Fancy the idea of being trapped in the dark in a terrifying SAW inspired maze?

No, me neither to be honest. I’m much more of a Sweet Home Alabama kind of girl. I actually sometimes find it a bit too scary to watch Inspector Morse on my own and then don’t like to go to the toilet in case someone is hiding behind the shower curtain.

I know that lots of people do get their kicks from all things horror though, so in my role as a Thorpe Park Blogger Ambassador it is my duty to inform you that as well as all of the regular rollercoaster and Shark Hotel funtimes you can enjoy at the resort, there are also these very scary Friday nights happening until early November.

Look away now if your idea of frightening is not knowing whether or not Reese Witherspoon will get Bruiser’s Bill passed in Legally Blond 2.

Find out more about Fright Nights and book your tickets now.

Disclosure: We are Thorpe Park ambassadors. We have received Merlin annual passes in return for sharing our news and views but all opinions are my own.

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Do you remember that Homebase ad where they build a house out of containers?

Homebase container

I always thought it looked pretty cool. It reminded me of playing Sylvanian Families when I was little* and spending ages organising the furniture in the little box shaped houses. I never imagined that one day I would get to sleep in a real actual container.

Well, you know what’s coming don’t you?

A couple of weeks ago Belle and I did spend the night in a container, and not because we were trying to sneak across any borders, but as part of a visit to Thorpe Park and the new Shark Hotel.

“The hotel is made of containers,” I told everyone.

“Seriously though,” they said, “what was it like?”

“Like sleeping in a container,” I said, and showed them the pictures: View Post

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The long summer school holidays are coming up and this can be a difficult time for both parents and children, especially if you’re a single parent family.

Now I’m newly single again, negotiating six weeks of childcare time is going to be even harder than usual. I try to keep other school holidays as work free as possible but doing next to no work for six weeks just isn’t realistic with one income. Luckily Belle is now old enough to pretty much entertain herself, but it still means six weeks of trying to prise the iPad out of her hands while she’s sat in front of the TV with half a loaf of brioche balanced precariously on the arm of the sofa.

As a single parent who works from home, knowing how much time you really can spend working over the summer is tricky. If you work too much, you lose out on quality time with your children and they will inevitably get bored and restless as soon as you aren’t giving them your undivided attention. Sending them away to a camp or an activity day while you work costs so much these days that sometimes it hardly seems worth it and I feel as though I may as well have written off working altogether and watched TV with Belle under her blanket.

On days where I have time to take Belle out, it’s a whole other summer holiday hurdle trying to work out where to go and what to do. If you have children of different ages it can be a nightmare trying to find something that appeals to the whole family that isn’t Burger King. Belle enjoys most days out we have but trying to think of original activities is not my strong point. You all know how I feel about organised crafts. Most childhood memories are created in the summer holidays, so having at least a few memorable days out each summer is really important.

If you’re not planning any holidays abroad or you just fancy a nice treat, Thorpe Park is a great place to take kids of all ages for a fun day out and some memories. Thorpe Park boasts rides suitable for everyone from the Saw ride and other super-fast rollercoasters, to the little train ride which Bee and Belle had the most fun on together when we went last summer. Plus of course there is the new Angry Birds Land, which is proving popular with kids of all ages…

Jonathan Ross at Thorpe Park

If you fancy going but you’re a bit strapped for cash this summer, never fear! I’m giving away 5 free entry passes worth £58 each, so £290 in total, for one lucky family to enjoy. All you have to do is enter using the Rafflecopter for your chance to win. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: We are Thorpe Park ambassadors. We have received Merlin annual passes in return for sharing our news and views but all opinions are my own.

Win competitions at ThePrizeFinder.com 

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Before you get too excited, expecting me to introduce some sort of celebrity ambassador, I should clarify that it’s me. You don’t get any season 3 Big Brother finalists or anything, just little old me.

OK, I know we’ve met before, so it’s not terribly thrilling for you, but it is exciting for me to have been chosen as one of Thorpe Park’s new team of blogger ambassadors. You will just have to live out all of your rollercoaster dreams vicariously through me.

(This is in fact not even true. You could actually just buy tickets and go yourself. That would be much more fun and to be honest would take the pressure off me a little bit.)

Colossus Thorpe Park

Happy Height Day

My first job as a Thorpe Park ambassador is to tell you about Happy Height Day. Happy Height Day was conceived on the back of research that highlighted just how important height is to kids. Did you know for example that 60% of kids would rather be taller than older? Belle certainly would. I think she is adorable but she gets annoyed about being small, particularly when it comes to things like theme parks where you have to be a certain height to ride the biggest rollercoasters. Last year when we went to Thorpe Park she wore boots with a heels especially, and at Disneyland Paris a couple of years ago she developed a trick where she sort of stood on tip toes, but inside her shoes. It was very clever.

Happy Height Day then is about celebrating reaching that elusive 1.4m and being able to join in the fun without cheating.

Thorpe Park Happy Height Day

To celebrate the reopening of the park for a new season on March 20th and as an extra bonus for all those children that have reached the magic height of 1.4m, Thorpe Park is offering free admission to the first 500 children who measure between 1.4 and 1.5m, plus a guest, on both Saturday 22 March and Sunday 23March! For more information visit The Thorpe Park website.

Angry Birds

If your kids aren’t quite up to 1.4m, don’t worry, there is plenty still to do! There are over 25 rides and anttractions throughout the park and from May there will be the brand new Angry Birds 4D experience.

(I’ve never been entirely sure what a ‘4D’ experience really entails, so will definitely be checking this out. Do you actually travel in time?? That would be pretty cool, but I suspect not.)

Packed with special effects it will form the unique centerpiece of the new character land, complete with 100ft rapid drop tower ride Detonator and ‘Red Bird v Bad Piggies’ dodgems. A must for Angry Birds fans.

Book now for up to 60% off

Between Monday 3rd and Wednesday 12th March 2014 you can buy tickets in advance online for just £20. That’s an almost 60% saving on full price tickets! Once you’ve booked online, you can upgrade your ticket to an annual pass on the day of your visit, for just £28, meaning you can visit as many times as you like for the whole season.

To take advantage of this awesome offer simply visit the website and book online before 12 March.

Disclosure: We are Thorpe Park ambassadors. We have received Merlin annual passes in return for sharing our news and views but all opinions are my own.

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A seven year age gap between kids is a bit of a tricky one. It’s great when the youngest is about a year old and your eight year old loves playing with adorable babies, but when that adorable baby turns into an annoying six year old, the now teenager isn’t always quite so keen.

One thing we find it really hard to do is to find activities and days out that both Bee and Belle, now 17 and 10, both enjoy. It is getting easier as they get older but funnily enough Bee doesn’t always leap at the chance to do things like spend a weekend with me and Belle in a caravan building sandcastles and playing on 2p arcade machines.

Funny that. View Post

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When you’ve got a seven year age gap between your kids it can be hard to find something that the whole family want to do. I can say from experience that teenagers absolutely do not see the same attraction in soft play as five years olds. I can’t think why. Who doesn’t enjoy sharing a ball pit with half eaten cheesy puffs and sticky toddlers in a characterless, echoey warehouse?

I know I can think of barely a thousand or so things I’d rather do. View Post

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