Take the Family to York

For a family getaway that ticks all the boxes for fun, entertainment, outdoor space and history, you can’t beat York. With great road and rail links, York is a fuss free destination to get to with kids in tow. City centre accommodation for more than two people can be pricey so why not book a family room in a Travelodge in York for a comfortable night’s sleep that’ll leave you with enough money left over to enjoy all the treats this fantastic city has to offer?

York Maze

Open for the summer holidays from July 12th, this maze, aptly made from maize, is the largest of its kind in the UK, providing ample opportunity for you all to get pleasantly lost together. Wear your comfiest shoes and if it’s hot make sure you pack sun cream and drinks. If you have any really little ones in tow ensure you have a firm grip of their hand so they don’t run off and get themselves well and truly lost! The viewing towers dotted around are well worth a climb to see fantastic views of the maze from within. When you finally find your way out, the fun’s not over – there are lots of rides to tempt your children while you sit down for a well-earned rest.

National Railway Museum

Most kids are fascinated by trains, and adults certainly don’t have to be train spotter types to enjoy this fantastic museum dedicated to the UK railway’s 300-year history. Your children can experience what it was like to travel on an old-fashioned steam train in the bone-shaking simulator in the Great Hall. If your kids are aged between 6 and 11, pick up a Kids’ Handbook to make the most of the experience. Also, watch out for special family events taking place throughout the summer holidays.

Jorvik Viking Centre

This world famous attraction is an absolute must-visit when you’re in York as a family. When it comes to figures from the past, the grizzly, bloodthirsty, helmet-clad Vikings seem to capture children’s imaginations like no other tribe and Jorvik Viking Centre is where they’re vividly brought back to life for young and old to experience. Now celebrating its 30th anniversary and the fact that it’s welcomed over 17 million visitors through its doors, Jorvik has added a new interactive dimension to its exhibits, making it even more interesting for kids. What makes Jorvik so special is the fact that it’s all on the excavation site of Viking York, so rather than seeing the artefacts in a museum setting, you actually get to experience Viking life where it was lived and breathed all those years ago.

Of course, you won’t be educating yourselves all the time, so when you want to take a breather and they want to run around, head to the lovely Rowntree Park in the city centre to enjoy the tranquil scenery and recharge your batteries. After a family trip to York, you’ll all return home refreshed, relaxed and a little bit brainier!

Commissioned post.

Eco-gaming: five environment-focused videogames

In any form of entertainment, having a preachy rhetoric can destroy the fun as swiftly as Nineties consoles destroyed the sustainability of the gaming sector, but five games have managed to put the message across without a hint of sermonising. All over the world, gamers are uniting against eco-baddies through their game environments – and having fun while they do. If Ovo Energy was a games developer, these are the kind of video games it would produce. Okabu – Teaser Trailer

Okabu There are gamers and there are game players. Okabu was developed for game players – families and children who are happy to while away an hour on gameplay but not to camp out beside their consoles for an entire, sleepless holiday. Its developers were inspired by a documentary about Botswana’s Okavango Delta, and have crafted a colourful world of eco-loving cloudwhales who must solve puzzles in order to destroy the toxic waste-producing rival Doza clan.

Flower If games had human subcultures, Flower would be a hippy poet, dragging its fingers through the daisies while telling esoteric tales of wonder. The game takes you into the dreams of a blossom, letting you hover on top of a breeze composing musical notes with passing petals. Like a lucid dreamer, you have the power to influence what you see by gathering petals and coaxing them along the wind and, as you do, the game coaxes you into multisensory euphoria. In short, Sony’s Flower is akin to a haiku with the implicit epiphany that man and nature can coexist. Groovy, man.

Oddworld: Abe’s Odyssee, Eco-Fighters Abe was a klutzy green underdog who worked at a pollution-belching corporation at the height of the Nineties gaming boom. Unlike most games of the time, the Oddworld franchise was forward-thinking enough to retain its relevance years into the future. Even today, gamers are venturing into the odd world of Oddworld. Abe ventures out of his comfort zone as a janitor to rescue his fellow Mudokons, escape his boss’s species-killing habits, and become one with Mother Nature. Through puzzles, storytelling, and sneaking, Eco-Fighters lets gamers wreak havoc on corporate polluters–and have a laugh while they do.

Energy City Energy City is a world simulation game that delves deep beneath the surface of its message, forcing its players to think consciously about the world around them. Players are tipped off about sophisticated elements of the eco-wars from a scientific, evidence-based angle. If that doesn’t sound like fun to you, you’ve probably never played Sim City. This is a genre that thrives on complexity and authenticity, especially when the citizens of your city are as easily satisfied as Gordon Ramsay. Energy City crowns you mayor and gives you freedom to power your city with as much budget-friendly coal as you wish (at a price). To earn your citizens’ cooperation, you must lay out bike paths, consider clean energy alternatives, and develop biofuel power plants that sustain your city 20 years into the future, even when immediate consequences aren’t apparent.

Fate of the World T.S. Elliott may have said that the world would end ‘not with a bang but a whisper’, but Fate of the World disagrees. The global simulator plunges you into the midst of a global crisis that is far from silent: tsunamis, fires, flooded continents, and civil war have all been clamped together into a single, epic present, and you’re tasked with redemption. The game, developed according to scientific research of an Oxford professor, has won acclaim as a courageous, award winning foray into serious, yet world-class, entertainment.

Commissioned by Ovo Energy – the cheaper, greener and simpler energy supplier

There is nothing as wonderful as having a lunch without the kids... that sounds very tragic, but honestly, being invited out to lunch when the boys are at school is rarely sniffed at, so I was delighted to be able to check out the newly revamped Crown and Anchor in Chiswick.

I spent many years working in Chiswick #BC (before children) and we struggled to find anywhere GOOD to go for lunch and I so wish the Crown and Anchor had been this beautiful back then! With an excellent decor and delightful staff, the choice on the menu is also fabulous… I went for a welsh rarebit, and the gnocci – mmm mmmmm.

And I know my boys would love hanging out there on a Sunday afternoon, it’s so cosy, and the kids’ menu is basically selected dishes at half price.

If you are looking for a good pub in West London that’s close to Turnham Green do try the Crown and Anchor. It’s close to Duke Meadows, Grove Park Farm House and the historical home of artist William Hogarth, making them ideal for a spot of lunch or dinner whilst out seeing the sights in Chiswick.

There is a Pub quiz on Tuesdays, 8pm and a Private function room available for hire too. With lots of cosy spaces it’s great for special occasions, and has a fab log burner too!

I look forward to returning there the next time I am in Chiswick, W4 and may pop in for a coffee next time I am passing!

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http://www.crownandanchorchiswick.co.uk