Staunton Country Park

824We finally concluded that the best way for transporting two small children on walks from home (e.g. to the shops) is a double buggy. It’s just a bit too far for Emma to ride on the buggy board and she’s still a little reluctant to give up her seat to Duncan. This really wasn’t enough of an incentive to spend a couple of hundred pounds on what would be our 5th buggy so we bought one second-hand on eBay. Anyway, the point of the story is that this took us over to Portsmouth to collect it and we decided to try out our Culture-all Passport at another venue: Staunton Country Park.

Emma certainly enjoyed seeing all of the animals on the ornamental farm and there were lots of chances to get up close (much to Christine’s dismay). The glasshouses provided an opportunity for us to warm up a bit as the weather, despite being sunny, was still a bit on the chilly side. We were running out of time at this point so didn’t get a chance to explore the country park itself over the road (which even promises an orienteering course). We’ll definitely go back there at some point, preferably when it is a bit warmer. Photos on Flickr.

As an amusing aside, it seems that the first word Emma has learnt to read is… ASDA! She was told what the word was this morning from a cereal packet and then read it back from a lorry on our way home from Staunton.

11 Responses to “Staunton Country Park”

  1. Neil says:

    Dave,
    are you being paid to advertise the Culture-all passport? If so it is
    certainly working. Where can I get one?

    cheers,
    Neil

    • Dave says:

      No – but if anyone does want to pay me then I’m happy to accept! We’ve still to use it at Manor Farm, Bursledon Windmill, Milestones Museum… As to where can you get one: try the big “Buy online” button on the page linked above!

      Dave

  2. Grandad says:

    I like the buggy – I guess I shall get used to pushing it!
    The animal pictures are good – but it all looks so warm!

    • Dave says:

      Apparently (according to Christine) it’s quite hard work to stop the buggy going round in circles when you have Emma and a bunch of shopping in one side and Duncan asleep in the other! Believe me, it was absolutely freezing despite the sunshine. One of those days where you were especially grateful for the hand driers in the toilets!

  3. Petra Junkova says:

    Hi Dave,

    Hope you you can still cope with a bit of snowflakes by this point ? :)))
    Anyway I like the photos.
    I’m so glad we are not the only bunch of loosers buying our third buggy in a row…. mind I really wanted to own a 1 proper buggy ONLY before Matous was born….. Hope to hear from you soon re. planned summer holidays in Austia? Take care and give our regards to Christine, Emma and Duncan P.

    • Dave says:

      Hi Petra,

      The novelty of the snow has pretty much worn off and working from home is getting pretty tedious. Sadly it looks set to stay with us for a little bit longer. In our defence, we have only actually bought one buggy new, been given three, and bought one second hand! I’m just not convinced that we need to keep all of them! I’ll remind Christine that she got an Austrian guidebook for her birthday…

      All the best,
      Dave

      • Petra Junkova says:

        Well Dave our “rolling-stock” score is actually worse! 🙂

        We bought one new buggy, we were given one and we have bought so far two second hand ones (both come from London) …
        Funny enough the no.2 second hand has been bought in London today via. Petr’s cousin Petra (what a popular czech word) 🙂 Sadly she is leaving London in a couple of weeks time so the supply chain is disrupted now …

        I just pray we won’t need any more in the future 🙂

        Look fwd to hearing from Christine soon! Take care P&Co.

  4. Neil says:

    Dave,
    I was going to say that your buggy habits seemed excessive but then I
    stopped and counted… We currently own 3, the chariot which we used for
    cycling and off-road stuff, a normal double buggy and a single one which
    only gets used rarely if one is off sick and the other is at nursery. Plus we had a
    different double buggy to start with so that brings our total up to 4. But we
    are thinking of what to buy next. Personally I am thinking of a single buggy plus a buggy board but I am not sure how many arguments that will lead to.

    cheers,
    Neil

    • Dave says:

      Hi Neil,

      As I said in the post, Emma still things the buggy is hers and thinks she should have priority. I can imagine it’s not quite so relaxing having to hang on when using the buggy board – difficult to go to sleep standing up anyway which she still does do sometimes in the buggy. Also, you probably get quite cold hands in this weather (if it is anything like actually pushing the buggy).

      Cheers,
      Dave

  5. Neil says:

    Dave,
    friends of ours with twins have the opposite problem – both of them fight
    to stand on the buggy board rather than sit in the buggy. I am hoping that
    our twins are the same.

    cheers,
    Neil