Parker’s penguins – review

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Parker’s penguins – review

By Chloe Giles

28/11/16

Enjoy the North Pole in Cambridge, 18th Nov – 4 Jan 2017

EOE ‘s younger crew, ages 8 and 9, and myself visited the North Pole event at Parker’s Piece, Cambridge for a super fun 45-minute ice skating session.

The night before Pippa could hardly sleep with excitement. We did park-and-ride which was inexpensive and simple.

Advance online booking is really easy and you can select your session time.

There were places to eat and drink, and plenty of rides that had the children giddy and dizzy with excitement.

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Parker’s Piece is rooted in Cambridge history. Used for grazing in medieval times when it was leased out by one Edward Parker, a cook, it now hosts dog walkers and students taking the air between study sessions.

The staff were really nice and friendly.

And we all had a great afternoon. The 600 square metres rink had just been prepped for our session so it was amazingly slippy. But the girls all hired penguins (sliding, skating ones that support the kids). And once I got my confidence up there was no stopping me. As I flew round every now and again I would hear Pippa calling “Mum, mum, mum!” Obviously I would stop and we had a few laps together, but on a good sized rink (it can take as many as 200 skaters in a session) it was a real relief knowing all the girls could go off independently with their penguins.

Luckily we all had gloves on as it was freezing on the ice, although all the girls removed their coats saying they were hot. I found that hard to believe – but one man was just in shorts and T-shirt.

Nine year old Pippa said: “Today was really fun. I especially enjoyed the Funhouse and Twister.” Charlotte was still dizzy when she told me the ice skating was a great experience: “It made me feel like a celebrity figure skater. And the ice skating was really fun; I only fell over twice. It was a brilliant day and I loved it. And it looked beautiful after dark.”

Ella agreed: “It was even more fun giving Charlotte tips, who found it hard before this. And I won one of the races against Pippa.”

All of this in a scenic setting with trees around, which you can admire as you watch those still skating from the terrace with a reviving hot chocolate.

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