Handforth Paddock Fair

What is it?

Handforth Paddock Fair is a new event held in the Paddock shopping area. It has been running the past couple of years and is organised by a lady from Cheshire books. It expanded to Cheadle Hulme family market this weekend and Handforth Paddock Fair itself ran twice this summer and again November 22nd for the Winter event.

What is there to do?

It is a free entry event with:

•  food
• stalls
• bouncy castles
• face painting 
• lucky dips
• pony rides 
• raffles 
• a treasure hunt 
• miniature railway 
• appearances from popular children's TV characters (usually Peppa pig) 
• games 
• craft activities - last year they had sand art at one of the events which was fab and this year pottery and canvas painting.
• Punch & Judy Show

The activities/stalls vary each time as do the characters present.

How to get there:

The event is easily accessible with a bus stop right by the paddock and it's also only a five minute walk from the train station. Beware if you have a buggy though as it's stairs only, no lifts or ramps.

There is also parking behind the Paddock itself. 

Whats it Like?

We went to both the summer and winter events last year, the first being where G had her first ever pony ride and had her face painted for the first time. It was chilly and wet but a nice event and I particularly liked the Little Mermaid balloon she had made for her and the Cookie Monster cupcakes on sale.
A just turned 2 year old G was also over the moon meeting Peppa Pig for the first time which was lovely.

 We also went to one of the two summer events this year where they had a Frozen theme with an Elsa tribute, someone in a bit of a dodgy Olaf outfit (but the kids loved it) and a Frozen stall. It was a beautiful sunny day and we got a free little box of chocolates and there was plenty for G to do.

We went again the saturday just gone (November 22nd) for the winter fair and G enjoyed the bouncy castles, frozen characters, punch & judy show, train rides and joining in for a fun dance with a small local song/dance class. The sun made an appearance so it was another bizzarely warm November day and the paddock was nicely busy.

There's been a lot of bubbles about for the past couple of events with bubble guns being on sale, so prepare to have a few quid saved for one of those or be left with a crying child.
There is also a fab play park behind the paddock (Meriton road park) with some lovely play equipment, which is great to go to when you've finished at the fair.

The costs can add up at the fair, so if on a budget you have to keep an eye on what you spend. However with the train rides only being 50p a ride, the characters and this year a free Punch & Judy show ( not a show I'm overly comfortable with but G loves puppets) it can be a good cheap morning/afternoon out!

Llandudno day trip

Friday the 15th of August at approximately 9am G and I arrived at a local church, St. Matthews, who had organised a coach trip to Llandudno for the day.

I have fond memories of my mum taking my brother and I on a coach trip to Llandudno when we were younger.....it was raining but we still tried out the beach, a cafe for cups of tea and a Welsh Library. We were older than G is now so seeing everything written in Welsh was a novelty. 

With the crazy weather we've been having this August I was worried it might be raining this time round as well but anything to get to the seaside!

Along side the fond memories, it was only £5 a seat (return) so I couldn't say no! I invited my brother a long too.
We got there just gone 11am and luckily for us the rain had got itself out of the way during the journey and sunshine was heading our way.
We walked through the central shopping area towards the North shore, pebbles and sand and the pier. All this area is comercialised and was busy with regular boat trips, Punch and Judy shows, the land train service and the usual pier activities.

The Mad Hatter, G, Uncle Matt

The Mad Hatter, Llandudno

After spotting the mad hatter - one of the carved statues from Llandudno's Alice in Wonderland trail, we stopped on the beach as that was all I had really planned....being by the sea, the sun and the sand. However the tide soon started coming in and seeing the other activities available the plan changed. We got on one of land trains for a short trip over to the West shore.

The second land train for the journey back

The Cheshire Cat by the West shore

The west shore was not comercialised and was more calm and quiet. There was a lovely play ground for the children which we took G in for a while. Great place for taking photo's of the Great Orme, however there was also a cable car ride for that nearer the north shore for the less faint hearted. We didn't have the time for that though and it's not something I'd take a 3 year old on.

Play park for children

This swing was a big hit with G

and with the adults too!

Beautiful Landscape

Beautiful Beach

The beach on the west shore is lovely and we spent some time on there playing, a bit of quick sand castle making, shell finding and also making discoveries of jellyfish and a sharks tooth.

Beach Fun

One of the many washed up jellyfish

Lots of shells

Lovely Weather 

Due to the time limit we didn't spend half as long as we would have liked on the beach or get to stop for a proper lunch (afternoon tea would have been lovely - a few venues offer that) but instead jumped off the land train back at the North shore, grabbed some chips and headed back for a boat ride on the sea jay before having the be back at the coach depot.

On the boat

There were a few different boat trips going out regularly from mid day. The Sea Jay was £4 per person and G was free. It's listed as a half an hour trip but it's about 20 minutes. There were speed boat options too for the more daring but this was choppy enough for my liking. This was G's first boat trip, much like mine and my brothers first boat trip in Tenby, Wales at similar ages. G wasn't too fond of the wobbly sensation when sat on the boat waiting for it to leave but was ok once we'd set off and once sat on my knee. A fun short trip.

A bit too wobbly for G

After that it was a quick rush to an ice cream shop and back to the coach. Would be lovely to have a longer trip there again on another sunny day, but for the price and someone else organising the coach you can't complain. Generally a lovely day. Thank you to the lovely lady at St. Matthews who organised it.

Stockport & Surrounding Summer Days Out

When I started writing this post the summer holidays were in full swing. Now the end of them and Autumn it seems are rapidly approaching!

During the holidays I find days in are fine spread out. There is plenty to do but for my sanity I often find it better to go out and do something. Also at home, at the moment, it is just me and my daughter (and the cat - the child fearing cat) so it's good to go out and do something social and days out are better at burning the abundance of energy so many 3 year old's have.
We are lucky in that we live by a few different play parks ...but as a mum there are only so many times in a week/month you can go to the same old playgrounds!

Finding days out/outdoor events to keep my 3 year old active and entertained that are 1. financially viable for us and 2. are within reaching distance (with me not being a driver), could have been a bit of a challenge, but luckily living in Stockport it has been fairly straight forward the past two years.

Last year Stockport (and surrounding areas) had a lot on and I took my then just turned 2 year old to every local free/low budget event that was going. I felt like we'd had a really good run for the holidays but I ended up admitted to hospital by the end of it.
This time this year I am coping better, but also not made it to quite as many events. We have missed a couple either due to the crazy mood swings of the UK's weather stopping play, limited funds or me not pushing myself as much. Also not all events were annual.

This summer we have made it to a few that are annual including National Play Day and Handforth Paddock Fair. Luckily both were free entry and rain free.
Dig in the City was on again this year and I was hoping to make the final day but the stormy weather once again returned.

Some of the other local low budget possibilities this summer are/were:

•  the open to all holiday sessions held at Jumpspace, 
• special offer £1 sessions at the Playhouse - a small local indoor play center we hadn't yet tried. The £1 offer continues this week. Lovely and clean but best for small children with being a small play area.
• Some free weekly local craft sessions which started last Wednesday at the Stopford open learning center
• A day trip to Llandudno Friday just gone organised by St.Matthews Church - I will be doing a seperate blog post on this.
•  Spinningfields Free Family Film Club on Saturdays - free outdoors cinema screen showing Disney films, deckchairs to sit on and free face painting & balloon sculptures. 
• A few fun days at local pubs with bouncy castles, face painting, Peppa Pig, Queen Elsa etc
• The Here's one we made earlier exhibition at the Lowry in Salford ...90 years of childrens TV, it's free, looks fun and is great for anymore rainy days.
• An upcoming funfair at Woodbank Park
• Stockport Summer Festival 29th to 31st August. The 31st being the best day for children.

Some useful online places for getting ideas for days out include new page Happy Days Out which I'm part of on Facebook. Family Link who have a very useful Summer activities booklet which can be accessed online and FamiliesOnline.co.uk's What's On section. Many events I have found out about by just being part of local mum's pages on facebook and your local councils events page can be helpful too.
Next year I'm thinking of publishing my own list of things to do at the start of the summer if I am up and running by then! I also will be doing a post of general days out rather than one off events, these generally are further to travel to, so look out for that.

National Play Day

National play day takes place generally on the first Wednesday in August every year in the UK where community events take place all around the country. 

It originated in London and spread from just a couple local events there in 1987 to being a nationwide event with over 850 events in 2012 and being the biggest celebration of play in possibly all of Europe. 

It's aims to highlight the importance of children's right to play, something I feel is currently very important to put and keep in the spotlight. The reasons why would be a whole essay worth of a post. 

Stockports main event is held at Torkington Park, Hazel Grove, from 11am til 4pm and is generally a free event. No entrance fee, most activities free and those that are not just a very small cost of (25-50p). 

I have taken my little girl the past two years and both years have been a brilliant success. Very large turnout's (particularly last year when it was scorching hot sunshine), a surplus of fun activities to do and in general a great day for children.

There was slightly less on this year, but still with plenty to do mostly for free you can't complain! Craft activities, clowns and clown skills activities, hay stacks, emergency services attend in some form for a short while (ambulance/fire engine to educate the children) sand pit, music (provided by Pure.FM I think), soft play areas (all outside obviously), slides, hook a duck (with lovely prizes) and other similar games, bouncy castle, zip wire for older children, badge making, cardboard city, last year tribal instruments stand, smoothie stall and decorate a t-shirt stall, free balloons both years and I'm sure I've missed things out. 

There were also support stalls for breast feeding, Family Link Stockport (who gave out lot's of info on summer events/activities), local sure start centers were represented and ran a little treasure hunt (play scheme staff help run the event) and a local nursery were present helping advertise the Just for 2's nursery offer as well as bringing a long their pet tortoise for the children to see.

Besides all that there is also a great looking playground at Torkington park which we have yet to try out.

Below are some photo's of G enjoying some of the activities from both years events.

2013

Colouring In

Slides and other fun

Not sure what this was but she liked it

Slides

Tribal instruments

Drumming

Balancing

Cardboard City

Crafty fun

Lovely time seeing, playing and hearing the instruments

More drumming

Clown school

Haystacks

2014

Haystack fun a year on

Hook a Duck 25p and three prizes

Bouncing

Bouncy castle 50p

Sandpit with her cousin

Balancing skills



Fingers crossed they will still have funding to continue next year.