The Sun newspapers are again giving away small Lego toys with the paper, the voucher can be redeemed at either WH Smiths or Toy-r-us, the vouchers on the Sundays can be redeemed the next day. As I always write and post pictures about these offers, this time I am going to try and post a photo of that toy on each day of the offer, so check back here to see more photos, again you can follow this post of Facebook, click HERE to join.

The toys they are giving away are listed below, again these are great value as the toys would normal be about £5, so just the price of the paper and going to get them again like most of these offers supply’s can run short, so I would recommend getting there early to avoid disappointment.

Sat May 19: Batman Jetski Toy No.  30160
Sun May 20: Batmobile Toy
Mon May 21: Ninjago Ninja Car Toy
Tue May 22: City Race Car Toy
Wed May 23: Star Wars Star Destroyer Toy
Thu May 24: City Police Plane
Fri May 25: City Fire Chief Toy
Sat May 26: Ninjago Hidden Sword Toy
Sun May 27: Star Wars TIE Fighter Toy

Just a quick shot from the grand pier at Weston Super Mare, The other half said it looked like me as I always stick on tongue out when concentrating :-)

We recently went to the Wolseley Centre which is just outside of Rugeley town centre on the A51, it is next to the wyevale garden centre. The Wolseley centre is a great nature reserve run by the Staffordshire wildlife trust. I have been here several times before but it is always a place to keep visiting.  The Wolseley centre was once the ancestral home of the Wolseley  family dating back to the 11th century, you can still see the remains of the foundation of the medieval manor house on the site just next to the car park.

It is free to visit though there is a small donation for parking at just £1.00, there is a small visitors centre with some activities also a little shop and toilets onsite. We got a quiz sheet for the kids to do while going around this was £1.00 in which you had to find signs with a animal on and a letter, that you complete the sheet matching the animals and making a sentence. The kids did really enjoy doing this and finding nearly all the signs.

The nature reserve is great for people that are interested any nature of any type as all different types of plants and habitat for all sort of birds, insects etc. The whole place you can walk around in an hour or so, you can see a route I took on a visit before below:

If map not displayed above refresh page or click to View Wolseley Centre Walk in a larger map

There are loads of thing to look at and really a nice walk around, we all enjoyed the time at the nature reserve and again will visit again at different time over this year as I love to see all the flowers, pants at different times of the year as would be really colourful in the summer, see some of the photo from just that one day visit below.

We recently went to Snibston a museum of discovery in Coalville, Leicestershire, it is run by Leicestershire county council. We decided to go here as one of the kids went on a school trip and she said is was good so we thought would be a great place to visit for a family day out.  Entrance cost is £7.50 Adults, £5.00 Children, £22.50 Family (2 + 2), though if you go to the official website HERE and download the leaflet and print it out you have a voucher for 2″ “0% off admission price. Parking is free on the site and there is ample parking.

Upon entrance to the main building you have the restaurant to the left and on the right is an area that has i assume different art exhibitions on, the time we was there was all different painting and print with all different subject matter.  After paying your entrance you go into the main discovery museum, this building houses all different attractions. The first part is called the extra ordinary galley, in here there are loads of interactive exhibits including using a magnet and a pulley system to pick up a Austin Mini car and how to make electricity using a wind up system. Around the room are older technology items, from a zx81 computer, old camera systems, toys, mobile phone, record player which the kids said to me was ancient and old-fashioned, which really did make me feel old

There is also a small indoor play area for under 5 kids, with a little tunnel to run through, to the side of this you have the light fantastic room with all different things to do with lights from a large plasma ball to an interactive floor that has you move over it changes pictures or interacts with your movement like moving lily leaf plants around a pool as the water moves, or even making a picture like a jigsaw puzzle. Next to that is the toy box, this has displays of older toys, again this brought back some memories from my childhood even thou I’m only 38 i can remember a lot of the items in the displays as well there are a lit of toys and games from older generations of mine.

There is the transport, engineering and extractive industries gallery here you have all type of transport from two Auster light aircraft, buses, cars etc there are also displays of building inc how a coal mine works, there is also a small tunnel that kids can go through that looks like a coal mine.  Some of the exhibits are fully interactive, the kids did enjoy this part.

Then there is the fashion gallery, this has displays of clothes and outfits from all different periods, My partner and the girls really enjoyed this section as so much to look at. you can also pose under different colour lights to see how your clothes look under the different colours and take photos, also different things to do with fabrics, inc design your own weave.

Outside there is a large play area with all different things to do one is a water display were you can open gates and see the water flowing around and into sections, the kids can get a bit wet playing on this, so probably not great if the weather is not warm.  There are also loads of other interactive items to play with,myself I like using the sound domes, were some one at one dome can say something and the person the other end can hear you clearly.

When we went there was the Colliery tour on, this you do have to pay extra for upon entrance, though is only £2.10 adults and £1.30 children. The tour guide was Henry who used to work in the pit, when it was open.  The tour last about 45 minutes, Henry tell you about the mine and how thing work, you go into the control centre and see all the masks and air supplies, you can have your photo taken with mining equipment. The final part of the tour is a reconstruction of what a mine would be like, you have to wear hard hats and have torches, be aware the ceiling is low so be careful, The guide shows and tells you about the mine and how dark it would be without any light, there is also some effects of what an explosion would be like unfortunately the day we went it didn’t seem to work fully.  I would really recommend going on the Colliery tour as it is very informative and both adults and children alike will enjoy it.

We really did enjoy the trip to Snibston discovery museum, as there are loads of things to do and see, you could easily spend the whole day there, opposite the mark museum is also a country park of the Grange nature reserve, we didn’t go there but does look good if you like nature walks etc. So Snibston is a great place to visit and I would highly recommend a visit as the entrance cost is good for what is in the attraction.

We recently went to Cadbury World in Bournville Birmingham, Prices are £14.75 Adults, £10.75 Child  £45 Family (2+2)  £53.00 Family ticket (2 +3) These prices are direct from Cadbury world website which gives you a discount of 5%, On Thursday’s is purple Thursday which gives you a 2 for 1 offer. though we got our tickets using tesco clubcard exchange vouchers see HERE for details on how to do this.

Once you get into the main entrance there are several queuing systems, which can be a bit confusing, as some for pre-paid and normal entrance fees. I would recommend you pre-book your tickets as you are allocated times to go in, and if you just turn up your time allocation maybe a while. there is the gift shop in the main entrance with loads of gifts and chocolate to buy, also with a special discount shop.  The time you go in is displayed on a screen in the entrance, so when your allocated time comes up you have to start queuing. Once you get to the counter to hand your tickets over you get 2 free bars of chocolate for each of you that are going into the attraction. Though if you don’t want to eat them now they  don’t supply a bag, but they do sell there own Cadbury World canvas bags at £2.00.

Once you go in you go through the aztec jungle which are displays of how chocolate developed over the years and about the coco beans, the displays are very good and loads of information boards.  You then go into the journey to europe these are small displays which integrates videos into the small 3d displays giving you a lot of information. then you go into Bull street which is a recreation street, to go into the next part you have to wait for the doors to open at the time of a clock, once in you go through two different cinema rooms with the Cadbury story, one of the rooms the seats move and you get wind being blown to enhance the experience.

You then go into the’ manufacturing and packaging this is where you can see chocolate being made while we was there they were decorating a large easter egg, you get a taster of liquid chocolate aswell.  They show you how to decorate using chocolate and can even have a go yourself. They also show you how they make the shell type of chocolates.  you then go through another part which shows you the chocolate being manufactured and parts of the robots that help package the products up, part of this display went we went wasnt fully operation, but remember this is part of the real factory. You can see another video in a small cinema room about Cadbury’s chocolate again you get a free bar of chocolate.

You then get to go on the Cadabra ride, in which you go around in a cart and go through animated displays, which is good as the kids will really enjoy the displays and the singing of the characters, though there can be a bit of a wait for the ride so be patient. You then come into the chocolate making room where you have demonstration of chocolate being made. The advertising avenue is next where you see the advertising of cadburys chocolate over the years, it does bring back some memories of the adverts from when I was a child, also there is the dj area, with the music and displays of the newer cadburys adverts with the Gorilla playing the drums with in the air tonight from Phil Collins, this was great to see this display also screen with the other adverts with the kids and the eyebrows.

The purple planet part is all interactive things for kids and adults alike to do, including following and boucing balls against a screen, posing so that your shape gets filled up into a plastic mould photo, interactive dancefloor, that changes patterns, and an illusion of a large purple planet, that looks like crumpled up dairy milk wrapper.

That is then basically the end of the tour inside as you then exit into what is the largest Cadbury’s shop in the world. If you exit outside, you can get to the Bournville experience which is mainly a museum about the Cadbury family, and about there values over the years. There is also Essence which is two rooms that show you the story of Cadburys dairy milk and how they came up with the receipe, this is all film onto real life stages. you then exit where you can have a little pot of melted chocolate with your choice of topping, this part can be busy, and make sure you keep your tickets upon entrance to the main Cadbury world as you will need them for Essence.

Also outside is a playarea and when we was there there was a large marque that had a entertainer clown in, the show lasted about 40mins and was great fun for the kids as they do get kids to help on the stage.

We had a great time at cadbury world, this was my first time of going, and I did really enjoy it, if it was a nice day when we went you can have walks around the bournville area and the playground area on the Cadbury site is free to go around even if not going into the main attraction, I would recommend going as the whole family will enjoy the experiance as we did.

While we was on holiday in Exmouth Devon at Devon Cliffs Haven Holiday park we went to the World of Country Life, this is just on the entrance to devon cliffs holiday park, because it was on the entrance we had drove past it a few times, but wasnt sure about going  as was really wet when we was on holiday but we went as we had a discounted ticket through haven so we thought we would go.  Normal entrance fee is £9.85 adults, £7.85 children and under 3′s free.  It is open from 10am to 5pm.

Upon entrance you go into exhibition hall this is a victorian road with different shops, pub, car garage cottage etc which you can go into, all with authentic items, part of the street has period costumes.  there are also working agricultural machinery. The street was great for the kids as they enjoyed looking at the old items, the electrical shop was great with old tv’s, vacumes etc.

Outside you have the animal paddocks with ducks, wallabies, donkeys and miniature shetland ponies, you can stroke and pet these animals and some you can feed if you buy a bag of food in the reception for just a £1, there is the pet centre aswell where you can at certain times feed the sheep and goats and also take the goats for a walk on a lead the kids did really enjoy this especially my daughter who had a goat that kept just running everywhere and she had to keep up with it also you can walk the sheep on a lead but hold tight as they can run quick.

There is a falconry display but unfortunately because of weather conditions the day we visited it was called off, but you could still she the owls etc in the cages. The animal nursery has chicks, rabbits, guinea pigs and mice, also there are the averieres with all different types of birds.

There are loads of indoor and outdoor play areas for kids of all ages including soft play areas, slides even a pirate ship that you can go on, with sand all around and the walls look like seafront shops, there are loads of trampolines around inside and out, so for the kids when there are no activities on will keep them occupied.

There is a deer train safari in which you go on a land train and hand feed the deer and llama’s, we didnt do this as it only at certain times we missed the first one and the next one was at the same time as the lamb feeding and goat walking which the kids wanted to do.  There is the hall of transport with all old cars & vehicles etc, i loved this bit as i like looking at old cars etc, there are even some small replicas, also there are old motorbikes and even the pink panther vehicle.

There are loads of thing to do at the world of country life and I would recommend you go especially if you are stopping at the haven cavarvan park as is only at the entrance, we all did enjoy the visit the kids especially as so many thing for them to do and see, you could easily spend the whole day there, we didnt as the weather wasnt that great and was late that day going out. But was well worth the time and price.

While on holiday in devon we went to Kents Cavern which is just outside Torquay, which is a prehistoric cave, entrance prices are 8.95 adults and 7.95 for children / seniors.  If you book tickets online you can save 15%, unfortunately we didn’t do that and couldn’t book the ticket online on my phone as the mobile internet signal was weak around the area we was stopping. You have to pay for parking at about 2 for 4hrs, just a quick tip depending on which way you would get to the car park if you are coming with the car park on the left it’s a very tight turn to get up the hill into the car park.

The entrance fee gives you a guided tour of the caves this takes about 50mins to an hour, so depends on what time you get there, there maybe a wait to go on the tour, there is a gift shop and a cafe/  restaurant with a nice terrace. there also is a woodland trail that you can walk around, unfortunately the day we went the weather wasnt great and was raining heavily so we didn’t go on the woodland walk. Inside there are kids activities where they can do brass rubbing of different things and boxes full of sand that you can excavate with little paint brushes to find the fossils there are also small stones /gems to find.  There are information boards about the tool that humans have used over the ages from the stone age. This is very informative and enjoyable for the children.

On the tour you are shown in to the cave, our guide for that day was Alan, he was very informative about the cave etc. you are guided around the cave, be careful if it has been raining as can be a bit wet like the day we went and people with walking difficulty’s need to take care in certain parts as some bit steep and can be slippy.  As you are guided around the cavern the lights from the section before are turned off, but if you need to get out for any reason ask the guide and you an get out with assistance.  Like I have said the tour takes around an hour where it explained about the history of the cave and how it was excavated.  You see lots of great thing including a rock formation that looks like a face as in the photo at the top of this post, also stalactites and stalagmites and one in particular that water constantly drips on that is growing year on year but by only  a few millimetres.   The guide also explains about the animal that also would have been in the caves at some point you have lighting  and noise effects, this may be a bit scary for very young children at one point our guide selected someone on the tour to guide to the next part, this on our visit was my daughter who did well though at one point nearly went the wrong way . At one point the guide shows you how much light there would be from two moss candles then show how dark if there is no lighting, which is very dark.

At the end of the tour you are in a part of the cave that has displays of cave men and bones etc, which is very nicely done you can spend as much time in this part as you want. We really did enjoy the tour even though we did get dripped on a bit, but is well worth it as was very informative and a great experience, see some of the photos below, as you are allowed to take photos with or without the flash but are not allowed to take video footage. From the building you can get to coastal walks and at Kents caverns they do have special event for Halloween and also in the summer nights ghost tours, which i would assume this would be great and spooky. All in all I would recommend going even though the main tour is only an hour, but if you get the discount tickets from their website www.kents-cavern.co.uk it makes great value for money, it is unfortunate the day we went the weather wasn’t great else we would have enjoyed the woodlands trail.

While on holiday on our way back to the haven park after visiting Kent’s cavern in Torquay, as it was raining hard we wanted somewhere to go inside we had a leaflet for the house of marbles in Bovey Tracey which is free to visit and also the parking was free. The House of marbles contains three different museums, the games museum, marble museum, and the pottery museum.

Upon entrance you go into the main shop with all different glassware for sale, at the bottom is what is the marble museum, there are four large marble spheres, around the room are three displays of metal marble runs, you just press a button and watch the marbles go around these, they are great to watch and can be mesmerizing.  in the displays are also different types of marbles and information about the history of marbles and even some American gob stoppers that are very highly detailed.  You then go into the Games museum in which there are lots of display cabinets with all old games from over the years as well as some glass wares and marbles again. on the main wall are loads of pinball machines.

From this end you can goto into Teigh Valley glass works which is just at the end of the shop selling the glass works, from paper weights to vase’s etc. you can go up the stairs and watch glassware being made. there is loads of information on the production of glass blowing and explanations of the workshop which is very informative.

The other end of the main shop is the pottery museum, this has displays of all different types of pottery and information with a main model in the middle of the room of an old pottery work, also in the display cabinet are great models of different parts of the pottery making process. In the shop there are steps going up to the second floor and on that wall is a very large metal marble run, at the top of the stairs on the balcony are seats so you can watch the great marble run, which is very detailed and great to watch but is very noisy. the kids and even myself did enjoy watching this.

The shop does have all different items on sale from marble, glassware, pottery clothes and even furniture, though we didn’t buy anything as some of the glassware was a bit steep for us. It is a great place to visit and being free is a bonus, I would have even paid a few pounds to see the museums are there are loads to look at especially the marble runs.  If you are around that area I would recommend a visit as you could spend hours looking at the displays and the metal marble run sculptures.  Outside is even a games garden with large games for both adults and children to play though unfortunately the day we went the weather wasnt that good as was at times torrential rain so we didn’t go outside, there is a nice restaurant there as well. for more details see the official website www.houseofmarbles.com