NOW CLOSED: Win £200 of Dove Spa vouchers for sharing your stories about family adventures, dreams or reality of living in an unusual place for "We Bought A Zoo"

[AnnMumsnet]

We've been working with 20th Century Fox to help promote the UK release of "We Bought A Zoo".

The main themes of the film are about adventure, living somewhere different, bringing families together and facing extraordinary challenges.

You could win spa tickets for you and a friend (worth £100 each) by posting and ...

~ Sharing with the film makers your own inspiring stories - let us know your ideal family adventure or how you bring your family together? Have you ever moved your family to live somewhere completely different? How did it go?

~ If you've seen the film or read the book, let us know on this thread what you think.

~ If you are yet to see it then we'd love to know your own thoughts on how you think you and your family would manage if you had to live in an unusual place - or what sort of unexpected surprises have you encountered in a new home, what would be your worst nightmare surprise?

~ What animals would you love to have in your own zoo? And which would you run a mile from?

The film is described as "a funny, inspiring and true story about the magical power of family to persevere in the face of extraordinary challenges. This is acclaimed filmmaker Cameron Crowe's (Jerry Maguire) first motion picture for all audiences, and stars Matt Damon, Scarlett Johansson and Thomas Haden Church. Damon portrays a single dad who, looking to give his family a much needed fresh start, moves to a home situated in the middle of a zoo, which he and his two children will attempt to bring back to its once glorious state. The film weaves together warmth, laughter and a spirit of optimism and is perfect to get together for"

Five lucky MN bloggers and their friends (and some lucky ladies from MNHQ) went to see an exclusive screening of "We Bought A Zoo" at the 20th Century Fox' offices in London.

You can read the blog review posts here:

Mummy+mimi, homemadekids, romanianmum, adventuresofafirsttimemum and judewharton

The film is on general release on Friday 16th March. You can see the and find out more about the movie here

TheOtherHelenMumsnet says "I was really surprised by this film - I was expecting a nice little film about a zoo but was completely unprepared for how emotional it is - I hadn't taken a single tissue with me but cried like a baby all the way through! (in a good way though!)"

You can be a part of the discussion on twitter too by using #WeBoughtAZoo.

Do post your ideas on the above below, add your review and/or let us know you've tweeted and you could win one of two pairs of tickets for a Detox Package at a Dove Spa (which has 23 UK locations). Each winner will get two tickets and each ticket is for a full Body Scrub, Detox Wrap and a Brightening Mini Facial and a £30 Travel Allowance (worth £100 per person)

Thanks and good luck, MNHQ

My family and I don't crave adventure at all. We're all stick-in-the-muds who buckle when anything out of the ordinary comes our way. If we did decide to do anything unusual, we'd give up after a day and find refuge in the nearest McDonalds chain hotel.

I really do admire people who follow their dreams, but I wouldn't want to swap places with them.

Not as inspiring or amazing as some of the stories here, but we have a yearly "asparagus safari".

We live about an hour's drive from the Vale of Evesham, where much of Britain's asparagus is grown, and we all love it, but only eat it when it's in season. So we started the tradition of the 'asparagus safari', which we take on the first available weekend once the asparagus is in season. We just set off vaguely in the right direction and go wherever the map and our mood takes us. We've found some lovely churches, beauty spots, and wonderful people on our annual jaunt, and it shows that you don't have to travel far to have an adventure.

We took advantage of my maternity leave plus career break to up sticks to the South of France, where we certainly had our fair share of wildlife to deal with - particularly while we spent an idyllic few months living in a converted watermill (bargainous winter rents).

My own film would have the strapline, ?Pest control for the rattled Rosbif?. Picture the following scenes, which due to the law of Sod all happened while I was the only adult in the house:

1. Going for a quick wee to find a lizard sitting on the shelf above the loo. After safely shipping him outside, I lifted the seat lid to find another of the little blighters paddling around the bowl...

1. Waking in the early hours to the patter of tiny feet in the bedroom. After many years in London, I was convinced it must be a rat (footsteps too loud for a mouse), but upon gingerly switching on the light, I discovered a mean-looking scorpion tapping its way along the skirting board...

1. ?There?s a bat in me kitchen, what am-a gonna do?? - lots of girly squealing and feeble wafting of hiding under towels, it turns out. After terrorising me every evening for a week (it hid during the day), the poor thing - by now rather weak from lack of sustenance - finally found its own way out of the window.

1. The gecko wars: several ambushes and standoffs with a 20cm-long specimen that used to hurtle around the ceiling making unsettling sticky-feet noises. I finally cornered it in the bathroom and left the door shut and window open all night. Just as I relaxed again following several days without a sighting, I picked up some of the kids? clothes left in a heap on the bathroom floor, and performed a levitational scream as he dropped out onto my (bare) foot...

1. Fishing frogs, and once a baby snake, out of the swimming pool.

I laugh in the face of the spiders now...

dh and I had our last proper adventure a few years ago - our honeymoon. looking back through the itinerary now - france spain morroco tunisia libya egypt crete greece italy - it shares a striking similarity to nearly all the countries that have had either an uprising or money worries over the last few years.

that aside, we decided we were definitely what a friend in the travel industry called 'hilton hippies' - we like to explore interesting places but in the evening we wanted to go back to a hotel that would have a certain known level of comfort and cleanliness :o

we took it a little further - middle part of the trip was a cruise, fab way to travel and explore the north african coast without too much stress. We were on a boat that catered more for elderly passengers but actually it meant we had a lovely time - they didn't get many honeymooners so we got upgraded to a balcony suite, bottle of champers and flowers in it for us, dinner at the captain's table and met some fascinating people who treated us like favoured niece and nephew (including a lady who had been an archaeologist around back in the 40s-60s and been involved in making discoveries at some of the big name digs in Egypt and the middle/far east and had been on digs with agatha christie )

With young boys the furthest we've made it is Holland but that was a big adventure.

I think adventure's are more about the spirit you approach life than going somewhere a long way away or doing something very out of the ordinary. In some respects those are the easy adventures - you expect them to be exciting and challenging. Much more difficult and yet rewarding when you have little ones is to turn the mundane into an adventure - be it a trip to the supermarket or a couple of hours mini-beast- hunting in the back garden! and by doing that you'll manage to instill in your children the spirit of adventure and a thirst for knowledge that will stand them in good stead as they get older. Plus they will have mad happy memories of their back garden adventures when they look back at their childhood she says hopefully!

I am constantly on my husbands case about taking our daughter travelling...... He is having none of it!!! Ever since we went travelling 9 years ago I have had the wunder-lust and would drop everything to go again. This film is very thought provoking. Since watching the film I have on several occasions thought back to the quote "All you need are those 20 seconds of insane courage,and something great will come of it." It is so true.

I loved #weboughtazoo and can't wait to take my 2 DDs to it. Took DH as a mini reproach that he'd been so irritated by me bringing two muscovie ducklings home which was partly to help out a friend (and her duck), and partly to encourage DDs to do more piano practice. I mean wouldn't you play the piano more if there were ducklings in the same room? What I didn't know was how much liquid poo a duckling makes. Ducks now bigger and able to live outside. DH suggest I eat humble pie. Let's hope he doesn't want it duck flavour.

My family moved to Borneo when my daughter was 9 months old. My son was born on the island and we lived there for 3 years. We had geckos and scorpions in our house, snakes in the garden and rats in the roof.

It was an amazing experience and one we will treasure forever. My daughter particularly remembers playing in the tropical rain and seeing monkeys by the side of the road. She can eat with chopsticks like a pro and knows the difference between a dragon boat and dragon fruit.

Living so far from family and friends meant that our family became even closer and the friendships we made there will last a lifetime.

As well as missing family and friends we also missed british treats despite loving the local food. We would travel 2 hours over the border to Brunei to visit the local NAAFI (British Army shop) to buy British chocolate and treats. On one trip I was heavily pregnant and shouted across the shop to my husband "they've got SCAMPI FRIES" whilst shoveling them into my trolley. I turned around to see two fully uniformed British Officers smirking at me. I was far too happy to be embarrassed.

I would encourage anyone to follow their dreams, I will never forget the sunsets, the people, the orangutans, the rain or the oppressive heat. We were lucky to meet some great people and even met some of the last surviving Headhunters of Borneo. However, be prepared that your dream may include sandfly bites that sting at 3 in the morning, rain that will make your power shower seem weak and frogs in the garden that will keep you awake despite being the size of a ten pence piece.

Despite all of these (any many more things) you will make memories and friends that will last a lifetime and you will come back a little wiser, a little kinder and a lot more humble.

I've always wanted to travel but DP is not keen. I have the chance of an international placement next year and am hoping to persuade him to let me go and him bring children out. We'll see.

About 4 years ago,i gave up a senior position in a big city and moved my kids then 4 and 5 ( am a lone parent)to a tiny island off the west coast off ireland.
We are frequently stuck if the weather is bad,and no boats are able to make the sailing.its irish speaking as well
it has turned out to be fantastic,I teach in the tiny island school (didn't have a job when i moved)and a few other bits and pieces,the kids have a freedom almost unheard off in modern society.

When my daughter was about 4 we used to read a book together called 'Children Like Me' about boys and girls around the world. This led to a discussion about travelling the world, visiting our friends and stopping off in some of the countries on our way to see where these boys and girls live.

Apparently when she is 13 we (me and her, not the boys) are going to fly to America to see my friend Jennifer in New Jersey, then to California to see Tom and Anne and my cousins, then down to Brazil to meet some Amazonian Indians, then to New Zealand to see Bill and Basia and a little girl from the book, then to Australia to meet some Aboriginal people from the book, then to Indonesia, Thailand and India and finally on to Africa to meet some children in Tanzania and then to Zimbabwe to see where i used to work.

Who knows if we'll ever make it but it's nice to have a dream isn't it? Oh no I'd better start saving now.

Thanks very much for all your lovely inspiring stories. Am pleased to say CMOTDibbler and CheeryCherry have been pulled out of the hat and win the Dove Spa vouchers - well done.

well done ladies, enjoy your break