Well when we joined the Park Club as a family I thought it would be a great place for us to spend bonding healthy time as a family. I wasn't expecting it to become the place for a hot date with Chiswick Daddy. But that's exactly what happened…
Sometimes things work out in a better way than you imagine! Having come round to the realisation that we'll probably never get it together to get a babysitter and go out more than once every few years – we've discovered that date mornings are the 2015 equivalent of date nights!
Quality family time
But let me rewind… as you know if you're a regular reader of my blog, I believe in quality family time. The weekend is a time for us to do things as a family and these hours are precious to me. With a full time job outside the home, I value each and every weekend. This doesn't mean that we have to do something 'epic' every weekend – just gentle domesticity and having fun together out and about is perfect for me!
What really struck me about The Park Club is that it has this ethos at its heart too. Far from being a place that you go to because you want to escape the kids, it's a place where you can have fun together. It's not just a gym. And it's perfect for a bit of adult time too! Because what a healthy family needs is happy healthy grown ups as well as happy healthy children!
I'm not big on fitness for its own sake. To me health is holistic. You'll never see a blog post on these pages about body image or moaning about weight…But over the next few months I'm going to share with you our journey as we discover the Park Club together as a family and make swimming and exercise part of our weekday routine, a a way of enjoying our time together.
A Friday morning date!
The Park Club has signs dotted around which illustrate its balanced approach to wellness. As well as exercise, this includes nutrition (with wine and cakes part of that in moderation), movement and mental approach (including what I love most – spending time nurturing emotional and social relationships).
Which brings me on to last Friday's hot date with Chiswick Daddy. As you may know if you read my blog regularly, I work condensed hours – which means I work long hours Monday-Thursday and have Fridays 'off'. (If you count writing, blogging, cleaning and doing school runs 'off' haha.)
Last Friday Chiswick Daddy suggested that as we were both home we headed off to the Park together.
“What, just the two of us?”
“Yes.”
“Without Chiswick Boy?”
“Yes. It will be fun.”
Wow – I felt I was cheating on our son as we packed up our swimming togs and headed for The Park.
No wet towel syndrome
Swimming at the Park is a stress free experience. Now you may be used to going to a club, so maybe this isn't such a big deal for you – but for me the changing rooms were of the standard you'd get in a nice hotel spa and this was TREMENDOUS. Just a few small things that make such a difference. They provide towels for one thing – a heaven sent gesture. No lugging sopping wet towels in an unglamorous carrier bag back home.
And the showers have lovely shampoo, conditioner and body lotion in. Less stuff to carry there and back – hurrah! And showers in stalls – no shivering waiting for the communal swimming pool showers with bits of other people's shampoo pooling over your feet. Plus the changing room floors aren't slippery. Don't know how they manage that – probably because they ask people to dry off before moving from the showers back into the changing room.
As well as male or female saunas in the respective changing rooms, there's also a communal steam room by the indoor pool. And – bliss – a hot tub too. (Steam, sauna and hot tub for over 16s only.) There are two pools – one inside and one outside. And what I love about the Park is that you really have the freedom to be yourself.
Be yourself
In the pools there were a few kids splashing about in a fun but completely non-disruptive way. There were some mothers catching up for a good old chinwag. There were people swimming lengths, one person walking lengths and vigilant lifeguards. Nobody cares how good a swimmer (or walker!) you are – whether you want to swim butterfly lengths (not me!) or just laze on your back. I'm actually quite reserved and can get shy in the silliest of situations – but there's a real laissez-faire vibe at the Park.
Chiswick Daddy and I swam lengths together. This is the first time we've ever done this – we only usually go swimming as a family. I discovered that length – chitchat with partner – length – chitchat is a really relaxing and theraputic way to while away an hour or two. We just had a really good time together. And without vegging out in front of Game of Thrones with a bottle of wine. (Don't get me wrong – we did plenty of that later too… oooh we've just started watching season four… are you a fan?)
Not just that but we had a great time keeping warm while chilling out (see what I did there?!) in the hot tub.
We finished it off with saunas in our respective changing rooms – and I did a session in the steam room for good measure. Look – it's ages since I've had the opportunity to do this!
Almost as good as a holiday
So hopefully this has set a new chapter in our routine… more date mornings like this and it's going to be a good summer! In the meanwhile if you want to find me this weekend at some point we'll be at the Park Club swimming with Chiswick Boy…as well as drinking cappuccino in the cafe there and watching Chiswick Boy run in and out of the indoor play bit screaming….. Boys are noisy! And that's a good thing!
We attended the Park Club as guests of the club. But this review and all others is absolutely impartial and honest – I know you wouldn't want it any other way!
The Park Club: http://www.theparkclub.co.uk/
Coming soon – my experiences of the MediSpa at the Park Club; swimming with Chiswick Boy; and the big question – will I pluck up the courage to go to a gym class on a Friday on my day off (hoping the answer will be yes!)