Ribby Hall Village
(between Preston and Blackpool)
April 2015
We went to the main restaurant for our evening meal, where Gregory innocently munched on a pre-meal snack. We had come here because they were doing an evening showing of Shrek on the big screen.
When the main course came, I was gobsmacked with his keenness for eating peas. He hadn't really demonstrated anything like this before, and I'm a bit fussy with vegetables, so it was all a bit of a shock. But he was hoovering them up.
After our mains, Daisy tucked into a ginormous slab of cake.
The rhythm of the holiday had been set. Wake up to clear blue skies, take Daisy to the playground, eat. She has never been particularly adventurous or physical, but she had recently become much keener at tackling the climbing elements of play areas, such as this one.
They laid on various entertainment for children in the main bar/restaurant, and today's feature was this wizard, with whom the family posed.
They had a game of pass the parcel at one point. Unlike birthday party variants, there weren't as many layers as children taking part, and Daisy did not win anything for most of the game. But when on the last layer, she suddenly got lucky and won the big prize, which turned out to be a teddy bear. She was shyly happy with that. After this, Frozen started on the big screen, which Daisy and I ended up watching while Lynne took Gregory for a walk/sleep.
On the Wednesday evening, we went to the fancier restaurant, where of course I ordered a steak. As usual, we have the starter arriving at the same time as the main course, which means a clutter of platters on the table, all the while trying to avoid things getting within Gregory's reach.
In the soft evening sunshine, following a satisfying meal, it's inevitable that you would want a go on the zip-line. I think that might be Daisy in the background on the wooden pillars.
This is a shot of the spa hotel up the main road from near to our lodge.
I probably took Daisy for a swim in the morning (although I recall forgetting to take both towels and Daisy's swimming costume, but Lynne had the key whilst walking Gregory to the nearest village, so we couldn't actually do that - I compounded this by buying a towel from the gym but only afterwards realising that her cozzie wasn't in), but then in the afternoon Lynne and Daisy went out while I looked after Gregory. We went for a play with the mini football outside. There were horses just across the way from our lodge.
Here's the cheerful little monkey with his several front teeth.
In the afternoon, I persuaded Daisy to come with me on a hired paddle boat. Of course, she couldn't reach the pedals, but I was happy to do the work.
We slipstreamed some ducks for extra pace.
We and this mallard admired the view of The Island.
I then got into a bit of a mess. The boat guy offered us another lap but I declined as Daisy was not keen. But, Having swung round to give Lynne a photo opportunity, I struggled getting it going in the right direction again under the narrow bridge. No combination of rudder and pedals seemed to work and it began to resemble the multi-point turn in Austin Powers. When I eventually trundled round to the docking point, the guy had been waiting for a little while.
We were sticking to a strict diet whilst on holiday, limiting ourselves to things like cheesy hotdogs with chillies and chips. This was Lynne's choice for the evening - I'm sure I went for something equally healthy.
After the meal, Daisy hung out with one or two newly acquired friends, and their parents kindly bought Daisy this flashing star wand, which Gregory enjoyed playing with.
This being the restaurant, there was another turn on. Daisy got a good viewpoint to watch the big furry creature thing point into the distance.
That was Lynne's shot. I was further back with Gregory watching things from afar. Evidently it was the Glow Shop where the star wand was bought. Following that present, Daisy was extremely keen to return the favour and I think she got them (i.e. asked Lynne to get them) some sweets.
There was a chance with the costumed guy for Lynne and Daisy to get a selfie, as they are known these days.
Gregory got a bit impatient in the chair so I set him free. He took this a bit too literally and headed for the bright exit.
Meanwhile, Daisy was doing all the moves, mimicking the girl on stage. At one point, I think she won a balloon for doing the moves to Superman so well.
That was our last night and thus our holiday came to an end. It was a short journey home on the Friday morning and we had a good weekend ahead of us, so the advantages of a quick four-night break were clear.
Here you may go back to the Secret Portal.