Beautiful Winter Light at Rufford Abbey

Last weekend we headed to Rufford Abbey for a walk to blow away the cobwebs. I love Rufford, it is a beautiful place that my children and I have spent many hours visiting.

With the sun low in the sky it created wonderfully atmospheric conditions for some beautiful winter photos of my two favourite people and our one of our favourite places to visit.

Here are just a few and I think you'll agree this time of year is the most perfect for some wonderful pictures with the most beautiful winter light.

Where is your favourite place to blow away cobwebs?

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.

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Bluebells at Rufford Abbey

Spring brings us a time when the countryside and woodlands are filled with beautiful bluebells, these enticing blue flowers carpet the ground between the trees and make theses places even more inviting to explore.

With sunshine a plenty, we ventured over to the wonderful Rufford Abbey, it is a favourite spot of ours and as it's just 20 minutes up the road from us, it is a great place to head out for some time outside. With woodland, a ford, plenty of bird spotting opportunities, a park and gardens there is so much to do.

We headed out into the woods in search of some old logs on the woodland floor, they are great places to find bugs and little creatures, especially this time of the year as they start to come out of their winter slumber.

The woods are a great opportunity to explore and capture some beautiful moments, both of my children love to run and jump about, finding old tree stumps to stand on, we even found a tree that had fallen over and it was a beautiful opportunity to capture some family photos.

This time of year, as the trees start to unfurl their new leaves it and a wave of green washes over the land, is a great time to get out into the fresh air and embrace the outdoors.

After we'd spent an hour exploring the bluebells and woodland, we headed down to our other favourite spot, the ford, for a spot of car watching, we had a warm sausage roll for lunch and then headed back round the lake to park.

The park is always a hit with the children, who love to run through the tunnels and play in the sand. We took a wander back up to the abbey itself, underneath, there are rooms which were once home to the monks and staff who lived and worked in the once great house that also stood there. It's a great place to stop and learn about the history of the abbey and its visitors over the years, which included Charles II.

Wherever you live, I would highly recommend a visit to one of this countries many bluebell woods, last year we visited Bunny Wood and that was a true delight, with a vast blanket of bluebells to explore. I never appreciated them when I was younger, even though the woods near where we used to have a caravan were covered in them. Maybe like a lot of things in life they are something to be appreciated as you get older.

Lazy Days and Rainy Play

Getting out and about in winter is important, with short days and not much light, there is nothing better that a bit of sunshine to boost your Vitamin D and most of all, you don't need to let rain stop play. On what started off as a slightly dull morning, we headed to Rufford Abbey, a regular haunt for us and a great place especially at this time of year.

It was cold but we wrapped up in several layers and headed out for a picnic, some puddle splashing and a hot chocolate, with a spot of bird watching and leaf throwing too. A highlight of every trip to Rufford is stopping to watch the cars splash through the ford. 

We were sent some waterproof clothes and wellies from Helly Hansen a few months back and they are the perfect addition to rainy day play, allowing us to get out and about no matter what the weather and learning to enjoy being outdoors, come rain or shine. Splashing, getting mucky and no more excuses as to why we can't because daddy doesn't want mud in his car!

My daughter absolutely loved being able to splash about in the puddles, with not a care in the world, her little hands as well as her outfit covered in mud.

The great thing about having the freedom to get dirty is that it means you can go anywhere, explore anywhere and be anything you want to be. You can be a puddle jumper, leaf kicker or tunnel crawler. You could even just take a leisurely stroll in the rain.

What I love about Helly wear is that it is all super light, you don't feel restricted and that makes it easier to do all of the things that make getting out and about fun. The jackets have been perfect in the summer rain and now make great outerwear for the colder wetter weather.

Getting out and about last weekend was great fun, we enjoyed some family time and lots of fresh air. We got to see the final flutters of summer as the last of the leaves on the trees fell to the ground and autumn well and truly settled in, with the lake slightly frozen over and the cold chilling any exposed skin, it was clear that winter is on its way.

With everyone kitted out in waterproofs, the splashing and rainy day play can continue and we look forward to more adventures where we can just go where we want to go and not worry about how muddy we get.