Almond Valley Heritage Centre

7月9日约了台湾朋友和一个美国华侨（丈夫是英国人，在爱丁堡大学授课），我们四个大人 - 我，台湾夫妇和美国华侨, 还有三个小孩 - 靖恒，台湾夫妇将近两岁大的女儿和美国华侨将近一岁半的女儿 - 浩浩荡荡地去一个农场游玩。农场设在蛮偏僻的地方。本来以为可以搭火车到一个站，再搭巴士到达农场。可是买了火车票才知道铁道正在进行维修，得搭火车公司特地供应的旅游巴士。到了要转换巴士的火车站，问了人之后才知道巴士已不再经过那里，只好搭德士去农场。回来也一样。整个过程虽然有些不顺畅，但这里毕竟是英国，并没有太大的麻烦。只是加上了小孩，而且朋友都推着推车。推车不能直接推上巴士和德士（如果是火车和普通巴士就可以），得折起来放在行李库和德士后面。尤其是回程，两个小女孩都睡着了，即使司机很乐意帮忙，也是挺辛苦的。农场里有一些动物 - 鸭，兔子，羊，牛，猪之类的，还有一些游乐场供小孩玩。靖恒对动物的兴趣显然很淡，而那些游玩的场所则让他玩得很兴奋。总的来说，除了交通不方便，还有下了一场小雨 （影响不大，因为有室内的游乐场），那个地方还是个值得带小孩去的地方。只是要培养靖恒对动物的兴趣，还要多下一番苦功吧。

I arranged with some friends - a Taiwanese and an American born Chinese to visit Almond Valley Heritage Centre on 9 July, bringing our children. It's basically an animal farm, but there are playgrounds, educational exhibits and programmes for children of different ages to enjoy. There are also pedal go-karts and a narrow gauge railway (but that was not working by the time we wanted to get on the train). Set in a scenic (and thus a little out of the way) region, the area surrounding the farm itself would have provided some nice walks had we the time for such leisure. Of course, this is not a unique establishment but I just happened to choose this one. The children had a great time there. Ethan was as usual, not so interested in the animals, but he had fun with the various playgrounds. The transport was bad though. We had set upon the journey not prepared for changes to our original plan - that particular railway from Edinburgh to Livingston North is under engineering works, and the trains are replaced by coaches; Livingston North, where we were to take a bus to the Almond Valley Heritage Centre, is no longer serviced by that bus and we had to take taxis. The increase in transport cost was not much, but the hassle involved was greater. Especially when my two friends were bringing their toddlers and buggies as well. The buggies could not be wheeled on the coaches and the taxi, and so had to be folded and tucked away. When the children were nicely sleeping in the buggies on the way back, it posed a bigger problem. But they did not complain. I was the one who felt bad as the idea originated from me and I had not done enough research on the transport situation.