All creatures great and small at Keighley Show Saturday 3 September!

This year’s 54th Keighley & District Agricultural Show looks set to be a fantastic day out for all the family featuring animals from Shire horses to guinea pigs and all sizes and shapes in between! 



Alongside show classes including vegetables and flowers, arts and crafts, home produce and much more there will be entertainment from the Animal Roadshow, presented by leading zoologist and TV presenter James McKay, who has worked with Steve Backshall on such programmes as “Live ‘n’ Deadly” and “Deadly Days Out”.


The roadshow will feature all sorts including snakes, spiders, frogs, insects and lizards and there will be short, informative and entertaining interactive presentations at regular intervals throughout the day, and the opportunity to get “hands-on” with some of their weird and wonderful creatures.


There will also be a display of Alpacas, representatives of the West Yorkshire Mounted Police along with other attractions such as terrier racing! The children’s entertainments, Young Farmers Club, trade stands and refreshments across the field will all add to a colourful day, all to the sounds of the fantastic Haworth Brass Band.

There will be so much going on whichever way you look but if more entertainment were needed, this year for children (and eagle-eyed grown-ups!) there will be a “Sparkly Windmill” trail. There are no prizes, but your little ones will have a great time searching out all 12 in the strangest of places!

Admission prices have been held for yet another year - £6 for adults and £4 for concessions (5 – 15 and 60 & over). Under 5s are free. However, you can save £1 per ticket by purchasing them in advance from the Keighley Information Centre, Town Hall, Keighley (available from mid August).


The show will take place at the King George V Playing Fields (part of the Marley Sports Centre complex), off Aireworth Road Keighley, BD21 4DB.

Free car parking is available very near to the Showground. Alternatively, Keighley Bus Museum Trust are providing a free Show Day bus service running regularly between Hanover Street and the showground, via the railway station and Parson Street. There will also be a free minibus transfer service running throughout the day between the Main Gate and the main showfield area, kindly provided by Leeds City College – Keighley Campus.

Go nuts at Kilnsey Park and see the new squirrels!

We can think of a hundred reasons to visit the fantastic working fish farm that is Kilnsey Park but at the end of July, we heard there were six more!


This amazing wildlife oasis has been protecting the native and endangered red squirrel since 1998. Three new ones were given to the park in June and in mid-July it seemed the park’s own red squirrels had been doing their bit for the population figures and produced three babies!


They are now all settled and playing happily. These cheeky additions aren’t the only new faces at Kilnsey Park, there are two pygmy goat kids – one black and one brown about 16 inches high!


Our own kids (toddlers of the human variety!) absolutely adore a trip up the dale to Kilnsey Park under the impressive crag and find more than enough to keep them really happily enthralled for hours!


All the details are available on their brilliant website but we’ll outline some of the highlights and hope you get chance to see for yourselves if you haven’t already – or head back to see the new arrivals and tackle the adventure playground again.


As you head along the Kilnsey Trail, you’ll see the ducks, geese, hens and guinea fowl everywhere you go! (Remember to bring some bread for the ducks and geese!)


There are mini diggers to make the most of the sand pit and after a play, the next stop is feeding the giant trout. Moving on you’ll see the goats and just beside them are the red squirrels in the first of their two enclosures.

You’ll pass dry stone walls to the trout raceway then dodge past the hens and guinea fowl over the bridge and up the hill to the second of the red squirrel enclosures. Then a butterfly garden very close to a pond where more giant rainbow trout live. Throw them some food and watch the water boil! Keep on going even further up the hill and you’ll be able to visit pigs and more baby trout before calling in to the honey bees in the special glass-sided hive, all against the beautiful backdrop of the water meadow.


If you need a bite to eat, a cup of tea and a sit down after all the fun then we’ve found the restaurant and coffee shop to be exceptional in catering for children.

There’s a regularly reviewed children's menu and they’re also happy to warm baby food. There are high chairs and baby changing facilities and they also provide colouring sheets and crayons to keep little visitors amused.


There’s so much to see and do at Kilnsey Park for a great family day out – for full details check it out at www.kilnseypark.co.uk or follow them on facebook…we do!

Make sure you don’t miss all the fun at Malham Show, 27 August 2011!

Photographs: Copyright Malhamdale.com Ltd &
Chris Wildman

It says much about Malham Show that last year it tipped with rain yet we still had a fantastic fun day out. Let’s hope the sun shines on Malham showfield for this year’s jam-packed event. But if not, get togged up and pack your wellies - you’re in for a great day anyway!


Under the shadow of Malham Cove this traditional agricultural and family show has been taking place for more than 100 years and just gets better and better… this year’s line-up promises the usual mix of tradition and family fun for all ages throughout the day.

Photographs: Copyright Malhamdale.com Ltd
& Chris Wildman

As you’d expect there is always a good turn-out for the cattle and sheep classes, with people able to have a look at the animals in their pens and stalls while they get ready to be shown.


As well as a display by the Pendle Forest and Craven Hunt, the magnificent heavy horses are shown in the ring alongside horse and pony classes throughout the day, including jumping.


For any little ones keen on cars and tractors they’ll love the classic and vintage cars and agricultural vehicles on display. The showfield literally buzzes all day with different things each way you look to hold little ones’ attention - whether it’s the rare breeds on display or watching determined attempts to scale the climbing wall – all to the glorious strains of The Haworth Brass Band.

Photographs: Copyright Malhamdale.com Ltd &
Chris Wildman

Aside from the classes and demonstrations (we’re especially looking forward to the sheep dog trials!) in the ring, there is much to be seen in the tents with all that tradition dictates from a rural show – everything from horticulture and flower arranging to cakes, preserves, needlework, knitting and handicrafts.


If little ones aren’t too worn out yet – there’s still plenty more! They can cheer themselves hoarse watching the tug’o’war. As well as children’s sports and fancy dress (including a babies beauty competition!), there’ll be the famous ‘dunking’ stool (popular whatever the weather for hardier souls!), Punch and Judy and a great static falconry display.

Photographs: Copyright Malhamdale.com Ltd
& Chris Wildman

There is a farmers’ market and refreshments across the field to sustain you for all the entertainment. And if you feel like running it off there are the junior and senior fell races for the fit!


Malham Show is an absolute gem of a day out in the country– there’s so much crammed into the family-friendly sized show field and it’s a great way to support our rural community and celebrate where we live. So come rain or shine, whether it’s wellies or suncream – we will most certainly be there!


Admission is £6, Parking & Children under 16 FREE, Show Catalogue FREE
For all the details click here http://www.malhamdale.com/show/malham%20show%20sched%202011.pdf

Limetree Festival (26-28 Aug, North Yorkshire)

 
Quirky, Quintessentially Cool, Queer and certainly Family Friendly, Limetree Music & Arts Festival is now in its fourth year, delivering a return to ‘how festivals used to be’.


This gorgeous little independent festival takes place at Lime Tree Farm at a nature reserve and conservation area in Nidderdale (about 40 miles from Skipton town centre)


Embracing music and culture, each area (there are 8!) has its own agenda, keeping the festival diverse with everything from choristers to dubstep and everything in between.


The Main Green Man stage hosts some of the bigger names such as Me and My Friends, Built on Tradition, Soul Funkful, Leonard Jones Potential, Al Morrison’s Blues Experience and Carleen Anderson but what unites all the stages is the depth and breadth of quality performances from established artists to fresh young talent.


Alongside the Green Man stage, there’s the Jason Rae stage, the Bet Lynch tent, the Sorted Dance tent, the JB World Music stage and three dance music therapy areas. The acts are too numerous to list and all too brilliant to single any few out!


Beyond the fantastic music, Limetree also provides a safe but rich and diverse playground for children, Amongst the array of adventures to be had there’s circus skills, pond dipping, dj and music workshops, nature walks and, new this year, an observatory to explore the night sky with projected images and music.

There will be workshops in stencil and graffiti art, breakdancing, beatboxing and a chance to unwind if it all gets too hectic with pottery, painting and craft.


There’s so much to do for children of all ages – the very young will no doubt enjoy music and movement activities, singing, games and musical instruments as well as the puppet and mask making from hand-made templates. It’s open to all ages to join in and get spectacularly messy!


The beauty and diversity of the festival is also captured in the Health and Healing Field. And that all important aspect of food is covered with a feast of locally sourced food and drink at affordable prices.
For the full to bursting festival line-up,tickets, travel needs and details on all aspects go to www.limetreefestival.co.uk

Make sure you don’t miss the 107th Gargrave Show on Saturday 20th August 2011!

Agricultural shows are a big part of summer tradition around Skipton and whatever the weather, you’re guaranteed a full day of fun in the country for all the family.


As the field in front of Eshton Hall gears up to host the 107th Gargrave Show, there’s a jam-packed line-up of entertainment in store.


The attractions for 2011 promise to be the best yet featuring children’s games; refreshments; show jumping; fell racing; poultry, cattle, sheep and horticulture judging; tug of war; vintage cars and classic tractors parade as well as a terrier race to close the show.

There is always something going on to keep little ones entertained and the atmosphere in the rings and around the showground introduces them to all sorts of new sights and sounds.


There will be a display by the First Air Nursing Yeomanry as well as British First World War Cavalry team the 16th Lancers showing their horsemanship in the main ring – where the activity is continuous throughout the day.


If your little ones are captivated by the horses then there’s plenty more to see from shires – the giants of the horse world – down to the Shetland pony classes which have been an increasingly popular part of Gargrave Show for almost 30 years.

One thing little ones see a lot of round here is sheep! But perhaps your toddler or baby has only baa’d at them from afar – the Gargrave Show sheep section usually attracts around 300 plus entries from 12 different breeds and there’s the chance to get up close and have a good look at some of them!


And if showing your little ones the proud sheep farming heritage of Skipton and the dales isn’t enough, Gargrave Show is the only agricultural show in the area still to have all four major dairy breeds exhibited - Holstein, Ayrshire, Shorthorn and Jersey.


Shows like Gargrave are a real treat for little ones - a chance for them to be part of a community and regional celebration of our rural heritage, while having a ball!

Gargrave Show starts at 9.00am and closes at 6.00pm with games (races, egg and spoon, sack races etc) for children from 3 – 12yrs starting after 3.30pm. So for the small entrance fee - £7 for adults,
£6 for concessions and £2 for children under 14 years of age - you can have a full day in the country being entertained. For more information please visit www.gargraveshow.org.uk

Oh we do like to be beside the Seaside! Greetingsfrombeacons, Heslaker Farm, Skipton

It’s National Play Day today so it got us thinking about our local parks and places to picnic and decided to make them the focus of today’s competition to WIN 2 adult & 2 child tickets for Beacons Festival on 14 Aug (Heslaker Farm, Skipton). To Enter: Visit your favourite local park / picnic spot this weekend. Complete a short survey to tell us all about it. Return it to us by 10pm Sun 7 Aug. We'll select a winner at random from the pile of returned surveys - easy! Email moobaakids@hotmail.co.uk now to request a survey sheet! And here’s where you could be heading…




Hot on the heels of The Magic Loungeabout, Skipton is set to conjure up more family-friendly festival magic in the form of the fabulous Beacons Festival (August 11 – 14).


Alongside a line-up featuring the best upcoming talent and an array of alternative entertainment, little ones will also love,love,love it! The great people at Beacons are so keen to welcome local families that they are even running discounted tickets - first come, first served while they last - for those in the BD23 postcode…


A huge red-domed marquee will be home to The Ladybird Project for the weekend – a bonanza of kids entertainment with loads of creative workshops (four a day), themed days, pirate talk classes, mask making, instrument playing and much more!


This will culminate each day in a very noisy, colourful kids parade winding right the way through the festival site so they’re very much part of the fun.

The lady birds also create a magical garden area with seating and outdoor crafts in a fantastical atmosphere with circus performers and a family friendly-cabaret. If this weren’t enough – and your little ones fancy a trip to the seaside for the day, there’s a fabulous beach area complete with beach huts, and cycle powered musical entertainment so you can kick back and relax on the deckchairs with a drink, while the kids build sandcastles and create some art.


For the grown ups, the three day event will be headlined by Jamie XX, Jamie Woon, The Phantom Band and also includes Willy Mason, The Twilight Sad, Mr Scruff, Hudson Mohawke, Toddla T, Mount Kimbie and Emmy The Great.

Aside from the bands there’s a secret cycle powered disco, mojito bar, a beach, garden shed stage, treasure hunts, live art and fancy dress – all washed down with locally-brewed ale if you fancy a jar. Plus live film rescores spoken word, theatre, dance, and exclusive film programmes.

We’re so lucky they have chosen Skipton to host this brilliant celebration and hope everyone will give Beacons our warmest greetings and get down there to support the festival and have a cracking time.

For more information including prices visit www.greetingsfrombeacons.com And if you live in the BD23 postcode you can get generously discounted locals tickets at a cost of just £30 for the weekend! This is a fabulous but limited offer so get in there quick while there’s still time www.greetingsfrombeacons.com/residents Race you to the deckchairs!

Checked rugs and sausage rolls…

We really don't want to jinx the weather so it continues to rain but we're going to risk it and give our local lowdown on top picnic spots. When the sun shines (and we must believe it will!), who doesn't want to head outside with a picnic rug and hamper stuffed with tempting goodies, and spend a day paddling and playing with the kids?


From Aireville Park in Skipton to the many miles of possible picnic smiles across the gorgeous Yorkshire Dales at places like Malham tarn (click here to find out what they've got planned for their open day on Saturday 6 August), finding top local places is as easy as (picnic) pie. All of the walks so far on www.moobaakids.co.uk feature places for snacks but we couldn’t leave it there. So pack the pink lemonade, sneak in a slice or two of cake, throw in a few scotch eggs, cut the crusts off your sandwiches just this once and follow us! (But before you do, you might want to print off a Woodland Trust nature detectives picnic activity booklet) 


Bolton Abbey – So it’s six quid per car to get in but once you’re in, you’re spoilt for choice! There is so much to do here by the riverside in this beautiful setting with fantastic pushchair-friendly walks taking in the aquaduct, stepping stones, money tree, strid and much more. They are happy for you to picnic on the estate and even barbecue in the southern section of the Sandholme car park!


Burnsall – We know it gets crazily busy on a fine day but that’s because it’s just such a perfect picnic spot. The magnificent five-arched bridge is a beautiful backdrop with grassy banks and benches along the river. There are plenty of shallow areas for paddling and you could even take a stroll upstream to the wobbly bridge! There’s a handy village shop and The Red Lion’s on the green too. Parking in the field car park costs £4 all day and there is a toilet block there to use.


Nearby Appletreewick is also on an exceptionally beautiful stretch of the river Wharfe. There are plenty of shallow places with large flat stones for paddling around - don’t forget your bucket and net for crayfish! The river can be approached at various points along a good path from Burnsall, or from a very short footpath off the main road through Appletreewick, near Mason’s campsite. This is signposted ‘Riverside’ and though there is a stile, the gate was also unlocked for use when we were there a couple of weeks ago. There are two family-friendly pubs in the village – The Craven Arms and the New Inn.

Linton Falls is another one of those places that attracts lots of visitors and can easily be walked to from Grassington down the walled footpath Sedber Lane or ‘Snake Path’ (it’s quite steep), off Hebden Road at the National Park Centre, where there’s also parking. There is a footbridge straddling the river and lots to see such as the falls, white water sections near the old mill sluice gates and there are stepping stones too. The gentle grassy areas make a perfect picnic place to take it all in.

We know there must be some more lovely remote spots we could have included but with little ones in mind, we’ve stuck quite close to civilisation for these suggestions! So you don’t get caught out don’t forget the suncream, baby wipes, and lots of drink (for them, not the grown-ups!) Oh, and it completely goes without saying but we feel like we just should – pay special attention to any little ones playing near water.


If you have any brilliant ideas for local places to picnic, any hidden gems or hints on tasty treats to put in the hamper we'd love to hear them x

PS We'll be running a competition (via our facebook page) tomorrow so that people who share their suggestions and tips for great parks to visit and places to go for picnics, could win a family day ticket to the forthcoming Beacons festival... watch this space!

Unleash the whippets and the bairns – Yorkshire Day is almost upon us!

Flat caps at the ready as we prepare to celebrate all that is good about God’s Own County. We are unashamedly proud of where we’re from and enjoy doing things locally and further afield across Yorkshire with the kids to show them what they’ve got to be proud of too.


There’s so much to be celebrated about Skipton’s heritage that we’re spoilt for choice. For a low-key family day out you could look round Skipton Castle… go for a walk in Skipton Woods…take a trip out in the dales…a short barge trip…a visit to Bolton Abbey…or simply treat them to a pork pie!


If you’re willing to travel a little bit further then you could head over to Haworth where there’ll be children’s rides, a bouncy castle and much more all weekend (Sat 30th and Sun 31st July). Visit the events section at www.haworthvillage.co.uk for details. On Yorkshire Day itself, 1 August, East Riddlesden Hall will be hosting Yorkshire themed activities, food and shopping. If you visit Keighley’s Church Green, also on 1 August, Haworth Brass Band will be playing, along with others as well as Yorkshire-themed refreshments from 5pm. Visit the ‘events’ section under ‘about’ at www.keighley.gov.uk

If you’re happy to go further still and have toddlers who’ll sit still in the car long enough to make it worthwhile, you could head up to Hawes to the Wensleydale Creameries or even make a pilgrimage over to York where they’re holding Yorkshire Day celebrations across the city for the whole family. 

If you don’t want to head out at all but are still in the mood to celebrate the White Rose, then stock up on flour, milk and eggs and whip up a storm in the kitchen with the kids in the form of good old Yorkshire Puds!


Ingredients:
Plain flour 75g
Eggs (medium) 2
Milk 75ml
Water 50ml
Cooking Oil


What to do:
*Drizzle a tiny bit of oil in each of the wells of a 12 cup non-stick tray and put in a very hot oven (Mk 8, 425F, 240C).
*Fill a standard-sized mug about half full with plain flour. Put the flour, two eggs and a pinch of salt in a mixing bowl and mix till you have a gloopy paste (get the kids to help with the mixing!)
*Fill about one third of a standard-sized mug with milk and then top up with water so the mug is half full. Add the water-milk to the bowl, a bit at a time while mixing, making sure the mix stays smooth.
*Carefully take the tray out of the oven, the oil should be very hot by this stage, and pour the batter into the wells so that it is evenly divided between the 12 wells (they should each be about two thirds to three quarters full).
*Put the tray back in the oven for about 15-20 minutes or until the batter has risen and is golden coloured, and there are no under-cooked bits.

Like pancake day but without the pressure of the flip, the choices for toppings are endless! Will your kids choose to stick with the staple beef, gravy & onions or opt for fruit jam; maple syrup or treacle; ice cream and fresh berries; hazelnut/chocolate spread; melted Wensleydale cheese & onion or how about a pizza topping for the truly adventurous?


Whatever you choose to do on this auspicious occasion, steer clear of the borders and the job’s a good ‘un. Happy Yorkshire Day all! X


Ps We know we’ve some lovely Lancashire friends on here – if you can’t face any of these suggestions then check out the events or things to do pages for alternatives!

Butterflies flutter by...

www.bigbutterflycount.org

You might already be watching with your little ones as the butterflies go fluttering by this summer but are you counting them? From 16 to 31 July, a nation-wide survey is under way, where people are encouraged to count how many butterflies they see in any one place from parks, school grounds to gardens, fields and forests.


Each spotting session takes just 15 minutes so hopefully just long enough to keep the attention of toddlers! We’ve seen all sorts of butterflies – lots of red admirals in and around Skipton this year! - out on our walks - so taking part in the count might be something fun to add to a stroll out with the children. We’ve seen them flitting past everywhere from more remote bridleways to Gawflat conservation meadow at Aireville Park, Skipton. For butterfly spotting charts as well as all the details about how to take part with your little ones visit www.bigbutterflycount.org


For the guaranteed flutter of butterflies all around you and a longer day out, we’re sure children of all ages would love a trip to Tropical World in Leeds (approx. 27 miles from Skipton). Under fives go £FREE and will no doubt be wowed by the butterflies, tropical birds, iguanas, snakes, spiders and other insects in the ‘rainforest’. In the nocturnal house there are also fruit bats, monkeys, bush babies and sugar gliders to marvel at. As well as meerkats, snakes and crocodiles!

If all this doesn’t make the thought of the car journey worthwhile (and let’s face it sometimes nothing makes the car journey worthwhile!) you could celebrate butterflies in your own back garden or in window boxes by planting flowers with your kids, specifically to attract them. For tips on what to plant and when visit www.yorkshirebutterflies.org.uk/gardening


If the sight of all these colourful butterflies inspires your little ones to get creative you could encourage them to capture what they see with butterfly hand print painting, symmetry pictures or making a butterfly out of a trusty toilet roll tube (no sticky back plastic required!)


Butterfly hand print painting
Start off by drawing and painting the butterfly body and a head as a starting point. Then paint or encourage your toddler to paint their hands (one at a time!) with lots of different colours – maybe a different colour per finger or a mix as the mood takes them, and get them to make two hand prints for wings on either side of the body. Once it’s dried you can then decorate it further with googly eyes and sequins or beads…anything that takes their fancy in fact!


Butterfly out of a toilet roll tube
Wrap a toilet roll tube in colourful paper or alternatively paint it all over. Either draw or stick on a pair of googly eyes to one end of the roll. Use either pipecleaners, bits of ribbon or paper to make the antennae and stick them inside the toilet roll tube so they poke out of the top. Then cut out a pair of wings shape and decorate them. Stick them to the back of the tube and voila!


Symmetrical butterfly pictures
Fold a piece of paper in half, paint two large blobs, one on top of the other, on one side of the fold, so that it looks like one half of a flying butterfly. The paint must be applied quite thickly so that it transfers successfully to the other half of the paper. Add some drips of contrasting paint on the blobs. Whilst the paint is still wet, carefully fold the paper along the fold and press down from the outside edge of the paper towards the fold. The image should now look like a butterfly! Once the painting has dried, they can use more paint and felt tip pens to add details such as antennae and a body.


If you love what they’ve done and want to share it, we’d love to see any of your little ones art-work. Just send it in to us and we’ll put it up on the MooBaa little stars section of our community pages. You never know, your talented little ones might just produce something to rival a childhood favourite of MooBaaKids – the fabulous The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. Since it was published in 1969, the story of the caterpillar who munches his way through the story to become a beautiful butterfly has entranced millions of children. It’s been enjoying something of a cult revival recently but we’ve checked online and there are currently 11 copies in at Skipton library at the time of writing…we’ll race you! x

What's on, Summer fun!

The summer holidays seemed to go on forever when we were little but not as long as they can seem to stretch now when there are children to keep entertained! We’d love to start off by talking sunshine and long hazy days but this is North Yorkshire and we know you’re not going to fall for it! We’re all hoping for summer sun but realistic enough to know we need alternatives too.

It’s hard to keep track of what stops over summer and what continues so we’ve done a boredom-busting round-up of what’s on over the coming month or so to make sure your little ones are kept happily occupied.

Let's hope it looks like this!

We want to wring every last ounce of fun out of summer so have set up a new page on our site to list exactly what’s happening and where. For all the details please check it out - What’s on, Summer fun. You’ll find information about the children’s fun area at Aireville park including rides, slides and candyfloss; meet-ups; messy play; stay & play and sensory play sessions and lots more. Many of these activities are £FREE!

www.malhamdale.com/showindex.htm

Don’t forget to check out the rest of our website with year-round information. Our Events page is absolutely jam-packed to the rafters with family-friendly local events. There is something on almost every single day over the summer holidays - including festivals, village shows/galas, kids’ craft workshops, theatre performances, outdoor play events, and much, much more – again some of these are £FREE! We will blog in the run up to our pick of the best events to remind you!

There’s also our Things to Do section. This should definitely keep you busy with loads of indoor and outdoor options. And because we are pretty optimistic and keeping everything crossed for those sunshine-filled hazy days we’re all hoping for, we’ll also point you to the walks page. We live in an amazing part of the world – what better time than summer to get out and see it.

We don’t want to completely jinx the weather but we’re also working on a new parklife section dedicated to free local parks and gardens, as well as our lowdown of top spots for perfect picnics. So keep your fingers crossed with us and let’s hope the sun smiles over Skipton soon!

Deer shed at Thirsk!

Ok. Hands up. We should have flagged the fantastic Deer Shed Festival up sooner but we got so carried away with launching MooBaaKids and all the other fun stuff in the pipeline that it got lost in the mix. It’s been listed on the events page though so hopefully you’ve all spotted it anyway and had a look. But if not – here it is flagged up in full so if you can ditch your other plans this weekend and pack quickly it’s not too late!


It’s the family-friendly festival’s second year and there are currently 200 tickets left for the 5,000 ticket event - enough for a great atmosphere but not so many that you can't get out of the car park. I Am Kloot is headlining with other top acts such as The Leisure Society, The Go! Team, Frankie & The Heartstrings and Caitlin Rose.


Sky At Night is I Am Kloot's Mercury prize nominated album of 2010 and as a tribute to their headline performance under North Yorkshire's night skies, there’ll be loads of Sky At Night type things to do including after-hours star-glazing, a cosmodome, themed kids workshops and cabaret.


The festival site at Baldersby Park, Topcliffe, Thirsk (about 40 miles from Skipton) will open at 3pm (tomorrow) 22nd July, the arena will open at 5pm for food and drink, entertainment will start at 7pm. Friday entertainment is centred around a cabaret performance in the Big Top but there’s one music stage running too. The Friday ticket is optional.


Saturday is the main music and arts day, three music stages, loads going on! Sunday is a Long Goodbye. Coffee, newspapers, organised kid's sports, live ambient electronica cafe in the Big Top, crafts market, a birds of prey display, nature trails and more. The festival site will close on Sunday at 4pm.


An adult weekend ticket is £59, a child (aged 6 +) weekend ticket is £15 and under fives are £FREE. Camping in a tent is free and all kids’ activities are free unless stated otherwise on the website at www.deershedfestival.com

It's launch day!

Hello and a very warm welcome to the launch of MooBaaKids…we’ve run what we’re doing past family and friends and are now throwing open the doors to everyone. Thank you so much for the excellent feedback so far. As a result we’ve had a bit of a facelift, packed in lots more features and are now officially raring to go!

The first thing we hope you’ll notice is the way MooBaaKids looks. This is all thanks to the super creative talent of Laura Steele. She listened to what we said we’d like, sprinkled some magic over it with her own ideas and interpretation and has created an eye-catching logo and colours across the site that really sums us up. We cannot thank her enough for offering to help, praise her work more highly or recommend her freelance graphic design and illustration skills more strongly. You can contact her at laurasteeledesigns@gmail.com

As well as the style, we’ve worked on the content too and added even more. We’ve added six new buggy-friendly walks on our walks page for you to get started with – let’s hope last week’s sunshine wasn’t it for summer! We’ll just quickly point you to the Malham Cove walk as the peregrine viewing point will only be there till 31 July. If the sun does shine again, it’s a great, inexpensive day out for all ages.

We’ll soon be filling in the blanks on our new parklife section with tips on the best parks around and how to get the most out of them as well as working on our community area – how to get linked up with other people and share what you’ve been up to.

New events and activities are being listed all the time and each week with the blog we’ll flag up some local events or other ideas for inspiration (it’s the Yorkshire Day countdown next week, tha knows!) – we’ll let you know via facebook about any big things we’ve added but if you keep checking back, you’ll most likely find new things.

We have already had more than 75 people ‘like’ us on facebook which has totally exceeded our expectations but the more the merrier – everyone’s welcome! And the quicker we get to a 100, the quicker some one gets to win the fantastic BabaBing! changing bag in our prize draw. So its time for you to start spreading the word - get your friends to like us on facebook now! And if you’ve already done that (thanks!), what are you waiting for? Have a leisurely look round MooBaaKids and let us know what you think…enjoy! X

Strawberry fields forever…or the next couple of weeks at least!

Nothing screams summer like fresh fat red strawberries. And nothing screams summer fun with the kids more than juice-stained faces and strawberries crushed in tiny palms! There’s not long left of the strawberry picking season so why not get out there over the next couple of weeks to pick some of your own?

Alongside a few punnets ourselves, we’ve handpicked three of the nearest to Skipton and hope your little ones enjoy searching out the juiciest, reddest strawberries they can find!

* Gledstone Gardens at West Marton, near Skipton (approx 7 miles) grows table-top strawberries at their kitchen gardens. This can be a stretch for little ones so might be worth taking something for them to stand on.

* Strawberry Farm, Birstwith, HG3 3AW near Harrogate (approx 20 miles from Skipton.) As the name suggests there are strawberries aplenty here for your little ones to munch and pick.

* Wharfedale Grange, Harewood, LS17 9LW near Leeds (approx 24 miles from Skipton). The furthest away of our picks, Wharfedale Grange is happy for you to make a day of it and take a picnic and if the weather turns there’s a barn for sheltering in. As well as strawbs, there are also rhubarb and broad beans until August 1, blackcurrants,whitecurrants, and redcurrants until August 14, and tayberries and blackberries until August 30. And from picking to pecking - there are also ducks waddling round for extra entertainment!

We’re all no strangers to the fresh weather round here but it turns out that strawberries aren’t so accustomed – they don’t grow up here past the end of July as a general rule. Fruit seasons always vary so it’s always vital to contact the venues first to make sure they are open and have sufficient stocks left before you make the journey out there. It’s also a good idea also to check whether you need to take your own containers to collect in and to get there early in the day for the best fruit.

As you know with toddlers, it’s best to go prepared with a packed lunch and drinks, a camera and sunscreen (hopeful!) or wellies and rainwear. A top tip is to wear old clothes and to take baby wipes for juicy fingers and faces!

Once back with the pickings you could get stuck in and scoff the lot with a dollop of ice cream – or why not make some strawberry milkshake? Quick, easy, cheap and delicious!

200g hulled strawberries

200ml cold milk

200g vanilla ice-cream

2tbsp honey

Whizz all the ingredients in a blender and enjoy!

We’d love you to let us know if there are any PYO places closer to home or any you particularly recommend for children so we can share it with everyone. 

And we’ll keep you posted on where to pick fruit for free locally once things start to ripen off a bit more!

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Welcome...and win!

Hello and welcome to MooBaaKids! We are a newly-launched brand new website run by volunteer mums who want to share what there is to do with little ones in Skipton and the surrounding area.

Whether you’re looking for advice during pregnancy, baby classes, toddler groups, things to do, sources of support or even ways to get in touch with other parents and carers then we hope MooBaaKids will be your first port of call. While there’s information already out there in various forms, we wanted to put it all in one place so it’s quick, easy and enjoyable for you to find just what it is you’re looking for.

To celebrate our launch we’re giving you the chance to win a fabulous changing bag stocked at John Lewis worth £58, courtesy of the Keighley-based (very generous) company BabaBing! Once we have 100 likes on our MooBaaKids facebook page we’ll generate a winner at random. If you’re not on facebook then don’t despair – if you CONTACT US with a top tip or some site feedback, include your name, and put BabaBing! in the header, we’ll add you to the draw. Watch the site for news of the winner!

MooBaaKids is still just a baby itself and we have lots of big ideas about how to add to what we’ve started. We’ll continue to improve it as we go - for example we definitely plan to include information for parents and carers of children with disabilities and we’ll also add pictures as the site grows. Each week we’ll highlight exciting new local things to do or not-to-be missed events. We’d love you to let us know if there’s anything you think we’ve missed or anything you want to share with us.

We hope you enjoy what we’re doing so far and that you’ll pop back soon, let us know your thoughts, like us on facebook and spread the word to your family and friends!

Enjoy!
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If you have any questions about the way this site works, simply want to say hello, want to provide some feedback, or if you’re interested in advertising your local event or business on MooBaaKids, please CONTACT US