As a day of spring sunshine in Spain draws to a close

A wet Easter in Kent feels a lifetime away

But I want to share our experience of meeting the Easter Bunny

At Wyevale Chartham, near Canterbury

This is a garden centre we know of

But had not been to before

I was really looking forward to some special family time

To kick off our Easter celebrations

And to seeing what Wyevale Garden centres

Have to offer young families like ours

I was excited about the event after reading positive reviews online

You can read some of those reviews too

By clicking the links below

ET Speaks From Home

Poole Mamma

Little Button Diaries

Our experience was not as good in my eyes

As the experiences I had enjoyed reading about

It did not seem as well thought out

Or as well executed

And David and I came away feeling quite disappointed

Though Esther and William, being Esther and William

Enthusiastically made the most of it

We arrived at Wyevale Chartham as it opened

And wandered through looking at the plants

And garden furniture

We arrived at the restaurant

And spent a while hovering

While a lady dressed as Alice seated another family

The restaurant was not decorated in any way

As I thought it might be

When we were seated

There were no chocolate eggs or treats on the table

As I thought there might be

The children were offered squash to drink

The adults had to go up to the till to order their drinks

Esther and William each had an activity sheet to complete

While we waited for our food

We each had a cooked breakfast

And the food was okay

A highlight of the event

Was William feeding Bea

His unwanted scrambled egg

We finished eating

And then had to wait for the egg hunt to begin

The whole of the 90 minute experience

Seemed to be very slow moving

Bea got restless with all the waiting

So went off with Daddy to explore the store

Finally the hunt got under way

The children were each given a brown paper bag

And then we had to follow Alice to find the eggs

The cardboard eggs were hidden around the garden centre

With each egg there was a question to answer

And a bag of Haribo

Esther and William followed Alice eagerly

I could not help but feel disappointed on their behalf

The clues and eggs were all up high

The children did not find anything for themselves

We just followed Alice round while she did it all

I think the whole experience

But particularly the hunt

Needed an injection of enthusiasm

And interactivity

At the end of the hunt

Alice asked for our help to call the Easter Bunny

The bunny came out for a cuddle and a photo opp with all the children

He also gave all the children a cuddly bunny to keep

Esther and William loved the bunnies

Big and small

Their brief meeting with the Easter Bunny

Made the event worthwhile

After the meeting

Esther and William were given cookies to ice and decorate

They both enjoyed this task

And worked hard covering their biscuits in giant sugar jellies!

Then it became apparent that the event was over

As other people began to leave

We asked how to buy a ticket for the soft play

And were told that we could go in for free

This was definitely the highlight of the visit

For our three

And we let them have a good mess about

Before our journey home

The Wyevale Centre at Chartham seemed nice

I think we would go back again

To try the cafe and soft play

Wyevale also offer regular family events

So we might return for one or more of those

Judging by the many reviews I have read online

I think that Wyevale Chartham may just have been having a bad day

Perhaps they will read the many reviews of other centres online

And make their Easter experience more in line with some of those

We were invited to attend Breakfast with the Easter Bunny at Wyevale in return for an honest review