Visiting the Fairies at The Trentham Estate

The children had an inset day on Friday, so to make the most of this, we visited The Trentham Estate just outside Stoke on Trent, we had never been before but my mum has often told me about when she used to go with her parents years ago.

The beautiful grounds were once landscaped by Lancelot 'Capability' Brown, so called because of his great capabilities, the huge man-made lake which was made from the River Trent is full of wildlife and surrounded by many different species of trees which makes this a perfect spot for bird watching.

We started our visit with lunch at the Italian Garden Tea Room, some hot chocolates warmed us up and then we all had some fabulous food, the cottage pie and soup being particular highlights and the view over the lake whilst we ate was wonderful. After lunch, we headed out to walk around the lake and spot the fairies

This wonderful dandelion sculpture was the perfect place to start, my daughter loves dandelions and is forever searching them out in the summer to blow the clocks and see the time, the seeds on these ones even look like little fairies.

We were given a sheet with the fairy names and locations, to help us find them all, so as we walked round it was great for the children to be able to spot them, some are more hidden than others. They all had their own names and characters and they were well spaced out around the estate.

Next to the estate is the Monkey Forest and you walk past part of the fence whilst circling the lake, we kept our eyes pealed but weren't able to see any monkeys, this may have been as the Monkey Forest was not open yet, we have added it as another place to visit on our list. As we carried on round the lake, we stopped for snacks at the cafe at the other end of the lake, we sat outside and watched the birds as they came to feed, there were so many different ones and it was a welcome stop on our long walk.

Further round, we came across a little train track which takes you down by the river, a great way to have a seat and take it all in. We had so much fun spotting the fairies in their different locations and although the light wasn't great, it did make for some fantastic pictures of them, this one sat on top of the ticket booth looked so stunning and the fairy on the lake was mine and my daughters favourite.

After we'd walked round the lake, we stopped in the gardens and what remains of the old house, this was dismantled some time ago and if what does remain is anything to go by, it would have been a stunning house, the crumbling remains are beautiful and it is so sad that it has fallen into such disrepair.

Next to the house and the tea rooms where we started, is the play area, with several different playgrounds, sandpits and a barefoot walk, there is so much to do and there is no doubting that you could spend a whole day at Trentham. Finally, we headed through the maze, the view from the top of the viewing tower was fantastic. As we walked back down we spotted the last fairy on our list, I loved this one she looked so carefree.

We had such a wonderful time at Trentham, with so much to do in the area I think we'll make a weekend of it at some point and definitely visit again when it's warmer, a picnic on the lakeside would be wonderful.

Whether you are local or visiting the area I can highly recommend this beautiful estate to come and spend a day, see some history, art and wildlife all in one place.

Bringing Birds into Your Garden

Even though we used to live in the city boundaries, our garden had lots of trees and was always teaming with wildlife, from foxes to squirrels and many different birds. However, since we moved and only have a hedge behind us before fields, the amount of wildlife we see in our garden has dropped dramatically. For me and the children, this is somewhat of a loss. I had seen a few birds moving about in the hedge but with a few cats next door, they seemed reluctant to come down onto the garden to eat some mealworms we had put out for them.

So when we were at the local garden centre and spotted some suet blocks, we decided to get some to put on the fencing at the back of the garden. The idea came from when we visited Center Parcs last year and one of their wildlife experts gave us some to put on the window of our lodge. It was an instant hit with the birds who would fly up to the corner of the window and eat the suet. The children and the adults loved to watch the birds and it was a great feeling to be able to feed these wonderful little creatures.

So why I am telling you this, well this simple and relatively cheap food is a great way to bring wildlife into the garden and so easy to get your children involved in, all you need is a suet block, available from most garden centres and some supermarkets, you can even make your own if you fancy. You can even put out a few mealworms for them, these little fellas are super nutritious for our little garden friends, full of protein and a sure fire way of getting some visitors.

You’ll need to find somewhere that the birds will visit, our fence backs onto the hedge and the birds also have a good vantage point to spot cats so they are happy to visit here. We stuck some of the suet blocks onto the top of the fence and then on the ground below on our side of the fence we poured some meal worms, the black birds really love the meal worms and although I can't stand to look at them they are the perfect source of protein for the birds.

You don't need a lot of be able get these little feathered friends into your garden, with just a few simple ingredients some time and a little love you too can bring some wildlife close to your home, as well as helping to protect our beautiful birds.

Exploring Clumber Park

At the weekend, we were invited to Clumber Park, to explore the grounds by bike and enjoy some of the facilities on offer.

When we have visited previously, we walked around the pleasure grounds near the chapel and played on the woodland play park, so the cycling was a first for us, not just here but I don't think I had even sat on a bike since I was about 12 or 13!

After parking the car, we headed first to the cycle hire centre, where the staff kitted us out with bikes, helmets, a lock and a map of the cycle routes, as well as offering advice on which route to start off with and where not to ride. 

As the children do not ride, my husband had my son on a tagalong bike and I had my daughter on a seat on the back of mine. It was a bit wobbly at first, but got easier as we went along. Traveling by bike meant that we got to see parts of the park that we had not seen before. Past the village of Hardwick, on the other side of the lake, there are fields, full of butterflies, insects and birds of prey, it was wonderful to be able to stop and look at these.

The view from the other side of the lake is amazing and I am quite sad we haven't seen it before, it is definitely a walk or ride we will be taking again. The cycle paths are flat and steep in equal measures, though if you don't mind dismounting, then you can follow the flat path along the edge of the lake.

With the kit Clumber Park gave us, we had binoculars and bug spotting kits so the children enjoyed being able to spot the wildlife across the lake and beyond.

After we'd been round once we stopped for lunch, there was a short wait for lunch from the restaurant itself so we opted for the BBQ outside. 

My daughter chose the child's lunch box which contained a freshly made sandwich, mini cheddars, cheese and crackers, yoghurt, biscuits and a drink, not bad for £4.50. I had the pork cob, hubby had the burger and my son had the sausage cob, with two portions of chips and a couple of beers it came to £31, it certainly filled us up for the rest of the day.

Afterwards we payed a visit to the second hand bookshop and the discovery centre, this is a great little spot to chill out with lots of space to explore, sit and read, learn and play.

After another cycle round the lake, we headed up to the walled garden, you have to pay to get into this area unless you are a National Trust member, it isn't much though, it's free for children and then £3.65 per adult without Gift Aid.

You could spend a good hour and a half  to two hours in the garden and they run talks and tours too, as it heads towards the summer holidays they also have lots of activities for children with the new Sunflower Alley opening this week.

There are so many beautiful flowers and areas to explore in the gardens, from the fruit and herb gardens to their many varieties of rhubarb. It was great to be able to get up close and personal with so many different plants, many of which we hadn't seen before. There was a bug house kit in the bag of goodies we were given so we took a look at the ones in the garden, which made the children excited about making this.

We really had an amazing time at Clumber Park, getting to see so much on the bikes was great and although my legs ached for days afterwards, it was by far the best way to see and explore. As a final treat before we left we headed over to the cricket pitch where there was a match on, we had an ice cream and then took it in turns to fly the pocket kite from the gift shop.

These things are normally something we might overlook in the shop, but actually they made our day out that little bit more special.

Clumber Park is a great place to visit this summer with so much to offer, see and do whether it is just to kick a ball around, go exploring in the woods or go biking round the lake.

NB: We were given free entry to the park, cycle hire and meal voucher to form this review. All opinions are my own.

A Walk Around Local History

Not far from us is a country park which is home to one of the many great british landmarks, an old pit and the winding engine house that stood above it.

As you drive along the road to Bestwood Country Park you see the beautiful houses that would have once been home to miners for Bestwood Pit, beautiful little terraces with ornate friezes.

The park itself is over 690 acres so there is a lot to explore, today though we climbed the hill to find the adventure playground.

Walking up to see the winding house

You can just about see the hole but about 10 foot in it is filled in.

I adore the building, such an ornate and beautiful building for something that was such a messy job, guess that's how it was all those years ago.

Someone had carved a snake out of this tree, we seem to see so many tree carvings at the minute.

Finally after a steep hill climb, we get to the adventure playground, well worth the walk though.
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Not sure who was having more fun? Father or Son?

Finding little hedgehogs again (sweet chestnuts)

Attempting a game of noughts and crosses

Looking at the moss on a tree trunk

We found this old rotting tree, lots of bugs and creatures in it...

Including this wasp, guessing it was a queen having a snooze, hope we didn't disturb her too much!

You can just see the yellow in the middle of the bark.

Hiding under this lovely big tree, discussing it's den making qualities of course

Accessing the way out

Walking back home to find some puddles to have a last minute splash in

Puddles found and also a hole in my sons wellies, time to find some new ones me thinks.

Lots of squelchy mud

Pretty gorse flower, if you haven't smelt these before they smell of coconut.

Bestwood Country Park is a lovely green place not far from the city and a lovely piece of history of something that was so important many years ago.

Linking up to Country Kids with Coombe Mill

Hello Spring...Out in the Garden

So unless you have been living under a stone or in a part of the country it isn't sunny you will have noticed that recent days have been truly wonderful, sun shining and blue skies with a little bit of a chill.

Perfect weather for being out and about and today as we went to hang out our Pinata Box Bird Feeder we also took the time to look at the garden, the bulbs sprouting, the moss and everything in between.

I think even just spending half an hour in the garden is good for the soul, there is so much to see and as it grew a little colder and darker it was nice to come in and have a lovely hot chocolate to warm those little hands.

First we found this bone, my son thought it was a dinosaur bone and although I hated to shatter his vision I told him it was probably from a lamb (we have a few neighbours who leave meat out for the cats/foxes)

We also found this nest that had fallen out of a tree, my sons face was a picture.

Looking under rocks for bugs we found some little roots from trees and seeds.

We had a look at the moss on the rocks and touched it to see how it felt....furry apparently ;)

I'm not sure how this got here, I am assuming someone made it for their children that used to live here with some fern leaves and concrete.

Next we had a look at the castor oil plant, these leaves are very Jurassic, they are huge so this thrilled my dino loving son.

We also  these found these 'helicoptors' from the ash tree, one had a little root growing from it so this was exciting to see.

And finally we found some gorgeous lichen on the apple tree and a beautiful pink heather which we think look like little bells.

There are some really wonderful things in the garden at the minute, coming into life as the sun starts to heat everything up.