London Wetland Centre is one of those places I’ve been meaning to go to for years, if anything just to see what it’s like really.
Well we made it today, it was frustratingly two buses there and two buses back, even though it is pretty much just a straight line between my house and the centre and it’s almost walkable, it’s just that that straight line goes through Richmond Park and as no buses go through it, we had to go round it. Now thankfully I’ve overcome my issues with getting the oversized special needs buggy onto buses as so far it’s been on a fair few buses and it’s fit. So we headed off on our buses and managed to find it fairly easy, even though I’m not that familar with that part of London, thank god for buses that talk to you now and google maps on your iPhone! Although luckily I didn’t follow the suggested bus route on my iPhone, that involved going out to Croydon and then back in on the motorway?!? So thank god for London Transport’s Journey Planner to!
The whole centre has quite a modern feel and everything is well planned and signposted, there are a lot of picnic area within the park, which perhaps I should of used instead as the cafe appeared even more expensive than those sort of places usually are! There were lots of hides dotted around the centre, so my two got to do the ‘Green Balloon Club’ bit i.e go and very quietly look at some birds in the hide, where the most exciting bit was seeing a heron. There was quite an original, well designed play area (be prepared if visiting with kids, there’s a shower feature would could get your children soaking wet). It was also of course rather pretty, with lots of reeds, tall grasses and an abundance of purple and yellow flowers.
We finished the day off with a visit to their inside explorers area, the entrance to which was so dark it freaked Boy Lacer out and he refused to go in, I had to carry him in in the end because the look on poor Girl Lacer’s face when she thought she wouldn’t be able to go in. Inside was some quite nice modelled areas (and the light level does go up again). Upstairs is another games area with a water theme.
Then back home, first bus ok, waited ages for the second, got on and even though it’s my local bus, the one I’ve been on the most with the special needs buggy, it must have been a slightly different model (they’ve introduced so many new buses in my part of London recently), I literally could not get the buggy through, it was stuck, thankfully someone helped pull as I pushed!
So that’s the London Wetland Centre done and to be honest I probably won’t be rushing back, it’s too much of a hassle to get to, even though we essentially live in the same part of London (south west), I’m also not that enthusiastic about ducks! Once is definitely enough for me!
