Marwell Zoo – Lara Comes Face to Face With A Camel

Choosing a day out for a 1-year old is hard. I want Lara to be up for anything but I know that lots of things are still beyond her. She can't walk without holding our hands and I'm not sure how engaging she finds some activities; I want her to see and do exciting things without pushing her too far.

Recently the Mellow family took a few days off work to spend some quality time together. On Thursday we went to Legoland Windsor which was a big hit with all involved. On Friday we were looking for something a little more peaceful so we went to Marwell Wildlife Park near Winchester in Hampshire.

I was worried that Lara wouldn't be able to see into, let alone pick out any of the animals in their enclosures – it is hard to tell how good her eyesight is at this age. Thankfully, most of the enclosures at Marwell Zoo have a range of different viewing areas at all heights meaning that Lara could see into most enclosures whether she was inside her pushchair or standing.

Lara was certainly able to pick out the animals from their camouflage. She particularly enjoyed looking at the Lemurs and the Big Cats (something that the Mellow household always looks forward to, and which Marwell does very well). At times, Lara clearly recognised the animals; with a little 'oh' she would point towards them. I'm pretty certain I heard her attempt the word 'Zebra'.

Marwell Zoo has lots of large open spaces to pootle around. This is good for the animals as it gives them some privacy and some natural space. It is good for you too because it means you get some exercise! We hit our full recommended 10,000 steps that day (with a pushchair, so that counts as extra, I'll have you know). To make things easier, there are two types of trains (a land train and a mini steam train) that tour the park and pick up/drop off at all sorts of locations throughout the grounds.

Last time I visited Marwell I had recently moved in with Mr. B so things such as baby changing facilities and playgrounds didn't feature high on the list of plus points for the Zoo. Now, these things are important to me. There were nappy changing facilities in some of the toilets throughout the park, but not all. They were fine, but not massively spacious or clean. We saw two large, well-equipped play areas within the Zoo – one of them had a large sandpit which was rammed full of people. We had no problems anywhere in the park with pushchair access.

Last time we visited Marwell in the winter the food provisions were atrocious. Since then they have built a large café that looks out over the 'African Valley'. The food is expensive but palatable and caters for all ages and tastes. There are highchairs and changing facilities here. In the week before the school holidays I would have expected more of the food and drink kiosks throughout the park to be open.

I had been looking forward to introducing Lara to the farm animals that you would traditionally expect at a UK zoo. Sadly, Marwell doesn't currently have a petting zoo so we were a little disappointed. She did however get to meet a camel up close (Lara really wasn't too keen on this). Mr. B. tried to show Lara a tank full of beautiful tropical fish, but Lara wasn't having any of it; I hope she hasn't inherited my fish-a-phobia.

I'd recommend Marwell Wildlife as a peaceful but exciting day out for families with children of all ages.

My Biggest Fear – A Meme

I was tagged a little while ago by Claire, the 20-Something Mum in the 'What are you afraid of' Meme. Now, I recently revealed my massive phobia of fish, so I'm not going to repeat myself but I'll let you know something else that worries me...

I'm afraid of incompetency! My own.

There are very few things in life that I have attempted to do, but have failed at. I'm competent at several things. I'm a competent swimmer, a competent cook, I can speak German competently. I can't do any of those things WELL, I wouldn't say I am Olympic swimming material or a celebrity chef in the making and I certainly won't be changing career to become a translator any time soon. But I can do them, and that is enough for me.

I'm afraid, every time I try something new, that I won't be competent at it. SCUBA diving is an example of something I just wasn't made to do. I tried (as part of the fish-a-phobia thing), I managed to do it once or twice... but when it came to the crunch I froze, hyperventilated and burst into tears. It hurt. Not being able to do something hurts.

I think that most first-time Mums get the fear of incompetency. Before Lara was born I didn't worry so much about it (I thought I knew what I'd got myself into) but in those hormonal, stressful days and weeks following the birth, I genuinely thought I couldn't do it. I couldn't be a mum. I picked myself up, my hormones sorted themselves out and now look at me... I'm a competent parent. Actually, I like to think that I'm more than competent, I'm a great Mummy!

I'd like to pass this meme on to all the lovely ladies in the 'Best Baby Blog' shortlist at The MADS:

New Mummy
Babyrambles
Young & Younger
Muddling Along

I have Fish-A-Phobia (but I'm learning to deal with it)!

This weekend I went with my Mum to the Fish Works cookery school in Richmond. It was a great day out where we learned lots of useful tips about how to buy, prepare, cook and serve a wide range of British fish and seafood. Unfortunately, there was one thing holding me back – I am absolutely terrified of fish.

Icthyophobia is the the fear of fish. I have it. Given that I live nowhere near the sea and that, until a few years ago I didn't eat any fish at all, it normally doesn't present me with much of a problem but very occasionally, as it did at the cookery school, it makes my life pretty tricky.

My fear of fish can be traced back to an incident with a 'frighten-fish' at the Aquarium in Birdworld when I was a toddler. The first time I really remember knowing that I had an irrational fear of fish was when I was in my mid-teens and I think the fear reached its strongest while I was at University. At its peak, I couldn't even look at a picture (not even a cartoon) of a fish without feeling slightly queasy. If we saw a fishmongers, I would have to turn my face as we walked by and would feel the nausea rising. When I swim in the sea (wherever I am in the world), I am always flailing my limbs around to try and deter any fish from coming anywhere near me – it is very exhausting! As a teenager, a trip on a glass-bottomed boat in Kenya nearly pushed me over the edge!



When I left university I dated a guy who was studying Marine Biology – learning with him about the biology of fish and marine creatures helped me a little; Understanding why fish move like they do, and act like they do helps me to keep my fear in check. Dating a marine biologist meant that I also learned to start eating some types of white fish and seafood. I'm still not that adventurous, but maybe I will try some new fish with my new-found fish cookery skills!

On a trip to Tenerife with my marine-biology boyfriend, I experienced a panic attack at an Aquarium so severe, and so embarrassing that I knew I really needed to do something about the fear. And so, unbeknownst to him, I enrolled myself in a SCUBA diving course and decided to tackle my phobia head on. The rather unfortunate thing about learning to dive in the UK is that the water is so murky that fish encounters are few and far between; in fact, I think I only saw one tiny brown fish in all my training dives and then I was concentrating so hard on not drowning that it didn't really bother me anyway!

The boyfriend didn't seem that impressed with my diving qualification and soon afterwards we split up; the plan to tackle the phobia was put on the back burner. In 2008, just before I got married to Mr. B., I took a SCUBA refresher course in preparation for our honeymoon in Mozambique, home to some of the most spectacular fish and one of the rarest of sea mammals – the Dugong. If there was ever going to be an opportunity to face my fear, this was it.

The honeymoon rocked, but the night before my first dive, I stayed awake all night shaking with an all-consuming fear. I had got myself really worked up. That morning, when I slipped into the water with all of my kit on I started hyperventilating; this is not good for several reasons – (1) it uses up your limited air supply, (2) is makes you exhausted (3) short sharp breathes are a sure fire way of making you float, not sink! And (4) it means water gets in to your mouth piece. In short, I never even managed to get under the water! I decided that day that me and SCUBA diving were never meant to be.

At Fish Works this weekend I thought I did pretty well. I managed to stand within a metre of a great display of fish for sale and I even plucked up the courage to stroke a slimey flat fish! I stopped short of filleting a mackerel; I knew it would end in tears if I did. For that, I feel slightly disappointed in myself for not having pushed my boundaries a little further.