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REVIEW | AN AFTERNOON AT BLUEWATER, KENT


Following on from my previous post about Holiday Inn Maidstone, Sevenoaks, we took a trip down to Bluewater shopping centre in Kent for the day. Bluewater is the fourth biggest shopping centre in the UK and features shops, restaurants, food and drink stalls, kiddie play areas, an IMAX cinema, pirate cove adventure park, spa facilities, and much more. Accessible via the M25, Bluewater's huge car park is shockingly free to shoppers! An unusual free facility for one of England's car parks.. Needless to say, the kids (and I) had a whale of a time on this afternoon out!


The Shopping Centre

Honestly, we didn't do much shopping and were there mainly for the adventure park and to grab a spot of lunch. However, from the car park, we did walk through the shopping centre to the food court and were able to stop and do a little window shopping along the way. It's pretty much like any other large shopping centre – clothing stores, food stalls, shoe shops, stationary stores, gift shops, health and beauty stores, home-ware stores, etc. Quite a large selection and at the time we visited (August 2016), there were many summer sales where items were up to 60% off (as far as I could see).


 

Giraffe Restaurant

Giraffe is one of my favourite UK franchise restaurants, for two oh-so-crucial reasons:

  • The ribs: succulent, fall-off-the-bone BBQ ribs will always be the first thing I pick out on a menu if it is there (yes, yes, call me boring but it is a must OK!) Sadly for me, the BBQ ribs have now been removed from the menu and replaces with jerk ribs, however, all you have to do is ask the waitress to have the chef skip the slathering of jerk sauce and swap it for BBQ sauce and viola! Good to go.

  • The cloudy lemonade: Oh my gosh! If anyone knows how to do the perfect cloudy lemonade, it's Giraffe. I can't put my finger on what separates this sexy beverage from others of its kind but it's just so sweet and non-fizzy! Heavenly.


Giraffe also have quite a good selection of other food and drink if you are not quite the cloudy lemonade with jerk-but-not-really-jerk BBQ chicken kind of gal (or guy), which you can check out here! There's also a kids menu allowing the kids to feel just as grown up as you with their three course meal. My nephews quite enjoyed their skewers fruits and warm chocolate dipping saunce – that went down a treat.


Can't say I have ever had a bad experience at any Giraffe restaurant *touch wood*.

 

Pedalos

My first pedalo experience was one to remember. My sister, two out of three nephews and I decided to try our hand at pedalling for the first time as the weather was right for it and the price was quite fair at £12 per boat for about 30 minutes. Pedalos are small boats which require you to peddle (like a bike) in order to power the boat. They usually have a thin steering wheel and will cease moving when you stop peddling.


First rule of peddling: DO NOT wear a dress!


Sadly for me, I didn't think the weather would hold up for the day so did not expect to try my hand at pedalos – fortunately, the weather was great! Unfortunately, I was wearing a (rather short) blue t-shirt dress which was clearly not made for recreational activity such as this. It didn't take my sister and I long before I realised that people were looking at me with the death stare, but I could not work out why.. It was only when we had peddled half way down the lake that I realised my frilly blue thongs were giving the other pedallers an eye-full – awks. As much as I shifted and jimmied myself into different positions, there was no hiding it. So we peddled back to the starting point where my sister and I switched places which allowed me to be the passenger as sit a little more 'elegantly'.


Besides this little hick-up it was quit a fun experience. The boys loved it and it was much easier to peddle and steer than I thought. As the lake isn't very large, you can peddle back and forth as much as you want, as long as you stay within your 30 minute limit. To be honest, two or three times up and down the lake was enough for us before we made our way onto the next activity...

 

Pirate Cove Adventure Park – Crazy Golf

The highlight of our day.


I love crazy golf! The more holes the better! The crazier the better! (That's not to say I am particularly good at it, but I'm not bad either).


Pirate Cove gives you the option to play on either of the two 18-hole golf courses:

  • The easy route – which is best if you are playing with little ones like we were, or

  • The harder route – for the adults and the pros (or anyone who doesn't wish to be slowed down a little by the kids).

I must say, this was probably the most lively game of crazy golf I have every played.. Both mine and my mum's golf balls found their way into the nearby bushes and/or streams and of course, muggings here had to play go fetch and rescue the balls :( which the kids found hilarious. It probably took about 45 minutes to finish all 18 holes which were set amongst pirate ships, caves, waterfalls and other cool pirate-like scenes.


Dare I say who won the game overall? (OK, I'll say it, yes, it was me!)

 

Overall

Overall, we had a great day out and were easily able to drive back to our hotel at Holiday Inn Maidstone, Sevenoaks. The kids had the best time from the moment they arrived 'till the moment they left and laughed their socks off all the way through. Bluewater is definitely somewhere I would re-visit in the (maybe near) future – most likely in the summer though where I can again, benefit from all of the outdoor activities in good weather!


My ratings:

Family friendly – 10/10

Food – 9/10

Facilities – 9/10

Golf – 9/10

Pedalos – 8/10

Fun-factor – 9/10

Overall – 9/10


 

Have you been to Bluewater recently with family or friends? Would you try your hand at the pedalos or at crazy golf? I'd love to hear about your trip!



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