Gib Parks

The first thing I had to consider was what kind of life would it be for my son. As a baby he would need lots of things to do and lots of care. There was only one nursery that I was infomed of through my company so I didnt get a chance to check out the other nurseries. All I know is that me & My husband have been very happy with our son's nursery Right Start. Our son has been going there for nearly one year and we can honestly say he really enjoys it and he loves all the nursery teachers there too.

One of the keys things we noticed about living in Gibraltar with children was the freedom we had to enjoy a drink whilst also taking our son with us, not only would the weather allow us a longer warmer evening but lots of children would also be playing outside. Overall Gibraltar is a safe place for children and open minded and relaxed enough to entertain having children at bars and restaurants.

This has been a great advantage that we have experienced with being here. We have spent many evenings enjoying a drink with friends while also enjoying spending time with our son.

When we need a babysitter I usually ask at the nursery and one of the nursery teachers will usually be able to do it. I like the idea of Fabian enjoying the evening with someone he knows and likes.

Space, it has to be said, is limited. Gibraltar does not have too much land mass and thus means that the childrens open play areas are somewhat restricted and few and far between. This has been disappointing although I am slowly getting to about more and more play areas just by getting to know the locals. Unfortunaltely some of the play parks have no grass at all and look like little cages surrounded by traffic. Sounds horible I hear you say. I guess this is made up by the great and accessable beaches. There is Eastern beach, Little Bay (excellent for children) and others. The fact that you can go to the beach pretty much anytime of the year is a great advantage of living in Gibraltar. The local swimming pool is still a bit of a mystery - seems to be closed to all but OAPS and the disabled durng the Summer. Once I have checked it out in more detail I will post up the details. Apparently there is an adult and childrens pool. We are lucky enough to have a communal swimming pool on our roof and have thoroughly enjoyed it.

Once you been here a while you have to check out the Gibraltar Botanical Gardens - it is an absolutely fantastic retreat and is full of the lush greenery that I so miss. I do miss the masses of green parks I grew up with (even in the congested city of London) however if you need a short bust of nature, the botanical gardens may do the trick.

It even host events, parties, weddings and concerts up there so there's always other opportunities to visit.

The Zoo. As with most things in Gibraltar we just stumpbled upon the Gibraltar zoo one day. Its not the kind with tigers and elephants however it does have all sorts of animals, not to mention the infamous gib monkeys.