by iamcrabstix | Aug 12, 2020 | Reviews
We were fortunate enough to get tickets for the opening night of the Virgin Money Unity Arena to see the legend that is Sam Fender on Tuesday 11th August 2020. I thought that I would share my honest review for anyone who is due to go. Going to a concert in a pandemic may cause some people to be anxious, but they really have thought of everything to make it a great experience.
The Virgin Money Unity Arena is the first of its kind, it is the first dedicated socially distanced music venue operating in the grounds of Gosforth Park, Newcastle. The team behind it are SSD Concerts – a North East events company with vast experience organising events, such as This is Tomorrow Festival and Bingley Weekender and the social/publicity/comms side of things appears to be Virgin Money’s very capable marketing team who are also North East based.
The venue is just off the A1 North, so it was easy to get to and the flow of traffic was good and there was very little queuing.
What do you need to know before you go?
Check your ticket email and any subsequent emails you may receive, as they will enclose the details you need but as a reminder:
Tickets – print them off. Don’t have a printer? They will accept them on the screen of your phone, make sure you have enough battery to show them! Thanks to the very responsive team on the venue’s twitter account for getting back to me within a minute with an answer to that question before our gig!
Allocated arrival time – you will have an allocated arrival time, this is to keep the numbers of people trying to enter the venue at once down to reasonably sized two-metre distanced queues and to limit waiting times for car parking/drop-offs. Stick to it if you can, it is there for your benefit.
Parking – there are fields for parking and another area for drop-offs/pick-ups within the grounds of Gosforth Park. It is a one-lane road so depending on how many people are before you there may be a slight queue, but the cars kept moving, we were in and parked within a matter of minutes. Leaving the venue was really easy too as stewards were there to stop/start different rows of traffic to keep it all flowing and to ensure everyone could get out fairly.
Remember your masks – you will need to wear your mask when you have your tickets checked, right up until you arrive at your viewing platform. Staff were regularly checking and asking people to put masks on. This means you need a mask on anytime you leave your viewing platform to go for drinks, food, toilet or wander around the field.
Food and drink – there are various bars at the back and front of the venue – the option to preorder is available with your ticket information and the pick-up point never had any people waiting at all. Small 2/3 minute queues were at other bars. There was the option to buy 4 pint pitchers for £22.50, pints were £5.50, there was also a pims and prosecco van. Waiting times on food were per vendor, so some were faster than others. There were also people walking past the platforms to sell shots and beer and cider directly. No cash, card payments only at the designated bars.
Merch – there were a great set of bespoke for the event t-shirts/posters on sale and the usual Sam Fender designs at £25 each. Card payments were taken. This may be artist-specific, but this is how it was set up for Sam Fender. There were also mobile vendors who walked around the venue to sell merch.
Platforms – You will be given a number when you have your ticket scanned, this is your viewing platform number and you have to stay in that platform and not move around them to other platforms. If you are put off by standing, there were a number of seats available for those who wanted them. The platforms were three metal barriers, one at the front and two at the side and were a great size and plenty of room between you and everyone else. The platforms are tiered too, so the ones at the back were slightly raised, to allow everyone to see the stage.
Toilets – there are loads of portaloos to the side of the venue, absolutely loads, so you will never have long to queue nor far to walk from your viewing platform. You must wear a mask. Alcohol gel is available just before all toilets and there is also some in the portaloos. Staff were constantly checking the cleanliness of the toilets throughout the event and replenishing paper towels.
I won’t write anything about the actual gig, because I don’t want to spoil it for the people who are attending the second Sam Fender concert, but you will love being back seeing live music.
Verdict
I absolutely loved it and I was absolutely gobsmacked how the venue managed to get absolutely everything right on the first night. It was so well organised. Considering that no one had ever done this kind of event in the country before, it was absolutely faultless. If you’re attending, you will be very happy and if you are tempted, I would say go for it!
As a 37-year-old mum of two used to love going to gigs (I haven’t enjoyed the arena since the days of being sponsored by Telewest!) but as I’ve got older I enjoy my personal space a bit more, this was ideal for me and would be very happy to go to more events like this going forward and for this to be the new normal!
by iamcrabstix | Mar 16, 2020 | Reviews
Having two children at very different stages, aged one and three, I struggle to find places in County Durham that are suitable for them both, especially on a rainy day. So I took to facebook to ask for recommendations and decided to give Daisy Street Play Spennymoor a try, based on the recommendations of a mum with two children of similar age to mine. I was reluctant at first because the website images looked unappealing (the website has since been updated and is much more appealing), which I shared on the facebook discussion, but the mum reassured me that it really was worth going along. I wasn’t disappointed.
Daisy Street Play is situated on an industrial park, just outside Spennymoor near what is now called Durham Gate, but what oldies like me know as the old Black and Decker factory area. It is tucked inside an archway just off the main road in Enterprise City and there is a generous car park thanks to it’s setting.
Under 6 months are free and between 6-12 months are £1.50 and £2.95 for our three-year-old, and we were able to play for around five hours if we wanted to, which is fabulous value for money. The staff were nice and engaging, one lady even keeping a lookout for families leaving so that we could secure a table, which I thought was really kind of her. The decor is lovely, the seating is comfortable and you are able to keep an eye on your children while you grab a cup of something or even a cake, thanks to the room being completely open plan. I even thought it would be ideal to take the children on my own; as I would be able to see them both, even if they darted off into different directions – I get major anxiety about taking the boys out on my own, so this was a big plus for me.
The room has a dedicated play area that has well-looked after toys for little ones and a beautiful tipi area and a selection of books available. There is also a self-contained ball-pit that has a super-fast slide built on top of it, along with a mini climbing wall to get to it for the more adventurous and older children. Make sure you’re waiting at the bottom as the slide is fast!
There is a lovely drawing area with a selection of stencils, pencils and crayons available and a roll of drawing paper, so children aren’t limited by size. There is also a wall covered in blackboard paint and chalk available, which pleased our buddying Banksy.
There was also a further area with lots of figures and buildings for imaginative play. It was all contained by a little fence, so no worries about little ones wandering. I was thoroughly impressed and would urge any parents in the area to try it themselves. We were big fans of Little Land Play in Peterlee, which sadly recently closed and this is the best alternative we have found locally.
by iamcrabstix | Jan 5, 2020 | Reviews
I was first alerted to the existence of stay, splash and play stays at Cbeebies Hotel in Alton Towers thanks to a tweet by Kip Hakes alerting his followers that he was about to post some exciting info on cost-effective stays at Alton Towers. He sent me the link to his super cheap splash and play post, which I sent to my other half for consideration as he was planning a trip away with our 3 year old when he was on annual leave in December.
We are no strangers to CBeebies Hotel having stayed there twice previously, once with our two year old when I was 27 weeks pregnant and the second time with both kids one aged 3 and one aged 10 months. Although it had only been 4 months since we previously had visited, because the stay, splash and play prices were about a quarter of what we paid in the summer and the fact that our son who isn’t a massive talker still considers this place the best place in the world, we couldn’t resist the opportunity to take them both back (and I couldn’t resist a third chance to pose with my old pal, Ubercorn).
This hijacked Mark’s plans a little bit because he thought our eldest needed some one-on-one parent time, but we both agreed we couldn’t let the little one miss out as he likes to be involved and as he was now walking, he would love the activities even more.
We only booked the day before we were planning on going and we were pleasantly surprised that the prices didn’t increase (a 3-hour journey with possible bad weather/possible winter colds meant that we wanted to play it safe). It was £107 for the Bugbies room for one-night b&b for 2 adults, 2 children and one day pass to the waterpark. We double-checked that the entertainment was all on in the hotel and were pleasantly surprised to find that it was. The theme park was closed on the dates, which didn’t really bother us as we’ve found with previous stays, they’d stay in the hotel if they could anyway and you get to meet and greet the characters in the hotel, so the theme park isn’t crucial to us.
When we had started our three-hour journey to the hotel, Mark had a missed call from an Alton Towers number, we rang back as we didn’t want to travel further if there was an issue with the booking to find that they were ringing to offer a complimentary upgrade, but they’d offered it to someone else as Mark didn’t answer (nice one!). But thankfully there weren’t any problems. We picked up some M&S food on the way for a picky tea in the hotel room as I’ve mentioned before, we weren’t very impressed with the quality of the food for the price in The Windmill Restaurant (not a chance our 3-year-old would sit knowing the musical meadow was within running distance, either).
Everything runs exactly like normal in the hotel. The meet and greets and entertainment start after the check-in time of 3 pm. Postman Pat is the first meet and greet available, but the hotel lobby has plenty of Bugbie based activities and the musical meadow shows Cbeebies shows on the big screen in between activity times.
Entertainment is usually in 30-minute intervals and is a combination of meet and greets (Postman Pat, In the Night Garden) and shows including meet and greets (Octonauts, Bing, Ubercorn’s Disco) and shows from the hotel entertainment team which involve singing, dancing, musical instruments and shows such as Swashbuckle and Andy’s Prehistoric Adventures. Bing’s Big Sleepover at 7pm has been the most popular show every time we have been (especially with our eldest, he didn’t a big fan of hugs but there was no stopping him with his favourite characters).
We’ve been in June, August and now December and obviously the level of occupation is quite different, hence the price, but the level of queuing to meet characters was the best in December! It was very easy to get a seat in the musical meadow too, which we’d struggled with before, especially in August.
We opted for the Bugbies room as normal as we thought it could be quite expensive going forward if the childrens’ expectations were raised to one of the suites! When we looked, the character rooms were only around £40 more, but with no Bing room, the hotel did itself out of any further money from us on this occasion. Rooms are always clean and (ridiculously) bright. It was a little on the cold side and the air con/heating thing didn’t really seem to do anything, that was the only negative I have about going in December.
There were plenty of times available for booking breakfast and there was a good selection of hot and cold food available as always. They could do with having more serviettes out for people to grab as kids can be messy and the take away of finished with plates wasn’t as fast as it has been on previous stays. Our eldest is currently dairy-free and they had a selection of dairy-free milk available, which was a relief.
Check out was 10 am and they let you keep the lanyards and wrist bands, which always goes down a treat with my two! The wrist bands are proudly worn a lot! The waterpark opens at 10, so there is a seamless transition. Parking is available close to the waterpark as well, which is helpful because no one wants to be confronted with the thought of trying to explain to a child that they can’t go back into Cbeebies Hotel if they see it!
The waterpark entrance was actually via the conference centre in the winter months, which we totally missed the small signs on the lamp post for, therefore we parked in the wrong car park and had a bit of a hike with the two children. It looks as though you’re walking into the splash landings/alton towers hotel rather than the waterpark as there are no signs, so it was a bit of a wander down hotel corridors to find the waterpark. When we did it was 20p per locker, which they were very happy to supply change for and the changing/locker areas were clean with plenty of families changing rooms.
I’m not the greatest fan of water, so I intended on putting the little one in his rubber ring and staying in the shallow pool. Unfortunately, he’s not the greatest at regulating his body temperature and after about 10 minutes in the pool, I noticed his lips were turning blue. He was almost 15 months old at this point and he is quite dainty for his age, but I wouldn’t recommend going to the waterpark for any child under this age during the winter months. There were also a lot of pipes etc so there was quite a lot of splashing (I know it’s called Splash Landings, but I was surprised at how little room there was in the small pool to navigate around the baby getting splashed in the face, but maybe that’s just me because as I’ve said, I’m not the biggest fan of water). They do allow you to keep your towels close and take in supplies, so thankfully I sat on a seat for a while and wrapped him up to get him warm again. The main pool was better but it isn’t somewhere you could stay with a little one all day, in my opinion. The three-year-old absolutely loved it, he loved the ride on floats, the walk around water play, the slide he was able to go on and getting us to climb up to where the bell occasionally dropped and splashed everyone. He would have stayed all day had we not had the little one with us.
The main waterside restaurants weren’t available but there was a small cafe which you could get food from, so I had a cash card with me poolside, which seemed a bit weird, I’m not sure if there is another system that operates in summer months. The fast-food chicken fillet, chips, and organic apple drink deal was OK priced and was really nice, the hotel restaurant should take note!
Overall, we would definitely go back on one of these deals again, but if I had my way I would give the water park a miss next time. It’s just not my thing and slightly too old for my little one for a couple of years until he is around aged three. The hotel is still a massive bargain even without the waterpark. We did get a pass for the golf too, which we didn’t use, so maybe if the weather was reasonable I would suggest the family doing that next time.
by iamcrabstix | Oct 9, 2019 | Reviews
Having two children at very different stages, aged one and three, I struggle to find places in County Durham that are suitable for them both, especially on a rainy day. So I took to facebook to ask for recommendations and decided to give Daisy Street Play Spennymoor a try, based on the recommendations of a mum with two children of similar age to mine. I was reluctant at first because the website images looked unappealing, which I shared on the facebook discussion, but the mum reassured me that it really was worth going along. I wasn’t disappointed, but I thought it may be worth writing this review for any parents who were left feeling the same!
Daisy Street Play is situated on an industrial park, just outside Spennymoor near what is now called Durham Gate, but what oldies like me know as the old Black and Decker factory area. It is tucked inside an archway just off the main road in Enterprise City and there is a generous car park thanks to it’s setting.
Under 1s were free (this has now changed for 2020, so check their admission prices), so for only £2.95 for our three year old we were able to play for around five hours if we wanted to, which is fabulous value for money. The staff were nice and engaging, one lady even keeping a lookout for families leaving so that we could secure a table, which I thought was really kind of her. The decor is lovely, the seating is comfortable and you are able to keep an eye on your children while you grab a cup of something, or even a cake, thanks to the room being completely open plan. I even thought it would be ideal to take the children on my own; as I would be able to see them both, even if they darted off into different directions – I get major anxiety about taking the boys out on my own, so this was a big plus for me.
The room has a dedicated play area that has well-looked after toys for little ones and a beautiful tipi area and a selection of books available. There is also a self-contained ball-pit that has a super-fast slide built on top of it, along with a mini climbing wall to get to it for the more adventurous and older children. Make sure you’re waiting at the bottom as the slide is fast!
There is a lovely drawing area with a selection of stencils, pencils and crayons available and a roll of drawing paper, so children aren’t limited by size. There is also a wall covered in blackboard paint and chalk available, which pleased our buddying Banksy.
There was also a further area with lots of figures and buildings for imaginative play. It was all contained by a little fence, so no worries about little ones wandering. I was thoroughly impressed and would urge any parents in the area to try it themselves. We were big fans of Little Land Play in Peterlee, which sadly recently closed and this is the best alternative we have found locally.
by iamcrabstix | Aug 16, 2019 | Reviews, Travel
There are many places to visit with kids in County Durham, including public parks, so selecting which one to visit can sometimes be difficult. One potential option to visit is Hardwick Park in Sedgefield, which is located next to Hardwick Hall Hotel. We visit this park a lot and I would go so far as to say that Hardwick Park is up there with my all-time favourite places to visit with my children, RLT and EET. We have made a lot of memories here. Reasons I think that you should consider visiting Park in Sedgefield, include:
Educational for kids
There is a massive wicker Gruffalo at Hardwick Park, as well as the other characters, so you can do the Gruffalo trail (packs are available at the visitors’ centre). There are also toddler trails, forest school activities and many other things provided by the education team at Durham County Council. They’re very active on facebook, which seems to be the best way of finding out about events happening throughout the year.
It’s open all year
The park is even more beautiful in the winter than it is summer. Opening times of Hardwick Park in Sedgefield stay the same all year and the only fee you pay is for parking – which you don’t mind paying at all because all of the money raised by the parking charges goes into back into maintaining the park.
Fees are:
- cars – up to two hours £2.00/full day £3.00
- coaches and minibuses – all day £9.00
- motorcycles – free
- blue badge holders – charges as above
Opening times are:
- park gates – 7.30am to 8.00pm
- cafe – 10.00am to 4.00pm
- gift shop and exhibition – 10.00am to 4.00pm
Play facilities
There are two different play parks for children of various ages. One bigger than the other, both with different sets of equipment for children to enjoy. Picnic benches are also available.
There is hot coffee!
A bonus for many parents of young children is that there is a cafe in the park, meaning that you can grab a coffee for walking around! Likewise, if you wish to stay longer than you’d anticipated they do hot and cold food, including children’s packed lunch boxes. Oh and ice cream for the warmer months (or colder if like R, it’s an unwritten rule that you get one at the park!)
Lots of space to explore
You can go off the track, play amongst the leaves as well as following the paths and trails. Perfect for little explorers.
It is beautiful
Durham County Council has done a spectacular job improving this park to be one of the best in the North East. It is a Visit England quality assured visitor attraction and you can see why when you visit.
by iamcrabstix | Aug 12, 2019 | Reviews
We have been to the Cbeebies Hotel at Alton Towers twice now in just over a year, so I thought that I could offer an honest review of our experiences for other parents.
The first time we went our son was 2 years old (it was his birthday present) and the second time we went back we also had his little brother with us, RLT was 3 years and 2 months and EET was 10 months old. The second time was a last-minute treat from the boys’ Dad as there was last minute availability at the hotel and he had booked a week off work.
CBeebies Hotel Entrance and Check-in
Booking at the CBeebies Hotel provides you with the opportunity to park outside of the hotel and get the monorail to the theme park. When you pull up in the car park of the CBeebies Hotel, you can’t help be impressed with the entrance giving fun and welcoming vibes. One of the Bugbies is waiting to welcome you from an aeroplane outside of the hotel with music playing. A hotel worker will also be waiting at the door to ensure you’ve got a reservation and to direct you to check-in. You can’t go up to your room until 3 pm, but staff are more than happy to check you in, give you your room keys and take your bags up to your room for you for 3 pm. More importantly, they direct you to the toilet, as I’m guessing most people have travelled there to make use of the theme park for the day so need baby change and toilet facilities after the car journey.
The hotel foyer is impressive and instantly takes kids’ breath away with the interactive elements, bright colours and general buzz of the place. Everything is very straightforward and lifts are to the side of the foyer, toilets to the other side, restaurants in front and before that there is a musical meadow – the place where the entertainment happens up until 9.30pm from the check-in time. I did notice that the interactive storybook was not working on our second visit, the installation in the middle of the foyer used to spin and change colour, so the entrance had less of a dramatic impact this time. The musical meadow floor had started to lift so there was a strip of electrical tape holding it down right across the width of the floor, which looked rather amateur given that the pieces of vinyl on the floor were beautifully illustrated.
Hotel rooms at CBeebies Hotel
There are general CBeebies rooms within the hotel, which are the standard price or themed rooms decorated with characters from particular CBeebies programmes, which come at a premium price and are classed as suites as they sleep more than the standard rooms. We have always opted for the CBeebies rooms as our son thinks that the hotel is the CBeebies House studio from TV. The rooms are generous in size and sleep five, six if you include a little person in the provided cot, and have a separate bunk bed area from the double bed area. Again the rooms are decorated throughout, including the bathroom. Beds are comfortable, toiletries and towels are provided as are tea and coffee facilities, iron and ironing board and a bottle warmer. There is also a small fridge. The rooms are certainly getting a little run down now, our carpet was covered in what looked like bleach splats and drops of something green, which because the carpets are patterned looks even worse. We found some used tissues pushed underneath the pull-out bed, which were not ours, but otherwise, the room was immaculate.
Given that our youngest was only 10 months old on our visit, we didn’t expect that he would love it as much as he did. But he was smiling from ear to ear the moment we got to the hotel. It was fantastic to be able to have an experience that they could both enjoy given what different stages they are at developmentally.
Entertainment
The hotel entertainment is really what you pay the money for. The musical meadow is a little toddler paradise with a large tv screen which shows CBeebies programmes in between the exclusive 15 minute shows provided by the hotel entertainment team, when they are joined by CBeebies characters.
Bing, In the Night Garden, Octonauts and Postman Pat all have segments which end in a meet and greet so you can get your photograph taken with them, with the queues obviously being a lot smaller than they are in the CBeebies Land tent area where you can do the same.
There are also Swashbuckle, Andy’s amazing animals and other segments such as Let’s Dance and musical sessions which are run by the entertainment team without the characters.
Restaurant and food at CBeebies Hotel
The aesthetics of the Windmill Restaurant are great, but unfortunately, that is as much as you will be impressed. The dining experience lets the entire place down, not only is it expensive for what you get, the food is of poor quality and the menu is extremely limited. We were warned about this beforehand last year by Mark’s boss and he even wrote about his experience in his review of the grand opening of CBeebies Hotel, in which he was invited to with his family. I didn’t notice it so much last year as my vegetarian lasagne was ok, but this year we opted to get the family burgers which were £40 and the burgers tasted like they were weren’t even beef, just cheap nasty rat burgers, the buns were dry as sticks and the number of chips you got for a family of four were minimal. I think even my 10-month-old baby managed to eat what they had put together as an adult portion. The quality of the breakfast wasn’t much better. The beans were awful, the bacon incredibly dry, the sausages again tasted cheap and horrible and were covered in fat and the variety of breakfast cereals on offer, given that it was a children’s hotel were shocking. There were cornflakes or rice crispies or all other varieties covered in sugar. Service on a morning was really bad. I was shown to a table by a grunting young lady and not offered a high chair when I had a baby in my arms, but I could see every family around me had been offered that service. Service on the evening was better, but slow. Although I think the poor guy realised when our 3 year old couldn’t sit still any longer, so his Dad had to leave with him whilst I paid the extortionate £40 for the dry, horrible burgers, as he gave me a voucher for a free drink when I left. I must have looked like I needed it! I don’t have any pictures from any of the times I’ve been in the restaurant as I have obviously been preoccupied (probably by the terrible food but more than likely by my child who we struggle to get to sit and have a meal anyway).
Pricing
Hotel generally comes with 2 day passes for the park. In 2018 we paid £488 for 2 adults and 1 child for 2 nights hotel and 2 day park. In 2019 we (Mark) paid £360 2 adults 1 child and 1 infant for 1 night hotel and 2 day park. We had been pricing up for many months to take our little boy back for his birthday in June but were looking at around a £200 increase on price from last year.
My thoughts
On reflection, the hotel did not feel as busy this year as it was last year, it made the entire experience better in terms of the entertainment was less crowded and you were able to get a seat. Maybe the new price point is to provide a better level of experience through less occupancy? I don’t know, but we had a great time, both times. Even more so with the two boys enjoying different elements. I thought the baby would be too young, but he absolutely loved it, so it definitely felt better value for money for two children to enjoy at the new price point. They loved it. RLT had not stopped talking about it for an entire year, and given how little he has talked until recently, that’s a big thing so it’s definitely worth it for making memories.
The images used are a mixture of 2018 and 2019 images. All opinions are my own and not paid for.
