A visit to the Rare Breeds Center in Ashford.

Hello my friends.

Hope you've had a wonderful weekend.

Another busy one for me.  Saturday was spent with the kids at the Rare Breeds Centre in Ashford, Kent. Since going for my grand-daughter's birthday back in March I'd suggested all the family go as it was such good fun, Saturday was the first opportunity for us to get it sorted and go.  Read below to find out how the day went. X

Saturday night I went out out!  David and I had a fun evening with four friends in Canterbury having a few drinks and a wonderful meal.  We ate the the restaurant that has become our Christmas Eve haunt.  El Sol is a tapas style restaurant with delicious plates of food such as garlic prawns, albondigas, potato bravas and chorizo with tomatoes - all very tasty and very mouth-watering.  We had lots of bread to 'mop up' (who else does this)?  We left in plenty of time to catch last orders in a local pub - the singer who was there before we ate had finished his set, which was a shame as we'd have liked to have a bit of a boogie too!  Taxi's home to bed were very late and suffice to say I had a long lay-in on Sunday morning!

Sunday was fairly quiet, after the busy previous day, David and I went to our eldest daughters for an impromptu BBQ, just a few sausages and burgers whilst enjoying the sun, but we could clearly see it's the end of the season as the sun set earlier and the night got a bit chilly!

There was plenty to do and see at the RB Center which was quite the opposite to when I went back in March. With the sun shinning it put a whole different light onto the matter and the venue was buzzing with families all enjoying the animals & surroundings.

We started in the petting area, this was where you could get among the animals and actually touch and stroke them.  There were goats, guinea pigs, a big shire horse, a huge cow, numerous chickens and some cute little piglets.  The children loved this part and relished the freedom of being among the wildlife.  Hand washing stations were placed all about so after washing our hands were searched to see more of the livestock.  Sheep and lots more pigs were to be found in cages and pens along with lots of different birds, turkeys and chickens - they made lots of noise, even more than the kids did!

We decide to eat our packed lunches in the picnic area which was just by a play park, the kids quickly ate their sandwiches and went to play so the adults could enjoy there's ... I say enjoy, most the them had to chase after the young ones who went a bit awol at times ... lol!

The tractor ride was up next so after more hand-washing we queued for the wagon that took us up to another couple of areas.  I'd missed both of these last time because of the weather, so when we got off at the Mysterious Park Adventure Trail which, quite honestly was terrific fun.  I thoroughly enjoyed the trail which was set in woodland (in wet weather had streams running through it) and the idea is to go round the course without touching the ground! Kids and adults have to navigate the wooden bridges, swing on ropes, crawl through tyres and balance on wooden beams suspended above the ground - it was such good fun.  I'm always up for a challenge like this and tried really hard to complete the course like the kids did - unfortunately I let myself down on the monkey bars, they were just a step too far for me! Lol!

You'd have thought the kids would have been worn out by now, but no they still had load so of energy for the play park.  This had a big wooden castle that had different levels inside it, climbing frames and slides down out of it, there was also two big zipwires and a giant maze tunnel that the kids loved.  It catered for all ages which is brilliant as we had such a mixed age range with us.  Eventually once the kids were hot and tired we decided on getting ice creams which it just so happens was right opposite the butterfly tunnel.  I simply loved this section and although it was boiling hot and very humid inside was wonderful to see.  I only caught sight of three different types of Butterflies (don't know what they were called though) but inside was very tropical and reminded me of Kew Gardens in London (another worthwhile place to visit).

Ice creams were followed by the pig race.  Four big piggies raced around a track following selected children who were holding buckets of food.  Another 8 children had to try and usher the pigs back into the pen, they were very reluctant to more on as they'd got hold of the food and were not budging for anyone ... ha ha ha.  It was good fun and I'm impressed to say Mr Red pig (my choice) won!

I have to admit I was exhausted after being out in the fresh air all day, and wasn't really fancying the evening out.  But once home having showered and freshly washed and styled my hair I was excited to catch up with my friends.  I'll definitely be going back to the Rare Breeds Center one day as it's such a fun experience.  If you live anywhere remotely near I'd certainly give it a look and for the price of just under £15 per person (family consessions are available too at the price of £47.40 2 + 2) it's a worthwhile fun day out. X

Thanks for stopping by, do let me know what you got up to this weekend, I love to hear.

Be sure to pop back on Thursday for the #Linkup and let me know what plans you have for the following long weekend, it's Bank Holiday Monday - hooray!