On our way to Cornwall before our holidays we always break up the long drive from Birmingham by staying overnight about half way….. on inspection of a google map the first time we planned the journey Longleat Safari didn’t seem too much of a diversion and so after a quick search on booking.com to find a hotel we booked our tickets online and set off early on a Sunday morning, arriving at the grounds to the Estate by 10.30am.

Longleat is simply breathtaking, the Estate is extensive and the safari park is just one of the attractions…. you know you’ve arrived when you spot the magnificent house…. parking is just behind this and lots of people were picnicking right in front of the most glorious statue – we decided to explore the outdoor attractions first to stretch our legs and take advantage of the sunny day, and pulled into the ample car park just behind the house. Don’t forget to keep hold of your tickets as you need these at various attractions in and around the grounds to participate.

A short walk from the car park we found the main square, from which there are eight different animal zones to explore.

Plentiful food options, gift shops and toilet/changing facilities. Each zone is uniquely designed and extremely well planned to not only provide all of the animals with comfortable enclosures but also to deliver a great guest experience.

Longleat is by far the busiest zoo we have visited, but with so much to explore it didn’t seem crowded and the different attractions such as the boat trip across the lake and the mini train ride are so well managed that a short queue for these wasn’t stressful even with a two year old – the train station had a clear sign displaying the time of the next departure which helps massively.

We opted for a fast food hut lunch as we had lots of our own snacks – fairly reasonably priced but nothing particularly different to any other theme parks – however we did note that the square entrance had a cafe/restaurant and there were many other options but with an excited two year old we didn’t want to sit down for a meal.

I’m going to share three highlights from the square – Firstly the “jungle cruise” because I didn’t expect to see the seals quite so close up, and have the opportunity to feed them too. Never mind the whole host of other animals you encounter along the cruise. The commentary was entertaining and informative this is a must do whilst at Longleat.

Arlo’s favourite zone was the monkey zone because this is the location of the walk through Lorikeet enclosure and where we also found the parrots too. This was the first chance had to get up close to the animals and he was amazed.

He has experienced the lorikeet feeding before at West Midlands Safari Park but this time he was extremely brave and confident enough to hold the nectar for the birds to sit on his arm – and after this he has been talking about birds non-stop.

Daddy loved walking through the brand new Koala Creek. This is a fairly calm zone compared to the others and great to wind down a bit after all the running around to just stand and watch Koala’s having a little snooze, they’re such lovely animals, and this latest addition to the Safari Park is worth exploring.

After a few hours we returned to our car, following directions around the estate to the drive through Safari, again showing out tickets before receiving a CD and purchasing a guidebook.

The CD is self explanatory, with commentary for each section of the experience which you can pause whilst you take in each area. Again there’s so many different areas it’s impossible to mention everything, but my favourite by far is the monkey section – you have to see it to believe it – but don’t do this if you have a car which you treasure because monkeys are partial to a window seal, wiper blade or anything else they can play with. (you can bypass this area).

The drive through is quite lengthy and we stopped many times just to take it all in, watching lions lounge, tigers pounce and flamingoes just being fabulous – the estate is so beautiful that it’s awe inspiring to just look around at the views as you journey through, and I would make sure you allow yourselves plenty of time to go around just so that you can make the most of this experience.

After all of this, there’s one more zone we like to explore and that’s the African Village. If you’d prefer to do the safari park as soon as you arrive in the morning then there is parking and a cafe/toilet facilities in this zone – we doubled back on ourselves to sit and have an ice cream at the end of the day whilst watching the giraffes from the platform, and there’s also a lemur walkthrough here to enjoy as well as my favourite gift shop.

We sat and talked about our favourite animals from the day for a long time at the giraffes, they’re just so relaxing to watch and the perfect way to end your visit to the safari park.

Just a short drive from the safari park through the estate is the beautiful Bath Arms which is a countryside pub with several rooms. This was the perfect place to rest for the night – shortly after check in we sat in the gardens with a cold drink and enjoyed the last of the afternoon sun, booked a table in the restaurant for later and went for a walk along the winding country lanes to “geocache” – (I’ll write another blog about that in the future).

Our evening meal was delicious, and exhausted after a long day we retired to our room, which was beautiful, with a huge bathroom and extremely comfy bed. After a peaceful night’s sleep we enjoyed a full English breakfast in the pub. Nothing was too much trouble for the team, with extra care taken with Arlo’s breakfast as the little fuss pot demanded different jam for his toast. We hit the road to continue our journey well rested and satisfied tummies.

We can’t wait to return to Longleat, there’s so much to see and do that it’s the kind of place we will visit time and time again as a family.

Today we had a little tantrum during bath time when I approached Arlo’s tangled locks with a hairbrush. He’s been getting fussy lately and I don’t like to hear him say “ow mommy, it hurts” and so I decided that after two and a half years it’s about time we book in for his first hair cut.

This Barnet of his is clearly out of control – so I did a quick search for local kids hair dressers and came across Trimz and Tantrumz and booked us in for a first hair cut experience.

The booking process was all online and I chose the £16 option which includes the cut, a keepsake lock of hair, plus a certificate and a balloon.

We arrived at the salon in Halesowen a little early and Arlo was really excited to get in the door because he spotted the car seats and bright interior straight away. Whilst the hair dresser finished with her client I sat on some comfy seats whilst Arlo rushed through to the play room and it was fabulous to observe the friendly and gentle manner which helps put the kids at ease.

The first thing she said was “you don’t want me to cut all his hair off do you” and I was so relieved to hear this – glad that she liked his blonde fluffy and tangled Barnet because his style is “divisive” to say the least. Arlo was invited to choose which car he wanted to sit in and at first opted for the “bat mobile” – and the cut commenced.

The cut itself was extremely efficient, Arlo barely had time to notice as he happily munched an apple whilst watching a cartoon on the screens ahead of him. He did however decide he wanted to switch seats and try out the airplane which was no trouble at all – in fact even better as this one had straps which we could use if he decided to move around!

It almost seems ridiculous to go and only get a few millimetres of hair chopped off but I wanted to get Arlo used to the hair salon environment and hair cut process so that we don’t struggle in the future – the trim immediately made his hair appear healthier – I’ll leave the big decision making up to him – I’m sure he will have no problems letting me know when he wants to chop his curls off but today was not that day!

As his cut was finished he received his certificate and he seemed very proud of himself! The whole process took no longer than fifteen minutes and we’ll be back again for another trim soon, but with the care advice and product recommendations we received today hopefully the fluff won’t get quite out of control again!

Thank you Trimz and Tantrumz – his curls have bounced back up already!

Based on the award winning book by Mick Inkpen – the MAC are hosting a beautiful adaptation of this children’s classic over the festive period this year. Bought to life by The Slot Machine Theatre this is a unique style of puppetry theatre which is a perfect introduction for little ones to live performance.

We were kindly invited to attend a performance this weekend and share our experience and what a wonderful time we had. Arlo is two and a half and at this age their attention span is fairly limited so attending a theatre performance is something you think on paper would not be suitable for a child – however he was mesmerised from start to finish. Fifty minutes was the perfect show length for us.

I had ordered the book from Amazon prior to the performance and we have been reading the book at bedtime to get Arlo used to the characters and the story before our outing on a suitably blustery Saturday evening. I also took along a scarf – many children attended our evening performance in onesies and PJ’s and there was a distinct buzz of excitement in the atmosphere before the show.

We arrived early and managed to find a parking spot quite close by and also had a browse at some craft stalls in the atrium, before heading to the bar area to enjoy a drink and a snack together before the show. The atmosphere was festive throughout the centre with various events taking place and beautiful warmly lit Christmas Tree and decorations on display.

The route to the theatre through the atrium was decorated with paw print stickers on the floor which was extremely fun for all of the little ones to follow and stomp along to and we took photos in the cut outs too.

The corridor outside the theatre was decorated with the most wonderful murals and illustrations from the book, Children were oooing and aaahhing at the characters and Arlo loved the little Robin most of all.

The tannoy announced the opening of the doors to the theatre and we found our way to our comfy seats fairly quickly. The stage was set – a mysterious huge white square raised in one corner and this helped set the scene through the performance, becoming the “Big Hill.”

The tone was calm and soft throughout the show, which suited the story perfectly.The actors bought the puppets to life with songs and excellent voices which suited the characters perfectly. The songs were brand new and perfect for the performance, and Kipper had some wonderful dance moves too!

It’s fascinating to see children react to live theatre, with so many special effects on screens these days you wonder if visual concepts on stage will work or if they will say “it’s a puppet” – during the show I took a moment to look around the theatre and saw so many engaged little faces during the snow storm.

There were jokes for all ages, and audience participation when deciding how to decorate the top of the Christmas tree – for me however the best bit was seeing Arlo on the edge of his seat when one of his favourite characters was lost in the snow storm, and how relieved he was when they were found.

I really enjoyed the projected visuals of the snow angels – I can’t wait for a snow day so that we can get out and about to make these just like Kipper…. but I know I’ll probably end up falling over like Tiger!

The performance was 50 minutes long which was perfect for us, and as Kipper curled up in his bed at the end of the show we felt relaxed and ready to head home for a hot chocolate before bedtime and Arlo has been insistent on wearing his scarf since we saw the show.

Kippers Snowy Day is showing at the Mac Theatre until 31at December. Click the link to purchase tickets.

Our tickets were kindly gifted to us, however all opinions expressed in this review are my own.