Paradise Island - Mini Golf

So today was a bit of a miserable wet and windy day.  we had originally planned on going to the National Space Centre in Leicester ,but as we made our way onto the A50 we soon realised that the 1.5hr journey was going to take at least 3 hours due to an accident. Not wanting to sit in the traffic with a hungry teenager we decided to head to Derby Intu centre for Lunch and a round of Mini Golf.


We expected it to be busier with it being a rainy day but after lunch we headed over to the indoor mini gold - Paradise Island.  There were two course that you could choose from: Shark Bay or Mermaid Rock. Prices were reasonable at £8.50 per adult and £6.50 per child. If you chose to play on both courses it worked out cheaper, but knowing our son one course would be enough.

We decided to complete the Mermaid Rock course. The course was well laid out and well designed,  We didn't feel any need to rush, but I suppose if it was busier this might have felt different.  There are 18 hole to complete - some easy and some not so easy.  In all we spent around 1hour in there and we all had a bit of fun.

Our review:
A great indoor activity for a rainy day with friends and family.  It is well designed and well laid out.  There was no pressure to buy extra games from staff and they were extremely helpful.

'The un-stately home'

As I have previously mentioned this year we become members of the National Trust, so wanting to get the most out of them we decided to take my Dad and his partner out for the day to Calke Abbey.

It is often difficult choosing places that we all would like to go,  so we often look for events that are on that Titch would enjoy.  This time its was 'Apple Day,' and anything to do with food would interest him.  We also had read the reviews and descriptions on the National trust web site and seemed an interesting place to visit, especially being called 'Un-stately.'

As with most National trust places the grounds were superb and got a thumbs up from Titch due to the fact the the trees made good climbing ones- it really isn't hard to please my child.

Entrance into the house was timed so we took the opportunity before our time slot to explore the grounds and visit the ' Apple day' activities.

We had the opportunity to taste and buy the different varieties of Apples that are grown on the grounds and Titch made himself an apple spiral of which he was extremely proud of.

By the time we had done all of these, it was time to visit the house.  It was definitely different to the other places we had visited and it is understandable why it is called the 'Un-stately home'.  And a word of warning, if you don't like Taxidermy do not go - the house is full of it.

Titch though did enjoy waling through the cellars and paths under the house.

This time we didn't take a picnic with us so we ate in the Cafe in the stables. The food was reasonably priced and tasty too.

All in all a great Autumn day out.