Big fun with little trains - halfterm fun at the NRM

For the start of the half term, we took a little holiday. We went to Yorkshire to revisit two museums we have visited before. As we were going on consecutive days, we took the opportunity to stay over in Yorkshire - actually in Bradford, the location of our second museum.

On Saturday, however, we returned to a place we have been to several times, the National Railway Museum in York. This time, we had been invited back to their "Big fun for little trains" event they are running over half term.

As usual, entry is free with some activities attracting a small charge - although fewer activities than usual seemed to cost. The children now know the place well and have favourite things we have to go and visit - the pinball game in the Flying Scotsman section, the viewing platform to see the "real trains" arriving at and leaving York station, the bullet train. Everything has to fit around those things and this time there was certainly a lot to see and do - a garden railway display, a miniature diesel ride and a model tramway too. There was also a Chuggington play area and a StackTrack challenge but Monkey now believes he is too old for Chuggington, although it doesn't stop him playing with the diecast models when he feels like it!

Monkey's favourite activities was the Scalextric racing (although he now wants a 6 car track for his birthday!), and the Lego workshop where children build a 4 wheeled Lego vehicle to try and make it go down a slope. He loves Lego so he was in his element. Missy found all the pink Lego bricks and joined in. Strangely, he wouldn't for some reason go near the Meccano workshop - I think he views it as too difficult for him still. But the unexpected hit with him was the pedal train - he pulled a face like it was all too babyish for him, until he suddenly joined the queue, grabbed the next available vehicle and pedalled round madly with a broad grin on his face for a few minutes. He's definitely still a little boy at heart.

We certainly picked a lovely day to go, with the sun shining and the temperature rising to a surprisingly pleasant level. This made the outdoor activities surprisingly pleasant for the time of year - we took a ride on both miniature and full sized steam trains and the children had a quick go in the park, although again, Monkey is just reaching that stage where he is a little too big for the play area.

As usual, we ran out of time and energy to do all the activities on offer so if you are after a day out and your children love trains (Monkey still wants to be a train driver when he grows up), this would be perfect. Most people are fascinated by trains anyway and little ones in particular are enthralled. Even if you've been recently, there's always something new to see as they move the stock around a lot, and you always find something that's a bit different. We never manage to cram it all in so you definitely will fill a whole day and if you like to take your time, maybe two.

Big fun with little trains event runs until Sunday 24 February. The NRM invited us to try out this event  and gave us vouchers to try some of the chargeable events for free and free parking. They also kindly provided lunch. 

Paddington half term fun at the National Railway Museum

Last Saturday, I took the children back to the National Railway Museum in York to road test their Fun with Paddington Bear event that is running over this half term. We've been a few times now, most recently to their Harry Potter event back in February. However, this time, we decided to try going on the train. It took me a while to realise I could go directly to York by train from here - if I try to search for journeys from my local station, it tells me that it takes 3 hours and requires 2 changes. What it didn't tell me was that there is a direct service from Blackpool to York that passes very nearby and the journey takes a couple of hours. More importantly, with a railcard, it's cheaper than driving.

It was a very cold day in York when we arrived so we were grateful to reach the museum and get inside. Unfortunately, this time, it seemed like all the Paddington related activities were taking place in the Station Hall, with nothing in the Great Hall, a place my two like to inhabit so that we can make our regular pilgrimage to the Bullet Train.

Activities on offer this week include welly wanging, after which you may make a medal to take home. Make is probably an overstatement, as the children chose their medal and someone put it together in a press. You could also meet Paddington himself, something we failed at because when we first passed, Missy Woo didn't want to go near him, then we missed his next appearance, and then it was too late because we needed to get our train back home. This made Missy Woo upset but that was rectified by the purchase of a Paddington bear to accompany us on our train home, and accompanying purchase of model Japanese high speed train for Monkey.

Other activities on offer include dressing like Paddington (although most clothes are smaller sizes, mine just about fitted into everything) and ride on a steam train - this time, Puffing Billy who unfortunately had open carriages which made for a Very Cold Ride. We also had fun trying to spot the teddy bears hidden around the trains, each with a letter to make up the word.

Over lunchtime, we met up with some other bloggers to have a special teddy bears' picnic lunch, including Paddington's favourite, marmalade sandwiches. Missy Woo refused to eat them, saying that she didn't "like the carrot" in them. She's not lived that down since, changing her story to the fact that she doesn't eat oranges, only drink them, even though she does. 

Once again, we ran out of time to do all the things we wanted to do and had to head back to the station to catch our train home, which was enjoyable because we could watch the world pass by and I could keep the children amused. As ever, entry to the NRM is free but some of the activities mentioned do attract a small charge, although across the whole day, it's still much cheaper than other family days out. Although my two are probably towards the higher end of the age bracket at which it is aimed, they still enjoyed the day, and Missy Woo now wants to collect all things Paddington. 

You can see Paddington Bear at the NRM until Sunday 4th November. Get your wellies out, and don't forget your marmalade sandwiches. 

(NRM invited us to the above event and gave us vouchers for lunch and to try some of the activities for free. All opinions are our own.)

Wizardly good half term fun

We've been to the National Railway Museum a couple of times recently, and the last time we were there, the children noticed a poster for Wizard Week, which is running from 11 - 19 February. Monkey, being a big Harry Potter fan, expressed an interest in going along to see it. So, when they invited us back to this particular event, I knew I would have no choice but to say yes. I thought the weather might get the better of us as York had loads of snow on Thursday, whereas we have had none of late, but the roads seemed clear enough so we set off on Saturday morning to check out the first day of the 9 day event.

Flying broomsticks

Missy Woo was concerned before we went that we'd have to dress up as wizards but I told her it wasn't necessary. There were, however, children there in wizardly fancy dress - I even saw one little boy with huge round specs, a black gown and wand, thoroughly putting us to shame. Missy wanted to buy a wizard's hat and a wand to compensate for this, but I disallowed it on the basis she has plenty of similar items at home that barely get touched. I am a cruel, cruel mother. There is actually a Best Dressed Wizard competition, where you upload a photo of yourself in wizardly costume at the museum to their Facebook page and the winner will win a wizard-themed experience, including magic lessons and an owl experience. Oops. They're too young for the owl experience anyway!

All aboard the Santa Express

The children with a friend 

You may remember a few weeks ago, I took the children to the National Railway Museum in York and I blogged about our VIP day. I didn't expect to be back so soon but we were invited to visit again and this time, try out Santa's Steam Adventure on the launch day last Saturday. This time, there were four of us as husband had taken a day off.

We arrived to collect our tickets and stopped for a coffee with Jen and Cass, who were also there with their children for the occasion. The children were super-giddy at the prospect of seeing Santa - although they know this one is not "the real Santa" - mainly because Missy Woo knew when she was 3 that her daddy was the Santa at the school Christmas fair, so we have to come up with a plausible explanation for this! They were keen to get a look at Santa's workshop and we'd been advised to allow some time for this. In reality, unless it's really busy, you don't need too long if your children are as giddy as mine were. They leg it down through and although they stopped to look at things, we were left kicking our heels a bit and the children were champing at the bit to get on the train.

A trip to the National Railway Museum

The Duchess of Hamilton

Our busy half-term weekend continued on Sunday when we were invited to York to visit the National Railway Museum. We were there as VIPs, which actually was rather lovely. That meant for us that we had access to their car park, which at £9 a day, is quite expensive but then, it is York after all. If you're on a budget however, York has numerous park and ride sites around the city and it's £2.30 return per adult to travel, with up to two children under 16 travelling free per paying adult. The children, Monkey in particular, would have preferred to go in on the bus as they are bendy buses, which convinced him that we were, of course, in Barcelona. Nice logic, but I think the weather was a bit cool in comparison with Catalunya.

Once at the NRM, entrance is free for all, although you can buy a guide costing £5. As VIPs, this cost us nothing, but I must admit, I didn't have chance to read it until we got home because I was on my own with the children due to husband working, and needed eyes in the back of my head! Some activities cost extra but we had vouchers to cover the cost of them as a VIP group.