Country Kids: The Garden Of Eden
That right there is sunrise over the garden of Eden. No I don't mean the tourist attraction in Cornwall, I mean the wonderful valley which Coombe Mill nestles in. That was the view that we had each morning when we pulled back the curtains in our cabin.
Breathtaking isn't it?
Little wonder that the three of us spent the entire time smiling, laughing and enjoying the fresh air. The Boy enjoyed a plethora of new experiences, and we both were able to smile and revel in his new found confidence.
This is The Boy who strode into the poultry and wallaby pen on the first morning, who fed donkeys and stroked their noses, who glared down an alpaca. My little precious bundle who walked into the pigs' pen, cuddled their rumps and then uncurled their tails, who walked in amongst the goats and fed them, who walked within ten feet of a deer. This is The Boy who let a fragile chick stand on his head and arm.
And after he'd finished discovering all about the fauna, we popped over to the official Eden Project to take in the flora in the biomes where The Boy saw how bananas grow, that coffee comes in green beans, that those elusive tomatoes which mummy won't let him near (he's allergic) start out green.
We even picked a grain of rice from their mini paddyfield and saw how hard they are when they come straight from the plant!
Arriving home , Mr. TBaM and I remarked to each other how much he'd grown over the weekend; and as parents isn't that our job? To guide them when exploring their new world.
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Country Kids: At Home With Coombe Mill
We've come for a short break down to Coombe Mill for a few days and I have to say that I think I've found paradise on Earth! Having been to a few places that have Scandinavian lodges as their accommodation, it is refreshing to come to a similar place but with the difference that this has the great outdoors as the entertainment and what an outdoors it is.
This thirty acre site has a beautiful and melodic river running through it which is the soundtrack to our stay, a plethora of children's play areas for different abilities and desires, and the most fantastic animal farm we've seen.
Yesterday we had fun exploring the play areas…
… including some twilight trampoline jumping!
Today we set off after a hearty breakfast to enjoy the feed run. I'll admit I was sceptical about this as The Boy has always been apprehensive about animals, especially those which are similar in size to him, so I expected lots of, "Can you carry me?!"
However…
… he even told us he uncurled the pig's tail!
But for him the best bit of the day was this…
… under a small amount of direction, he was genuinely steering this tractor!
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Sunday 16th September 2012 – 'Morning Has Broken' (260/366)
Country Kids: All Creatures Great And Small
Last week was time for me to go back to school after a glorious six weeks off with my precious son. It's an incredibly difficult time of the year for me emotionally, with mother's guilt kicking in at its strongest, and takes until half-term to settle back down again into a routine where I don't cry every night. However last week we were lucky because I worked the first half of the week as opposed to the second half which left me with almost a week off before going back in. We decided to take advantage of this and headed off for a long weekend down to one of our favourite places; Peppa Pig World.
Peppa Pig World is one of the best places to take a pre-schooler in the United Kingdom and as it's our third trip there, we now consider ourselves 'a bit of an expert'. And don't think we were fooled by the sunshine because we've also been there in the pouring rain as well! We arrived at 10.30am and were some of the last to leave at 6pm. In that time we went on every one of the seven rides, the tractor ride and The Boy and Mr. TBaM went on the waterslide three times with The Boy shouting, "Again, again!" every time they came off it.
The next day we met up with Mr. TBaM's parents in nearby Marwell Zoo which I'd been eager to show The Boy. It had a fantastic range of wildlife there, and we were fortunate enough to see the giraffes being brought in from the paddocks, albeit very slowly because they turned out to be stubborn animals! It was an incredibly hot day and The Boy found it a bit tricky to muster up the enthusiasm to enjoy seeing the animals. I suppose it's also very difficult for them to understand the significance of such a place, but he was enamoured with the play areas and the scooting facilities!
And then to Sunday when we headed home in the glorious sunshine. On the way back, we decided to detour to Beale Park in Reading and partake of the paddling pool to cool down.
The perfect end to a hot weekend!
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Country Kids: In The City
The very title of this post is an oxymoron, but as I live on the outskirts of Cardiff it's very difficult to ignore all that it has to offer. I also know that Coombe Mill's intention with this linky is to encourage outdoor play away from electrical devices. So I'm going with it.
The weather's been relatively sunny this weekend but I can feel the turn in the air; it's been less of a t-shirts and shorts weekend, and more of a trousers and cardigan time. It also feels like we haven't done very much over the weekend, but having gallivanted around the country for the past few weeks it's been nice to just stop and relax.
On Saturday we took The Boy over to Roath Park so he could practise his scooting and bike-riding. Unforunately he was a lazy monkey and wouldn't ride properly which resulted in him being removed from said bike and mummy getting cross with him. He had a fantastic time on the longest slide in the city anyway, and while he started out cautiously he soon built up his confidence!
He was also fascinated by the listening funnels (don't know what they're really called) on the climbing frame, and the cargo net which six months ago would have given him a challenge proved too easy now.
On Sunday we popped over to Cardiff Bay to have dinner at Pizza Express and then give The Boy a chance to scoot around. He is so confident on it and really loves going as fast as he can. I know given time he'll be the same on his bike. We also taught him how to use the brake on his scooter because at the moment he does this funny little galloping hop to stop. It was fantastic to see the sheer exhilaration on The Boy's face as he steamed past the couples and families walking along, and a sense of pride came over me when I saw them smiling at his enjoyment.
And no trip to Cardiff Bay is complete without a turn on the carousel.
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Saturday 25th August 2012 – 'Childhood' (238/366)
Country Kids: Country Wide
This weekend has seen us go from one side of England to the other and back again. Aside from the overnighters in hotels, we've been outside all the time and it's been brilliant to take advantage of the beautiful, albeit stiflingly hot, weather.
On Friday night we drove to Reading, where we stayed overnight before heading off to the LolliBop children's festival in Regent's Park, London. It was a blisteringly hot day, and someone decided that black would be a good colour to wear. I think at one point I actually almost passed out as my vision was swimming and my head was light. However, I'm made of sterner stuff and don't do fainting. All I needed was an Oreo cookie milkshake and the sight of Messers Maker and Winters entertaining my son to perk me up. (The pint of water and paracetomal may have helped!)
LolliBop is a great festival and I've never been in Regent's Park before so it was refreshingly beautiful when surrounded by the grey buildings of London. The festival is a riot of colour, sounds and entertainment, and we thoroughly enjoyed everything there. However, we were only too happy to be back on the train heading out of the smoke later that afternoon where we picked up the car and drove to Gloucester where we did another overnighter in a different Premier Inn. This one was fantastic and tranquil, in the middle of a lovely country village with a stereotypically quaint pub attached.
This morning we packed up early and headed off to the Forest of Dean to surprise The Boy with a Thomas Days Out trip. The Boy has recently started a fascination with the little blue engine and we regularly have to sing the theme music. Today was no different once he'd found out what was going on. Seeing his little face break out with sheer delight when Thomas chugged into the station made my heart burst, he had the best time riding on a vintage steam train and meeting Sir Topham Hatt.
To finish the weekend off, we drove up to Puzzlewood near Coleford. It's a stunning small forest that we've been to before and is such a gem to explore. At the time The Boy was only 20 months old and fell asleep while we were walking around, so this time I was very eager to show off the wonders of the mysterious woods (used in Merlin and Doctor Who). He didn't disappoint as he traipsed around the moss and mud-ladened tracks, exploring steep paths, stone steps and searching for The Gruffalo at any opportunity!
And of course the weekend wouldn't be complete without a splash in the paddling pool, right before turning his hand to his first ever spot of car cleaning!
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Country Kids: Adventure Parks
This week we've had two days out in this glorious sunshine. The first was yesterday when we met up with Jenny from Mummy Mishaps and her two little chaps at Puxton's Park just off junction 21 of the M5. Having been damp for so long, everyone in the area had decided to congregate there to enjoy the sunny weather, including us!
It was beautifully sunny, but with little breeze or shade, it was hard work keeping the little ones cool and calm. The boys absolutely loved playing with each other though, even if they did get too exuberant at one point meaning that The Boy and Burton fell over while hugging and banged their heads!
Today was my birthday and so we headed over to Cattle Country, just off junction 14 of the M5: northbound this time!
We'd packed a thorough picnic and The Boy's bathers and had a really good afternoon there; playing in the wooden fort, splashing in the paddling pool, going on the tiny steam train, exploring the willow maze, bouncing on the jumping pillow, testing an assault course and driving a mini tractor!
Hopefully, the weekend will be just as sunny and filled with more fun and games!
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Country Kids: Ahoy There M'Hearties!
In a break in the weather this weekend we decided that The Boy needed some more practise scooting and pedalling, and so we packed up various paraphernalia and headed down to Cardiff Bay Barrage. It's an ideal place for The Boy to practise his bike-riding because it's completely flat and there is no traffic on the road.
It's normally packed down there, especially on a Sunday, but there was only a handful of people around! It meant that The Boy had plenty of space tonot perfect his steering, but to focus on not falling off his scooter as he noticed the mud dredgers in the Bristol Channel. We then ended up like typical parents, having to carry his scooter while he rode the rest of the way to the sand park three quarters of the way across.
It's a fantastic park, completely enclosed with only one way in and out, but the best bit is the theme: it continues the maritime theme by having a 'shipwrecked' pirate ship 'sunk' into the sand. As there wasn't another child in sight, The Boy had free run of the park and we spent a good half an hour or so there, pretending to be pirate captains.
We haven't been there in about two months, and it was fantastic to see the difference in The Boy's physical development. This time he was perfectly confident and happy to climb the nets or the climbing wall whereas before he's been too worried about falling and hurting himself. He's had a growtth spurt at the moment so I think it helped that he could reach the next step each time.
I'm hoping that this boost in confidence will help him keep up with Burton from Mummy Mishaps when we meet up on Thursday!
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