Natural Childhood | TheBoyandMe

Days 146-152 of Project 365

June 1, 2013 by TheBoyAndMe 28 Comments

Project 365

146. Manipulation (We took The Boy over to Techniquest in Cardiff Bay as we'd recently bought a yearly pass, there's so much to explore there and he loves it. Transferring the cargo from the quayside to the ship proved quite tricky, but he managed it!)

147. Pondlife (It was Nana's birthday today and so we took her over to Dyffryn Gardens as she hasn't been there in a decade or two. I surprised her by meeting my sister there with my niece and nephew, and the three children had great fun racing around the grounds, much to mum's delight. The ponds have wonderful examples of pond-skaters, water boatmen and newts there so we got to cross off another of our 50 Things!)

148. Splosh! (A tiresome day today with many things which needed doing before packing to come away on holiday, a tired little boy and a crotchety mummy. By the time Mr. TBaM came in, I handed The Boy over to him for half an hour's splashing fun/peace and quiet.)

149. Fountains (On the way down to Bridport on holiday, we called into Montacute House, a National Trust place in Dorset. Beautiful venue and stately grounds were in abundance, unfortunately there wasn't a huge amount there for children, despite the advertised adventure playground. It gave us a chance to stretch our legs though.)

150. Engine Driver (We returned to Pecorama, a place we'd first been two years ago, to explore the gardens, play areas and most importantly the miniature steam railway. The Boy was very intrigued with how it all worked.)

151. Snappy Dresser! (A morning walk down to West Bay beach at 10am and a straw hat was already a necessity with the blazing sunlight, long may it continue. Maybe The Boy is actually surveying the cliffs at Broadchurch?)

152. From Where We Stand (Or should that be sit? A rare photo of the three of us, even if it is only my feet. No trip to Dorset is complete without a few hours on the imported sandy beach at Lyme Regis! We built sandcastles and ate fish and chips on the beach, followed by an ice-cream on the promenade. The perfect end to our holiday.)

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Why I Love Pinterest (Pin It Forward)

May 30, 2013 by TheBoyAndMe 7 Comments

I'm a visual learner (technically a visual-kinaesthetic learner), which basically means that I learn and remember things better once I see them, especially if it involves pictures. As a result, the 'bookmarks' function on most browsers doesn't do it for me as I forget that I've put something there.

That's why I love Pinterest.

Pinterest is a web-based facility which allows users to create virtual 'boards' with items or ideas on it that they like (grouped into categories if they are that organised). For example I am busy browsing the web at the moment for ideas for The Boy's pirate birthday party, I've got a 'pin it' button on my browser and I click that when I see something I like. It saves on the 'Pirate' board I have and allows me to browse the ideas quickly, and then (because it saves the original site's URL in the picture) I can revisit it easily for more details. Far easier to use than 'Bookmarks'!

The other great thing about Pinterest is that other people can 'repin' your ideas onto their own boards, and as a blogger who often writes about craft or play ideas, then it's a great way to share my ideas around the 'Pin-o-sphere'.

Finally, I really enjoy the collaborative boards that can be created on Pinterest. I'm a member of several craft boards, but also run a few boards myself which help promote fun food for children, family days out or outdoor play. My favourite board at the moment is my 'Natural Childhood' board which has over twenty bloggers sharing ideas and prompts for outdoor play.

This month sees the Pinterest campaign 'Pin It Forward' kick off, involving 300 bloggers from a cross-section of interests. The campaign is designed to be the official launch of Pinterest in the UK, although I've been using it for around eighteen months now and have fifty-six boards as a result. As a part of the campaign, I have the honour of introducing another 'Pinner' to my readers, and it really is a pleasure to introduce Christine from Thinly Spread, and her Family Gardening collaborative board.

Thinly Spread was one of the first blogs that I started reading back in 2010, and Chris is a little bit of a blog-crush of mine, especially with her idyllic life with her Ransome-esque family in Somerset. Nip over and check out her wonderful boards full of country goodness for that wonderful feel-good inner glow.

Nip over to Pinterest now, and see what all the fuss is about!

Cefn Onn Country Park (Country Kids)

May 28, 2013 by TheBoyAndMe 21 Comments

I've been desperate for a few years to find a local bluebell wood, and this year The Boy loves nothing better than tramping through a forest, so in search of the elusive sapphire flowers before they disappeared, we headed to Cefn Onn for the first time. This was recommended to me by Laura from Side Street Style and I am very grateful that I followed her advice!

Tucked away in a fold of Caerphilly Mountain, Cefn Onn Country Park is on the northern fringes of Cardiff. The park was laid out between 1911 and 1925 by Ernest Albert Prosser (general manager of the Rhymney Valley Railway, which runs alongside the park with an abandoned train 'halt') as a woodland garden where his son could recuperate from tuberculosis.

Luckily we used the SatNav to get us there because we could have easily missed it. When we arrived, we were almost put off by the limited parking and 'seen-better-days' toilets, but I'm so glad we persevered as once we had walked under the 'bridge' with the thundering traffic of the M4 we discovered a wonderland that I'd never have guessed was there. Cefn Onn (meaning 'ridge of ash trees') holds one of the finest collections of rhododendron and azalea bushes in Europe, and they were in full bloom when we arrived. The huge collection of both native and exotic trees create a high canopy which helps to muffle the sounds of the 21st century, the sunlight streams through this creating a dappled effect on the colourful bushes and carpet of bluebells.

Cefn Onn

We veered off the tarmac path running throughout most of the park so we could do our usual tree climbing and 'exploring'. The Boy asked if there was a playground and I pointed out the balance beam that was the fallen tree trunk, the climbing frame which turned out to be an oak, the stepping stones across the stream and the treasure hunt that was hunting for pinecones.

Cefn Onn

There is a small stream (Nant Fawr) which runs throughout the parkland, with stepping stones and a Japanese bridge, as well as fallen logs and more structured bridges. The stream stems from a large pond (which is probably fed into from a brook higher up the mountain) which is three-quarters of the way up the park, and is a beautiful spot for a picnic, or for hot golden retrievers to jump into, much to the amusement of The Boy.

We must have spent two and a half hours wandering around the park and had a brilliant time. Definitely one to return to in the Autumn when the leaves are turning golden colours and creating a crunchy carpet underfoot.

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Days 139-145 of Project 365

May 25, 2013 by TheBoyAndMe 28 Comments

139-145 of 365

139. Mr. Bloom (Helping mummy in the garden, desperately trying to get the garden tidy for his party in a few weeks.)

140. Polygons (I opened up a packet of coloured lolly-sticks with the purpose of making a craft picture, but The Boy had other ideas.)

141. Look into my eyes! (Nana bought both of her grandsons a new pair of glasses, The Boy thought they were hilarious.)

142. Listen! (I came in from work to find The Boy and Nana playing beautifully in the garden, he was standing there listening out for me, and this is the pose he pulled when listening to see if daddy was coming home.)

143. Sumpmarine (The Boy made another shape using his maxi Hama beads set, this is supposed to be a steam boat, but he's convinced that if he removes the funnel then he can make it into a sump-marine.)

144. Pea-popper! We'd bought some peas in the pod on Tuesday at the garden centre, and The Boy helped me prepare them for dinner yesterday. He loved popping them out, even if it did take eleventy billion hours!)

145. Jump (We ventured out in the Chevrolet Orlando which I have been sent to review for the next week or so, and headed over to north Cardiff to a wonderful park called Cefn Onn. A narrow and long park running up through a small valley on Caerphilly Mountain, there is a wonderful woodland planted with a plethora of rhodendrum bushes, and alongside the abundance of fallen trees, it's a wonderland for a little boy!)

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Beachcombing Treasure Tile (100 Days Of Play)

May 21, 2013 by TheBoyAndMe 36 Comments

One of activities on the old '50 Things To Do Before You're 11&¾' list was 'hunt for treasure on a beach'. That may no longer be valid for the 2013 list, but it is still an excellent activity to do with children and even more so for us as we live in a coastal town. It also seemed the ideal play activity to do with The Boy for the exciting blog hop I'm taking part in (organised by Sun Scholars & Life at the Zoo) called '100 Days of Play'. The idea of the blog hop is to feature 100 different play based activities from bloggers all over the world; one a day, every day, for a 100 days.

Beachcombing Treasure Tile

We like popping down to the beach, and go every Thursday once I get home from school. On our predominantly pebble beach there is always a plethora of treasure to be scavenged; eagle eyes are definitely needed to 'comb' the grey pebbles for the different and occasional glints of seaglass or shells. This time I decided to make a relief tile of the treasure that we found, by using airdry clay and pushing the discoveries into the tile to hold them firmly in place.

I used a takeaway (tupperware) container to hold the airdry clay, this was also useful to clip the lid into place to prevent damage while transporting it home. I also made two holes near the top to tie the string through once it had dried.

We spent a good amount of time looking for fossils in the stones (not many in our area), interesting rocks with patterns in the composition, shells (both barnacle and snail type shells), and seaglass. There's a fair amount of seaglass around our way from the times when Britain was not so caring of the environment. Eroded by time, waves and rocks; the seaglass has an opaque appearance with all rough edges worn away. Occasionally you can find a piece with lettering or numbers on it, as The Boy did, and we came up with a great story of it belonging to a pirate.

Beach Treasure Tile

This is the type of activity that doesn't have to be limited to a beach, it would be just as good in a woodland for example. The only issue there is that over time the items found in a woodland will rot, but for the short term it would work just as well. It could even work for a box of magic buttons or trinkets collected over time and from different generations.

It's also an excellent resource for storytelling, as mentioned above; the reasons and back-stories to the different treasures could be fascinating and an excellent form of oracy development.

100 Days Of Play Blog Hop

Sharing simple ideas on how to connect with your children through play!

New ideas shared each day from 1st April – 20th July 2013.

100 Days of Play is brought to you by these wonderful bloggers:

SunScholars . Frogs, Snails & Puppy Dog Tails . Playful Learners . Train Up a Child . Fantastic Fun & Learning . Scribble, Doodle & Draw . Learn. Create. Love. . Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas . Nothing if Not Intentional . My Little 3 & Me . Buggy & Buddy . Sun Hats & Wellie Boots . Twodaloo . True Aim . The Educators' Spin On It . Blog Me Mom . Life At The Zoo . Putti's World . Kitchen Counter Chronicles . Triple T Mum . Busy Kids Happy Mom . Crystal's Tiny Treasures . Rainy Day Mum . Momma's Fun World . My Little Bookcase . Craftulate . One Perfect Day . MumCentral . Artchoo! . Creative World Of Varya . Simple. Home. Blessings. . JDaniel4's Mom . NurtureStore . Me & Marie Learning . Child Central Station . Mamas Like Me . Mama Miss . Making Boys Men . Powerful Mothering . Craft to Art . 3 Dinosaurs . Domestic Goddesque . Lessons Learnt Journal . Royal Baloo . Smiling Like Sunshine . Adventures at Home with Mum . B-Inspired Mama . PragmaticMom . Eazy Peazy Mealz . Gluesticks . TheBoy&Me . Learning is Messy . My Nearest & Dearest . Growing Book by Book . How to Run a Home Daycare . Here Come the Girls . Think Magnet . Dandelions Picked . 123 Homeschool 4 Me . Our Ordinary Life . Parenting with Professor Poppins . 2 Little Hooligans . Fun-a-Day! . The Non-Martha Mamma . Angelique Felix . My Very Educated Mother . Creative Playhouse . Go Explore Nature . Zing Zing Tree . Sense of Wonder . Childhood 101 . Crayon Freckles . KZ & Me . Serenity You . This Mumma's Life . Leapfrog & Ladybugs . Blue Bear Wood . Growing Together . KC EDventures . Mommy Lessons 101 . Nature & Play . Like Mama Like Daughter . Mums Make Lists . From Wine to Whine . Messy Kids . Babble Dabble Do . Sugar Aunts . Teaching @ Home . Preschool Powol Packets . Clothed in Love . Curiosity Creates . The Magnolia Barn . Strong Start . Stay-at-Home Mom Survival Guide . Learn with Play at Home . Mummy… Mummy… MUM! . Science Sparks . Toddler Approved . Thrive 360 Living . Rockabye Butterfly . Mud Hut Mama . Coffee Cups & Crayons . Playing with Words 365 . My Lil Love Bugs . Creative Connections for Kids . LalyMom . Love, Play, Learn . Kindergarten & Preschool for Parents & Teachers . The Pleasantest Thing . Teach Beside Me

Exploring The Hidden Realm (Country Kids)

May 4, 2013 by TheBoyAndMe 48 Comments

On the way home from our weekend break in Butlin's on Monday, we decided to break up the journey with a visit to a National Trust venue. We picked The Vyne in Basingstoke as it would be a perfectly timed mid-way and mid-day break, and I'd also recently seen MummyMummyMum's post about the new Tolkein-inspired play area; The Hidden Realm.

The Hidden Realm is a new play area, only opened since the beginning of April, and inspired by the well-loved book The Hobbit. Tolkein is thought to have based his tales on the ancient, gold ring on display on site, and so it was an obvious theme for a play area to occupy the once abandoned area of walled garden. Over the past six months, it has been transformed into a unique fantasy landscape for children with elements of jungle, mountain and stream, based on the Middle-Earth landscapes.

When we arrived there were only a couple of other children playing and so we pretty much had free run of the place, the perks of weekday visits! It amazes me how much has been fitted into such a small space, bridges, tunnels (with inter-connecting communication pipes), slides, stepping stones, fireman's pole (very Middle-Earth), and the best bit (for me anyway) was a dammed stream with a standpipe nearby to allow the children to play with the water.

The Hidden Realm at The Vyne, Hampshire

I really hope that the National Trust start building some more of these themed play areas in their venues, such great fun and a joy for both adults and children to enjoy.

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country kids

The New '50 Things To Do Before You're 11&¾'

May 3, 2013 by TheBoyAndMe 3 Comments

I'm a really big fan of the '50 Things To Do Before You're 11&¾' campaign. Combine that with 'Country Kids' and it has transformed our weekend activities. That is genuinely no exaggeration; I like completing challenges and blogging about them as part of our lives, if it was the initial motivation for becoming more physically active then I see that as no bad thing.

The '50 Things To Do Before You're 11&¾' campaign has been created to help ensure that our children are having the natural childhood they deserve. With children in the UK being the most depressed in the western world, providing them with a sense of achievement and pride in their accomplishments (while also reconnecting them to nature) is essential. The exhilaration experienced from managing to climb that tricky tree or seeing a kite that you've made soaring through the sky is second to none for a child.

In order to update the list and make it more relevant to children in the UK, the National Trust have made a few changes. Initially I was a little irritated as quite a few things that they've removed were challenges that we'd managed (feed a bird by hand, visit an island, bury someone in the sand, balance on a fallen tree) but upon further examination I realised that they are now far more accessible for all, and realistic to achieve. It's all very well having the challenge of 'getting behind a waterfall' but if you live in the middle of the flattest part of Britain then it's rather tricky to achieve. Likewise for landlocked residents, visiting an island or hunting for treasure on a beach is nigh on impossible. And I can't thank the National Trust enough for changing 'see the sun wake up' to 'go star gazing'; after many years of teaching The Boy to not wake up at the crack of dawn, I wasn't relishing that task!

I've blogged previously about the Fifty Things so am not going to write them all out again, but I would like to highlight the changes:

	Out	In
11.	Throw some snow	Go on a really long bike ride
12.	Hunt for treasure on a beach	Make a trail with sticks
15.	Go sledging	Play in the snow
16.	Bury someone in the sand	Make a daisy chain
18.	Balance on a fallen tree	Create some wild art
19.	Swing on a rope swing	Play Pooh sticks
20.	Make a mud slide	Jump over waves
21.	Eat blackberries growing in the wild	Pick blackberries growing in the wild
22.	Take a look inside a tree	Explore inside a tree
23.	Visit an island	Visit a farm
24.	Feel like you’re flying in the wind	Go on a walk barefoot
27.	Watch the sun wake up	Go star gazing
29.	Get behind a waterfall	Explore a cave
30.	Feed a bird from your hand	Hold a scary beast
33.	Catch a butterfly in a net	Catch a falling leaf
36.	Call an owl	Make a home for a wild animal
42.	Go wild swimming	Go swimming in the sea
43.	Go rafting	Build a raft
44.	Light a fire without matches	Go bird watching
46.	Try bouldering	Try rock climbing
48.	Try abseiling	Learn to ride a horse

I'd urge parents to sign their children up for a '50 Things' account as it's fun to use and a great record of all the tasks completed, ours shows we've completed 21 of the tasks so far.

50 Things

I have a linky running for anyone who has blogged about their children's '50 Things' challenges, I'd love for you to join in below.

Days 111-117 of Project 365

April 27, 2013 by TheBoyAndMe 31 Comments

117-123 of 365

111. Too busy! (Today was a stay-at-home day and The Boy's cousins came over to play in the morning and stayed for lunch. We spent hours in the garden, them playing, mum supervising and us gardening. The day was so busy that I forgot to take any photos until the evening when we were playing a calming Orchard Toys game before bed.)

112. Bubble Jedi (At 9.05am The Boy requested we go in the garden. And because I wasn't at all awake (although I was dressed, I agreed. I know. We then proceeded to spend two and a half hours in the garden; me pegging out the washing and pottering about with titbits of gardening, him making up games, blowing bubbles and making dams in the water 'future' (feature). We only went in to decide on what to eat for lunch, which was enjoyed al fresco! I love Spring.)

113. #30 (After a very good day together; playing in the garden, making cakes and chilling out nicely, we had a gargantuam parenting fail/threenager situation in the evening. Basically, The Boy took ages to eat his dinner and we both got cross because we were waiting to take him to the park to feed the swans and have a run around before bed. After a temper tantrum from him when he had the audacity to say I was taking ages (!), I put my foot down and said he could feel the swans (I needed the fresh air) but would not be allowed to go to the park. Being a parent is tough sometimes!)

114. Bottoms Up! (A play in the garden after I'd finished school and The Boy has found a new use for the non-slidey slide; it's a part climbing frame and then head first down after the rolling hoops!)

115. Flying Boy (This is his new way of going on the swing, he likes the way it makes him feel like he's flying! We took mum down the beach for an ice-cream after school but she was feeling her age today and didn't want to go for a walk and so we nipped to the park instead.)

116. Back Again! (I know this is a very similar photograph to one I recently had up but there are subtle differences; mainly the lack of coat and a great deal more sunshine. We've come back to Butlin's for the Butlin's Ambassadors weekend with many of the other ambassadors. Keeping my fingers crossed for dry weather and sunshine.)

117. Even Higher! (That was what he called to the attendant on the bungee trampoline he tried out earlier today! He screamed that he didn't want to go on it, and then I couldn't get him off.)

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Fifty Things To Do Before You're 11&¾ (The Link-Up)

April 25, 2013 by TheBoyAndMe 12 Comments

My childhood garden was large and full of little nooks and crannies (notice you never get a cranny without a nook?) that offered hours of entertainment. Summers were long and balmy, filled with the squeals of laughter of four siblings who would tie each other to trees with their pigtails (thank you brother 1), hold talent contests on the picnic bench, splash around and soak each other with the hose, play badminton in the quiet side road next to the house, race on the go-kart from the side garden and under the archway to the garage into the back garden, and practise tennis or netball against the side wall of the garage. All under the watchful eye of my mum from the living room or kitchen window, both of which were upstairs (weird layout) and commanded a magnificent view over our 'empire'.

The point I am trying to make here is that we spent hours and hours every day outside.

As my siblings grew older, I had less playmates but it didn't affect my desire to get out into the fresh air. Even now, I feel free when outside, it soothes my frazzled nerves and I can feel my spirits lifting.

When we went to Nymans for the National Trust event earlier this Spring, David Bond (marketing director for Nature!) asked us whether our happy place was inside or outside. The split was about half and half, which is very different to most families. Most adults (and children) now have an indoors happy place. It is therefore, hardly surprising that children in the UK are the most depressed in the natural world; they don't know about the joy of feeling the wind through their hair and tingling their senses, the sun caressing the skin, the sense of achievement when they climb a tree or jump the brook, skim the stone or make a den.

Last year I blogged about the 50 Things To Do Before You're 11&¾ campaign by the National Trust. I set us a goal of 5 Things To Do Before You're 3 and we attempted four of these things (the waterfall was always going to be ambitious!). In the past year we've ticked off a few more of these (mostly easy to achieve) targets and are making steady progress, mainly thanks to the Country Kids linky over on Coombe Mill.

~~Climb a tree~~ (04/11/12)
~~Roll down a really big hill~~
Camp out in the wild
~~Build a den~~
Skim a stone
~~Run around in the rain~~
~~Fly a kite~~
~~Catch a fish with a net~~ (25/07/14)
~~Eat an apple straight from a tree~~
~~Play conkers~~
Go on a really long bike ride
Make a trail with sticks
~~Make a mud pie~~
Dam a stream
~~Play in the snow~~
Make a daisy chain
Set up a snail race
~~Create some wild art~~ (21/07/13)
~~Play Pooh sticks~~
~~Jump over waves~~
~~Eat blackberries growing in the wild~~
~~Explore inside a tree~~
~~Visit a farm~~
~~Go on a walk barefoot~~
Make a grass trumpet
Hunt for fossils and bones
~~Go star gazing~~
Climb a huge hill
~~Explore a cave~~
~~Hold a scary beast~~
~~Hunt for bugs~~
~~Find some frogspawn~~
~~Catch a falling leaf~~
~~Track wild animals~~
~~Discover what's in a pond~~
~~Make a home for a wild animal~~
~~Check out the crazy creatures in a rock pool~~
Bring up a butterfly
~~Catch a crab~~ (25/07/14)
~~Go on a nature walk at night~~
~~Plant it, grow it, eat it~~
~~Go swimming in the sea~~
~~Build a raft~~ (05/08/13)
~~Go bird watching~~
~~Find your way with a map and compass~~
Try rock climbing
~~Cook on a campfire~~
Learn to ride a horse
~~Find a geocache~~
Canoe down a river

I've decided to write this post for me so that we can cross off the other targets as and when we meet them. And because it's more a of a reference bank for me, I also thought I'd open it up as a permanent linky until… well The Boy is 11&¾ quite frankly. Either that or until he does them all!

I'd love it if you joined in with your posts or photos (Instagrams/twitpics) showing your children fulfilling one of their Fifty Things To Do Before You're 11&¾.

50-things1

Westonbirt Arboretum (Review)

April 24, 2013 by TheBoyAndMe 14 Comments

There is a sign that I have passed on the M4 more times than I care to remember. I've always thought, 'Oh we must visit there in the Autumn, it must be beautiful then.' or 'I bet The Boy would love to explore there.' but it's not been a real possibility as we've always been on the way to somewhere or rushing back home after a tiring day out. When we lived in Reading for three years, we passed the sign on our monthly return home and I thought then it must be amazing to visit there, and that was in 2001!

Finally we had the opportunity to explore the mystery behind the sign for Westonbirt Arboretum when we headed down for our Butlin's Ambassadors holiday at the end of March. I arranged for us to visit Westonbirt the day before our holiday started and we decided to stay overnight in Basingstoke as it would ensure we weren't rushing.

Westonbirt Arboretum is well signposted from junction 18 of the M4 and takes a further twenty-ish minutes to reach beyond the motorway. There is a pay kiosk upon entry to the main drive, and then a good size car park with ample parking for all. The site is massive, far bigger than I ever imagined which seems silly to say considering it is a large forest and woodland!

Westonbirt arboretum

The circle above shows the main reception area with Westonbirth Restaurant, forest shop, visitor services, education centre, toilets and an excellent play area for children. To the right of this circle is the Old Arboretum, and to the left are the collections (Japanese Maple, Oak, Cherry collections) alongside the longer paths and trails. Unfortunately we didn't get to explore this section because what I haven't said is that it was -3°C that day.

Yes, that is a minus symbol.

Even though we are hardy explorers and were all togged up in everything we owned, it was the type of cold that chilled to the bone. Nonetheless we persevered and did explore the Old Arboretum and the children's play area. First of all though, we were invited to sample the wares of the Westonbirt Restaurant.

The restaurant has recently seen a changeover, at the time the manager and chef had only been there a manner of weeks, and is an incredibly pleasant and trendy venue with huge wooden tables, floor to ceiling windows (with frosted leaf patterns embossed on) which overlook the site and provide a light and airy place to eat.

Westonbirt restaurant

The Boy had a child's version of the 'Calcot fishcakes' which is usually served with tartar sauce and a mixed leaf salad, but for him they served it with tomato sauce and a pot of fresh peas. This couldn't have been a better dish for him to have if the chef had been a fly on the wall in our house! The Boy loves salmon and mixed with the dill, it smelt and looked delicious (and this from a vegetarian) and he wolfed the lot down.

Mr. TBaM had the 'The Cotswolds Platter' which was a much nicer version of a ploughman's than I've ever seen. Served on a wooden platter (as all the meals were) it included Woodchester ham, a local pork pie and double Gloucester cheese and was served with homemade chutney and Hobbs House bread and butter. The quality of the items were excellent and very filling, he really enjoyed the taste of everything, especially the cheese (different to the standard orange Gloucester cheese in the supermarkets) and he said everything worked really well together.

I was served with a delicious Spring vegetable risotto with fresh asparagus and parmesan. I'm a sucker for a good risotto and this was definitely one of them; the arborio rice had just the right level of crunch to it, the asparagus was very fresh along with the other Spring vegetables, and it was very creamy.

Full of sustenance we set off to brave the cold and explore the beautiful woodland park. First off was the 'Exploratree' adventure and interactive playground for under fives.

Exploratree Westonbirt Arboretum

Designed to completely encourage children to explore the forest, there are crawl tunnels, a wooden tree house, play saws (made from wood, no sharp edges) and trees which are perfect for climbing in with their low level branches. We spent a good half an hour here with The Boy playing with all the different parts and exploring and discussing why there were saws and what they were used for.

There are a few interactive elements to the Exploratree park as well:

exploratree westonbirt arboretum 1

The wooden tree wall is interactive and encourages the children to question and observe the wildlife in the trees, while there's also a fantastic xylophone made from wooden planks.

After a while we needed to charge around and practise our climbing so we went to explore the Old Arboretum.

westonbirt arboretum

We only managed a small section of this part of the Arboretum as The Boy was actually starting to cry and turn as blue as his suit with cold (-3°C remember?) and so we had to turn back unfortunately.

We will be returning to Westonbirt Arboretum in the next month or so to take advantage of temperatures in the positive double figures. Especially because I also wanted to explore the nature play trails hidden amongst the trees of the Old Arboretum and Silk Wood (aimed at 5-11 year olds), where the children can build explorers' dens, balance and clamber over fallen logs, and plan expeditions in a tree fort. I particularly want to find the mystical troll bridge!

Westonbirt has four excellent seasonal play booklets with a multitude of activities to encourage natural play like weaving sticks and treasures together, an insect treasure hunt and many more wonderful ideas. There are also a host of family events coming up over the next few months like Bug World, Forest Folk and Tree Potions.

Entry into Westonbirt is £8 for adults and £3 for children aged 5-18, under fives go free (between March – September) and there is half price entry on Wednesdays in April and May 2013. This is a really reasonable price for entry into somewhere which could easily occupy a whole day, and the half-price entry would be perfect to help children complete the Fifty Things To Do Before You're 11 & ¾. (They also have a Quality Badge awarded by the Council for Learning Outside the Classroom)

Now we've been once, I'm not sure why we took so long to get there! We'll definitely be visiting what must surely be a jewel in the Forestry Commission's crown?

We received free entry into the Arboretum and a meal at the Westonbirt Restuarant in order to complete this review. My opinion is honest and unbiased as always.