Boho Boxmoor

The Snow Centre, Hemel Hempstead

Hemel Hempstead's new Snow Centre opened on last week. Seven years in the planning, it aims to attract not just local families, but ski enthusiasts from miles around. It is the biggest snow centre close to London, elbowing aside Milton Keynes' Xscape.

There are two slopes at the Snow Centre - a 160m slope that's 30m wide and a 100m slope for lessons. There is also a children's play area. A balcony lets you watch friends or family while they're skiing, or you can also look out at the slopes from the Edge cafe (which also offers Sky TV).

At the bottom of the whole complex is a vast Snow and Rock outlet - and you can try out gear on the piste before you buy.

There are memberships available and you can pre-book your slots on the slopes. It's not the cheapest recreation: sessions start at £18 for one hour off-peak and go up to £50 for a 4-hour peak session.

There are also conferencing facilities and children's party packages which come in at under £200 for 12 children.

PICTURE GALLERY: SEE PICTURES OF THE SNOW CENTRE

Or take a look at the slopes in this video and find out how they make their snow. In this video, I'm talking to Paul Longman from The Snow Centre.

To find out more, visit the Snow Centre website or ring 0845 258 9000. The Snow Centre, St Albans Hill, Hemel Hempstead, Herts, HP3 9NH. Map.

Read the Guardian's preview of the Snow Centre.

Spring season: Children's shows at the Old Town Hall

Give your children a taste of live theatre this spring/summer for just a fiver. The Old Town Hall has two Saturday matinees coming up in May and June (2.30pm both days) that combine narrative and music to keep children entranced.

Saturday 23 May - I'm Still Hungry

Korea's best loved story about a hungry tiger and a lone child who has to think very quickly. "Makes Little Red Riding Hood look like she's still on the nursery slopes," says the programme notes. Storytelling, puppetry and live music bring this folk tale alive, with exhuberant Korean humour.

Saturday 6 June - The Railway Children

A musical version of Edith Nesbit's popular 1906 book about a family of children who fall in love with the railway after their father is mysteriously taken away from them. This is an interactive show where youngsters get the chance to take part. 

During the first half-hour the audience is taught song choruses and actions while several children are chosen and rehearsed for the show. There's a short interval when the actors and children are costumed for the big performance. Finally, the show runs for an hour, with everyone taking part as rehearsed. 

Tickets for this event tend to sell out early so get booking if you like the sound of it. Both shows are at 2.30pm and tickets cost just £5 per person (£3.75 for Dacorum Card holders). BOX OFFICE: 01442 228091. 

The Old Town Hall, High Street, Hemel Hempstead, HP1 3AE. www.oldtownhall.co.uk

The Roald Dahl Children's Gallery

Not to be confused with the Roald Dahl Museum and Storytelling Centre in Great Missenden, Bucks, this fun-packed gallery in the Buckinghamshire County Museum, Aylesbury, is one to add to your list.

 

First you'll have to book tickets over the phone -  you get a one-hour slot which ensures you're not turned away if the gallery gets too full. Then you'll have to negotiate the car parks in Aylesbury town centre as the museum is without it's own parking.

 

But, with those two hurdles out of the way, prepare for what can be an enchanting visit, from the moment you walk into the museum's grounds. The children's gallery is spread over two floors in a separate building to the museum. Colourful on the outside and crammed full of things for children to touch, press, crawl through and look at on the inside.

 

Roald Dahl is celebrated for his inventiveness and the gallery aims to transmit some of this spark to your kids. Children can crawl through Fantastic Mr Fox's tunnel; examine mini-beasts under a digital microscope inside James's gigantic peach; check out green-screen technology used in cgi films; conduct their own musical experiments; dress up as Victorians; or simply curl up in the story corner with a good Roald Dahl book.

 

An hour is probably long enough to take in the whole children's gallery. But the walled garden provides space for picnics and play; there's a cafe and shop, and of course the Bucks County Museum itself to take a quick look around. Having a nose around Aylesbury's old town can be a bit of a discovery, and it's worth noting there's a Pizza Express nearby.

SEE MORE PICTURES OF THE ROALD DAHL CHILDREN'S GALLERY.

The Buckinghamshire County Museum and Roald Dahl Children's Gallery, Church Street, Aylesbury HP20 2QP. Tel: 01296 331441. www.buckscc.gov.uk/museum. Opening times, until 1 November 2009: Monday to Saturday and Bank Holidays 10am-5pm. Sundays 2pm-5pm. Entrance to the children's gallery is £4 for kids, £4.50 for adults; entrance to the Bucks County Museum itself is free.

Read our review of The Roald Dahl Museum and Storytelling Centre in Great Missenden, Bucks. 

The Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre

Voted Best Small Visitor Attraction 2008 by Enjoy England, this little gem of a museum in the village of Great Missenden, Bucks, is a must for Roald Dahl lovers, of any age.

Aimed mainly at children aged six to 12, it has two fun and fact-packed biographical galleries devoted to Roald Dahl's life and works. The other half of the museum celebrates creative writing, with a 'hands-on' interactive Story Centre and live storytelling at intervals during the day.

Average visits last between one hour and 90 minutes, but this will stretch out if you bask in the museum’s sunny courtyard, visit the scrumptious Cafe Twit, or browse the Museum Shop. There's also a Village Trail visitors can follow around Great Missenden, where Roald Dahl lived and wrote for 36 years. 

Great Missenden is about 30 mins drive from Boxmoor: The Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre, 81-83 High Street, Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire, HP16 0AL. Tel: 01494 892192. www.roalddahlmuseum.org

This museum is not to be confused with the Roald Dahl Children's Gallery at the Buckinghamshire County Museum, Aylesbury. Read our review here.

The Natural History Museum at Tring

Another local institution that's a childhood memory for more than one generation of children. Describe this museum to outsiders and watch their strange expressions. Stuffed animals? No, that can't be right. But it's a delightful and curious place that allows children to get up close to creatures they've only glimpsed in films. Even more endearingly, it's free. Essential for rainy winter Sunday afternoons. Opening times: Mon-Sat: 10am-5pm. Sundays 2pm-5pm. Museum closed 24-26 December. Entry: Free. A small charge is made for some events and activities. The Natural History Museum at Tring: The Walter Rothschild Building, Akeman Street, Tring, Herts HP23 6AP. Tel 020 7942 6171 www.nhm.ac.uk/tring

Kidzone - Berkhamsted

A long-standing favourite for families, with a fantastic playframe that keeps kids of a variety of ages coming back for more. Efficiently run with the owners and managers always in evidence, and reasonable prices. Open seven days a week, 9.30am to 7.00pm. My only gripe is the cafe, which needs dragging into the noughties. Under 5s: £4.50, over 5s: £5.50. Accompanying adults and under 1s: Free. (Closed Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day, News Year Day only.) Parties available. Kidzone: Northbridge Road, Berkhamsted, Herts, HP4 1EH. Tel: 01442 878441.
www.thekidzone.co.uk

Big Space in Harpenden

Big Space owners Sue and Lester Adams say they got sick of sitting in drab play centres with their kids, drinking dreadful coffee. So they opened their own parent-friendly play area in Harpenden in 2005, and this is the result.

Big Space is a joyous mixture of bright pink and purple soft-play apparatus, bags of natural light, and, blessedly, real coffee. There are also armchairs, magazines and a welcome absence of fried-food smells. Very grown up indeed.

The play frame is a touch on the tame side for older children, stretching only to two levels, instead of into the heavens as Berkhamsted's Kidzone's frame seems to. But, to compensate, there is a dedicated football area, a trike track, computer games, and even a TV screen tucked away in the play frame, for when kids need a bit of chilling out.

A complete thumbs up for this family-run business, with its pleasant, young staff. I've enjoyed every single visit, and so have the kids. Their parties are also recommended. BIG SPACE: Southdown Industrial Estate, Harpenden, AL5 1PW. Tel: 01582 766100. www.bigspace.biz