Our First Ever No School Snow Day

I have been meaning to write up our snow day for the last few weeks but time has kind of run away with me.

On the Thursday we woke up to a thick blanket of snow. Hoping for a snow day we waited and waited for school to message to say they were closed, we were ready and waiting by the door to head out when they finally messaged us at 8.05.

We quickly changed and headed out into a winter wonderland, stomping through the snow drifts and catching the snow flakes as they fell from the sky.

We headed down the hill to the local park, since this is the first snow we've had at our new house it was the first time we had been there for some snow fun.

I had expected it to be really busy but had forgotten it was only about 8.30, so we had the slope to ourselves for a while and had lots of fun sledging and sliding down the hill.

Afterwards we walked across the beautiful white field on freshly laid snow to the park, the kids had fun pushing the swings and throwing snow, it is however possible to have the wrong type of snow for snowballs and this was it.

 



On the Friday we headed up to the field behind our house, i'd seen on our community Facebook page that there were some really big snow drifts against the hedges. The kids weren't up for it to begin with as they just wanted to sledge, but once we got up there they were super excited by the deepest snow I have seen in years and certainly the deepest snow they've ever seen.

It was about four foot deep in places, we all had lots of fun falling through the soft snow up to our knees and for the kids up to their waist, we even found a little igloo that someone had dug into the snow.

The wind made it bitterly cold which made heading back to the warm house even more comforting, hot chocolates and snuggling up to watch films was certainly the order of our Snow Days.

As much as I enjoyed our Snow Days I have to say I am looking forward to warmer weather.

A Family Lunch at Ego Mediterranean Restaurant

Last weekend we were invited to Ego in West Bridgford, a new mediterranean restaurant offering great food in a light and airy environment, but most excitingly on a Sunday they offer children's entertainment, to make dining with your little ones that little bit easier.

Both of my children are pretty good when we are dining out, I take books or felt tips to keep them occupied and they usually sit still. However, like most children they do get a bit bored after a while and this is where in addition to a colouring pack on arrival, the children's entertainment comes into its own.

With colouring in, balloon animals and some fabulous scratch art bookmarks the team from Party Crew keep the children entertained whilst you get some time to yourself, whether for a chat or to mull over the menu in peace. It is a great idea and one that I think makes the dining experience for everyone that little bit more relaxed.

On to the food itself, we ordered the Greek Meze to start, a mixture of hummus, chicken, stuffed vine leaves, pittas, cous cous and halloumi. A tasty starter with something on it that both the adults and children could enjoy.

Being a Sunday it meant that they had a Sunday roast on offer, or you could choose from the A La Carte menu, I love a roast but equally the food on the menu really caught my eye. I chose the Andalucian Pork Fillet, tender pork wrapped in prosciutto, pan roasted & served with apricot & sherry cream sauce served with dauphinoise potatoes, it was really tasty and the portion size was generous.

My partner chose Lemon Chicken Milanese, flattened breaded lemon chicken, rocket, sun blush tomato & Grana Padano with lemon caper dressing & skin-on fries, I am told this was rather delicious and the plate was empty so I am guessing so.

For the children they have the standard range of children's option, chicken goujons, pizza, pasta, roast chicken, however since a smaller roast was on offer the children chose to have this instead. And I am glad they did, as what came out was amazing and I was kind of jealous.

The Elfe potatoes, giant Yorkshire pudding and beautifully tender vegetables made for a fabulous Sunday lunch and I think i'll chose this next time we go, because there will be a next time.

Puddings were equally as tasty, with a large range of sweet treats we were spoilt for choice, I chose my one of my all time favourites, Tiramisu, the children both had brownie and my partner had Sicilian Lemon Tart, all very tasty and all eaten rather quickly.

Just outside of Nottingham it is easy to get to and for us is on the way back from Rushcliffe Country Park, one of our favourite places to go for a walk. I think it is safe to say this is one place I will find myself visiting regularly for a Sunday lunch, I have already recommended it to many people.

The staff were all super friendly and attentive, the service was quick and we felt un-rushed, it was a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon following a walk.

With the giant roast dinner costing just £10.95 I think this is a great option to get out of doing the dishes on a Sunday. The mains are a little more expensive but the portion sizes are plentiful and the food really tasty as well as being something a bit different. The children's menu is very reasonable costing just £4.95 for two courses.

We all left full and very happy after a wonderful few hours at Ego, the children had a wonderful time and for me if all four of us are happy then that is always a bonus.

We were invited to try lunch for free, however all words, opinions and pictures are my own.

Wonderful Wellies from Term Footwear - Review

Since we can often be found out and about in the countryside exploring, nothing is more important than good footwear.

As the saying goes there is no such thing as bad weather only bad clothing, so when we were offered some wellies to review from Term Footwear I knew they would come in handy.

Term' school shoes and outdoors is a British brand from a husband and wife team, who have been importing and selling a variety of children's footwear brands in the UK.  They started their business 6 years ago, to supply school shoes to the UK market and have learned much about the types of shoes British children need.  Term was born out of the desire to make a great shoes and boots that children want to wear. 

Term Footwear launched their brand with their own design of wellington boots, perfect for the winter weather!  The wellies are manufactured in the EU from high quality materials and conform to EU standards.  They are flexible and lightweight with an added advantage of a removable roll top sock.  The sock provides great warmth  and comfort (as wellies can be very cold in the winter) and when the spring arrives you can simply remove the sock and the boot will be one EU size larger, so they will last the child for the spring/summer too. 

The wellies come in several bright and funky colours and patterns, something to suit all tastes and with the inclusion of welly socks they are perfect for some winter outdoor fun. They also come with a handy reflective badge at the back, perfect if we are out walking in the evening

I would never normally buy footwear online, however the Term website comes with a measuring print out sheet, so you can be sure to get a good fit. The wellies cost £21.99 which are more expensive than your usual supermarket ones. However these are a sturdy welly and with the addition of the welly socks they will last a few seasons too, I love the super thick soles with contrasting colours and overall am pleased with them, as are the kids.


We were sent these wellies to form this review, all words and opinions are my own.

Snow Fun at the Park

Boxing day evening came with some snow, so not only did we head out that evening to play in the snow, we also headed up to the park in the morning to play and do some sledging.

We headed up to Woodthorpe Park, it has a few huge hills and smaller ones for my daughter, who was climbing up and riding down on her own. We built snowmen and made some snow angels, had snowball fights and drank hot chocolate.

I'm not sure whether we'll have any more snow this winter, so it was good to make the best of it while it was still fresh.

Did you have any snow, if so did you manage to get out into it?

A Visit to Peveril Castle

Whilst in the Peak District the other week we also visited Peveril Castle, well the ruins of the castle anyway.

High upon a hill overlooking Castleton the steep hill was well worth a climb for the stunning views that we got.

The hills also meant the children could spend some time rolling down them, we pretty much had the castle grounds to ourselves so we took the time to embrace a great childhood activity.

Climbing the very, very steep hill to the castle...

Looking out over the beautiful peak district...

Reading about the castle and the gorgeous view...

Rolling down the hill and looking out over the hills...

The beautiful castle ruins...

We had a fabulous time at the top of the hill looking out over the beautiful peak district, the colours were gorgeous and we were so high up.

We had a lovely time at Peveril, it's a wonderful view from up there and Castleton is a beautiful little village with lots of pubs, shops and cafes.

We will definitely be back to this beautiful part of the world, helpfully for a weekend.

Linking up to Country Kids on Coombe Mill

The Beautiful Longshaw Estate in the Peak District

Monday was an inset day at my son's school, so we headed off to the beautiful Peak District for a day out, having adventures and making memories.

First stop was the Longshaw Estate, a beautiful National Trust site that was full of things to do and see for us and the children.

Used during the first world war as an auxiliary hospital, the main building is a beautiful property that is steeped in history, I can only imagine the peace and tranquillity this offered for those soldiers recovering from the trauma of the front line.

One of the main features of the estate are the bogs and the aptly named boggarts, small goblin-like creatures that live in the bogs, ok so we know they aren’t real but for my son this was an exciting prospect which lead to a few hours of fruitless searching!

With several trails around the estate we opted for the Hairy Wood Ant trail, on this trail you are in for a treat as you search for one of Britain’s biggest ants! It is about a mile walk, although with some serious detours for boggart hunting we probably did more like 2 miles.

The boggart trail is really great for kids, it gets their imagination racing and hopefully this will be a memory the children have when they grow older, first stop boggart view for a spot of balancing and boggart spotting.

Then onto boggart burrow, walking under the huge and stunning rhodendrons was a real treat for us all, the branches were just so beautiful, we didn’t spot a boggart but we did find some tracks and scratches.

The stunning lake and unbelievably lush green grass was beautiful, we walked across the fields to find some sheep and some big rocks to climb, making sure to spot the wildlife and pretty wildflowers.

Further round the trail we found boggart hole, a couple of falls and mucky bottoms later we finally spotted the ants, the size of them kinda made me squeal! Not really a huge ant fan but these were pretty impressive, we could see them climbing up the tree in a line and carrying leaves and bits of debris, I even managed to capture two ‘fighting’ as my son said, I prefer to think they are giving each other a kiss.

After this it was spot the ant hill, my son and husband went off in search of more rock and came across a few ant hills and then as we walked further round and knew what we were looking for we found more, all in all about 20. There is plenty of space to play games, hide and seek is our current favourite and the view from the side of the hill was stunning!

It really is a great estate, back at the house there is boggart rise with lots of little doors carved into some trees, I made the children knock before opening to see if there was anything there, we had taken little torches for the children so they could do some proper investigating, these came in handy on a few occasions.

Finally we went into the den building area, an area put aside for you to build dens, this is really big at the moment and we have been to a few places that have branches and an area you can build in.

We continued on into the Peak District and visited Peveril castle in Castleton, but as this post has gone on longer than I’d expected i'll talk more about that next time...

Linking up with Country Kids on Coombe Mill

Stonebridge City Farm

We are very lucky in Nottingham to have a farm right in the city centre, it isn't a massive farm but it has all your standard farm animals, from chickens to cows and even some bees.

The vegetable garden is stocked full of everything from strawberries to gooseberries and carrots to beetroot.

First up running to see the chickens and turkeys, we loved the fluffy chicken...

Feeding the goats...

More goats, or at least we think this one was a goat. It was very fluffy and had lovely curly hair, the pigs were a hit wallowing in mud...

Off to see the cows, they didn't want any food they seemed happy eating a tree they'd been given...

Off to see the gardens, you can just see the beehives, there were lots of bees buzzing round...

Lot's of pretty flowers and fruit, there was an abundance of red currants and we got to see some courgettes and gooseberries growing too. I remember my grandparents having a gooseberry bush in their old garden, such cute fruit...

Looking at the pollytunnels, we saw some garlic being dried and lot's of vegetables waiting to be  planted outside....

Lot's of flowers around for the bees...

This amazing farm is in the centre of Nottingham but you feel like you are in the middle of nowhere, it's a brilliant place to just get out and visit, they sell their veg, honey and eggs and lots of plants so there is an opportunity to take a piece of this fab farm home with you.