Family weekend away - peppa pig world

Everybody who has a pre-schooler will be well acquainted with peppa pig. In summer 2011 I had 3 pre- schoolers who all adored peppa pig! We decided the loooong trip to peppa pig world at Paulton's park near Southampton would be worth it. At this time, my children wed aged 4, 2 and 9 months and it seemed to be the perfect time to go.

Newcastle to Southampton is a very long drive! We broke the journey up by staying at the De Vere Village hotel in Swindon and in all honesty the journey was not too bad.

If booked in advance, a ticket for a family of 4 costs £86 and under 1's are admitted free of charge. Your admission includes access to the whole of Paulton's park, zoo and of course peppa pig world.

Near the entrance, there are large lockers available to hire which were perfect for us as we still had quite a lot of baby equipment to carry around in those days and we had packed a picnic to try and keep costs down. Everybody parked their buggys outside the ride queues and there didn't seem to be any problems.

Peppa pig world is AMAZING! The whole park is themed so as well as the obvious rides such as the balloon ride and helicopter ride there are lots of other parts to enjoy - mr potato's playground was a great way to let off steam, you can jump in muddy puddles (change of clothes a good idea!), 'recycle' in the indoor softplay centre and stop for an ice-cream in Miss. rabbit's ice- cream parlour. There are also various places to stop for photo's in various peppa themed buildings such as the school and peppa's house - they can be taken professionally and you are allowed to take your own.

The ride's are very family friendly with grown up's being allowed on them all and accompanied baby's on most. That means that nobody is left out. We went on a bank holiday weekend and at the most queued for 30 minutes per ride. Our favourite rides were the balloon ride and grandpa's little train.

Your day is broken up with meet and greet's from peppa and George who pop onto a stages area at various points for a sing song and to wave hello throughout the day.

We spent most of the day at peppa pig world but on our way home had a few rides on the carousel in Paulton's park and had a quick look around the zoo.

No trip to a theme park is complete without a trip to the gift shop. I have honestly never seen so much themed toys in one place! Although a few pounds more expensive than amazon, it was great letting the children pick a few toys with their spending money (and they still get played with almost 2 years on)

If you have children under 4, a trip to peppa pig world will delight them! I would definitely recommend a visit.