Overall: Pretty good. Easy to find. Clean and well maintained. Nappy change, feed, rest and play.
Good Points: Clear signage, easy to find. Parents with Prams parking spaces outside the main entrance to this part of the shopping village. Two private feeding cubicles with microwaves in each. Armchair in each cubicle. Play Panel to keep bigger kids entertained. Adult and child size toilets. Separate sink in nappy change bench. Two change bays in nappy change bench. Soap, hand dryer and paper towel at change bench. Clean and well maintained.
Bad Points: Big inward opening door, requiring a bit of effort to open. Nappy bin not underneath change bench. No additional powerpoints. Private feeding cubicles are too small to have a pram inside. Curtains for privacy instead of locking doors. Only one toilet paper dispenser for the two toilets. Play Panel missing a toy.
Good Points: Clear signage, easy to find. Parents with Prams parking spaces outside the main entrance to this part of the shopping village. Two private feeding cubicles with microwaves in each. Armchair in each cubicle. Play Panel to keep bigger kids entertained. Adult and child size toilets. Separate sink in nappy change bench. Two change bays in nappy change bench. Soap, hand dryer and paper towel at change bench. Clean and well maintained.
Bad Points: Big inward opening door, requiring a bit of effort to open. Nappy bin not underneath change bench. No additional powerpoints. Private feeding cubicles are too small to have a pram inside. Curtains for privacy instead of locking doors. Only one toilet paper dispenser for the two toilets. Play Panel missing a toy.
We quite enjoyed our first trip to Stanhope Village last week, so decided to head back there sooner rather than later to check out the second and final Parent Room. This one is at the K-Mart end of the shopping village, and is as nice as the one near Coles but with a couple of extra features.
When we came out here last week, I couldn’t see any Parents with Prams parking spaces but this time I found them! Maybe there just aren’t any up the Coles end, or I might not have looked hard enough. Anyway, there are a few right at the entrance to the K-Mart end of the village so just drive down there and you’ll find some decent size car spaces. Hopefully going forward there will be shade sails over these car spaces to provide protection from the weather (it was pelting down with rain during this visit and we were soaked!).
The Parent Room at this end is just as good as the other one, but with a couple of extra/different features. Just look for the toilets sign hanging from the roof, just near Fresh Nails. Head down the well lit corridor and at the end you’ll find the big frosted door of the Parent Room. It takes a bit of effort to push open, so if your hands are full I’d recommend using your body weight to push it open and wheel the pram in behind you. Just be mindful when coming in that there’s no-one behind the door. It’s frosted for privacy, which is great, but that can mean you might not notice any little ones running about behind it.
Immediately as you walk in, you’ll notice it’s initially alot bigger than the other Parent Room. You walk right into the change area, which has a bench with two change bays, a sink in between with soap and paper towel, and a hand-dryer. The nappy bin is right underneath the hand-dryer, which isn’t very helpful. It’d definitely be more useful and accessible if it were under the change bench. But on the upside, it is a clean and well maintained space. Nothing broken or damaged.
To the right as you walk in, there’s the Play Panel mounted on the wall. These are a must-have to keep toddlers and older kids entertained while attending to younger ones. It’s missing one part, but apart from that it’s in pretty good condition and has enough going on to keep kids happy. Opposite the Play Panel are the two private feeding cubicles. I like and dislike these cubicles.
In each of the two private feeding cubicles there’s a clean and working microwave, sitting on a bench set above the comfy armchair. This is a great feature I’ve not yet seen in any other Parent Rooms. However, it’s offset by the tiny size of these cubicles! Seriously, I doubt whether you’d be able to get your pram in there with you, and still keep the curtain closed for privacy. The available space is just too small. So either put the pram outside the curtain (and end up blocking the walkway to the toilet), or sacrifice privacy and have the pram (somehow) covered by the curtain. I’d like these cubicles a whole lot more if they were bigger, but there just isn’t the space available in this room to make that happen.
The toilets are at the end of the room, past the feeding cubicles. This room is better than the one near Coles, when it comes to toilets, because there are two of them! An adult and child size toilets. However, there’s a problem which is really puzzling. There’s only one toilet paper dispenser!! And it’s not between the two toilets either. It’s against the wall, next to the toilet at the far end. Crazy!! At least have it between the two toilets, not against the wall where it’s only accessible to one toilet. Whoever decided to put it there needs to have a bit of a rethink.
Overall, I like this second Parent Room at Stanhope Village. It has a little bit more than the one near Coles, but both are super clean and well looked after. And this makes for an enjoyable shopping experience for mums, dads, carers and bubs alike. Oh!! Make sure you check out the outdoor semi-covered playground too. It’s definitely toddler friendly, but make sure you bring sunscreen and hat – for both you and your child.