Monkey, like many little boys, loves trains and loves taking trips on them. We were lucky recently to win tickets to ride on our nearest steam railway, the Nene Valley Railway, from Monkey’s playgroup fete. The tickets have been on the fridge all summer and he has asked many times when we are going on the train!
Last weekend we decided it was time and thankfully we were blessed with a surprisingly warm and sunny day for it. The railway runs between Wansford and Peterborough, stopping at Ferry Meadows country park and Orton Mere along the way. We chose to get the train from Ferry Meadows into Peterborough. (We have previously ridden the train in the other direction to Wansford but that was on a much wetter day and I never did get round to blogging about it.)
Anyway Monkey loved watcing the train pull into the station, though he really is not a fan of the loud noise! He is always so excited to get on the train and look out the window though. The staff were so friendly and helpful, helping us get the pushchair on, and giving Monkey is own souvenir ticket which looks more authentic.
His Uncle Simon (Hubs’ little brother) came along with us for the ride too and it’s not a particularly long journey but Monkey loved looking out the window and waving to anyone we passed. I’m glad it isn’t a long journey as LM really is not a fan of the noise or movement so she needed a lot of attention the whole way!
When we arrived at Peterborough station it was lunchtime so decided to head to somewhere to eat. We suddenly realised at this point that our favourite restaurant is in fact the nearest, and being attached to a pub/boat it has a lovely beer garden and lunch menu too. So we headed there for some absolutely scrummy thai food. It was lovely and realxed and even better because LM absolutely loved helping herself to my plate of noodles. I have no problem sharing my food with her if it keeps her happy, and it certainly did that! I wish Monkey ate as well as she does.
After lunch we headed to Railworld, which is right by the NVR station and has discounted entry if you have NVR tickets. I will be honest I didn’t know much about what was there but was pleasantly surprised. There is a lovely miniature railway outside which Monkey loved immediately, with Thomas the Tank Engine whizzing round.
You then cross over the river to a nature reserve which has been fantastically done up with lots of railway themed features. I will be honest we had a hot and grumpy toddler on our hands by this point who didn’t like having to leave the miniature railway behind, so we didn’t get to see huge amounts of the reserve and instead rushed to find the promised model railway.
And none of us were disappointed by the fabulous model railway.
There was even another little model railway with more Thomas characters that can be operated with a little button, which of course Monkey loved.
By the time we got out of there it was time to head back to the railway for our journey home, which with 2 tired little ones was ever so slightly challenging with a lot of entertainment required. Thankfully Monkey was entertained for a while by keeping LM entertained and they did have some lovely moments giggling at each other through a pane of glass.
Overall it was a lovely day together 🙂
