In The Night Garden... Live

Not a sponsored review. I paid for my tickets with real money.  This is just me.

I only found out that ITNG was in Cardiff last Tuesday. I was on a training course, got the train, and there at the station was a poster for the show.  I didn't really take in when it was, but the following evening, I thought I'd have a look online & find out.  And it started on Saturday. Well.  Clearly it was meant to be.  The decision making process was something like "Right, I'm going, Squeaky's going. Daddy, do you want to come? When are you not working? Then when's least expensive?"  So we ended up going to the lunchtime show on the opening day.

The Showdome

The showdome is set up right in the middle of Bute Park, so to even get to the Night Garden, you get a walk through a beautiful mature park, full of trees, stone circles, squirrels, the River Taff, and the likes.  The dome itself is like a couple of giant inflatable igloos, behind metal security fencing, which is disguised with giant pictures of the ITNG characters.  At this point, Squeaky figured out something was going on.

Upsy Daisy is a firm favourite in our house, but she kept going back to Makka Pakka, I think because he was more her size.  You might just be able to see that Squeaky's clutching her own Upsy Daisy.  You would not beLIEVE the number of cuddly Upsy Daisies and Iggle Piggles we saw, or the number of children dressed in Upsy Daisy dress-up outfits.

We trundled inside, parked our buggy in the ample buggy parking area (I was in Buggy Geek mode, spotting loads of Gracos, including another U'Go in a different colourway to ours) and went inside. The whole set up is really well organised, keeping queueing down to a minimum, and keeping everyone moving.  There's plenty of ways to spend your money, I was quite glad I hadn't been to the cashpoint, or we'd've ended up weighed down with spinning lights, dvds, helium Pinky Ponks, and all sorts.  We managed to be content with just a programme, and I'd already booked the Meet a Character session for after the show.


There's choice of two shows, which alternate through the day.  So if you've got a really tough bum, or a REALLY obsessed child, you could see both in one day.  Or go back (I'm tempted) another day to see the other show.  The seating was well planned, all set far enough back from the row in front to not have your view blocked, but not so steep that escaping little ones were in danger of hurting themselves.  There were lots of ushers around as well, delivering escaped toddlers back to their owners, and telling people off for using flash.

The show then.  It really was like a whole, extra length, episode of In The Night Garden... Once you learn to, well not quite ignore but just accept, the puppeteers, it's all good.  (It's kinda like Avenue Q in that respect, the humans are there but they're not.)  All the characters were in it, except those that aren't really in normal episodes anyway (Wattingers, Haa-hoos, I'm looking at you here!).  Flash photography wasn't allowed in the show, so these photos are a bit wobbly.

The strangest thing was Makka Pakka.  He's small compared to Upsy Daisy & Iggle Piggle, aboutthe same size as the Tombliboos, and huge compared to the Pontipines.  To be able to have all the characters at the right size would be a logistical nightmare, and the Pontipines would be so tiny no-one would see them if they were sat further back than the front row. Makka Pakka was washing everyone's faces, so he needed to appear with all the other characters.  That meant that we needed a big (adult in costume) Makka Pakka to deal with his stones, push his Og-Pog about & wash the Pontipines, and a small Makka Pakka to wash Iggle Piggle & Upsy Daisy.  So Big Makka Pakka would leave the stage to the left, and Small Makka Pakka would appear stage right.  I don't think it threw the children half as much as it did me.

Squeaky was transfixed throughout.  I've never known her sit so still and pay so much attention.  But by the time we had our turn to meet Upsy Daisy, she was a bit tired & fractious.  I wasn't sure how it was going to go anyway, she's been OK with some giant characters, and completely terrified of others.  She wasn't sure, wasn't exactly keen, but not screaming either. Until our time was up, and then she was all smiles & waves to Upsy Daisy, just too late.  Ah well.

I did take some, ok quite a lot, of video on the Flip, but I haven't edited it yet, or checked it to make sure I wasn't accidentally singing along with the Iggle Piggle song.  When I have, I'll make another post with some video.  Everybody loves video.  Isn't that a pip?

Cantref Easter Fun

I know Easter was last weekend now, but there's a delay in this house.

Last Monday Squeaky & I took a trip to Cantref Adventure Farm near Brecon.  It was a lovely sunny day, so we decided to have an Eastery Adventure.

The park is fairly easy to find, lots of signs from the main road, the only thing is, it's down narrow country lanes, so you've got to drive carefully and be prepared for oncoming traffic & people walking down the middle of the road.  Once that's negotiated, we were quickly & easily checked in, given a map & schedule of the day's events, and we were free to play.  We'd just missed thefirst lamb-feeding of the day, but the lambs were still in their pens, and very eager to meet people.  They were also quite keen to have a nibble of our Symbio, which Squeaky wasn't happy to share!  (For those of you concerned, she was fine nanoseconds later, when she was handed the Fruit Shoot sneaking in at the bottom of the photo there.  And for those of you concerned about the Fruit Shoot - it was a VERY hot day, I'd rather she drank fruit flavoured water than none at all.)

While we might have missed feeding the (greedy) lambs, we made sure we didn't miss out on the next event, Chinchillas' Bathtime.  We got to stroke a chinchilla, and talk to the very knowledgeable handler, before watching the chinchillas have their dust bath.  Did you know that chinchillas bathe in dust, because their fur is so thick they would be likely to catch pneumonia if they bathed in water?  They did look very nice & clean at the end of their bath, but I think I'll stick to bubbles!

After looking around the pet barn, where the chinchillas were, and petting some lovely rabbits (Vinnie was our favourite), we went outside to explore the rest of the park.  We met more tiny newborn lambs and some alpacas in the big animal barn, we watched some older boys & girls riding ponies, met a couple of crazy rheas, a goat, some big fat piggies, and then went to have a ride on the tractor.  (sorry, no photos from this bit, I forgot)  The tractor driver was really funny, and told us the names of all the animals we saw as we bounced across the fields, and we even saw a sheep that had invaded from the farm next door!  We saw horses, donkeys, water buffalo, lots of sheep and a couple of llamas.

There were lots of things for older boys & girls to do: a dry sledge, a jungle boat adventure, paddle boats, dragon climbing frame, a crazy ball cannon area, and mini tractors to drive, as well as an indoor soft play area, with a special toddler area.  Squeaky practised her new-found stair climbing skills in there, and braved the slide a couple of times before deciding to try and defy gravity climbing up the slide.  Aside from the pony rides, everything is included in the admission price, so it's a good value day out, not one of these where you're forever dipping into your purse for another 50p to go on this coin operated thing, or that ride.

We went back inside to have our lunch, though there were lots of picnic tables outside, and then went and watched Mr Ev's Easter Show. They have lots of different entertainments on through the year in the theatre area, and outside, and we saw Mr Ev's trying to steal the easter eggs, and met his bride-to-be.  Mr Ev's married Chloe the pony the same day a certain other wedding took place last week.  I haven't seen the pictures yet, but I'm assured the bride looked beautiful.  Pig racing is the next big event, and I'd love to see how that goes!

We were exhausted after all that, but just had enough energy to finish off our easter egg hunt and for Squeaky to receive her prize for getting the answers right. If it weren't for having to drive home, I would have joined her in sleeping the whole way back!

We had a lovely day, and would happily recommend Cantref to families all around the area for a fab, fun day out.  We received no payment for this review, and were genuine, paying visitors (I've got a receipt around here somewhere) - we just had such a good day out, we wanted to tell other people about it!

Devonian Adventures

I briefly mentioned yesterday that we'd spent last week in Devon, didn't I?  I have a great love for the concept of the Sun £9.50 holiday, even though the reality is more like £60, once you've paid for 4 people, entertainments passes & service charges.  We took them up on the option of extending our short break to a full week, thinking that in March, having a week might stand us in slightly better chances of having a day or two's decent weather.  As it was, we were blessed with a whole week of sunshine, and made the most of the opportunity to get out & about.

So we packed up the car with Plum breadsticks, chocolate buttons, our Beautiful Creatures CD, more wet wipes than you can shake a nappy bag at, rice cakes, and all the other essentials of a long car ride, plus clothes, cot, blah-de-blah for a week away.  And off we set.  Via grandparents & various service areas along the way until we hit Brixham.

Squeaky loved exploring our chalet, though we were all a little off-balanced by her cot being back in the (tiny) bedroom with us, rather than on her own.  That said, give her her due, she slept well most nights.  I think she wore herself out.  Because was she ever active?  Walking as much as she could managed all day, and spending all evening exploring the stairs in the bar.  Why are stairs so exciting?  There's a dancefloor, with flashing lights and other children on it, but she'd rather practice stair climbing.  And then not go anywhere when she gets to the top.  Odd.

I think we're quite lucky at the moment, and I'm making the most of this stage, I know from talking to friends that it will soon pass and become expensive.  Squeaky LOVES those sit on rides, like you find outside the supermarket, and everywhere in seaside resorts.  However, she's far to little to get the idea of them moving, and would seriously freak out if we put our money in & made them go.  So she just enjoys sitting in the car, spaceship, whatever, and talking to any handy characters that are sharing her seat.  See?

These last two are on Teignmouth Pier, one of my favourite places in the world, and a complete mind-bending timewarp.  It's like walking into 1979, except I'm allowed to cross the road on my own now.


I have not received payment for, nor been asked for, mentions of any of the brands mentioned in this post. They are simply things that made my life easier.