National Gardening Week 2014! It’s almost time

National Gardening Week 2014! It’s almost time

National Gardening Week (14-20 April) is almost upon us and this year is set to be bigger and better than ever before! Over 200 gardening events are taking place with charities, parks, gardens, shops and museums getting involved up and down the country. From demonstrations and talks to garden games and scarecrow making – there is something for everyone and everyone will be talking about gardening. 

To find a list of garden centres local to you please click Lancashire  or Blackpool

Win a Family Ticket for 4 to Blackpool's Illuminasia

A Chance to win a family ticket for 4 visitors to Blackpool's newest attraction Illuminasia


From Spring 2014, ILLUMINASIA is set to be Blackpool's newest must-see attraction, and will be open year-round at the Winter Gardens.

The world's largest indoor illumination experience of its kind, ILLUMINASIA blends thousands of years of traditional Chinese lantern crafts with the newest in lighting technology, and boasts hundreds of incredible structures covering thousands of square meters within the Olympia Exhibition Hall.
Visitors can explore six vibrant zones including ‘The Mysteries of China', ‘The Blackpool Experience', ‘The Planetarium', ‘Land of the Giants', ‘Under The Sea' and ‘The Wonders Of The World', complete with a 13 metre high model of Blackpool Tower.

To enter all you need to do is answer the question here 

Crafty Easter 3D Hand Drawing

2 weeks off school, ideally weather permitting we can make the most of free outdoor spaces, in reality there are only so many times I can listen to the singing of Frozen.

I have posted the following link for ideas, my favourite one of all is the 3D hand drawing, I hope our finished ones are this effective, I'm looking forward to trying it with different colours. This activity brings back memories of being so entertained, my cousin and I used to colour in  possibly over the top nail designs when we used to draw around our hands!

I still find myself puzzling over the other link, left over Easter Eggs, maybe they mean decorative ones.

Dawn French LIVE at the Grand Theatre Blackpool Wednesday 3 to Saturday 6 September 2014

Today the Grand Theatre announces that Dawn French, the Queen of British comedy, will be performing in her first ever solo tour at the theatre in September 2014.

The award-winning actor, best-selling novelist and all round very funny lady has written a new show, based on her life and career, called30 Million Minutes. 

30 Million Minutes will consist of various delights and riches, with the odd irksome tribulation thrown in, as Dawn takes audiences through the various lessons life has taught her, and the things she knows for sure. 

Book for this show NOW, because Dawn French is convinced it won't be long before she is far too doolally to perform it.

The evidence is there for all to see. She is already three quarters certifiably daft. The other quarter is utterly bewildered. And the remaining quarter simply can't do maths. With a sharp eye for comic detail and a wicked ear for the absurdities of life, Dawn French of Cornwall shares how she has misguidedly spent her whole life vigorously attempting to be a fully functioning female human. 

Her extraordinary lack of willpower, combined with an enviable knack for nosey parking and showing off, has driven her to grapple with the big stuff of life in public. 30 million minutes of life in fact. That's how long she's been alive.

It's also worth coming if only to finally witness what size she actually is. Can we believe the stolen images of so many women's magazines? What is the truth? Is she so unfeasibly large that

she can hardly live? Or does she sleep in a matchbox? Marvel at how one woman can mercilessly murder so much chocolate, and yet remain so curiously slim…

As a big fat liar once said of her: "Her singular attempt to be ordinary fails miserably."

Dawn says; "I'm sick with excitement about this solo tour. I am enjoying the fact that I can't categorise exactly what it is, but it's somewhere between a monologue, a play, and an autobiographical slide show with a few funnies thrown in. At last, I have one of my three genie wishes granted, which is that I finally get to work with Michael Grandage. The other two wishes are as yet unfulfilled. They are secret obviously, but suffice to say, one is about Barack Obama in Speedos. The other is about me in speedos, with cheesecake involved... Enough said."

Catch the show. Or feel like a fool. 

Talk To The Animals at Blackpool Zoo

TALK TO THE ANIMALS THIS EASTER

From the tallest to the smallest and the funniest to the most ferocious, Blackpool Zoo is giving visitors the chance to get up close and personal with its residents this Easter.

Hand feeding majestic giraffes

Meet and greets with comical sea lions are all available to book from Saturday 5^th to Tuesday 22^nd April.

The zoo’s Children’s farm will also be a hive of exciting activities during the Easter break with animal handling, farm feeds, egg painting, badge making, colouring competitions and information about the zoo’s Pole to Pole conservation campaign.

There will also be a fabulous ‘Find the Flamingo trail’ and plenty of opportunities to get hands on with the creepiest of crawlies in the zoo’s neighbouring indoor Play Barn.

There is also a opportunity to fence feed stunning tigers

Tickling tapirs and coming face to face with cute little lemurs are available all year round and must be pre-booked in advance.

Jude Rothwell, PR and Marketing Co-ordinator at Blackpool Zoo, said: “Easter is a very special time here at Blackpool Zoo, with holiday makers from across the UK and beyond all coming to our fabulous resort for their first break of the year.

“Each year we strive to offer more and more to make every visit to Blackpool Zoo new and exciting and our animal encounters have been growing in popularity since they were launched two years ago.

“Our new Fly A Barn Owl experience is set to be very popular with people already enquiring about it.

“This season really is set to be our best yet with the completion of our state of the art Orang-utan house later in Spring and the hugely anticipated return of our Orang family.

“We look forward to welcoming everyone to Blackpool Zoo this Easter.”

Times and prices

• Giraffe feeds: Every day at 12.45pm and 2.30pm – tickets cost £10 from Amazonia Gift Shop

• Fly a barn owl:  Every day after 1.30pm and 3.00pm bird displays – tickets cost £10 from Amazonia Gift Shop

• Sea lion meet and greets: Every day after 12.00pm and 2.15pm displays and 4.00pm training session – tickets cost from £15 from Amazonia Gift shop

• Playbarn creepy crawly sessions: Mondays and Fridays at 4pm – Free – no need to book

• Children’s Farm activities: Everyday 11.00am – 12.30pm and 2.00pm – 4.00pm – Free – no need to book

• Big cat experience including feeding, cleaning our enclosure and behind the scenes tour: Must be pre-booked – more information on the website – tickets cost £110 for one person

• Meet the lemurs, tapirs or aardvarks –Must be pre-booked – more information on the website – tickets cost £60 for one person for 30 minute experience

Please note: Age restrictions apply to some experience – more details of these and other animal experiences, including sea lion training, bird training and keeper for the day can be found at www.blackpoolzoo.org.uk.

Easter In Lancashire

Lots of events added here, from Easter eggs to craft workshops and theatre trips Mumsnet Easter in Lancashire and Mumsnet Easter in Blackpool including art and sewing classes from Grace & Favour and the Sewing Sanctuary and Start Living with Art

Good weather permitting we have an ever growing list of Lancashire parks, nature reserves & playgrounds here to be visited. Our latest review for Stanley Park in Blackpool from Mummy Melton

We have an all you eat secret Easter session where eggs are consumed then replaced before the shops run out. Easter eggs are not provided but reading material is here and here