A Visit to Kelham Hall

We love to find new places to visit around Nottinghamshire, so for Mother's Day we visited Kelham Hall. Located just between Southwell and Newark this hall is a beautiful piece of history, the original hall once housed Charles I before Newark was captured by the Scots and he was taken back to London.

Rebuilt in the 1800s, this building was designed by George Gilbert Scott who also designed St Pancras Station & Hotel, it is really beautiful and in the summer I imagine even more so.

After we'd had a picnic, the children played on the park for a bit before moving to the adventure playground which was under the canopy of the trees. We do love an adventure playground and in the warmer days of the year I can imagine the cover of the trees will provide a welcome spot of shade, for now though we were welcomed by a blanket of snowdrops.

Adventure playgrounds are the perfect mix of outdoor fun and exercise and the children love to play on them whenever we find them.

After we'd explored the adventure playground, we headed down to the river side, the river was really high after all the rain we'd been having but we stopped and ate some of my homemade brownie and looked back at the beautiful hall.

After this, we headed into the woods and the children found some trees to climb, such a great childhood activity and they both loved seeing who could climb the highest, my daughter then made an obstacle course with some sticks and we played a game of hide and seek. Considering it had been snowing earlier in the day I think this was a wonderful way to spend some time outdoors as a family.

Inside Kelham Hall itself there is a restaurant serving breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea as well as coffee and cakes and had we not had a picnic we would have gone in there for something to eat and drink. The wonderful high vaulted ceiling make a beautiful backdrop and we even had a sneak around to see where the weddings are held, my brother and his fiancé are going to get married soon so I mentioned it to them.

Over the next few years they are going to develop the hall, making rooms to stay in as well as a spa and I cannot wait to see the progress they make, they have some awesome looking events in the calendar too with an outdoor cinema, theatre and more.

Shipley Country Park

Last weekend saw some gorgeous weather, it was a bit drizzly on Sunday morning so we headed to Ikea for an early morning trip and a hot dog for lunch and then popped over to Shipley Country Park for a walk around and some fresh air.

Shipley is a vast space with lots of park areas and plenty of space to run around, it is also a haven for horse riders.

Next time we go we will take a longer walk round to see if we can see the old American Adventure site, so sad this is no more.

Wildlife Jack and His Animal Adventures

My son is into animals and wildlife, he loves nothing more than finding out about different creatures and what they do.

So when I saw this project for Wildlife Jack I wanted to offer my support by spreading the word, using kickstarter you pledge money to the project and if they reach the required amount they get your pledged money.

So far they are at £11,069 pounds so they have a way to go in 64 hours, but I think they can do it. So if you have a child interested in wildlife and would like to get your hands on the series first then pop on over and pledge now, minimum is £1 or £9 if you'd like a copy of the series. If you can pledge more then there are some even more fabulous returns to be pledged for from a guided bug hun to being a voice on the program.

Chris Packham of The Really Wild Show will be narrating so I do think it is going to be good, if what I have seen is anything to go by.

I love the way Jack is dressed, it is very reminiscent of a child dressing themselves and the interaction between child and animasl is how we'd all like to see the world.

I showed the trailer to my son and he was instantly transfixed by it and remembered what he had seen, his favourite bit was the shark but he does love sharks...well anything with teeth actually.

So pop on over and see what they have to offer and how you can help get this Wildlife Jack off the ground.