A Day Out at 360 Play Basildon

Soft Play is a particular favourite, especially when the weather takes a cold, rainy turn during the British winter times. We have tried out a few different soft play areas, with our own favourite landing at 360 Play Basildon. This area has a bunch of different activities to do, which really does keep the kids busy, while the adults can chill on sofas or at tables, working on their computers. As both of us work from home, half terms and days off of school fit perfectly into the realm of soft play, where everyone can have a good time while getting out of the house.

360 Play Basildon has this entire motto about playing with your children and engaging with them – with all of the buildings and objects being parent friendly as well. You can choose to let your kids run about while waiting at a spot – but the wifi is a bit spotty so it’s hard to completely connect and work. There is also a massive outdoors area, by the looks of things, which include paddle boats, small shops and a sand area, but the weather hasn’t been good enough for those to be open on days when we go.

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Best National Trust Sites in Essex and the Surrounding Areas

The National Trust is an organisation that maintains various gardens and historical properties throughout England. Many of the places within the National Trust are free to visit, but some do cost fees or have car park fees nearby them to help maintain them. We ended up getting a National Trust membership, which allows us to park in carparks for free, go to a bunch of places that do cost, and otherwise attend National Trust seasonal events. There is a lot on in the National Trust, and many places to visit. As we live in the Essex area, we decided to explore as many of the local National Trust sites as we could, and we’ve picked out a bunch of our favorites from our county and the bordering ones! Let’s get into our list of the best National Trust Sites in Essex and the surrounding areas.

Explore Inside a Castle at Bodiam Castle

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A Day Out at The Pinball Office

Dann really enjoys going to pinball clubs and playing all of their beautiful tables! So, when one opened up quite local to where we live, Dann was super excited to go along! Claire actually arranged her birthday party at the venue The Pinball Office, which is very much like a diamond in the rough – a hidden pinball office that doesn’t seem like it would be there from the outside. But, the inside of the venue is wonderful. Clean machines, lots of variety, and it’s not too loud there at all!

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A Day out at Belhus Woods Country Park | A Gnome Trail

[Ad- gifted product] When it comes to getting out and about, there are a few parks and woods that the children really, really love. Belhus Woods Country Park, which includes a musical-themed play park, is one of those places that the children always want to go too. Last year, around the month of December, they had a reindeer trail which everyone enjoyed, so we hopped along again in the muddy wintertime to see if a new trail was set up – and to our delight, they had put together a gnome trail for us all!

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A Day Out at Enchanted Audrey End

Audley End House and Gardens is a really lovely English Heritage grounds, that we tend to visit whenever they do any of their seasonal events. This year, they had a light festival called Enchanted Audrey End. I had heard all about Audrey End light shows, but you do need to pre-book well ahead of time! So, this year we were prepared and we were able to get the whole family along for the fun trail!

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