Autumn Leaves at Rufford Abbey

Nature and Autumn always seem to work together to create the most beautiful colours, for the last few years we have headed out into the woods to play amongst the leaves and this year was no different.

We headed up to Rufford Abbey, a usual haunt for some autumn leaf action. It started off as a sunny autumn day but no sooner had we got our wellies on it started to cloud over. But for us it didn’t matter, we all had our waterproof coats and wellies on, wrapped up so we were snug and warm.

We played in the woods, throwing leaves, running and jumping over logs, then we looked for mushrooms and acorns and talked about the seasons.

The children climbed the trees and even rode them like horses and the ever changing season never failed to give us something to look at and play with.

As we walked through the woods we saw a log pile, so all of us broke into the Gruffalo story, it is a great way to spend a lazy Sunday morning, reciting one of our most favourite stories.

As we got towards the ford it started to rain, so we watched a few cars splash through the water and then headed into the café for a warming sausage roll and hot chocolate, a standard for us on our winter visits.

It carried on raining so we headed back around the river, covered by the dwindling canopy of the trees, the little miss still munching away on her sausage roll and me holding on to the last bits of warmth from my hot chocolate. We came to some rather sodden and hungry ducks who were eager to eat any crumbs that dropped off my daughter’s sausage roll, we befriended a duck who followed us like a little puppy.

As we came out of the woods the rain had stopped but the wind whipped round our ears and so the children decided they wanted to go home and snuggle on the sofa, but not before they pretended to be birds flying with the giant leaves they had found.

I love Rufford Abbey and the fun we have there, it is a place we visit all the time and we still manage to find something new to explore or see. The ever changing seasons offer up new colours, fauna and wildlife and that's why we love it.

SaveSaveSaveSave

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.

ParkLives - Free Outdoor Activities for all the Family

A few weeks ago I was asked if i'd be interested in trying out one of the activities as part of ParkLives, if you haven't heard of it, which I hadn't, ParkLives provides free activities in your local parks and green spaces.  

I had been wanting to try yoga for a while as i'd been told it may help with my Fibromyalgia. There were a few places with Yoga sessions, but Wollaton Hall was the easiest to get too and meant the family could come too if they wanted.

Unfortunately, there was another event on so it meant paying £4 for the car park as opposed to the usual £2, had the family been with me, we could have spent the whole day there but it kind of negates the free aspect of it so I was a little disappointed. However this is just Wollaton, most other locations have free parking.

When I arrived, Lisa, the instructor was just setting up, it was easy to see where she was because she had the ParkLives banner with her, details of the location are also on the activity booking form so make a note of where you need to meet.

Mats were provided but if you had your own then you could bring it along, I didn't have one so I used the ones provided, I did take some water though.

Lisa was really lovely and I spoke to her for a bit before it started, as I am a complete newbie to yoga I was worried I wouldn't be able to do any of it, especially with the Fibro, however she explained if I couldn't do it to stop or she could give alternative positions for me to work in.

There were a few regulars to the event and another newbie on the session, it was really nice and I felt completely relaxed and not at all like I was being judged by anyone who had more experience.

There are so many different events as part of ParkLives, from netball to frisbee, football to tai chi as well as healthy walking and best of all it's free. 

I can highly recommend checking out what ParkLives has to offer, I for one will be back for more sessions, I may even take the family this time. ParkLives sessions are currently taking place in and around Nottingham, Birmingham, Newcastle, Glasgow, Manchester and the London Borough of Newham.

NB: This is a collaborative post, however all words and opinions are my own.

Fun with Friends at Bradgate Park

This weekend we headed to Bradgate Park with some of my sons school friends, and the mums and dads of course.

Apparently children play better when they are a group, take them walking just the four of you and you'll go on a walk, go with their peers and they will explore, jump and climb.

So off we went for a day out on what turned out to be a super sunny and wonderful day.

As we climbed the hill to see the folly, we got to climb rocks, spot dears and look for newts and frogs in the ponds.

From the top of the hill the views were beautiful, some clever child had bought paper and pencils so there was time for a spot of drawing too.

Lots of rocks to climb on and logs to sit and think on, it was an absolute joy to spend time here and who would have thought we were so close to Leciester.

We looked down holes in the ground to see if we could spot any rabbits, jumped over muddle puddles and explored the castle at the top of the hill.

Finally we found the waterfalls and stream and everyone had a great time stepping over the water and climbing and fishing with bits of reed and twigs.

We walked over four miles and although exhausted today it was great to be out in the fresh air, soaking up some Vitamin D and enjoying the countryside.

Afterwards we went to The Bradgate pub for lunch, we had pizza, which was extremely tasty (I had the Gluten Free option which was also very yummy) and the children played on the wonderful play area, the perfect end to a great day.

Linking up to Magic Moments on The Olivers Madhouse and Country Kids on Coombe Mill

 

Black & White Photography Project Week 38

We took our neighbour to the hospital this week and whilst we waited for her we visited the park, it was a gorgeous morning and the sun was shining. The blossom was starting to emerge and made for a beautiful upwards shot! Beautiful in colour but equally as lovely in black and white.

Black & White Photo Project Wk 33

We were at the park the other day and I spotted this fabulous duck, not sure what type it is but I just thought it was super pretty.

Making Time

A few weeks ago I was having lunch with some fabulous bloggers, one of those was the lovely Becky from Baby Budgeting and A Beautiful Space.

We were talking about my daughter starting school in September and how I am trying to make the most of the time I have left with her before she is there full time. She told me a wonderful story about her and her daughter before she started school and how they made a bracelet together, it made me more determined to make the most of my time with my little girl.

So, after we had dropped my son off at school, we went to the park. We spent an hour or so playing hide and seek, then we sat on a bench and talked about how we'd miss each other come September.

Then we went to play on the park, spotted some snowdrops and looked at the ducks. It was a wonderful way to spend some time, afterwards we went home to warm up and have a hot chocolate.

I missed my son when he went to school but I had my daughter to fill my time and the gap he left, I'm not sure how I will feel come September but I know that half terms, inset days and weekends will become even more precious.

Black & White Photo Project Wk 23

We had a wonderful chilly winter walk around Clumber Park yesterday, the brass band were playing and the ground was white with frost.

Black & White Photo Project Wk 22

Pictures in black and white always seem so timeless!

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.

An Autumn Walk at Rufford Abbey

My son school has a two week half term break in October and as for the first few days of it there was such terrible weather, once it cleared up on the Wednesday, we decided to head out in the morning to Rufford Abbey.

We have been there many times before, it is the perfect place to let of steam and whether its summer or winter it's a favourite for us.

Firstly, there was something we had expected to see, a community archaeology project were digging up part of the grass. This looked interesting, so we made the little detour to check it out, the volunteers had dug up old tiles, brick work and some pottery. If you look closely you can see a paw print on the tile in this picture.

The main reason I took the children to Rufford was because I wanted them to run and play in the leaves and I knew there would be plenty there. We looked at the leaves in the light to see their veins, so it was educational too.

A rather friendly goose trying to eat my wellies and some obligatory leaf finding.

The house looked beautiful eerily beautiful against the dark sky and surrounded by beautiful burning trees, autumn really is a beautiful season. There were some halloween treats about, including a witch in a tree, we also played on the park and dug in the sand.

After the park we went and found some more leaves to play in, we spent ages kicking and chucking leaves and then sadly it started to rain. But we got to see some wonderful colours and had a fabulous time. We didn't have to pay for any of the fun we had, well, expect a hot chocolate for me and a snack each for the kids.

So if you are looking for something to do this half term and are local to Nottingham I can highly recommend Rufford Abbey, they have a halloween trail during half term so perfect for getting into the halloween spirit

A Visit to White Post Farm

As a last day of the holidays treat for my son I asked him where he wanted to go and his answer was White Post Farm, so with the weather being nice I packed a picnic and off we went.

White Post Farm is quite the institution around Nottinghamshire, having been around for the last 20 years it was somewhere I visited when I was younger.

First thing to do when we got there was feed the ducks, they were certainly rather hungry...

Lots of animals to see, it's great having chickens roaming round the farm as it allows you to get up close and personal.

The incubation room is a really great way to show children about how life starts, here we are watching to see if any chicks were hatching, there were quite a few babies about including some lambs which were a few days old.

In the barn there is a an indoor play area, slides, sheds with toys and a home corner, this makes a great place for mum and dad to take five. Here you also get the opportunity to hold some of the baby animals, we held a guinea pig and a mouse.

The huge outdoor park is the perfect place for warmer weather, with climbing frames, go-karts and trampolines it's a great way to break up the day and with picnic benches a good place to break for lunch.

We had fun spotting the piggies, they are so big and my son was telling us about their wallowing hole and how they use the mud as suncream, he had learnt about this on his day trip here earlier in the year...

There were plenty of different animals to look at including some rather enchanting deer, I loved the way this fella was just resting his head on the floor, so handsome!

There is plenty of space to run around and more animals to spot, we found this cheeky sheep looking at us through the fence and then two llamas eating the berries off a tree!

There are tractors and combine harvesters to climb aboard to see what it would be life to be a farmer and cows to have a go at 'milking', there is lots to keep them entertained and now they have a crazy golf course too which looked amazing although we didn't have the time to go on it.

We loved this cheeky llama, he stood waiting for us to feed him but we didn't have any four legged animal food so couldn't give him anything, sorry Mr Llama!

And finally onto the these playful little characters! I love meerkats, so inquisitive and very cute and I managed to capture this one just as he looked up at me!

Linking up to Country Kids on Coombe Mill