Silverdale

I am not really as great photograph taker (and probably most of you will agree that I'm not really a great photographer either) and I often tend to remember that I should have taken a few pictures, just after I've missed most of my opportunities. We also have no video clips of our kids growing up as I have always felt that the cameraman/woman records the fun rather than participates in it but I do know many people who enjoy cinematography immensely, so each to their own.

Case in point on Saturday when we took the three grandchildren on the train to Ballasalla and then on to Silverdale. All the picture except the obvious one, I have cribbed from http://www.iomguide.com so thanks to them and I hope providing the link will assuage their annoyance for my plagiarism.

The return fare for two adults is £20.00 and I think that it's great value for parents and grandparents that there is a free child for every adult and under a certain age is also free, so that was our only outlay on transport.

Ballasalla is only half an hour's journey, so it's an ideal distance for taking young children, though do beware that it is probably about a mile to the glen from the station and the most pleasant way to go is by crossing the ford near the Rushen Abbey Hotel and walking along the river.

It isn't the easiest path to push a trolley along though, unless you have the fancy pram wheels on it and therefore with having to cajole the monsters along a little, it took quite some time. Well worth it on a nice day when you're not in a hurry though.

By the time we made it to the lake and cafe, we were all extremely hungry, so after feeding the ducks we went into the restaurant.

The premises have been refurbished and it looks like part of it hasn't been completed yet, though it looks very well. However, the menu is somewhat limited, so I would only recommend it for a quick bite to eat rather than for a full meal.

Unfortunately, as I had to work later on in the day, we once again ran out of time, so only had the chance to give the kids a quick go on the Victorian water wheel (according to Wikipedia one of the oldest working examples in the World) and the swings, rather than have a full exploration and a row or pedal on the boating lake (the word lake is a possible exaggeration.)

Those of you who are regular readers or know us well, won't be surprised to hear that we had to run along the road all the way back to Ballasalla to make sure that we arrived for the train just as it should have been pulling away, though luckily for us, it was also running on Manx time and was a couple of minutes late.

Grandchildren showing the effects of a hard few hours out with the oldies