Things to do with the Children in Bath this Summer

It is always a challenge to find new and interesting things to do with the kids over the summer holidays. Sometimes the most obvious is right on your doorstep. It doesn’t always have to mean spending vast sums of money or long treks in the car to visit new places. The beautiful City of Bath has a few treasures of its own that can motivate, educate and engage all the senses. Here are just a handful for your youngest or your oldest.
 
Zany Zone Soft Play
A large indoor play area which has been specifically designed for children under ten years old. The can enjoy three floors of great fun in a safe and well thought out mini world of adventure. There are ball pits, cargo nets, log ramps tunnels and slides for your little bundles of joy to climb and clamber on.
 
Victoria Park Playground –   Free
The largest and most kitted out park this side of the Andes. Situated at the south end of Victoria Park the playground offers a wonderment of energising and stimulating apparatus which will give any youngster a smile of contentment that will last the whole day. With slides of all sizes, zip wire, roundabouts, see saws, tunnel slide, swings, climbing frames of various shapes sizes and designs as well as a number of bouncy bumpy things.
 
Roman Baths
Educate and titillate your children’s minds with the most well-known of all the attractions that Bath has to offer. “Salve” (That’s hello in Latin by the way). See, something they can learn from the start and you’ll get some credibility for showing off the only Roman word you can speak. And remember if you have a resident’s discovery card you can get in for free for you and any child under 14yrs old. The Baths can be fun and interesting and is much more child friendly than you may think. Its not only for the tourists you know.
 
Bath Skyline Walk –  Free
Get their little hearts pumping with a refreshing walk around the Bath skyline. There are plenty of places to stop and have a picnic and all the fun and adventure that’s comes with the great outdoors. Take a pair of binoculars for a bit of bird spotting or pack a kite to fly over the fields and grassy meadows. Take them up to Sham Castle and ask them if they can see where they live or the people walking around the city. Your children will certainly sleep well after a packed day of fresh air, sunshine and Mum’s lunch time treats.
 
The Fashion Museum
A great place for any young budding fashion designer wannabe. There is an array of wonderment from a vast collection of fashion garments spanning several hundreds of years. To celebrate the 60th anniversary of Laura Ashley there are the most colourful and iconic dresses from the Swinging Sixties or the 1970’s when there was an appetite for escapism and nostalgia for times gone by. Also on show there is the exhibition Glamour. A dazzling display of glitzy evening wear over the past 100 years. A presentation of sumptuous silks, evening gowns and cocktail dresses.
 
The Two Tunnels –  Free
Take a ride out on your bikes or equally a walk through the Two Tunnels. You never know you may spot one of the many bats that live high up in the ceilings. The tunnels are lit and one even has music. They are part of the old train route from Bath to Bournemouth. The Combe Down Tunnel had been bricked up since 1966 and is reported as the longest cycle tunnel in the UK at just over a mile long. The Devonshire Tunnel is shorter at just quarter of a mile long. A fascinating and very enjoyable cycling or walking experience. Don’t just take my word for it see what The Independent wrote about the route.
 
Bath Boating Station
What about a boat trip on the river? There are different options such as the Thames Skiff (rowing boat) Canadian Kayaks (canoe) as well as punts and rowing punts. You and your children can have a great time exploring the beautiful River Avon. Did you know that the canoe was developed over the course of thousands of years by the native Indians of North America. The name ‘Canoe’ originated from the word ‘kenu’, meaning dugout. Another snippet of information to tell the kids and show them ‘who’s the Mummy’.
 
The Holburne Museum –  Free
Another inspirational and educational day out for parents and children alike. This is art for all. At the Sackler Discovery Centre on the second floor they run weekly workshops for children up to 13yrs and hold regular activities and events for families. There is also the Garden Café offering a host of freshly prepared dishes, sandwiches, beverages and delicious scrummy cakes. Or why not venture a hop, skip and a jump to Sydney Gardens, which sits behind the museum, to nibble on your own packed lunch. Then just the other side of that you can get through to the canal. You get the best of three worls of education, entertainment and fun for you and your children.
 
Prior Park
What a beautiful setting with the rolling Bath countryside, a lake and an endless sea of grass to wander, picnic or play. You’ll be surprised at how many activities and events they hold throughout the year. They have their modest Tea Shed which sells a variety of hot and cold drinks, ice creams, soup and jacket potatoes. The tea garden is a great place to relax and suck on your favourite lolly. They also have a small selection of goodies at the ‘upcycled’ boat shop. What is upcycling I hear you ask? Tis the process of converting waste materials into new materials or products of better quality and value. Just a mind of information me.
 
Bath City Farm –  Free
Nothing sells better to children than a menagerie of farm animals with their fluffy duck and chicken feathers, big round cow eyes, soft coats of goats wool or curly pig tails. There’s even a Kids Zone housing a great purpose built play space with a climbing wall, slide and water cascade. There are 37 acres of fields and woodland to explore and the friendliest cutest two and four legged critters you ever could meet. Apart from the children that is. Your kids will love the kids on the farm with there little goatees.
 
Have a great summer you'all.

Bingham

Blogger for Bath BusinessWeb Ltd

Working Mums of the UK

Well this could be a hot potato if ever I wrote one. A man writing about working mums. Well bring it on I say and tell me what you think. I am just here to raise an issue which was raised on breakfast TV this morning. Have to say the two parents represented appeared to me to be both middle class and intellectually very bright and well educated. Not necessarily the people I would ask about the issues of working mums. Possibly not that representative of the vast majority of parents who are on low incomes and pay more an hour for childcare than they receive themselves. But that’s just me.

Do working mums get a good or fair deal from their employers? Do childless women or men have to work more hours to subsidise working mums? Is it really that easy for working mums to balance the books with childcare? Is it worth single working mums to actually to go work in the first place as childcare costs mount up?

To be honest I am not going to answer any of these questions. The reason for that is not because I am a man. After all I have a right to my opinion and can make a reasonable well thought out argument regarding any topic if I have researched it or have personal experiences which I can reflect on. I had a mum who worked. I have friends who are mums who work. I have worked with many mums who work. What I want to do is just continue the debate, as I can obviously see there is one to be had.

For me there are so many variables and circumstances to this that it cannot be so easy to say one way or the other. There are for instance a multitude of ways that business owners or employers consider this personnel issue. Because for them, that is exactly what it is. Nothing more, nothing less. Except they may feel a moral responsibility to support individuals who maybe, like themselves, have children.

It can of course be the other way round and the employee feels that the employer, as a parent themselves, will be somehow more in their favour when it comes to taking leave for a sick child or taking calls from their children’s school during the working week. I have seen it from both sides. Employers who damn the parents for wanting to do the best for their children or employees who damn employers because they have expectations of what the employer should be offering.
 
Surely in this day and age of equality, duty of care, accountable management, being a responsible employer (or employee), good working practice, improving moral standards, good working conditions etc. etc. You see where I am going with this.

At the end of the day if we just consider this as a personnel issue and don’t get caught up with the emotional stuff, which both sides sometimes want to drag into the discussion, it would be a lot easier for everyone to come to an agreeable conclusion. I for one, don’t want to see employees be penalised or marginalised because they have children. I don’t want to see employers or business owners under unnecessary pressure when they are balancing up the needs of their business and the productivity levels of their staff.

At Bath Business Web Ltd we do have working mums and dads. They would be the first to agree that there have been challenges because of the commitments and needs of both parties. BBW Ltd strives to move forward, learn, develop and grow from these experiences.

Ultimately businesses are there to make money. They are there to generate a sustainable and seemly profit. In doing so they also have a duty to their employees to treat them in accordance with current law, legislation or generally agreed moral or ethical practice. They are not there to meet the personal needs or requirements of each individual employee. However, knowing these needs or requirements and working together with their employees, even in a small way, will always be the most beneficial and satisfactory way forward for all.

So many people have so much to say on this emotionally charged topic. There are at least, a number of places for parents when seeking help, advice or information.

We need to continue the debate because it is not going away. We need parents to nurture and develop the next generation of entrepreneurs or employees. We need to support working parents and fly the flag for all those who want to contribute to the workplace as well as raise a family.  We need not cave in to the emotional or unrealistic expectations of certain individuals who just go out to create confusion or a selfish viewpoint.

We need to get realistic and up-to-date in our thinking when it comes to working parents, whether we are the employer, the parent or government politicians.

It would be great to hear what you have to say regarding working parents. Whether you are a parent or an employer. How do you think the UK deals with mums and dads in the workplace?

Bingham

Blogger for Bath Business Web Ltd