We are in the middle of the long school holidays and for many families keeping the children fed, entertained and happy while keeping the spending down, is a real balancing act. There has, however, been lots of help out there with some places offering children the chance to eat for free or for £1.
And one mum, Emma Gill who writes for the Manchester Evening News, tried out one of these places. She went to one of the Farmhouse Inns pubs, which runs a number of family-friendly pubs across Greater Manchester, including Applewood Farm in Astley.
She explained how families have to visit the company's website and sign up for a voucher, which allows kids to eat a breakfast, a junior carvery, or any kids' meal for £1. For every adult ordering a meal, two children can eat for the offer price.
All sounds very simple, however, in reality, Emma found it wasn't quite so easy. You can read her account, and the response from Applewood Farm, below.
Emma's experience
The voucher process was straightforward enough and I didn't have to wait too long for it to arrive in my inbox. But ordering the breakfast for myself and two children was a different story.
Arriving at Applewood Farm just before 10.30am on Tuesday morning, we were among a handful of customers at the venue so I was served pretty quick.
However when I asked for two children's breakfasts I was told in no uncertain terms, 'we don't do children's breakfasts, we just have the one adult size'.
Pointing out the information on my voucher - "This voucher entitles you to a small breakfast, any kids' meal or Junior Carvery from the Kids' Menu for £1 each on the purchase of an adult breakfast, main meal or carvery", the response was the same - 'yes, I don't know why they've put that as it's supposed to just be main meals'.
Now the shy and retiring customer may well have slipped away quietly at this point, or coughed up for three standard ones, but I wouldn't be doing that on principle. Plus, we've been promoting the offer to parents in our Manchester Family articles, so I certainly wasn't going to let it slide, especially when sausages were at stake!
The server spoke to a colleague and agreed to put the breakfasts through the till, but he seemed less than happy at doing so.
The receipt clearly states 'kid breakfast' £1, so I'm not quite sure where the problem stemmed from. As we headed over to the food counter - where you pick your own items from the buffet - his colleague already had my plates ready, one large plate for me and two smaller plates for the children. .
While the adults is all you can eat, I was informed the children could 'only go up once'. Now, I don't know about your kids, but when it comes to breakfast, mine aren't in the habit of going for seconds.
They only like half of what's offered in a cooked breakfast anyway, so the warning was rather unnecessary. Overall it wasn't the most pleasurable experience and I found it all a bit embarrassing to say the least.
It can often feel awkward presenting a voucher in the first place, faffing around with your phone to make sure you've got the right one and hoping the staff member knows how to apply it.
But to be told the offer isn't right - when clearly the evidence suggests otherwise - and to be told the children can only eat once, was all just a bit much.
The saving grace was that the breakfasts themselves were actually really good. There's everything you'd expect for a full English, including bacon, sausages, eggs, beans and mushrooms. The toast was a little hard, but that's unavoidable when it's left under heat and I'd rather that than have to face one of those conveyor belt toasters of doom.
Even my daughter's disappointment over the absence of hash browns was short lived as a fresh batch was delivered right on cue.
Obviously we still said 'thanks' and got a cheery goodbye as we left, but there's nothing like being made out as though you're trying to pull a fast one, to leave you with a slightly bitter taste.
Applewood Farm responds
A spokesperson for Applewood Farm said: “We apologise for the confusion experienced, the team member who served you was confused about the offer but is fully aware of it now. Our adult breakfasts are ‘all you can eat’, but our kids breakfast isn’t, which is why this was pointed out. We hope you all enjoyed your meals and hope to see you again soon.”
An adult's all you can eat breakfast costs £6.99, with unlimited tea or coffee an extra £1.99, or glasses of juice for £1 each. The kids eat for £1 offer is running Monday to Saturday until August 22 - and don't let anyone tell you otherwise!
