Durham fire and ice - A travel through time

This event came highly recommended and I have to say I'd recommend it for anyone asking for a day out.

The girls loved wandering though all the streets in search of sculptures, there was alot of aw wows from Trixie. There was alot of up/down hill climbs along cobbled streets and the views were gorgeous especially of the cathedral and castle. We missed the chocolate block, it was out at the beginning of the event and they let kids chip away at the ice for full sized bars of branded chocolates.

The fire show at the 5pm(child-friendly) was amazing, we all loved it, bit of shame we couldn't see the water/fire show and the girls were tired and cold so we left for home. I looked online of photos of the later fire shows and I'm glad we saw the early show as there was frightening makeup/outfits.

T-rex

Viking longship

Delorean

Steam punk timepiece

Tardis

This one is the carve your self block, the queue was very long and Lili didn't want to wait. 

Miner

Astronaut/appollo 11

Live carving, we got to this around 12 and it was only half done, it was finished at around 4.30.

Miners lamp

Steam train/substituted from Stephensons rocket

Central stain glass window of Durham cathedral

Eye of Agamotto

Lili claims this is where Harry Potter filmed when they sat outside on the wall/windows

Wynyard woodlands - February half term 2020

Definitely shouldn't have come here during storm Dennis or through the winter half term. Definitely worth coming in the spring or summer when it's alot warmer and less windy.

Got here by bus from the bus station and got off at Thorpe thewley which was about a 30min ride then was the 18 minute walk to the the woodlands, none of the reviews I read said anything about walking along the side of busy roads because there's no paths, we took a bit of a detour down a very muddy back path which cut 5 minutes off our walk and none of the reviews said anything about there being a very steep uphill to walk from the busy road to the woodlands.

Finally got to the woodlands, we came to the planetarium first which was closed and the play area behind it. There was multiple play areas of varying abilities with lots to do in each. At the back of the play area was an observatory which was also closed and a path that used to be the rail Road for Thorpe thewley, the station still stands and is a cafe but all the rails have been removed and is a gorgeous walk, we passed alot of people walking up and down the railroad and quite a few people on bikes.

I let the girls play for a while let them burn some energy then we had a look at an old train car that is being remodelled into maybe a sweet shop from the stuff inside the car. Then we sat and had some sandwiches and crisps, the wind took them moment to pick up and Trixie asked to go back into her pram with her blanket (she had also been awake since about 5.30 so was expecting her to want to nap soon) so Lili and I took a walk along the railroad and Trixie slept. As we come to the station on our way back we noticed a garden, more of a bugs paradise, there was a bug hotel, a bee hive and plenty of flowers.
As we came back to play area Trixie woke up and I let the girls play a bit longer but we made out way back home. We were all cold, tired and in need of a hot meal after such a busy day.