Maldon Promenade Park

One of the places we miss most after moving from Suffolk is Maldon Promenade Park in Essex. It's too far to travel in one day from Norfolk so when we started planning our holiday in Suffolk we knew that it was one place we were definitely going to go to. 

We love the park because there's lots there to occupy the children and it can be a cheap day out, particularly if you take lunch with you. There are fairground rides and adventure golf but we always stay away from those pricey activities.

Our main reason for going was the fab Splash Park. We arrived before the splash park was fully open so we paid for an allotted time slot of 2pm so that the children could go in after lunch. The children got changed into their swimming stuff at 1.40pm and waited in the big queue for their time. At 1.50pm the water went off and one of the staff bounded across the park and grabbed a megaphone. Due to 'technical difficulties' the park would be closing for the rest of the day. The children were SO disappointed! After listening in to a conversation between a member of staff and another parent it sounds as though they actually ran out of water and not for the first time that week. How daft is that? A splash park that runs out of water 4 hours before closing. I've said that next time we'll go in as soon as they open!

The children love playing on the galleon, although Molly is getting a bit too big for it!

While I sat 'guarding' our spot opposite the play area and catching up on reading hubby took the children to the boating pond where they spent an hour crabbing. Harry managed to catch two smallish crabs while his siblings left empty-handed. If they are on the decking it's very safe but the pond isn't very deep anyway.

After buying lunch at one of the food stalls we took a walk towards the quay as we'd never walked in that direction before. The children loved the ships and Charlie stopped to watch a lady making bracelets  from cord using fancy sailors knot work. He was enthralled and bought a bracelet with his pocket money. 

A walk back along the river in the other direction and we spotted loads of birds on the opposite bank. Charlie has really got into nature this summer and was trying to work out from a chart which birds he could see in the distance.

We wandered back towards the boating pond because Harry had seen some little pedalos that he wanted to go on. It was a very popular activity but he sat patiently for over 20 minutes waiting for his turn. 

All togged up and ready to go!

We thought he'd really struggle but he did brilliantly. He even managed to turn the handles in opposite directions at the same time to get the boat spinning around in circles. We sat on the bank trying to get our arms to turn in opposite directions but we failed miserably….and looked daft to anyone who was watching us! 

When his time was over and they were called in Harry steered straight over to his spot and started reverse parking. We sat gobsmacked as he had total control over his boat. We were all very impressed!