REVIEW – Playmobil Summer Villa 9420

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We are huge fans of Playmobil in this house. Back in the 1980’s when I was a child, I grew up with a wide selection of Playmobil, some of which my Mum very kindly popped away in the loft to be kept for when my sister and I had children of our own. I am so thankful that she did. Now as a Mum to two daughters, I absolutely love that Erin is starting to play both with some of my originals from 1983 as well as new purchase additions – the Playmobil range has increased somewhat from when I was a girl!

There is no greater sight than watching the girls act out little scenes, put on make believe voices and create their own creative stories with Playmobil, and it is really lovely to watch their imaginations come to life!

We were recently asked if we would like to review the new Playmobil Summer Villa from the Family Fun range and I knew that the girls would love it. It reminds me of glorious Spanish holidays in the sunshine, and as soon as the box arrived the girls couldn’t wait to open it up and get stuck in!

Here comes my first piece of advice. As with most Playmobil sets, the Summer Villa comes unassembled and requires some basic construction before the children can play with it. There are LOTS of bags to unpack and therefore don’t under estimate the amount of time this can take. My personal recommendation would be to do it ALONE without the children in the room! It is far less hassle and there is much less chance of the smaller pieces being grabbed by little hands whilst you are trying to piece them together! I learned this the hard way as the girls were just so excited! 🙂

Whilst it does take a little while to put together, the assembly is not at all difficult. The Playmobil Summer Villa comes with a large leaflet with visual instructions that are super easy to follow, and in total it took me around half an hour (with regular interruptions!) to get everything ready for the girls to play. Please note – there are some smaller pieces in the Summer Villa set, and for that reason it is recommended for children aged four and above. I do at times remove some of the smaller pieces from the set so that Neve can join in the fun too!

Once assembled, the first impressions of the Playmobil Summer Villa were very positive. The Summer Villa is an attractive two story house with a red tiled roof, opening blue window shutters and doors, and attractive plants including climbing ivy, a large tree and pots which can be hooked onto the iron balcony railings. If this was our holiday villa, I would happily perch myself up on that balcony with a good chic flick book and enjoy some peace and quiet once the kids were tucked up in bed!

The Summer Villa has two sided play – spin it around and you’ll see a fantastic interior. On the top left hand side of the upper floor is the first bedroom with two single beds for the children to sleep, with a little teddy included to guarantee a good night’s sleep!

On the right hand side is the Parents’ bedroom, equipped with a double bed, two bedside lamps and even little purple comfy pillows. This master bedroom is home to the main balcony of the Playmobil Summer Villa, with wide door shutters that can be flung open to look down out at the view below.

There is a large spiral staircase from the top to the bottom floors, with the climbing ivy growing next to it. Erin liked to act out little scenes where Mum was watering the flowers with her little watering can as she makes her way up and down!

The front doors have handles on either side, meaning they can be opened wide whichever side of the Summer Villa you are playing on.

The balcony off the master bedroom has enough space to place one of the smaller chairs and is the ideal place for Mum and Dad to relax whilst the children sleep inside.

The Playmobil Summer Villa comes with a family of four, a Mum, Dad, little boy and girl and even a friendly neighbourhood cat! The Mum has a removable dress (which clips off) to reveal her swim ready outfit underneath, and 3 of the characters even have tiny little rubber flip flips which are very cute!

As with all Playmobil sets, the attention to detail is pretty awesome. Downstairs there is a family bathroom with a shower over the bath, toilet and vanity unit, and plenty of space to store the smaller Playmobil items like toothbrushes and shampoo bottles.

The vanity unit has a small sink with a reflective sticker to make a mirror which looks really realistic and just like our bathroom at home!

Whilst I never thought these words would be uttered from my mouth, the toilet in the Playmobil Summer Villa is also pretty impressive! The toilet has an opening and closing lid, loo roll holder with a rotating roll of paper and even a little toilet brush should Daddy wish to give it a little clean every once in while! 🙂

The Playmobil Summer Villa also comes with a fully equipped kitchen with a cooking area (including pots and pans), sink for washing up and a large family table and chairs so that they can all sit around and eat together. The set comes with lots of plates, cutlery and food accessories so that the girls could mock up their very own family dinner time. At times Erin did struggle to get it all neatly laid out without knocking some of it over accidentally, but not one to be beaten she simply tried again until she perfected her scene!

The fun doesn’t stop inside. The Playmobil Summer Villa has lots of accessories to bring the outdoor area to life too. With a sun lounger and towel, an alfresco dining table and chairs and even a little barbecue where they can make dinner as the sun goes down, it appears Playmobil have thought of it all.

I particularly liked how the set comes with mini bottles of factor 30 and 50 suntan lotion – great to see that sun safety is being promoted to little ones from a young age!

Overall, the Playmobil Summer Villa is fantastic, and has been a huge hit with the girls. What I love most about this set is that the drawers in the kitchen and bathroom are ideal for popping away all the smaller pieces which may otherwise get lost. It also means that when Neve is around I can quickly and easily pop the smaller pieces to one side, enabling the girls to play with the set together.

The Playmobil Summer Villa retails at £59.99 and is available to purchase on the Playmobil website or in good toy stores. If you do misplace some of the smaller pieces, Playmobil also offer the opportunity to purchase the pieces you may be missing for a very low fee.

*This is a collaborative post. We were sent the Playmobil Summer Villa in exchange for our honest review, all thoughts and opinions are my own*