A trip to The Monkey House soft play centre in Dawlish

When a trip to a local soft play centre is discounted to £1, you'd be crazy not to go. Especially when the weather is miserable and your pre-schooler is climbing up the walls.

So thank-you to The Monkey House in Dawlish for running a Facebook promotion and letting me treat my two smallest boys with a trip to the soft play and for giving me some sanity by getting us all out for the afternoon.

The Monkey House is one of Little W's favourite places. It's where he celebrated his third birthday in the summer and it's where most of his friends have their parties too. This is probably because the party packages are good value for money and you get exclusive hire after 4pm on Saturdays and Sundays.

One of the best things about The Monkey House is that, unlike most soft play venues, it's really light and airy. It's not a huge venue, but there's more than enough equipment to keep small children entertained for a good couple of hours. And no matter where you try to hide sit, you can see what they're up to; unless they disappear into the non-softplay room, which has a play kitchen and den.

W on the 'really fast slide'

We arrived in time for lunch and W ordered pasta with grated cheese and I snacked on a sausage roll and a small portion of chips. Baby O had bits of what we were having. Sometimes, it's the thoughtful little touches that make the biggest difference to a day out. The Monkey House has plenty of booster seats for babies as well as a range of plastic and metal children's cutlery, and most importantly, bibs (something I always forget to pack).

I was very tempted by a home-made millionaire's shortcake, but managed to resist temptation.

Baby O was happy to sit and play with some toys designed for much younger children and even had a turn sitting next to the baby ball pit where he spent quite a long time studying one of the balls.

Baby O had fun with the toys

Before we knew it, it was time to go and collect the bigger two from school. The next challenge was to prevent an exhausted W from falling asleep in the car. Luckily, I won!

Do you have a favourite soft play centre?