Days Out in Devon // The Bear Trail

As a child, I don't think there is anything more irresistible than a muddy puddle to jump in, and when we visited The Bear Trail in Cullompton, Devon there were enough muddy puddles for everyone and no parents telling you not to splash it up your trousers!

We were invited along and given our tickets in exchange for sharing our day on Instagram but we had such an amazing experience, I wanted to write it on here so I can look back whenever I want to.  We arrived dressed in our oldest and most stained clothes (including an old school tshirt for Archie that was so grubby it wasn't going to be worn again) and old shoes, with a bag full of clean things ready for afterwards.  The course was self explanatory and we understood we should stay apart from others not in our household when queuing for the busier sections.  The course was big with plenty for everyone though and once we realised the queues were due to everyone wanting to start in the same place, it became easier to stay away and not worry about them.

The children all started to get muddy slowly, first the feet which made them squeal, and then a little splash onto their trousers and within half an hour Dylan was lying in a mud pit pretending to swim.  All four of them took on the huge slide which you accessed by climbing up a netted hill and all disappeared behind the mud as they came hurtling down.  There were all the obstacles you would expect from balance beams to zip-lines to climbing walls and it was easy to avoid anything you didn't fancy attempting.  At just turned 4 and petite for her age, Cora had no problem getting involved and loved the obstacles, but I would say Dylan and Archie at 7 and 9 years old were the most engaged with it all and had to be dragged away after our allotted 3 hours were up.  Most families had given up before than and headed to the outdoor showers and the pizza cafe but our children were determined to keep going until the very end!

It was an experience we won't forget in a hurry, I tried every single obstacle myself and towards the end it was a lot of parents giving it a go whilst the exhausted children rested! The boys have tried to convince me it is worth an 8 hour round trip to go again and we will definitely visit next time we are in the area.

When you have finished there are outdoor showers to hose off and indoor changing rooms and I was pleased that I had remembered the bin bags to put all our filthy wet clothes in! The organised parents had buckets - definitely a good tip for next time!  The cafe serves food and we were hoping to get a pizza but after queuing for half an hour they told us at the counter that the people in front of us were the last to be served hot food so if you want to eat you need to order early or eat elsewhere.  There was a pub directly opposite which served a lovely lunch though so we didn't have to go far!

The Bear Trail site is all outdoors and there was information about staying Covid safe.  It was easy to stay distanced from others and we were impressed with how it was all handled.

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Three Days in Disneyland Paris in August

This summer we booked a last minute three day trip to Disneyland Paris.  We haven't been before and in all honesty, I had no intentions of going just yet either, thinking it was best left until the children were a little older and knew more Disney films.  At seven and five I thought the big two would love it, but I wasn't as sure about the little two who are two and three.  We arrived the night before at a local airbnb though and my inner child stopped being quite so inner straight away.

I don't think anyone is immune from the power of Disney and I was desperate to see the castle from the moment I woke up.  We hadn't told the children where we were going as we wanted them to enjoy the week at a holiday parc we had first without waiting for the next thing and we didn't do a big reveal as they don't watch many adverts and we weren't sure they would understand the concept of Disneyland.  We told them on the morning as we left the flat that we were going to a Disney theme park though and they were pretty excited!

There is something truly magical as you walk through the main gates.  Everything is bright and Disney themed, the staff are happy and helpful and you can't miss the giant princess castle in front of you.  We had three days booked in the park and we decided to do two days in the Disneyland Park and one day in Disney Studios. 

We didn't really see any characters during our three days as the queues were too long (over 2 hours) and the lineberty app that gives you tickets in the studios sold out within around 3 seconds so even with constantly refreshing, I couldn't get into any. We did go on quite a few rides though and our favourites were Buzz Lightyear, Peter Pan and It's a Small World.  As we visited over the August school holidays, even with three days we only got to see about half the parks and there are so many rides and shows I would love to go back and see! Many of the queues were 1.5 hours + all day and that is a long time to queue with four little ones!

The highlights of our trip are probably the shows.  We saw Mickey and the Magician in the studios and even Cora sat through the whole show enjoying the music and dancing.  The parade was everything I hoped it would be with all the characters we know and love, magic and amazement and I was torn between watching the show come past and watching my children's faces as they lit up. 

We were desperate to watch the Illuminations show which is on at 11pm every night although we weren't sure we would manage it as it is so late.  On our final day in the park we did it though and it was worth it! It was absolutely captivating and I want to go back just to see it again.  

I have definitely caught the bug and I would love to go back again although I think I would probably aim for a quieter week as I think it would have been more enjoyable with shorter queues.  The children were all perfect ages as there was so much for Cora to do even as a petite two year old and she loved all the family rides as much as Dylan did at seven.  Next time there are definitely a few things I would do differently to try and make the most of our time there but I do think it is nice not to plan too much and just see how the day goes and what you fancy. 

I tried to put my camera away for most of the time and just enjoy it but of course there are still plenty of photos that I want to share on here so I can look back and remember them all!

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