Easter Egg Hunt at Rufford Abbey

We decided in January we wanted to buy a new house, it was a kind of quick decision but several factors played a part and it has totally been the right one so far.

But I will talk more about this another day, this is a post about a day out for Easter after a hectic few weeks in which the children have been a little bit neglected, as has the family as a whole to be honest.

We headed up to Rufford Abbey, a little overcast but nice none the less.

For a pound you got an egg spotting sheet and had to walk around the gardens to spot them, perfect for the kids as they love the gardens there.

Off to spot some eggs, look high into the trees guys...

We have been up to Rufford many times before, it continues to be a great place to visit with so much to explore and enjoy with the changing seasons.

Once we had found all but to missing eggs (hiding at the Information Centre) we claimed our prize, a yummy chocolate bunny, which didn't last long.

Our usual trip to watch the cars drive through the ford and an ice cream finished off the trip.

What did you get up to this easter?

Visiting Newstead Abbey in the Spring

The last few weeks have seen us decorating and sorting our house out ready for it to go on the market, it means that getting out of the house has been for just an hour at a time. So yesterday, now that everything is complete, we managed to get out of the house for longer.

We headed to Newstead Abbey for a walk around the beautiful gardens and to see the snowdrops, it's a magical place steeped in history and it's a short drive from Nottingham city centre.

Stood behind the waterfall, watching the water made us notice how relaxing and thought provoking it actually was, though it was pretty noisy! There was so much wildlife about, birds, ducks and these rather cheeky swans!

The Japanese gardens on the other hand are peaceful, beautiful and full of fabulous corners to sit and relax in, the waterfalls here are more about gentle running water and are so serene.

With moss covering the stones and the odd clump of snowdrops it wasn't as luscious as the rest of the year but I think that added to the atmosphere as we hopped across the many stepping stones.

We stopped to look bugs under logs, we only spotted a few millipedes, a woodlouse and a cobweb but it was still fun.

The gardens where full of winter plants and the hedges always look beautiful no matter what time of the year, we played in the park and ran around.

And finally our treasures of the day...

Our Snow Fun Day

A few weeks back, we were lucky to have some snow.It was a lovely sunny day, so we headed to a favourite spot of our,s Rufford Abbey. We had lots of fun running about in the snow and trying not to fall over!

The lake was frozen over and the trees looked stunning with their vibrant colours against the blue sky and white snow, icicles hung from the benches, sparkling in the low sun.

We stopped for hot chocolate and the children loved being in the sledge being pulled along by daddy, sliding down the embankments.

We had lots of fun on our snow day, here is a video we made as part of entry for the Argyll Holidays Active Family, we are in the final six of this competition and are super excited that everyone loved our fun snow adventure.

Linking up to country Kids on Coombe Mill.