Zoo / Farms to visit in herts / Beds & Bucks this summer

We love animals in our house, Chris and i even got married at Whipsnade Zoo in 2008 !! thinking of places to visit in our local area over the summer holiday i thought i would make this post to highlight some of our top five places to visit. ( In no order in ranking id like to add )

woodside Animal Farm

website : http://woodsidefarm.co.uk/visitor-info

Location : Slipend - Bedfordshire 

Day ticket price : Adult £7 : Child £7 ( under 2 go free ) 

yearly pass : Adult £35 / Child (2-16) £45 Family ( any 5 members ) £145

best bits : Funfair rides ( april- August ) Crazy golf & indoor play

worse bits : small park , can be done in a few hours. take a picnic lunch and made a day of it. 

ZSL Whipsande Zoo

website : https://www.zsl.org/zsl-whipsnade-zoo

Location : Dunstable, Bedfordshire

Day ticket price : Adult £28 : Child (3-15) £20.35 ( under 3 go free ) 

yearly pass : adult £121 : child £81 : family ( 2 adults unto 5 children ) £303

best bits : Huge range of animals , daily shows , events , wide open spaces

worse bits : lots of walking ! food is on the expensive side. lots of picnic spaces tho we always take own food in. 

youtube video link to our last visit

Woburn Safari Park

website : http://www.woburnsafari.co.uk/#discover

Location : Woburn park, Bedfordshire 

Day ticket price : Adult £22.99 : Child £15.99

yearly pass : adults £89.99 Child : £64.99 

best bits : Drive around and see the animals up close

worse bits : traffic can build up on busy days so make sure you go to the toilet before heading into the Safari. 

Mead open farm 

website : http://www.meadopenfarm.co.uk

Location : Billington , Leighton Buzzard

Day ticket price : Adult £10.95 : Child £9.95 ( under 2 go free ) 

yearly pass : Adult £66 Child £63

best bits : Hands on bottle feed lambs, sheep racing , Indoor play 

worse bits : based much more around children 10 and under

Youtube video link from our last visit

Paradise Wildlife Park 

website : https://www.pwpark.com/tickets

Location : Broxbourne, Hertfordshire

Day ticket price : Adult £19.80 : Child (2-15) £16.50

yearly pass Adult £85 Child (2-15) £70 Family ( 2 adults 3 children £300 ) 

best bits : huge range of animals that you can see up close, Train , indoor play 

worse bits : set over two parks, side with animals fewer food options.

Youtube video link from our last visit

These are all wonderful places to visit and a great family day out for all ages, we have visited all of these and will be going back many many times. Thank you for reading and any questions please leave me a comment.

EvoShave - Fathers Day Gift Idea- * REVIEW*

Shaving is a daily chore for most of do , but it doesn't have to be one we put off! My husband Chris likes to think he can pull off a beard but to be very honest he really can't ! The whole family had to sit him down and tell him how much of a fool he looked. ** see photo ** So Thanks to his lovely new razor the beard was no more !! 

So when EvoShave got in touch asking if we wanted to review a fathers day designed razor i jumped at the chance. so if  your struggling for a last minute fathers day idea for him or looking for the perfect gift ides for the future. Evo Shave is a new concept razor that has a unique design, created to achieve a close shave with it’s smart designed Evogrip and dual edge cartridge, you can pick from a range of colours and even add images and text. We was sent the blue/green & Gray super dad design 

The idea is so simple behind the razor, The finger grip handle gives your more control and feel while shaving. Chris was very pleased with his overall shave using for the 1st time He did say that it felt strange on the 1st day as its a whole new way of holding the razor but as the days passed its become more and more natural and has reduced his overall shaving time. The bright colours and smart packaging make this an eye catching an fun product perfect for any man in your life. 

You can find out more about Evoshave by visiting the website and can be brought on line via eBay and amazon prices start from £4.99 for the single starter pack unto £24.99 for a pack of 3 handles and  x12 replacement blade packs, The single start packs comes with the single blade already fitted these can last for 2 weeks worth of shaving making them ideal for holiday use. 

Thank you to Evoshave for sending me these items to (make) Chris shave with, I will also be giving the other 2 starter packs to my dad & father in law as part of their fathers day gift. These items have been sent to me in exchange for this review but all views are that of my own. 

Having an ultrasound when not pregnant

I have a medical condition called Endometriosis , This in a nut shell means my body hates me and i pretty much always feel like that horrid 1st day of your period x10. I cramp i bleed i get a lot of pain and I'm always tired ( plus more stuff but this isn't about the endo well not really )

so what is this post about you ask? Well when you visit a doctor and they tell you that you need to come in for a ultrasound the 1st thought that pops into my head is

" But I'm not pregnant "

your appointment letter comes and if you have ever had an ultrasound for a pregnancy you will know the drill. Arrive with a full bladder and to not go to the toilet until after the scan. What your letter most likely won't tell you is that after you've had the scan with the jelly and knicker wetting pushing down on your rather full bladder you will then be told to go to the toilet ( Best wee ever! ) but then you have to go back and get naked from the waist down, The reason for this? well my friend you'll now be having a internal scan. But I've jumped ahead lets go back a little.

so you've got your letter and what a surprise it falls on a day when your working. Que the awkward conversation with your boss / HR about needing time off to go for a ultrasound. be ready for them to wonder if you have a bun in the oven as lets face it that is the 1st thing that everyone thinks of once they hear the words ultrasound. work is sorted and your lovely mum is going to drive you to the hospital as you know you'll be in pain afterwards and can't face the waiting room alone.

The appointment day rolls around and you down your 1 & 1/2 pints of water within minutes you are in need of the toilet but know better. you watch some TV and eat lunch to keep your mind off of the scan and your full bladder.

Once you arrive at the hospital you take a seat in the waiting room along side the pregnant ladies, Some sitting alone and others with family or partners. you'll feel like your waiting for your 12 week scan as your full bladder is given you a lovely little baby bump. But they know your not as you'll be the one without the Bounty folder. They will look at you and you can almost tell that they are trying to work out why else you would be waiting to be seen.

The Radiologist is lovely she will explain everything ( you don't have the heart to tell her that you've had 5/6 scans before not including the ones when you was pregnant ) You will lay on the bed and not look at the screen as you know your not going to see a baby. The idea of seeing a empty womb has always made me feel a little numb inside. The knowing that never again will i get to see a little blob on the screen and hear the heart beating. I am so lucky to have my son tho as i know many women who can't have any children. Then you leave to wee and return for the part you fear the most. The scan isn't as bad as you think but for someone with my problems its no walk in the park. You find a spot of the ceiling and you focus on that. You'll be asked questions about your pain and periods.

Once its all over you get dressed and leave knowing you'll have to wait to find out what was seen or not seem on the screen, part of you hopes they have picked up something on the scan and the other parts hopes not. But you know deep down that something isn't right inside of you, She pretty much told you this herself but you have to wait to speak with the doctor.

now for most this is a time of happiness waiting to get photos printed of the little bundle of joy growing inside of them, for me its time to reflect on what could be growing inside of my body unwanted and taking over my life. The endo cells grow like mould and can never really be fully cleared. they can burn it all away and this has helped in the past but it soon grows back, I wonder if i would be better off without my empty womb all it is doing is hosting a nesting ground for the endo to grow and twist and turn up my insides.

I am 30 years old with a 5 year old son. I would like to start having my life back now, So the next time you see someone who looks to have a baby bump just stop and think that baby bump could be period blot or a cyst she has growing inside of her. please don't assume that if someone is talking about needing to go to hospital for a ultrasound that this means they are pregnant.

I am now waiting for my MRI scan appointment. This i am bricking it about.

my fairy garden - new website & product review

When i was a little girl i spent all of my summer holidays out playing in my garden or down the park with my older sister and friends, When i first saw products from my fairy garden ( made by interplay )  i wished they had something like this when i was the right age, so when given the opportunity to review a my fairy garden i jumped at the chance.

The website is amazing in its own right, with games, meet the fairies , a garden diary and then a page full of the items you can buy. Bodhi and i both took the which fairy are you quiz ( link to the fairy quiz ) Turns out I'm Heather and Bodhi is Blossom the site is full of fun games and make and do ideas. 

                                                                         I‘m Heather

‘Hi, Heather here… My home is really important to me as it is also home to wildlife. There is nothing I like better than going for walks in nature which usually ends up being great fun. My friends and I pick up litter which we wash and turn into treasure for our garden. I also love baking cakes for my friends on their birthdays. Autumn is a busy time of year for my family as we have lots to do to get ready for winter.’

I‘m Blossom

‘Hello, my name is Blossom. I have a spring birthday so this is my
favourite time of year. I love to sing and dance amongst the flowers.
I’m good at painting and making things for my garden. I like spring
because flowers start to grow and birds sing and lay eggs.’

We was kindly sent the grow & play fairy garden. You get a whole range of items to make your own garden perfect for indoors or outside play. The pack of grass seed is a lovely touch. We have gifted our garden to Bodhi's cousin who has just turned 8 and loves all things pink/fairies and anything girly. 

you can buy online for £14.99 this kit is the best seller, They also have many add on items such as packs of more fairies ( this one comes with Belle ) I am very much looking forward to helping out with the making of this set with Bodhi's cousin, Last summer Bodhi and i did a DIY Dinosaur garden i did hope he would want to play with this set himself but I'm sad to say my little boy is turned off by the "girly-ness" ( his words ) maybe a little boy elf is needed to join the group? 

Baker Ross Review ( Spring / Easter / Mothers day crafts )

Bodhi & I are very lucky to be apart of the Baker Ross bloggers Team, we were recently sent some items to review from the Baker Ross Spring Range.


Spring has some many great crafting inspiration dates such as mothers day / Easter / spring flowers / lambing, I love spring and seeing the back of the long cold winter each year we put up an Easter tree and decorate for the event we have been kindly sent the Easter bunny train kit to test out and i will be filming our make of this a little closer to Easter. 


Bodhi was really keen to make the super mum kit so we got stuck in you get everything you need in the kit bar glue ( not really an issues tho is it ? ) 

The kit comes with enough to make x6 mum magents and i for one think that its great that you get a range of skin tones and hair colours for the mums i let Bodhi pick 1st for his ' mum ' and i also made one to give as a little gift to a special mum friend. 

all of the parts apart from the capes come with peal off backing so they are foam stickers ( this is why you need glue for the cape ) its very simple to follow the idea from the packaging to create your own supermum the whole crafting time was only around ten minutes 

I could have left Bodhi to it while he was busy making it a perfect time to pop dinner in and unload the dishwasher. once Bodhi had finished making we glued the capes onto both of our mums and that was that, The yellow haired mum is now living on my kitchen fridge holding up the latest party invite. The kits come in a pack of six  ( £3.95 ) or you can buy in bulk with a x30 costing £18 these would be ideal for nursery/school/playgroups for mothers day makes we are going to use the x4 that our left for card making for mothers day. 

After we had packed away Bodhi wanted to do some more arts & crafts so we started off our creative colouring flower wreaths these come in a pack of six for £2.50 and i am a little bit in love with these and very much looking forward to putting these up around the house once they are all coloured in. 

The website has a huge range of products from kits like these shown to bare craft items such as foam sheets / card i really do feel that spending some screen free time with your child is key to a happy family life i really enjoy getting the colours out and sitting at the table with Bodhi. 

Thank you once again to Baker Ross for our box of items. 

What I love and really LOVE about my husband

Now I really do love my husband ( wouldn't have said yes to marring him if I didn't ) but sometimes he really drives me up the wall with things I "love" about him so I thought with today being valentines days I would list them down !

Things I "Love" 

His late night love affair with his phone and candy crush ! I would also like to add the brightness of his phone screen is like that of the sun so all I see while trying to sleep is flashing lights ! 

How his socks end up next to the dirty washing basket ....everything else makes it in just the socks don't ??? 

Same for the dishwasher we havnt had it long so maybe he is getting used to it still? But by putting your plate next to it and saying your helping me really isn't love ! 

When said what he would like for dinner the reply " whatever/ I don't mind / you pick " isn't at all helpful  just suggest something I will of course say no and cook what I want to eat but yeah.

After working a late shift coming home to find he has eaten the last of the cheesecake ( other food item ) that I have been thinking about for my whole shift.

Now things that I really do LOVE about my husband 

He puts me and Bodhi first he will do overtime and get up at silly o'clock and never wakes me up when he leaves

He always stays up until I am home from work in the evenings to make sure I get home safe

He calls me every lunch time for a little chat and asks about my day

He will give foot / back rubs when asked and does a pretty good job 

He lets me rest when I'm poorly and doesn't moan ( too much ) about the state of the house on my off days.

So why don't I tell him more often about the things that I do love about him and maybe moan a little bit less about that things that piss me off ? Well .... Because I'm a female ..... But Chris ( I doubt your reading this ) but I really do love you ! Just please put your stinky socks in the washing basket !!!! 

baker ross - simple craft idea for counting - After school activities

With Bodhi starting school in September i am keen to help him on his learning path, He isn't overly keen on learning and keeps telling me that school is boring and that he doesn't want to go to school so i am trying my best to help him in anyways i can. I set up this simple after school activity for him to help with his numbers & counting. So thing i felt would be simple and he wouldn't see it as learning. 

We used the woodland friends foam stickers for our activity 1st thing i asked Bodhi to do was to sort out the stickers into same groups and to then count out how many of each he had biggest to smallest. This could be done with a range of the stickers from bakers ross the pack we used can in a pack of 100 for £2.99 

Next i showed Bodhi the page with the numbers on and asked to him add the right number of stickers to the numbers, He did this with no problems and taking off the backing sheets was also a great for fine motor skills.

Once finished, Bodhi counted out all of the stickers from the page, We also enjoyed the leaf sand art kits also from Baker ross ( £3.49 ) for a pack of 5 i didn't get a chance to take any photos of this project tho as this was a little bit messy !!! But the out come was lovely and we both enjoyed sitting at the table together and crafting, much better then watching the TV or having iPad time after school if you ask me!

I am a member of the Baker Ross Blogger Network and received this product to review