Buggy Review:
If my husband had his way the buggy would be out on its ear by now. I however, am stubbornly holding onto my licence to drive. My youngest is three now and perfectly capable of walking to the corner shop and down the hill to nursery but if I had to go cold turkey on the buggy now life would be tough. First of all I can’t drive a car (late bloomer) and any journey longer than 20 mins walk ends up with me giving my daughter a fireman’s lift while trying to juggle bags, ice lollies and my seven year old. Second of all, she still gets so sleepy after nursery so having a mobile snooze en route to her next appointment is ideal. And lastly, how on earth would I carry my shopping home if I didn’t have my buggy to hook bags too/ stuff shopping under/ insert ham into folds of hood?
This week, I have more in common with Jeremy Clarkson than just a perpetual bad hair day. I have been road-testing a Mamas and Papas Urbo buggy – I wasn’t about to turn down the opportunity of swapping in my crusty rust bucket for a shiny new chariot – and so far I am very impressed. I have owned a Bugaboo (now farmed out to Friend) and a Macalaren in my time so I have quite a lot of buggy experience. My crazily generous Mother in Law bought us the Bugaboo which we loved but having tested out the Urbo I can definitely say that if my husband and I had been doing the purchasing with our more limited budget we would have plumped for this handsome beast. The seat of the buggy can either face towards you or away from you and it has a single bar handle which is great if you want to push the buggy with one hand while you hold another child’s hand/umbrella/pasty. The best things about the Urbo are that the seat reclines totally flat and there is a leg flap that can be extended so that your child can sleep as though she’s flying business class. This also means that you can use the buggy from birth. The hood is also firmly attached to the buggy and is really deep and cocooning, providing loads of shade and keeping the elements out. This buggy feels really reassuringly robust and safe. The only negative I could find was that the wheels don’t mount curbs and steps as easily as with a Bugaboo but when you look at the stonking price difference I think this drawback becomes a minor irk.
