Abbey Meadows Outdoor Swimming Pool, Abingdon

For a non-car driver our local leisure centre is badly located on the edge of town with no buses that serve it. This makes swimming trips a no go area when daddy isn't around with the car. Abingdon has had an outdoor swimming pool though conveniently located quite close to the centre of Abingdon for many years.
I think this may have been my first visit to the pool, certainly Charlotte's first, I'm sure my mum will correct me if I went when I was a little girl.
Being outdoors there is always the fear that it will be freezing cold, aren't most pools. Weren't we in for a surprise. Coming out of the changing rooms to find no lockers are provided we dumped our stuff on a bench and dipped a big toe into the toddler pool, freezing is not the word for it (I'm sure the lifeguards watching gave a little giggle). so out came the toe very quickly with me thinking this is a very bad idea, and decided to attempt the big pool. It was warm. I was shocked. Charlotte almost jumped straight in with not a care in the world.
I was pleased to find that the big pool (big is misleading but compared to the toddler pool its big) was very shallow at one end, so 3 year old Charlotte could stand up no problem. Makes things easier.

We had the whole place to ourselves, no other swimmers, so plenty of space to splash and kick, to dump our rubber ring/float/armbands on the side and not have to watch them. Think we were there about half hour before the cold started getting to Charlotte so de-camped to a hot shower, getting dressed and a short walk home.
The next morning Charlotte woke to tell me she had dreamt about swimming with leaves as it was so much fun.

The pool is open every day until September, and is free for under 16's. Take along a passport sized photo of the child and fill out a form on arrival to qualify. There are inflatable sessions for older kids after school and at weekends (daily during summer holidays), sunbeds to hire (when the sun comes out). Currently the ice-cream snack hut is open at weekends but during the summer holidays this will be daily.

For those less brave people currently the water feature (jets etc) is running every weekend and during the summer holiday will be open every day. Free to enter. There is a pay and display car park for those beyond walking distance.

Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology, Oxford

We have visited the Ashmolean on a few occasions since its re-opening in 2009, but they have only been very quick visits so decided to dedicate a few hours to going round and seeing everything. Or should that be everything at 3 year old standards which involved very fast walking round the museum twice, and every time we stopped for a whats that, just as I would read the blurb out she would speed onto the next thing.
The Ashmolean isn't much of a hands-on museum, there are a few areas for children to have a go though, but its  more a look at and study so not good for those children who need to touch everything. Would be very good for linking with school projects for older children.

I think Charlotte enjoyed it, she went round enough times and didn't show any sign of slowing down. we do seem to get a little lost each time we go, and seem to find rooms we haven't seen before, makes it all the more interesting. We stopped for a long time at the statues, she loves statues. There is quite a bit of open space and lifts to all floors so suitable for pushchairs, the open spaces created in the central areas make it much less of a stuffy museum, but in great contrast other areas are designed like state rooms which shows off the art work. A lot of thought has been put into how objects should be displayed to great effect.

There is a very popular cafe downstairs and rooftop restaurant. All in all a great place to go to get away from the British weather, its free and right in the centre of oxford so close to all the shops/restaurants/cafes. There are regular family friendly events and also activity sheets to keep children amused, so even those need to touch everything kids can do something.
http://www.ashmolean.org/

Open Farm Sunday

This Sunday, 12 June 2011, a lot of farms across the country are having an open day for you to discover what goes on. Each farm is doing something different so your local could have tractor rides, farm tours, food, tractor displays, meet the animals, see inside a dairy, and watch the cows being milk.
To find your nearest farm visit http://www.farmsunday.org/ofs/home.eb

Beale Park, Lower Basildon, Reading

My parents used to take me and my brother to Beale Park when we were little, and its starting to become a favourite of Charlotte's too. She can now easily navigate us back to the little tike's play area if we get too far away from it!!!

Beale Park is a mixture of things, it has animals, play areas, swimming pool, paddling pool, ponds, sand pit, model boat shows, gardens, train ride, statues and a small model museum/pavilion. The thing my brother and I remember the most is the frogs, those being giant frogs you can climb on and are part of a water feature.
The play areas are excellent, with different areas for different ages, and an indoor area for when its wet (suitable for under 5's only). If your going in the sand pit you may want to take along a bucket and spade as none are provided. The paddling pool I looks excellent but cold, Charlotte didn't want to come out even though she was shivering, I wasn't brave enough to dip my toe in to see how cold.
There are bird encloses you can go inside, quite a few owls, farm animals, a recent edition is the new meerkat and mongoose area with good viewing platforms. The animals areas are really well spaced out with gardens around, there is a wild flower meadow near the deer and capybara in another garden.
There is a cafe, but most people seem to take their own picnics as there are plenty of spots to sit and eat. We did eat in the cafe, and though the food was ok it wasn't inspiring (we had veggie burger and chips as only meat sandwiches left, portions were very large with a fresh side salad) and maybe next time we will think ahead and take something to eat.
Beale Park is flat and easy to navigate with pushchairs, there are high chairs in the cafe (take an anti-bac wipe to clean it though!) and baby changing facilities.
All in all a good day out with something for everyone, find out more on their website

Hinksey Park, Abingdon Road, Oxford

Approx time: 1 hour
Paths: pavement
Points of interest: open areas, pond, lake, play park, swimming pool and splash area (summer only)
Amenities: parking, toilets, cafe (summer only)
Grading: all type of pushchairs as everywhere is flat
Weather: Good for all seasons

We go past Hinksey Park almost every day either on the bus or in the car and every time Charlotte asks if we can go there, as we are always on the way to or from work its not possible so on a nice sunny day off we went along to find out whats there.
Its free to park for 2 hours, that was a big surprise, make sure you collect a ticket though. The play park is excellent with activities for kids of all ages, lots of sand and some climbing bits we had to drag Charlotte away for a walk round the pond. Across the field (used by football clubs at the weekends) and hidden behind the trees is a lovely duck pond to walk around beside Hinksey Lake. The lake is sometimes used by model boat clubs.
From May - September there is a large outdoor swimming pool and also a kids splash area. It wasn't open when we went but it looks excellent. The splash/fountain area is free.
Its an excellent place to have a short walk, and it also links up to other walks and a cycle route, Hinksey Park has also won a green flag award. Now every time we go past Charlotte says I've been there it was fun.
More information on the Oxford City Council website

The Oxfordshire Museum, Woodstock, Oxfordshire

This museum is excellent for young and old, and for any kids who love dinosaurs. We have been a few times and the displays often change so you're sure to see something different each time. They also have a changing exhibition which is currently "Revealed: The Underwear Revolution" any Gok Wan fans must attend (he even gets a few mentions) or those who love period costumes.

Charlotte is a little too young to appreciate hold you in pants... but there were some dressing up clothes so that's always a hit.

There is a new interactive dinosaur gallery, Charlotte is actually quite scared of dinosaurs so almost ran out screaming, especially when mummy fed the dinosaur! but to dress up as a dinosaur with a tail... that was impressive and then it was her turn to scare the little girl who came in the room after us, oops.

The other rooms are about the history of Oxfordshire and its really hands on for kids with computers, displays, drawers they can open and things they can touch.

There is a great cafe, but its very small. If the weather is good though you can go sit in the lovely gardens with your coffee and cake (or dinosaur lunch box).

Access for buggies, there are lots of stairs and no lift, just a wheelchair stair lift so best suited to mobile toddlers. Found out more about the museum here.

Sutton Courtenay Environmental Education Centre, Oxfordshire

If you have school age children in Oxfordshire, or were yourself, you are likely to know about this place from school trips. But during school holidays they also have various family activities which you can just drop-in on for a small donation.

We went along to the Easter Egg hunt and had a great few hours exploring, and trying to find the "eggs". The "eggs" were egg shaped cards with pictures of animals on that you had to match with the pictures given when you arrived. Once all were found you got to decorate a biscuit with mini-egg included. There were also craft tables set up, where we got to make a birds nest.

Charlotte loved exploring the grounds, diving in and out the trees, looking for frogs in the pond, finding hidden birds and eggs (toy ones) amongst the tress. There is a dinosaur, a great sound garden and willow sculptures which are always popular. Along with finding almost all the "eggs" we also found some real birds eggs and a jaw bone of a rodent. We took the bone back to the staff/volunteers who were great but just could not work out what animal our bone belonged to.

Sutton Courtenay Environmental Education Centre is run by BBOWT, and you can find details of all their upcoming events here http://www.bbowt.org.uk/more_events26.asp