I'm only 40 mins from Cheshire Oaks and I've been visiting it pretty much since it opened so I know it quite well now. It's one of those places that really isn't the same visit twice as the shops change their stock on such a regular basis...and the centre changes it's shops quite a bit as well!!

There's two sorts of shopping you do at Chesire Oaks. You can do what I often do if I'm with my kids and have at least a vague idea of what you're after then be disciplined enough to just stick to those shops (with maybe just a quick peek in a few others....ok maybe several rather longer peeks....well ok I'll go in here and meet you in 20 mins, deal??!!) But if you do know what you want and avoid going in every store then you can get round in a relatively short space of time. It's basically a circle you walk to do all the shops, and apart from at the Food Court end there's only a single row of shops. Where there's a double lane you just have to criss-cross and remind yourself which direction you're coming from. Sadly I confused myself and found myself back at the Cadbury's shop again...shame that :)

Shop wise there's a wide variety of shops there - I won't list them all here as they do change quite a bit but you cover a wide range of stock. For women, amongst others, there's Oasis, Elle, Next Too, Designer Room, Karen Millen, Windsmoor...it really does cover a range from high street fashion, to more upmarket designer stuff, and caters for all ages. At the more expensive stores you can often find the best bargains especially when they're offloading the previous season's stock. Next Too is great for affordable clothes at stupidly cheap prices but I'm usually put off by the ridiculous crowds in there. Also note that they don't have a changing room but you can return unwanted stuff to a conventional Next store if need be. I usually nip to the ladies and do a quick check for fit! There's an M&S though I find this quite small and to be honest am always a little disappointed in it. If you like buying undies, or if you have a luvverly fella who'll happily indulge you then there's at least 3 good places for that too :)

There's a few reasonably sized sports shops (Reebok, Nike, Fred Perry) and they do have reasonable reductions on the new stock as well as the usual bargain rails

The bargains to be had do vary..some days I've spent like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman, others I've returned home a bit frustrated. It seems to be the more desperate I am to get something the less likely I am to find it! But generally speaking there is a great selection. The service depends on the shops themselves - inevitably some are great, others have the weekend juniors looking bored with life and barely looking at you as they swipe your plastic. But that's no different to any large shopping area.

As well as the food court there are other cafe's round the site itself...Starbucks, Costas, Millies Cookies, plus ice cream stalls and pancake places. I justify the food by the fact I walk a lot round the shops!! There's several toilets around and I've never had a complaint over the cleanliness of them even when it is busy. There is a cashpoint facility near the foodcourt though it took me a while to find first time and several of the shop staff didn't seem to know it existed!!

For the kids there's a couple of small play areas on each of the main sides, but if it's wet they're totally out in the open so no use. Sometimes they have amusements such as dodgems, carousels. Today there was an F1 flight simulator and a climbing wall with a very cold wet windswept bored operator looking well fed up with no customers! By the food court there is a much larger play area and that is under cover. It has a good array of slides, climbing frames, monkey bars etc and is suitable for a good age range. Althought it's not supervised it is fenced off, and as my two got old enough to be trusted I did indulge a few times and sneak off to a couple of shops while they played (that's probably breaking all kind of rules - do Childline read this???)

Not usually a cheap day out as it defeats the object to go somewhere like that and not spend money, but there is plenty there. Taking into account the other restaurants in the close vicinity and the Blue Planet Aquarium there really is plenty there to keep everybody entertained for the whole day, and evening too. And for the child-free there is also a bar and nightclub at the Colisseum.