Extreme Stunt Show Competition and 2 for 1 voucher!

The Extreme Stunt Show is coming to Chelmsford on Sunday 10th August with the show starting at 3pm.

To be in with a chance to win a family ticket click here to enter our competition.

And if you aren't lucky enough to win a ticket here is a 2 for 1 voucher for use on the day! (Just remember to print it out and take it with you)

T20 Cricket at Essex County Cricket Ground

In 2003 the England and Wales Cricket Board, faced with dwindling crowds and reduced sponsorship of the game, were looking at ways to boost the popularity of cricket with the younger generation.  The intention was to develop fast-paced, exciting cricket to fans who had been put off by longer versions of the game. (This was certainly true for my brothers who aged 8 and 10 had gone to a cricket game with my dad and had to be picked up 3 hours later because they were bored!

The solution was Twenty20 or T20 as it usually shortened to. It is a much shorter version of the game with a maximum of only 20 overs for each team, contrasting with 50 overs for a standard one-day match. A game can therefore be completed in about three hours rather than over a whole day (or days in the case of Test cricket) and many of the games are played in the early evening. This has obvious appeal for families and young people. 

And it has been incrediably successful, revitalising the game of cricket not just in the UK, but worldwide. There is a T20 cup held in England every year, the T20 Natwest Blast, and the T20 World cup is held every two years. This increased interest in cricket at the Twenty20 level has also been credited for increasing the popularity of One day and Test cricket. 

But is it really family friendly? Would our 3.5 year old really enjoy it? The only way to find out was to go along to Essex County Cricket Ground to find out! We went to see the Essex Eagles versus Hampshire and with Essex wanting to maintain their top spot in the South League and Hampshire hoping to reach the second spot and a chance in the quarter finals, it was sure to be a great match.

The atmosphere on arrival was fantastic. Music filled the cricket ground and our seats were easy to find thanks to the really friendly staff. We had taken along a picnic, but food was available at the ground. Friends of ours highly recommended the hotdogs! The bar was also open, much to D's delight. 

 Now I've never actually been to any form of live cricket game before this match so I didn't have anything to compare it to but, having seen Test match cricket on the TV, I was surprised at just how fast paced the game was. With only 20 over in which to achieve the highest score, players attack the ball rather than playing more defensively as they do in longer matches. The boundaries are also shorter in a T20 game and this obviously leads to an increased likehood of the exciting 4 and 6 run scores. Umpires can also penalise teams if they feel that they are wasting time. 

This fast paced game meant that T didn't get bored as there was always movement on the pitch. There were also a lot of other families at the game so weren't made to feel uncomfortable if your child did get up and wander around to have a look at something else that was going on. Cheering, singing and general noise was also encouraged so again it didn't matter if you had a particularly noisy child with you! The Essex mascots, Eddie the Eagle and Ellie the Eagle also made an appearance. 

Unfortunately Essex lost but we still had a fantastic time. I would highly recommend T20 at Essex County Cricket Ground. Families and children were made to feel really welcome and the game itself appeals to all ages from 3 upwards. T really enjoyed himself and I am looking forward to next year's season already!

T20 games at Essex County Cricket Ground are frequently sold out at least a week before so it is highly recommended that tickets are brought in advance. 

(Disclaimer - most technical knowledge of the T20 game must be attributed to D!)

Diggerland in Kent

We were invited to along to review Diggerland in Kent and, being obsessed with anything construction related, T was very excited. Diggerland opens at 10am and we arrived shortly after that. (It’s just under an hour’s drive from Chelmsford). The Diggerland website promises to be 'the UK's most unique attraction where children and adults have the chance to ride and drive REAL full size construction machinery, under the guidance of our trained staff - no driving licence required!'

I would definitely recommend arriving earlier in the day as it meant that we were able to go on some of the rides before any queues built up. The park was smaller than I have expected but there was more than enough to keep us occupied for the day. 

All of the rides have a height minimum; some have a minimum of 80cm whilst others have a minimum of 1m and some rides have different minimums for drivers and riders, so adults can go on some of the rides with their children. All the rides and their height requirements are available on the Diggerland website and you are strongly advised to check this before visiting as, although children under 90cm gain free entry, they are restricted on the rides that are available to them. Staff are vigilant in checking heights of children before allowing them to ride too. 

But you really do get to ride on the diggers! I was surprised at the size of some of the diggers that we were allowed to use and to drive. Obviously they have restricted the speeds of the machines but this really didn't detract from the enjoyment of the ride. Being completely honest, I am not that interested in diggers, but even I felt a huge sense of accomplishment as I drove a dumper truck round a track and managed not to bump into anything! They are also much more difficult to drive than you think. The vehicles have a huge number of buttons and levers and even with just one or two levers to control it still took a lot more concentration than I had anticipated. 

There were other vehicles (I really should know the different names after spending a whole day on them - if you know the names of them please let me know and I will amend this post) that didn't move but you could use the levers on these ones to use the front loader (I did learn something!) to knock down skittles or to find buried treasure. We could take L (over 80cms) on these ones and  it turned into a bit of a race between two teams to see who could knock down the skittles fastest! Again it was much harder than it looked. 

We could also all go on the Tractor train ride around the park and L loved this. The train ride was interesting as we got to see the part of the park where the 'Diggerland Experiences' take place. On the day we were visiting there was some JCB racing going on and it was watching this that I realised the speed limit that had been applied to some of the other vehicles. JCB racing did not appear to be for the faint hearted! Other experiences offered by Diggerland include using a giant excavator and JCB's. They also host birthday parties for children. 

Alongside the rides there were is also a small climbing frame, a soft play area with arcade machines. and a restaurant, where we had lunch. The food was of reasonable quality and was good value for money. It is worth noting, however, that there are a number of coin operated toys and rides at Diggerland that are not included in the entry price, the dodgems being one of these. 

Another big positive of the day was that the staff in all areas of Diggerland were very polite, friendly and really looked as though they were enjoying their jobs.

Diggerland is now open for everyday through the summer. It is open rain or shine so if you know that rain is expected make sure you’ve got your wellies and rain macs!