Why canal boats can be fun: Ellesmere Port Boat Museum with kids

"If you want to get soaked, go to the boat museum."

That became our eldest's motto during trips there in 2014. Not because we allowed them to fall into the canal, but because we chose rainy days for every visit. On one particularly torrential trip one of the shop assistants came out to the car with us, holding a big 'Canal & River Trust' umbrella over our heads.

But today the sun shone, and we were all looking forward to a rain-free day at the National Waterways Museum, Ellesmere Port. To set the scene, they've put together an introductory video...



It's safe to say that none of us is passionate about canals - the history, the construction, the boats, we can take them or leave them. But there are lots of things to like about the museum. Here are the top five things that we, and our two small kids, enjoyed today:

Porters Row Cottages

Easy to miss, these former canal workers' homes have been refurbished in period style (1850, 1900s, 1930s, 1940s) and are tucked away behind the main museum. The different styles, and strange items like mangles and washtubs, were enough to hold the attention of our daughter (age 5) for about three minutes.

The real draw of the Porter's Row Cottages is out through the back gates. Go out through the first couple of houses and you'll find an assortment of old-fashioned toys in the yard: quoits, skittles, spinning tops, wooden horses, and tin cans to knock down with bean bags (a clear winner today).

At the rear of another of the cottages is a veg garden. It had been a communal garden for the original residents and is now looked after by volunteers at the museum.

Power Hall

The Power Hall is a room full of engines. If you know about engines then the technical stuff might interest you. All I know is this: some of the engines are small, and some are big. More importantly some are whirring around constantly, and some go when you press the button.

Children don't need to debate the merits of diesel, or know the fundamentals of internal combustion. They know that if you press the button then the big, noisy, whirry engine will start to go, and it will be great fun. My kids love the Power Hall, solely because of the buttons.

Play Area

This is the main reason my kids like the museum. There is a big narrowboat made of soft play pieces, with barrels and boxes of goods to load aboard. They love taking it all apart and putting it back together, and diving off it head first. This bit is obviously in high demand on busy days.

Next to this there's a room for younger kids, which is usually quieter. There is a drawing table, foam building blocks, standard stuff really. The best bits are a tunnel and a big box of squishy balls.

Boats

There are, obviously, loads of boats. The ones I'm referring to are those than you can get inside.

There's one floating on the water that you can board, to have a look around the tiny sleeping and cooking area, and see the brightly painted panels. There's another inside the museum which you can walk the full length of.

They even do boat trips. We haven't been on one, but we saw one departing today and it appeared to be fairly popular.

The Views

I'm sure my kids weren't bothered, but the boat museum has a lot of fine views. Even in the car park you get an expansive vista of the River Mersey. Within the museum grounds you can see out across the Shropshire Union Canal and Manchester Ship Canal.

On a mild February day like today, with the bright sun shimmering across the canals and still a touch of wintery freshness in the air, watching the colourful boats bobbing in the water... It's almost enough to make you see the appeal of it all.

Adam ---

Anything we missed? Anywhere you'd like us to review? Let us know in the comments below.

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Come Slide with Me

Which are the best soft plays in Chester?

Hint - we've reviewed three (and a bit). Our Chester soft play reviews are below.

Soft play centres - when did these become a thing? My mum swears that we never had them as nippers. We were rolling around in open meadows, collecting pebbles on the beach or painting and sticking like Picasso. My mum also didn't drive, which I think is more the reason that my two siblings and I endured a soft vinyl, sensory room, disco cave deprivation.

There are now soft plays in abundance, in every city, town and village. They can be an absolute money-spinner and a winter life-saver. I have an almost-18-month-old boy and five-year-old girl, so something we can all do together is a total win. And something where the eldest can do a little parenting (while I have a sit) is even more welcome.

 A few things that annoy me about these colourful wonderlands though. I don't get why some charge for adults and babies (under one) - the rate for kids is usually quite pricey already. I only have two wee ones but I know friends with three and it mounts up fast.

Sometimes there is a lack of healthy food options. I know that they won't always be popular with the kids, but they are for a mum who already feels guilty about giving her kids Shreddies and biscuits that day.

I enjoy soft plays with a tannoy. Ones who police. Ones that remove the older children from the under-twos section, often with considerable levels of gusto and commitment. I'm aware that in coming years I may not delight in these ones so much, as it's very likely to be my son running amok on a ladybird ride-along, taking down toddlers on a whim.

The best ones also have real coffee machines. I'm not expecting 100% Arabica but come on, even caffeine addicts have standards.

The list below isn't comprehensive, but these are the ones we visit most often:

Funky Town

Funky Town, formerly known as Funky Monkey's, is walking distance from the city centre. It's not the biggest, but it's got everything you need. There's a padded sensory room, with its own colour-changing ball pool, projections and an illuminated bubble tube with fish in it. But not real fish. That would be irresponsible.

There's a disco room, with lights. There are party packages, including The Avengers and Frozen. We saw a particularly realistic Iron Man once.

They have multiple slides across three stories of soft play. There are those sucky tubes in the ball pit, which feed all of the balls into a big hopper that unloads on your head.

They have TV screens which show rolling BBC News coverage with subtitles, and their food selection is probably the best, and definitely the most varied, you can get: pasta, pizza, wraps, salads, even an 'English Breakfast' panini.

The toddler area has its own ball pit, padded slide and carousel.

Their pricing system is complicated, ranging up to £4.25 (£4.75 weekends and hols) for kids aged 5+.

Free Wi-Fi.

Also, major points for their Facebook page being so up-to-date.

Crazy Daisy's at the Ice Cream Farm

Ignoring for a moment the billion varieties of amazing ice cream, and also the farm animals, and the tractors, the soft play at the Ice Cream Farm is reason enough to go.

It is ice cream themed! There are cartoon cows everywhere (the eponymous Crazy Daisy). The big slide looks like melted strawberry and chocolate ice cream. It also has four lanes, which is brilliant if you want to race against your kids.

Crazy Daisy's also has sucky ball pit tubes. There is a cannon which shoots squidgy balls at ducks. There's a little enclosed football court, and they have magnetic locking gates making it more difficult (but by no means impossible) for your child to escape the larger soft play.

The toddler soft play is high class, and has its own ball pool and a zealously guarded entry gate. If you're over 90cm, you're not coming in.

The cafe sells jacket potatoes, sandwiches, reasonable coffee. You definitely can't bring your own food - just to make sure they've stuck up about 30 laminated posters saying so. But there is an outside picnic area for when the weather's nice.

£3 per child in the week, £3.50 at weekends. No charge for adults, or for younger kids using the toddler play area.

Free Wi-Fi.

Wizz Kidz

Wizz Kidz, in Saltney, is definitely the biggest soft play I've ever been to. I'm sure they have a full-sized five-a-side pitch inside, and their three storey soft play has a trampoline on one of its levels. And a massive slide.

There are separate baby and toddler areas, which is pretty unique. Apparently they've just got a new sensory room but I haven't been to see it. They also have a disco room.

Free entry up to 3pm on Monday & Thursday during term times.

Free Wi-Fi, and lots of comfy couches.

Topsy Tumbles

Adam insists that I include Topsy Tumbles (at Northgate Arena) even though it is totally not a soft play. They do have a bouncy castle, though, and lots of those Little Tikes cars, and balls. And it's £2.70 for one adult and child, with a free slice of toast.

Tuesday & Thursday mornings, 9:30 - 11:30.

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Thanks for reading. Let us know your thoughts and favourites below!

Sarah

Jaunty Goat

This is a profile which was published on Independent Chester last year of a lovely coffee shop called Jaunty Goat in Chester. Unfortunately that website no longer exists, so here's the article in full. The words are by Adam, and the pictures by Sarah.

Ed White is no fan of the big coffee chains. “There’s a new one around the corner from us”, he tells me during a busy Wednesday afternoon. “It hasn’t affected us, but it’s frustrating. I see people going past with their Costa and Nero cups and I know they’d get a better coffee if they came in here.”

Ed is the owner of The Jaunty Goat on Bridge Street and, as he reminds me several times, he is “all about the coffee.” And it shows. The Jaunty Goat is one of a handful of ‘third wave’ cafes in Chester, with an emphasis on well-crafted, quality coffee. We’re sat at one of their copper-covered communal tables, under industrial lightbulbs. The design is slick and clean, with idiosyncratic vintage touches – old school milk bottles, and sugar served in Lyle’s Treacle cans. Ed explains that he wanted to move away from the look of the chains.

I have a cafetiere and my wife has a flat white, beautifully topped with a rose of foamed milk. We share a slice of red velvet cake, and wonderfully moist carrot cake. It’s £3.95 for any coffee and a slice of cake, which are baked by an American woman living in Hoole. Even the chocolatey zucchini cake gets the approval of our four-year-old daughter. The cake is good but it is, of course, all about the coffee. That passion extends to every step of the process – the beans are digitally weighed and then freshly ground for each cup; the equipment is pristine and shiny. The result is a wonderful coffee. The flat white is smooth, well-balanced and silky. The cafetiere coffee was impeccably presented, and reveals more of the flavour of the bean, but isn’t perfectly suited to their current blend of 80% arabica / 20% robusta coffee, with a slight edge of bitterness.

There’s change afoot, though. Ed becomes more animated talking to me about the new beans they’re introducing in the next few weeks. They’ve been working with a roaster to make a new house blend. It’s 100% arabica, from five different origins. There are also plans to have two guest single-origin beans, which will rotate regularly.  Ed recommends drinking these as filter coffee, either the cafetiere or one of their Hario drip filters, to really appreciate the unique flavours of single-origin coffee.

Their espresso-based coffees are lovely, and prepared with care. The service is great, too, and Ed is keen to praise his staff. “Great customer service is what independents survive on”, he explains. “and we don’t lose regulars.” I ask Ed what he would order, and he divulges his daily 4pm ritual: one latte, one blueberry Bakewell slice, and then another latte.

And the name? It comes from an Ethiopian folk tale about the discovery of coffee’s revitalising properties. Why not ask when you drop in? They tell it better than I do.

Adam

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Our first Chester summer - in (lots of) pictures.

A favourite pastime for Esther and Daddy, baking and making a mess. This particular session lead to yummy thin cheese straws.

Getting out around Chester, we ventured to Hawarden pick-you- own farm. There were strawberries, raspberries and gooseberries when we visited. The cafe was incredible, filled with locally sourced, handmade goodies.

Delamere Forest has become a firm favourite for a family outing. This summer it has also been home to the Gruffalo trail.  The trees are big and the sky is wide; it's a delight to see the kids in wellies building dens. There is another lovely cafe here too, essential on an autumn day for a cuppa after a ramble among the ferns. You pay for parking as the woods is maintained by the Forestry Commission. There are workshops and special events running all year round.

The World Cup came and went, quickly. Our church was screening all the England games (of which there were fewer than hoped). There was a great atmosphere, the weather was fair and the sausages good.

Eliot turned one. He is a wild man. We love him. (Daddy made a slightly lopsided cake.)

Esther started full-time school in early September. She loves it - she is a real extrovert and also a little wild.

Adam made some great decorating efforts in our little rented house. Washi tape is a must to achieve this wall. He is a creative crafty guy.

I also turned a certain age this summer and to celebrate I had a royalty themed party, fact or fictional royalty that is. People made a good effort. There were two Queens of Hearts, both with hand-made costumes. Two queen bees, Freddie Mercury, Hamlet, Marie Antoinette and can you guess how the picture above links to the theme? Yes thats's right - this crazy pair came as a king sized bed.

The aptly themed card based game, Emperor/Pauper. (Guess which is which.)

So there you have (some of) our first summer in Chester. There was a lot more fun stuff, but you'll have to take our word for it. Now Autumn is seems to be here in earnest, we'll try to be better at keeping you updated. 

Upstairs At The Grill

We had the privilege of reviewing another fantastic Chester restaurant. The full review is available on the Independent Chester site. In the meantime, here are some photos from Upstairs At The Grill to whet your appetite.

New things.

Since moving to Chester in January we've been trying to embrace doing new things. One such thing is reviewing cafes and restaurants for a website called Independent Chester. Our first piece is about a great coffee shop called The Jaunty Goat, and you can read it here.

Sarah took more lovely photos than they needed, so the rest of them are below for your enjoyment.