Country Kids: Mill Wood

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After a rubbish week with barely any outdoor play, I was determined to get out and about with The Boy today and we went in search of woodland to explore. Welly-bedecked and waterproof ensconced we found ourselves some stout walking sticks to aid our exploration and trekked through Mill Wood.

We found the old mill, abandoned for nearly a century, and pretended to play house amongst the ruins and squelching mud before climbing the steep, stone steps wedged into the hillside and following a path above the stream. At one point Mr. TBaM got stuck in the bog and The Boy decided to try and pull him out before pretending to get himself stuck.

outdoor play

The most enchanting thing for The Boy was exploring his echo, which was amplified brilliantly in the Wintery woodland.

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country kids

Country Kids: Exploring

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Sunday dawned bright and sunny; time for the wellies and to don the thermals to venture out to the park.

First off, showing us his moves in the playground there.

Country Kids Porthkerry 1

When it was first built, a little over a year ago, he was too young to be able to enjoy any of the facilities. However, he's now at a prime age for exploring them and being challenged by what's available. Scampering up the cargo net like Spiderman, throwing himself down the slide (normally headfirst) and standing up on the swinging rope, seem to pose no concern to him anymore. It's like he's a different child now when it comes to his physical confidence.

Charging off into the distance, he'd clearly had enough of the confines of the playground and needed a run with Mr. TBaM. It's just as well; there's a ditch running alongside the path which is usually little more than a trickle with 3ft high banks. Due to the recent snow and rain fall, it's now level with the grassy banks and the path.

In fact…

Country Kids Porthkerry 2

The Boy is actually stood on one of the bridges crossing the stream. Mr. TBaM is very nervously out of shot ready to jump forward if necessary as we were pretty sure that the edge of the bridge was two foot to The Boy's left, but it wasn't visible!

Country Kids Porthkerry 3

He wanted to do some 'plopping' on the beach, but the tide was out and walking on stones down to the shoreline takes a long time with a three year old. We gathered up pebbles and 'plopped' them in a different part of the stream instead. Then we tried pooh sticks, but the sticks kept getting stuck under the bridge.

Finally, The Boy tried jumping around the fairy ring but his legs weren't quiet long enough.

country kids porthkerry 4

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coombe mill

Learning for Life

Country Kids: Porthkerry Park

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The azure sky and white-hot sun beckoned us out to play today, so we popped our welly-boots on and hot-tailed it down to Porthkerry Park for some fun and games. We'd tried to have fun with The Boy there last year when the new playpark has opened, but he was a little too young for it at the time. Now he's more physically confident, he adored the challenge.

After doing a fantastic impression of Spiderman on the climbing frame, we had a bear hunt through the woods looking for interesting shaped leaves for some art work, and ended up on the beach making pebble towers, plopping and skimming stones and riding fallen trees before squelching our way back through the mud to wrestle our boots off.

porthkerry park

Please excuse the rubbish quality on these images. Taken with my fantabulous dSLR but uploaded via wireless tethering on my phone due to Sky not getting their arses in gear and delivering our new router to us. I miss ADSL.

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coombe mill