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  1. Paultons Park just got even better with 2 new amazing rides in Peppa Pig World!

    We were lucky enough to be invited to the recent preview event and although we have been to Paultons Park many times before I was excited for my daughter as she’s now a huge Peppa Pig fan.  The new rides ‘Grampy Rabbit’s Sailing Club’ and ‘The Queen’s Flying Coach Ride’ are much bigger and more impressive than I could possibly have expected with Grampy’s boat going through the Queen’s Castle and then her coach travels high above the river.

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    We started on the water and jumped into our brightly coloured boat for a gentle ride down the river towards Pirate Island.  The boat slowly spins so everyone gets to have a look around.  We came across Peppa and George having a royal picnic with the King and Queen, we journeyed through the Castle with hanging chandeliers and weaved our way to Pirate Island at the end where Emily Elephant, Suzy Sheep and more of Peppa’s friends stood.

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    When we got off, our ever so shy daughter spotted Peppa Pig and ran for a cuddle and we both said hello to Mummy and Daddy Pig. 

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    We took the time to wander around and look at all the flowers and characters before setting off on the Queen’s Flying Coach Ride.  We climbed the steps to the top of the Castle and were invited to step inside a coach to begin our journey.  The views were just incredible, we could see all over Peppa Pig World and then look down on all the other happy families on the boat ride.

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    While you’re there, look out for Mr Bull and his digger.  We stood watching for a while and then all of a sudden there was a big squirt of water…. that naughty Bull had hit a pipe!!!

    After our fun on the new rides we jumped on George’s Dinosaur Adventure ride, Daddy Pigs Car Ride and then went for a quick run through Peppa Pig’s House to see the family.  You can easily spend a whole day in this part of the park as there are now 9 fun themed rides plus George’s Spaceship Playzone (which from experience they won’t want to leave), Mr Potato’s Playground and even a Muddy Puddles Splashzone with squirting water coming out the ground!

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    Little Africa is another new attraction for this year and we were pleasantly surprised with the number of animals and birds we found.  We saw meerkats, African crested porcupines, fennec fox, a huge Gambian pouched rat and a tiny African pygmy mouse.  The impressive aviary is definitely worth seeing and whilst you are standing on the platform make sure you look up as there were lots of wonderful colourful birds hiding above our heads.  There are screens and boards around to help you name the wildlife but whilst I tried to educate the kids they were too interested in running off to the next exhibit to see what they could find.

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    After spending ages in Little Africa we decided to stop for our picnic and attempted to get our little girl to sleep with a slow stroll over to the Lost Kingdom.  As I suspected, there’s to much for her too look at and once we were there she screamed to get out so we played in the Dinosaur themed park, met a rather large roaring dinosaur and enjoyed a couple  of the smaller rides together.

    A few more rides later and we found ourselves back in Peppa Pig World enjoying a hot drink and biscuit in the new Café before heading off with 2 extremely tired and happy children.  (Mummy and Nanny were pretty pooped too!)

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    Paulton’s Park has over 70 rides and attractions and I promise you won’t ever hear ‘I’m bored’!  If you’ve never been before then it might be worth considering their 2 day short break where you get 2 days entry for the price of 1.*  They have rides for all ages, lots for the little one’s and several for the older thrillseekers.  There’s also plenty of play areas which are good for coffee breaks and there’s even a large splashpark with water jet, fountains, super soakers and giant tipping buckets!

    For more information on Paultons Park please visit the Website.

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    *Any prices or special offers mentioned are correct at the time of writing.

    Dorsetmums was invited to Paultons Park for the purpose of writing a review however all views are my own.

  2. Today we attended the Bournemouth University Festival of Learning event and we had soooo much fun! 

    The Festival brings learning to life with interactive workshops, talks, exhibitions, sport sessions and theatre events.  All of the activities are free to book but you need to register first in order to secure your place. 

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    I have no idea exactly how many activities and workshops were running today but it took us several hours to do a fraction of it.  I know we missed quite a few things including the outdoor sports activities but our darling daughter was simply too exhausted by mid afternoon to carry on.

    When we arrived we made our way to the Fusion Building and after a wander and a bite to eat we went upstairs and found there was pretty much something going on in each and every room which was suitable for the kids.

    We started in an archaeological room where my son was shown how cave people would grind up iron rock to make paint and we had a go at our own cave drawings.  Both kids were then giving a big lump of clay to make and take whatever they wanted.  I was super impressed with my son’s decorated cup which he made for Daddy while our little girl had a blast simply wetting and squidging her piece of clay haha.

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    Next door was a sensory room and they both really enjoyed it in there.  There were tubs on the floor with all sorts of things from glittery shaving foam to trucks in mud, paint brushes in sand to wet little balls that loved to bounce.  Our favourite was a tub made simply from cornflour and water but you could pick it up as a solid and then it would instantly turn into liquid in your hands!

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    We found a room which tested our strength, endurance, reaction and balance with various activities.  I was pleased to be told my results showed I wasn’t a weakling however our son fell on the floor in a heap when asked to jump on and off a block for 2 minutes haha.

    After this we went in a room with VERY realistic dummies and we even put on a special t-shirt that showed the heart beating, very cool! 

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    We did plenty more and enjoyed lots of hands on activities before ending our day watching a pterodactyl fly around the building and having our photo taken with a Mammouth and a T-Rex!

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    If anyone from the BU Festival of Learning see’s this then I’d love to say a HUGE thank you from everyone who came.  Each year is just incredible and all the staff and students are so very welcoming, friendly and passionate about their subject.  I’m not certain but I’d bet the majority of people walking around offering help and assistance are there voluntarily and for us to come out for the day and enjoy so many activities for free is simply amazing and very much appreciated.  We’ll see you again in 2019!

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    Please note that it’s not over!  There are still many more events running through the week, mostly for adults but there are still a few for kids including Science Magic which is on Wednesday after school (although I have no doubt it will be sold out soon).  For full details on more events running this week, please visit the Website.