Mouseton Abbey

"Twas the night before Cheesemas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse"

I paid a visit to the Early Learning Centre this weekend on the hunt for toddler friendly Christmas gifts and stumbled upon this little slice of TV spin off genius...

Now I love Downton Abbey, it's become something of a Sunday night ritual (much to the chagrin of James) to settle down in my PJ's with a cuppa whilst the latest Crawley family drama unfolds on screen.  And it's not just me, my mum, nan and sister are all equally in love, cue my sister and I texting each other various Downton Quotes (Usually Lady Mary and Edith as they engage in some sisterly sarcasm on screen). 

So when I saw Mouseton Abbey on the shelves of ELC, I knew I'd found a fantastic stocking filler for the Downton obsessed ladies in my life - I can just see them all sitting down on Boxing day with a great big plate of cheese and crackers to enjoy the tale of 'Cheesemas at "Mouseton Abbey."'

Author Nick Page's story brings to life the story of Cheesmas at the Abbey, when the Mouseton family pass around the Great Big Cheesy Diamond and everyone gets to make a Christmas wish. But catastrophe strikes as the Great Big Cheesy Diamond goes missing!

It's a race against time for Lord Mouseton and his servants as they search for the missing diamond to prevent Cheesmas from being ruined like an overbaked Camembert! 

The hand knitted characters (Lady Ricotta and her maid Raclette are my personal favourites) paired with the ornate, illustrated backgrounds are beautiful and are just as captivating as the story itself.  

Mouseton Abbey is going to make a lot of big and little kids very happy this Christmas, in fact, mum, if you're reading this, I'd love to find a copy in my stocking too ; ) 

Available from Amazon here make sure you order yours now to be here in time for the big day!

PS Check out the Mouseton Abbey Facebook page for more updates on the goings on at The Abbey 

Review: In The Night Garden

"Out on the ocean far away from land, take the little sail down, light the little light, this is the way to the garden in the night..." In The Night Garden

Last weekend was spent in the company of these two lovely people, the big one is my resident sound man (you can check out his website here ) the smaller one is his 15 month old nephew who we spent 2 days trying to keep entertained.  It involved an awful lot of trips outside to the swings, white chocolate buttons, silly faces and a slightly odd looking blue creature called Iggle Piggle.

I've always been a little bit skeptical about children's tv shows, especially ones that are aimed at bedtime (but then again I'm not the one with a toddler at home).  Some of my earliest and clearest memories are of being read to before lights out; favourites were My Naughty Little Sister (because I also had one), The Cat With Two Homes, Thumbelina and The Three Little Pigs (which might be why i'm terrified of wolves).

But after spending some time with Iggle Piggle, Macca Pacca and The Tommliboo's, In The Night Garden has won me over. I'm a sucker for rhyme and the poem at the beginning is both soothing and whimsical (the big one drifted off before the little one did) the hand gesture that goes with it reminds me of 'Walkie Round The Garden' and it's amazing that even at 15 months the little one knew exactly what to do when the intro music started.

My favourite stories/episodes involved The Pontipines and The Wottingers!  Unlike other tv show's there were actual words, rhymes, songs and music that form a familiar pattern each episode that is easy for children (no matter how young) to recognise and follow.  The re-cap at the end of each episode coupled with the Tittifer birds who sing the other characters off to sleep is so similar to the narrative of traditional story books, it made me forget we were watching the TV.

I think the programme is a fantastic way of encouraging very young children to become familiar with story telling and following a narrative.  If I tell a story there will undoubtedly be funny faces, voices, hand gestures and sometimes (if they're unlucky) singing, so it makes absolute sense that a TV programme should utilise the basic fundamentals of oral story telling instead of simply relying on bright colours and crazy costumes to dazzle their young audience.

I will definitely be watching In The Night Garden again the next time we are on Uncle Jimbo and Lauren duty, but I think for now we'll leave The Three Little Pigs until he's a bit older, some stories are still too scary even for me.