Southsea

Considering I lived in Portsmouth for a couple of years it’s surprising what you discover when you go back with a different pair of eyes! We went to Southsea today, parked for free just off Eastern Parade and had a cheap day out full of fun.

We started off by visiting Portsmouth Natural History Museum (yes that was new to me!) which is just near the Canoe Lake.  It isn’t huge, but it is free and Isaac loved it. We spent about an hour pottering around looking at fossils and bones, doing jigsaws, looking at things under a microscope and meeting their dinosaur.  It’s also just got a brand newly renovated butterfly house on the side with some lovely big blue butterflies.

After that we headed outside. There is a nice gated play area with splash fountains, zip wire, playground and lots of hills and grass and places to picnic.  I think there is a larger splash pool further West near the Pyramids, but this one happily entertained Isaac and wasn’t too busy even for an August Sunday when the sun was shining.

We went for a paddle on a swan boat on the Lake – 20 minutes for £7.50 was reasonably expensive, but as everything else around the day was pretty much free I decided it was worth a treat – although my legs may not forgive me tomorrow!

We went for a play on the beach and threw stones in the sea – a necessity for a 4 year old boy.  Some brave sole was even swimming!  And then we headed back via stopping at the bouncy castles and slide (apparently also essential) – £2.50 for 10 minutes.

All in all, despite being suckered into paying for the boats and bouncy castle, plus two ice creams (it would have been rude of Mummy not to get one too right?) it was a fun and cheap-ish day out.

Warmwell

Spent a lovely week (well bar 24 hours of Isaac puking in a cafe, McDonalds and his bed in the middle of the night!) staying in a lodge at Warmwell in Dorset. Our lodge was one of the further ones from the centre of the camp which made it quiet, although to be fair the camp never felt crowded at any point. We hit it lucky with the weather for the week too.

The park had lots to keep Isaac entertained, including free toddler sessions, a big pool with wave machine and flume, a giant soft play centre with bouncy castle/obstacle course, outdoor play areas and a ski slope… although one of his favourite pass times was stealing money from Daddy to play the Whack a Minion game in the arcade!

We spent most days going out and about exploring, rather than staying on site, but it was nice to have plenty to keep Isaac entertained where we were at base camp.  He absolutely loved the swiss bob sledges and the staff at the ski centre were friendly and didn’t clock watch so we certainly got our money’s worth too. It’s a shame that things on site opened or started quite late (usually about 10am) so it meant if you wanted to do those it was difficult to do as well as going out somewhere.

Overall a lovely place to stay, with plenty to do in the area. Some of the entertainment was a little cheesy, but you could avoid that if you wished.  The food in the restaurant was good and reasonably priced – we wanted to try the fish and chip shop too but that seemed to close quite early and we missed it the night we fancied going.  The shop opening hours were also quite short, compared to I guess what seems the norm everywhere now – there was a Coop a short drive away, but I’d recommend getting your shopping in early to save the need for any evening drives.