A Devon Dad Blog.
Out and about Exeter and Devon.
Well tonights the night of Exeter Sleepeasy. Where a large number of Exeter people are gathering to raise money to help fight youth homelessness in Devon. For those who aren’t able to take part, you can follow the Twitter side of things by following the feed below:
(presuming everything works how it should)
School lollipop patrollers, the people that annoy some motorists, by ensuring mostly small children can cross the road safely. They have been a staple of a childs walk to school for a number of generations, but does Devon need school lollipop patrollers? That’s the question that has been asked by Devon County Council a couple of times over the last 12 months or so, and according to the Exeter Express and Echo they are on the verge of not saying no – but that they shouldn’t be funded by tax payers money.
According to “The Echo“:
Despite overwhelming opposition from the public, schools and councillors, a proposal by Devon County Council to cease funding school lollipop patrollers has been approved at its cabinet meeting today.
The fate of the future of the service will now be decided next Thursday at a meeting of its full council.
The reason behind the cost cutting plans is to save £250,000 a year from the county council budget. Instead the cost will transfer to schools, with the patrollers themselves employed by a third party that would deliver the service on a full-cost recovery or commercial basis.
If schools decide not to fund the cost of their patrol, the alternatives are for it to be run by volunteers or to lose the service.
In other words, if a lollipop patroller service disappears, the council will say its the local schools fault for not sorting it out.
Is this David Camerons Big Society being played out? People needing to volunteer, because the state doesn’t want to find the money to help small kids, and hassled parents to cross the road?
There is a campaign going, to try and save the crossing patrols, if you agree with what they’re trying to do, please sign their petition at change.org.
I have to admit, we were late to the Stick Man party. We didn’t see Stick Man on TV over Christmas, instead it was our little one bringing Stick Man home from PreSchool, that introduced us to the character. Long story short, we soon had cries of “I’m Stick Man!” echoing around our house. When we realised there was a Stick Man trail at The Haldon Forest in Devon, we felt we had to go and find him.
As we both had a day off from work, we figured we would take advantage of going up to Haldon Forest on a quieter “school day”. After a 20 minute drive from Exeter, we found ourselves in Haldon Forest on a damp January Friday. Much to the Little Ones frustration we didn’t run to find Stick Man, but fuelled ourselves up at “The Ridge Cafe”. (While Mummy also ran to pick up the “Activity Pack” from the rangers office.)
After food was eaten, we were off. Armed with a map from the activity pack… and help from the signs pointing us towards Stick Man, we went to find him. There 
were a number of characters from the book to look for, and challenges to take part in, while walking around the trail, (sadly due to the dampness we figured we should skip the challenges). After 10 minutes or so, we found ourselves with a giant Stick Man!
A giant Stick Man… who wasn’t too far way from a Gruffalo! In an attempt to show that the Gruffalo wasn’t something to be worried about, I ended up giving the children’s monster a giant hug. While our Little One still wasn’t impressed, I found the experience oddly relaxing.
We took her unkeenness at seeing the The Gruffalo (and the incoming storm) as a cue to go home. We’re planning on going back on a nicer day to really take a chance to enjoy it, and the play park equipment they have there.
If you or your Little One enjoys the adventures of Stick Man, I’d strongly recommend the Stick Man Trail at Haldon Forest. For more details of this, and other Stick Man Trails around England check out the Forestry Commission’s website.
The Stick Man DVD is now available from Amazon.co.uk – And its well worth a watch!
I managed to get the chance to take a wonder down by the River Exe, in Exeter.
This was taken before popping into The Prospect for a peaceful read and a pint.
Do you remember what it was like to enjoy trains? Did you ever think of them more then just a way to get from A->B? Is there a little one in your life that still likes trains? There’s a little place called the Devon Railway Centre next to the gorgeous Bickleigh Mill, that can be found somewhere between Exeter, and Tiverton that might be the place for your little one.
The Devon Rail Centre describes itself as a popular Devon tourist attraction, and I can see why. The Devon Rail Centre isn’t on the largest site, but there are plenty of attractions squeezed in there. The main one that got our attention as we made our way in, was the steam train that takes you around the park, where the driver gives kids of many ages the chance to punch tickets, to be the train guard, and you are not just limited to one journey. Handy if you have a little one that’s keen on trains!
Within a couple of train carriages, you’ll find a number of model railways, and outside you’ll also find a model village. Both the village, and the railways have push buttons that activate trains, trams, and other things, which seemed very exciting to our almost 3 year old. There is also a stack of stools for the children to use to see the displays.
There is also a play area found within the train carriages, which has an area for the under 3’s-with ride on bikes, a brio train play area, a MASSIVE sand box, and (in the words of our toddler) a “deep” ball pit.
There is also a soft play area, which from the map looks pretty big, but we decided to avoid this, as by the time we would have considered it, it was highly likely to be heaving and the inevitable ‘being dragged around’ did not sound like fun!
There were 3 outside climbing frames, one by the entrance, one near the picnic stop half way through the stream train journey and one near the cafe. We only went to the latter one, which was definitely enjoyed by our little one, even if it meant repeatedly helping her get up via the more difficult routes.
It’s definitely worth a visit with a train fan, especially if they are under 3 years, so they get in free. If your child is really keen, but pennies are limited, then ask the retired grandparents to take them, so that they can OAP rate! There is also an annual pass, which looks like a good idea if you would consider visiting a few times. There are plenty of places to sit and eat a picnic, or there are a few basic snacks/meals for sale in the cafe.
The important thing about this place, is that it’s fun, and if you’re with a little one who finds it exciting, you may, just for a moment, also find trains exciting again.
We finally managed to get a chance to use our local residents cards, and take a wonder around the inside of Exeter Cathedral.
