Free Under-Fives Newsletter
Issue 24 : June/July 06
********************************* The Newsletter on the Under-Fives Issue 24 : June & July 2006 http://www.studholme.net/child/ ********************************* Welcome to June's newsletter. This month one of our readers reviews Cadbury World, and recommends you go somewhere else instead! To read previous issues of this newsletter see http://www.studholme.net/child/news.html Contents -------- - What's New at the Web Site? - Review: Cadbury World - News and Events ___________________________________________________________ What's New at the Web Site? --------------------------- Language Lessons It's much easier to learn a language when you start early, so I've added a section on people offering language lessons to the site. http://www.studholme.net/child/activity.html#Languages :ADVERT:_________________________________________________ Do you provide a service for the under-fives? Then promote your business here. Our readers (over 300 of them) want to know about activities for their children. Visit http://www.studholme.net/child/newsad.html __________________________________________________:ADVERT: Links to Maps Showing Place Locations To help you find a place, many listings now include a link to a map showing its location. http://www.studholme.net/child/attraction.html Darely Abbey Park, Derby Playground, tearooms, butterfly garden, picnicing, duck feeding. http://www.studholme.net/child/attraction.html Belper River Gardens Gardens, playground, rowing boats and duck feeding. http://www.studholme.net/child/attraction.html __________________________________________________________ Review: Cadbury World --------------------- by Deborah Morgan-Graham, mother of two. I took my two children aged 6 and 4 expecting a really fun day and to eat my favourite food - chocolate. From reading the Cadbury's website it appeared quite fun. I expected to find a sort of 'legoland' or 'chucklebutties' approach - soft play, lots of things to play on outside plus rides and activities for the children to enjoy. So I pre-booked the tickets (which is how they prefer you to pay) and followed the brown signs from the Motorway junction they specified on their website. Big mistake! Take the M42 instead - much quicker and easier then travelling through the centre of Birmingham.... The main entrance has a man doing juggling tricks while you wait in the queue to go into the main attraction. The time you book (say 1 pm) is the time you join 50 others to be herded through the Cadbury Experience. You are handed some chocolate (one small bar of dairy milk and one small bar of Cadbury's caramel) as you enter the place. We walked through a jungle effect with information about where cocoa is found and grown with good visual displays, this is where things went downhill. We had to stand and watch (you can't move or go any further as the doors are locked!) a flat screen TV for about 10 minutes of a documentary about how cocoa was shipped in the 1700's to the UK...my children found this boring so too did all the other little ones who like my 2 were left to stand around bored until we were 'allowed' though the second set of doors... We then entered a small cobbled 'street scene' set in the late 1800's. A screen with an actor dressed as the original Mr Cadbury told a story about how he became a businessman because his father a Quaker had forbidden him joining the professions...again the children were bored by this too but we had to wait 15 minutes until the doors were opened so we cold go through to another area...this time a room with benches to watch yet another flat screen TV about how Cadburys made chocolate and shipped the cocoa bean to the UK in a ship during the 1800's... By this time we'd had enough! So we asked to go through the doors we (and especially the children) didn't want to sit listening to this again. This time it's a factory tour. Sealed off from the main plant, behind Perspex, you see machinery boxing up bars of chocolate. Then you climb the stairs to see more boxes of chocolate being sent to the lorry and again more boxes of chocolate being boxed up and stacked waiting for the lorry to pick them up...so again the children by now we getting rather fed up. Now I knew why we were given 2 bars of chocolate each at the entrance! Then we formed another queue to go on a 'ride'. A car for each family which went very slowly around a Cadbury's advertising site with the characters from the previous advertisements such as the Caramel bunny lying under a tree, the easter egg bird and a forest of sweets which the children felt was a bit better then all we had seen before but again it wasn't quite what you'd imagine. Then there is an interactive room where children can have their photo taken and it's copied (digitally) as a photograph of them as a chocolate statue! This was the better aspect of the 'experience' as the children enjoyed jumping on the answers to questions and having their photo taken etc. This should have been expanded as it was entertaining for the children rather than TV history lessons! After this you queue again to go around the tasting plant where a single person (more queuing) dips fudge pieces in melted chocolate to hand to you, or you can do it yourself which is tricky and holds the queue up even more...on to the next item writing your name with a icing bag full of melted chocolate...queuing again so by now my two wanted out! So we left via the exit into the Cadbury shop. That was the end of the experience. The children played in the play area which was a climbing frame and things to bounce on run and jump on but it would have been easier to just park, not pay for the 'experience', and just sit to enjoy the climbing frame! If you wish to eat there is a cafe/restaurant on site which is 'ok' and quite pricey for what you can get. It's not well maintained and rather dirty. A lady sat next to us with two small toddlers and a 9 month old baby asked for a highchair. The staff let her struggle to carry it over to the table and when she did the seat was full of beans and food . It had been put away filthy and no one bothered or apologised to her they just wiped it over with a wet cloth and walked off. So it was back to the play area which is what the children enjoyed the most. This had a face painter and a magic show again both were very good especially the magician who had the children's attention (and the adults!) for half an hour and yet the time flew... In summary... I and other parents I spoke to felt it was a big advertisement for chocolate and not at all child-focused which was a pity as it could have been better if they had thought it through properly. The best of Cadbury's world? The play area outside (free), the face painting (£2), magic show (free) and one area in 'experience' which had an interactive area for children. Apart from that the whole 'experience' was typical of children's entertainment in Britain. Not well thought out, queues everywhere and poor facilities for the children. It seems like one big advert and not at all how it appears on their website. In our experience and from the other parents we spoke to we wouldn't go back again! In fact save your money. If you want any advice? Buy two bars of chocolate for each member of the family, go to Carsington water for the afternoon and with the money you save travelling and buying a ticket for Cadbury World... go somewhere nice instead. Thank you Deborah for the review - if you would like to comment on somewhere you have visited: either good or bad - please contact us. For other attractions to visit instead of Cadbury World see http://www.studholme.net/child/attraction.html ____________________________________________________________ News and Events --------------- To announce your event, or children related news here, e-mail jill@studholme.net or fill in the form at http://www.studholme.net/child/news.html (Circulation: 339 subscribers) Ballet Show The Ashbourne School of Dance are performing their own show at the Guildhall Theatre. Friday 23 June, Saturday 24 June and Sunday 25 June. Tickets £8 for adults. For more information contact Mrs Tina Dodsworth on 01159 735747. :ADVERT:_________________________________________________ SALE: MINI-BODEN CHILDREN'S CLOTHES. 10% off your order with free shipping. Go to http://tinyurl.com/p6udk __________________________________________________:ADVERT: Heavy metals may be implicated in autism URINE samples from hundreds of French children have yielded evidence for a link between autism and exposure to heavy metals. If validated, the findings might mean some cases of autism could be treated with drugs that purge the body of heavy metals. http://www.newscientist.com/ Caffeine boosts breathing in premature infants A dose of caffeine given to premature infants may help with vital functions such as breathing. http://www.newscientist.com/ Premature babies face higher risk of hyperactivity Babies born prematurely face a significantly greater risk of developing attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), Danish researchers report. The results should encourage women to take precautions against premature birth, including refraining from smoking, says study author Karen Linnet http://www.newscientist.com/ :ADVERT:_________________________________________________ Think you may have postnatal depression or illness? The support and help you need is at the PNI-UK web site - http://www.pni-uk.com/ PNI-UK: Registered Charity 1105767. __________________________________________________:ADVERT: If you would like to read this news as it happens, without waiting for this newsletter, then grab our newsfeed from http://www.studholme.net/child/newsfeed.html It's free and instantly updates you with the latest news and events via e-mail, your web site or any news feed reader. ___________________________________________________________ Copyright studholme.net, 2005 You are welcome to copy or forward any part of this newsletter, but please include this copyright notice and web address - http://www.studholme.net/child/ Previous editions of this newsletter are archived at http://www.studholme.net/child/news.html
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