Following the Hoodwinked Trail Around Nottingham

A few years ago we got to see the super Zebra Art in Southampton, this year Nottingham have been lucky enough to have their own wonderful art installations in the form of the Hoodwinked Robins.

These quirky, cute and brightly coloured feathered friends have really bought the city to life and I have loved seeing them on my way to and from work and when I pop out at lunch.

So I took the kids to see them and we followed the trail around Nottingham, it was great to visit places we don't usually see.

We started at the train station....

Saw the sky mirror down near the Nottingham Playhouse...

Said Ayup Me Duck to the Robin near, well near the Robin Hood statue at the castle...

Found the mean old Sheriff of Nottingham Robin...

We found the wonderful super hero Robin with the same name as my son...

Looked at some landmarks on the Robin in Trinity Square...

And said hello to the Robin who looked like Robin Hood outside The Nottingham Building Society...

Whether you have a paper map or use the app it is a great way to see the city and the time and effort gone in to designing the Robins is inspiring. I for one have loved seeing their cute faces on my walks through town.

They are in Nottingham until the 30th September and they will then be sold off to raise money for the Nottinghamshire Hospice.

The robins will all come together at Fernleigh House and Gardens, home of Nottinghamshire Hospice, on Friday 12 October until Sunday 14 October where you can visit them all together, there is a charge for this though.

Following The Zebra Trail in Southampton

Since we were heading down to Southampton to visit the Royal Caribbean Navigator of the Seas we decided to make a weekend of it and head down the day before, we've never been to Southampton before so we thought it would make a nice little weekend break.

I had seen about the Zebra trail on the Southampton Tourist Twitter page, so was looking forward to visiting them whilst we were there, there are many parks in Southampton city centre, so we decided to walk down through the parks and then on to the City Art Gallery before heading out for dinner.

To be able to walk through some wonderful park land, with plenty of space for a picnic, a huge park for the children and a little fair on for the summer, was a great way to entertain the children and as it was hot we stopped for an ice cream too.

The zebras were everywhere, we found one in the city centre and then they pretty much popped up everywhere we walked after that. This one was by the band stand and it wasn't until afterwards I noticed the delightful bit of rubbish standing with it.

We walked down towards the the art gallery and found this beauty, with zebras eating ice creams it was the perfect zebra for the day, with so many different Zebras and no two alike, they got us talking about the shapes and colours used.

I hadn't realised you weren't allowed to take photos in the gallery but managed to snap this beauty before my husband told me it was no photos, thankfully this meant I side stepped the shame of being asked not to take photos by the staff there.

Outside the gallery was I think one of my favourite Zebras, covered in wonderful bright bees with a hidden Where's Wally style bee, you can just see him hiding behind my sons shoulder.

After our evening stroll down to the quay, we headed back to the hotel but not before stopping to see a few more Zebras, the shark was my second favourite after the bees and such a fabulously zany idea  but every single one of them was brilliant and as beautiful as the last.

I loved this idea, it gets people exploring areas of a town they may not have seen before, looking at other peoples ideas on a different kind of paper. So if you happen to be in Southampton this summer then do check out the Zebras, they are well worth a visit and I only wish we'd had the time to explore more of this wonderful city.

The Gruffalo Trail at Sherwood Pines

After a lot of rain and rubbish weather, Wednesday saw a break with some nice sunshine, so I packed up a picnic and some games and headed to Sherwood Pines to walk round the Gruffalo Trail and a few hours in the fresh air.

First we went to meet the Gruffalo, the attention to detail was great with the purple prickles on his back and the wart on the end of his nose. The kids loved him and gave him a big hug!

It was easy to spot the trail from the path with lots of brightly coloured bunting leading the way.

First we stopped and saw the mouse, we've read this story so many times it wasn't difficult to tell it to them as we walked through the forest.

Along the way there were lots of signs which gave you tasks to do, such as listen out for sounds you can here and spot colours in the forest.

Next was a sign asking us to make a character from the book out of things from the forest floor,  we chose to make the snake out of pine cones and a rock, it looks really good with the pine cone seeds looking like scales.

Next we had to move like the different creatures in the book, can you slither like a snake or stomp like a Gruffalo. 

Next we took a detour to look round some houses and play a game of hide and seek, spotting what bugs we could see under old bits of bark and then onto building a den. This is a really great way of getting the children to work together and I loved den building when I was younger.

Time for a climb...

After a few hours on the park, a hot chocolate and ice cream stop we headed back to the car but before we came home we had time to look in the woods again. My daughter adding to the collection of pine cones we have and my son making himself a stick man complete with sword and shield. 

This park is a great place to visit if you like biking, playing or just exploring.

Linking up to Country Kids on Coombe Mill