Our Perfect Family Day Out at Ripleys Believe it or Not in London

Those of you who read this blog regularly will know how fond we are of our holidays and all important family days out! We had an amazing day in London last week at Ripleys Believe it or Not. We were fortunate enough to be given complimentary tickets as part of the MoneySupermarket Days Out Discounts promotion. My boys are huge fans of the Ripleys book which they always ask for on their Christmas lists so we were delighted to actually be able to see the museum (if that's what you'd call it!). Before we went we checked out some of the blurb on line:

"Home to over 700 weird and wonderful exhibits, the central London attraction showcases a painting by Mexican artist Enrique Ramos on a tortilla canvas. Visitors can also see some of Ramos’s other masterpieces including miniature bible scenes painted onto pumpkin seeds and a series of portraits of icons such as Charlie Chaplin, Albert Einstein and Abraham Lincoln, all painted onto quail egg shells.

Marvel at a version of Leonardo Da Vinci’s ‘The Last Supper’ painted on a grain of rice – created using a microscope and a single human hair – as well as a portrait of Michael Jackson fashioned using Liquorice Allsorts sweets. While Robert Ripley himself – the man behind the attraction and who coined the phrase ‘Believe It or Not!” – is depicted using multi-coloured bubblegums."

If I'm honest I didn't really know what to expect, I definitely haven't been anywhere quite so, well - odd! - before.

Since this day was all about the children I'm going to hand this blog over to them! So, I'd like to introduce you to my newest reviewers - Bats (10), Boz (9), Spud (7) and Boo (5) *clearly not their real names!

What did you think of Ripleys Believe it or Not?

Bats - "Awesome!"

Boz - "It's been a really wicked afternoon, can we come again?"

Spud - "I really liked it, it's cool."

Boo - "I LOVED it"

What was your favourite thing about Ripleys Believe it or Not?

Bats - "Oh definitely the Jade palace, I thought it was amazing and I really liked the matchstick bridge too, it must have taken so long to make"

Boz - "The black hole tunnel, it made me feel dizzy" (Mum's note - we couldn't get him out of it!)

Spud - "I really liked the funny table that made me look like I had no legs, it was silly"

Boo - "I liked the cute little fox and the upside down table"

*Mums note - I loved touching the Berlin wall, even though the kids thought it was "boooooring".....

Was there anything you didn't like?

Bats - "I didn't like that you and daddy wouldn't walk quicker, it's so annoying when you stop all the time"

Boz - "Uhm, not really, the man pulling things with his eyeballs made me feel a bit sick actually"

Spud - "I didn't like the poor three legged animals at the beginning, they made me sad"

Boo - "The dungeon made me very scared" (mum's note - in hindsight we shouldn't have taken a 5yr old to this bit, it was too scary, but the older boys loved it and to be fair Ripleys did warn us, we just didn't listen!)

What about the Laser Race, You forgot that!

Bats - "Oh yeah, I won"

Boz - "no you didn't you cheated, I won"

Spud - "Daddy cheated, I loved it - it was so much fun"

Boo - "Oh that was so funny, daddy was really bad at it, I definitely beat him"

*mums note - I think they all cheated and daddy especially did!

Shall we come back again?

All - "YES!!!!!"

So that's that then! A pretty good day had by all and given the seal of approval from all four kids (a pretty rare thing indeed!) thank you Ripleys, I'm sure we'll be back!

About Ripley’s Believe It or Not! London:

With more than 700 amazing artefacts on display over six floors, the attraction celebrates the weird, wonderful and bizarre in all its forms. With everything you can imagine (and plenty more you can’t), Ripley’s Believe It or Not! London is a family day out that’s definitely out of the ordinary.

For additional information call +44 (0)20 3238 0022 or visit www.ripleyslondon.com

Center Parcs Europe - De Vossemeren in Belgium - A Gluten Free Review

We spent the October half term at De Vossemeren Center Parcs in Belgium. We love Center Parcs breaks, but two years ago we decided that we weren't prepared to pay the high prices charged in the UK, for instance  a 5 day break at Elvedon (our closest village) in Suffolk would have cost around £1100 over October half term - crazy money! The exact same dates in Belgium cost us £450, or just under £550 if you include the ferry crossing.

That's not all though, we got 5 free 'toppings' with our booking. Toppings include free bike hire, free mini golf, free 'wannabe' (kids club) sessions, free villa location selection and free pony ride (1 topping = 3 free pony rides, what a bargain!). So £550 bought us 5 days in the villa (in a central location of our choosing), our ferry crossing *and* a free 1.5hr session in the kids club for all 4 children. We pre-booked another 2 sessions in the kids club for all of the children online when we went for the bargain price of 4 Euros each!

Not only are the villages and activities significantly cheaper (10 Euros for archery, zip wire or rock climbing and only 2.50 Euros for a pony ride!) we much prefer the villages themselves, they seem better looked after and cleaner and the staff are so much more friendly and helpful (and all speak perfect English). We have previously stayed at De Kempervennen in the Netherlands which has an amazing indoor snow centre and a (free) childrens' petting farm. Vossemeren in Belgium also has a farm and whilst it doesn't have a snow centre it does have an amazing (free) indoor play area centred around a shipwreck (see picture below). Both sites are less than a 3 hour drive from Dunkirk ferry port.

The only thing we were concerned about was gluten free food, so we packed lots of essentials before we left. We needn't have worried though. The shop had a comprehensive selection of gluten free items including rolls, cakes (brownies and coconut macaroons by Damhert, which I think is the European trading name of Mrs Crimbles as the cakes were identical) and pancake mix! The restaurants too were well trained in all things gluten free, even the snack bar were amazing and couldn't go out of their way enough to help, whilst we couldn't eat anything from there they telephone the main restaurant to bring us some fries cooked in a dedicated fryer. The pancake house also serves gluten free pancakes.

All in all we would strongly recommend European Center Parcs, we'll never return to a UK one again!

Gluten Free Cornwall Part 2 - Fish & Chips - Padstow and St Austell

The latter half of our Cornish holiday was spent at the coast, near our St Austell base, and at the beautiful Padstow.

Gluten Free St Austell - The Trebonney Fish and Chips Restaurant.

The gluten free gem of our holiday has to be the Trebonney fish and chip shop in Fore Street, Roche, near St Austell. Postcode PL26 8EP for those using satnav! This really unassuming little fish and chip shop (that's being polite it looks like somebody's garage!) seemed to have a really good coeliac knowledge and their food was gorgeous. Seb and I both had their gluten free cod and chips and gluten free onion rings (the only gluten free onion rings I've ever had where the batter stayed on the onion and was actually crispy!) and enjoyed every mouthful, the portion sizes were pretty big and neither of us managed to finish our chips. They also offer takeaway meals too. If we lived nearby we'd definitely be regular visitors!

Gluten Free in Padstow, Cornwall.

We had a really successful gluten free day out in Padstow and managed to eat lunch and dinner with no problems.

Green's Cafe - Padstow

We ate lunch in Green's Cafe and were delighted to find that they offered gluten free rolls (dietary solutions granary ciabatta) to replace regular gluten bread. Seb had a cheese and ham roll (they gave him two ciabatta rolls - they're really small - instead of a regular sandwich) and I had a ploughmans, though for some reason I was only given one small ciabatta, whereas my husband had lots of (gluten) bread with his ploughmans. They also offer gluten free scones, so we followed up with gluten free scones, jam and clotted cream. I can't say they were the nicest gluten free scones I've ever had - in fact they'd be at the bottom of the list, they were very heavy and dry, but it was SO nice to have lunch - including cake - with the rest of the family for once.

As great as it was to feel normal at Green's I can't say that our happiness spread to the service, it was absolutely dire. We waited for ages to be served, the waiter just dumped a tray of drinks on our table and said "there you go, I'll let you sort out the drinks yourself" and never checked if our food was OK, nor did he come back to clear the empty plates and glasses and ask if we'd like desert - we had to walk up to the kitchen and ask to order more and the same when it came to paying. We spent £50 on lunch for a family of 6 so would expect better (some?!) service, not a place we'll rush back to, but I guess you have to balance the high prices and terrible service with the gorgeous view and gluten free availability.

Harbour Ice Ice Cream Parlour - Padstow

After a spot of crabbing on the North Quay we were delighted to spot a little sign saying "gluten free cones available" - gluten free cones were an extra 30pence, but how fantastic for Seb to eat out of a cone rather than a tub as he had done for the rest of the holiday! They had a big allergy chart on the wall so we were able to choose gluten free ice cream too - cornish clotted cream for Seb and chocolate for me. Perfect!

Rick Stein's Fish and Chips - Padstow

A 5 minute walk up to the South Quay opposite the Lobster Hatchery, Rick Stein's fish and chips takeaway offers gluten free fish and chips, although there is nothing on the menu to tell you that they do! We had cod and chips each which tasted like normal gluten containing fish and chips, or at least how I remember them to taste! The prices were nowhere near as high as I'd imagine, £7.80 for a pretty decent sized portion of cod and chips. A great way to round off a pretty successful gluten free day in Padstow!

Click for Part 1 - Gluten free Polperro and the Eden Project.