Britain's Best Days out with Moneysupermarket.com and Tots100

A review of Bluereef Aquarium, Hastings

Christmas is not my favourite time of the year. There I said it. Not everyone in the family would agree but for me I would rather just get away from it all and escape Christmas. But that is not going to happen. So the next best thing... A great family day out.

Did you know if you are looking for Days out vouchers, or discounts for family days out, then Moneysupermarket.com have thousands of vouchers and discounts for a great day out with your family. After all the spending that goes hand in hand with the chore joy that is Christmas, having a great day out at a great price is a welcome bonus in my book.

So could our visit to Bluereef Aquarium in Hastings have been Britain's best day out? Here's our video so you can judge for yourself.

Unlike many attractions, Bluereef Aquarium is open ALL year round - EVERY single day of the year (except for Christmas day). That is pretty impressive and great to know if you need somewhere to escape to and have fun on a cold wet windy day in winter as we did.

A cold, wet, windy day in December!

It is located in the Old Town part of Hastings with the quaint fishing huts and the backdrop of the hastings caves and cliffs and the funicular railway (the steepest in the UK!) literally a stones throw away. Situated right next to the beach with plenty of parking in local carparks, you even get a sea view from the cafe inside Bluereef aquarium.

If we had been blessed with better weather, then I am sure that the kids would have insisted on making a really big day of it seeing the local sites in the Old Town, but as it was there was amazingly a lot to see and do in an aquarium that was not that big in itself.

Even though we visited on a Saturday, the aquarium itself was not overly busy which made it perfect for getting to see everything and getting involved in some hands-on stuff like stroking a snake, seeing the fish being fed and being able to ask questions. With the two older children being homeschooled it was great to see them learning so much in such a fun way! (That's ALWAYS the best way to learn).

We loved the conservation aspect that was also evident at Bluereef aquarium, but done in such a way that it was not 'in your face' in any way but just perfectly complemented and supplemented what we were experiencing when seeing some of these amazing creatures like the sharks, rays, jellyfish, seahorses and many many more.

The real test of a great day out is how much it inspires the children and when we found that the kids had woken up early the next morning, rushed downstairs and drawn these all of their own accord, we knew for sure that they had enjoyed their day out and certainly had been inspired.

Blacktipped reef shark by Daniel aged 6

The underneath view of the turtle we saw by Joshua, aged 8

The verdict. Could we be the one's who have found it? Was this really Britain's Best Day out? You've seen the video (my favourite part is baby Trinity making friends with that cute dog-faced pufferfish towards the end of the video), you've read the review, you've seen the impact it has had on the kids. You can judge for yourself how much you would enjoy a day out at Bluereef Aquarium. We'd certainly recommend it. Remember to check for Money-off vouchers and discounts at Moneysupermarket.com if you do decide to go.

But does it really have to be Britain's best day out to be our best day out? Life is busy, there's no doubt about that. Whether it is around Christmas time or not, there is always something vying for our attention and trying to steal our precious time from us. Perhaps more importantly, trying to steal time away from our children. So if any of us are going to make a new year's resolution it should be to spend more quality time with our children and to cherish special days out like these so much.

Our kids are not kids for long...one day those little hands that are so keen to hold yours, those little voices begging for another bedtime story, those little feet that love to jump in muddy puddles, will be gone and replaced by someone that is too grown-up to want to do those things (at least until they have children of their own). But the memories will last. They will remember the day that was too wet and windy to do anything else that they spent a special day visiting a magical underwater world. A world where they came face to face with a shark, were waved to by a sting ray, looked into the irridescent blue eyes of a puffer-fish, and discovered the tiniest jellyfish.

And mummy will remember the relief of being able to escape the stresses of Christmas, if only for a day. Ok so I didn't manage to escape Christmas completely...

Santa Jaws?

With thanks to Tots100 and Moneysupermarket.com's Britain's Best Days out challenge for providing a free family ticket for the purposes of this review.