Autumn Family Fun and Food at Brewers Fayre

I love Autumn, the colours, the pleasant walks through the park searching for conkers and  the evenings snuggled up together on the couch, oh and definitely the food...

We were delighted to be invited to our local Brewers Fayre to enjoy a family meal from their new Autumn menu. Our nearest Brewers Fayre restaurant is the Coach House, in the grounds of the Trafford Centre, it's an ideal location and an ideal family treat after a morning of shopping.

The large family friendly restaurant also offers a special Dennis the Menace themed, supervised play area with everything from toddler zones to tree house play and more. This does incur an extra charge of £3 for 90 minutes play. Both our 4 and 8 year olds thoroughly enjoyed this area and would happily have missed out on pudding to have a few minutes more play!

Much to the children's delight we were seated within the Play Zone on this occasion, the benefits of this were that we could watch the children enjoying the soft play environment while sat at our table enjoying our own food and they were free to run in and out between courses. However I couldn't help but feel that this area didn't offer the relaxed comfort of the rest of the restaurant and on future visits I think I'd opt to eat in the main restaurant and bring the children in to play separately, but that's just my personal choice.

The new menu offers a wide variety of mouthwatering options from grills and burgers to classics, pasta and more, all at really reasonable prices. We visited on a Sunday so also had the option of the two course carvery that included a choice of meats or a vegetarian option of vegetable wellington with plenty of vegetables and potatoes and a delicious tomato soup with a roll to start. All for just £9.95!

The value for money increases even more if you visit on a weekday with a great selection of mains being offered at 2 for £10.99, Monday to Friday, 12 noon – 6pm: Excludes Bank Holidays

The children's menu stayed with the Beano and Dennis the Menace  theme of the play area and offered one, two or three course options priced between £3.99 and £4.99. Drinks were an additional cost but started at just 80p. There was also the option to swap any on of the sides that came with the main meals which is perfect if you have a fussy eater!

There were clean plates all round so we decided to treat ourselves to dessert, Daddy and I couldn't resist trying the Sharing Fondue which  left us drooling when it arrived! A giant plate filled with everything from mini doughnuts to chocolate brownies, waffles, strawberries and marshmallows, served with pots of chocolate fudge and caramel sauces for dipping, we couldn't wait to dig in!

Ben decided on a delicious looking ice cream Sundae and Elizabeth chose Minnie's tricky doughnuts which came with chocolate sauce and sprinkles!

 We enjoyed a lovely family meal in a comfortable setting and the service was attentive and friendly. I'd certainly recommend a visit to your local Brewers Fayre to try out the new menu.

Disclaimer: We were kindly invited to enjoy complimentary meals and play sessions in exchange for an honest review.

My Sunday Photo #SilentSunday 05/10/14

Five Fun Things to do with Conkers...

So it's officially Autumn! The leaves are beautiful shades of brown and the horse chestnuts are falling from the trees...

Nothing feels more autumnal to me than wrapping up warm and going on a hunt for conkers! My children were very excited to discover the huge horse chestnut tree (or Aesculus hippocastanum if you want to get all latin...) at the end of their grandparent's road. They set about filling their arms with a collection of shiny conkers from the same tree that their Daddy would have twenty odd years earlier. Hey who am I kidding? Daddy and I joined in too of course! I'm a big kid at a heart and I couldn't resist routing through the crisp amber leaves that covered the pavement to join the search...

A 'butterfly' shaped conker shell we found!

Collecting the conkers is great fun and a good excuse to get your children outside for some fresh air in the colder weather but it doesn't stop there! There are lots of different things that you can do with your conker collections from crafts to educational games. I've brought together my five favourite conker activities...

1. Play Conkers! 

Be traditional, choose your strongest looking conkers, make a hole, thread through some string or an old shoelace and challenge your bestie (or Daddy!) to a good old game of conkers! Red Ted Art has a great video to show you how to play

2. Science experiments!

Did you know that conkers contain a build up of steam? If you pierce them you can see this steam release or if you throw a conker on to  camp fire (adult supervision required, obviously!) then the build up will cause it to explode? There are lots of other was to experiment with conkers too, Science Sparks has a great experiment to find out how to make the strongest conker.

3. Sensory and Maths Play!

This is a great one for younger children who love to help collect up the conkers but are a little too young to play with them in the traditional way. Being so solid, shiny and of varying shapes they are ideal for sensory play. Thread them on strings to make 'worms' increasing in size by one and use them to help your children with counting. My Little 3 and Me have some great Baby and Toddler conker play ideas.

4. Make Halloween or Christmas Decorations!

It's always fun to get crafty with something you've found outside and conkers make an ideal base for a simple hanging decoration. Add some googly eyes and black or silver pipe cleaners to make a spider ideal for getting in the Halloween theme. Or why not get glittery and make a sparkly conker bauble and maybe get your child to paint their initial on it? Or add some felt and cotton wool to make a Santa head?

5. Painting with Conkers

  Conkers are so shiny, they are ideal for getting messy with paint! This is a fun messy play activity for children of all ages! There are a few great ways to paint with conkers and I love how The Imagination Tree uses Rolling Conker Art to make gorgeous swirling patterns on paper that would be ideal for wrapping up gifts!

Finally, this isn't an activity but something I have just learnt... Did you know that Conkers contain a chemical that spiders hate? Pop a few bowls of conkers in the corners of your rooms and you may prevent those creepy crawlies coming in to your house! You could evening string them up and hang them from your windows, pretty and practical!

If you are looking for even more ideas using conkers check out this post at From Little Things and don't forget Pinterest, I love this Autumn Activities board from This Day I love.


What do you do with conkers? I'd love to hear your ideas...

Silent Sunday