker then BeWILDerwood is totally worth the entrance fee of £11.50 for adults and children between 105 and 250cm, £8.50 for children between 92 and 105cm, and free below that. There are various concessions and annual pass packages that would be well worth looking into and it must be noted that Dad’s get in for free this Father’s Day, 19^th June and what a day out it’d be for them, a total Dad heaven! We decided that if you had a less confident toddler you may wish to wait until they were a little older before taking them on their own but that if you were going as a family and had children of older ages they would still get enough from the day to make it worthwhile taking them. I would take my little girl again in a heart beat with or without older children in tow, she loved every minute and for her capabilities it was brilliant! The only down side and negative I can say about the park would be that the baby changing facilities were less than splendid, not particularly clean and in need of a bin change but it could just be that we arrived right at the wrong time. I wouldn’t want to taint an otherwise brilliant day by making more of the issue than necessary as everything else really was spot on! If you’re on holiday in Norfolk this year, live close by or just don’t mind a bit of a drive then get yourself down to BeWILDerwood this summer, as a day out with under fives go, it’s gotta be up there with the best, a hidden gem! Check it out for yourself next time you fancy a bit of boggling and twiggling at www.bewilderwood.co.uk.