National Trust Mottisfont

After our petrol head day at Beaulieu  we opted for a lower key day with a hike and a National Trust property. (There is a video at the end of the post). We followed part of the Monarch's Way from our accommodation over to Mottisfont. 

My mum and I enjoyed seeing the churches on the route but my son was not at all impressed:

After a 3 mile walk we were very relieved to reach the estate:

It wouldn't be a National Trust property in the school holiday without some sort of trail. On this occasion it was scarecrows. My son had had enough of trails so we didn't join in:

I spotted that there was an adventure playground so after a bite to eat we headed over to find it. There were some lovely carved pieces of wood to show us where it was:

It was all made from wood and there were opportunities to balance, climb and jump:

For a rest we explored the rest of the gardens. The gardeners had cunningly set up leaf bins to encourage children to collect them up! We didn't manage to bag one of the child sized wheelbarrows but my son did his part:

Of course we had to look around the house as well. It is built on the old abbey and the cellar is part of the original buildings. The inside of the house is currently celebrating the life of sons of Maud Russell who lived in the house after 1934. There was also a chance to play the harpsichord and grand piano that they had played:

We had a final wander around the gardens including the Font that the house is named for, the rose garden (sadly we missed most of the roses) and a chance to do a Hobbit impression at the foot of a venerable oak tree:

All in all a good use of our membership. Here is a little video of the play area and music:

Heatherton World of Activities

The biggest day out on our trip to Pembrokeshire was to Heatherton World of Activities. We had enjoyed this trip last year and had wished that we could do more, we also needed to budget for going with both groups of holiday makers! It proved to be an incentive to get my son out of bed for 2 weeks on the trot to do car boot sales to raised enough money for our credits - you pay to play. We were able to buy a decent amount of shared credits and this is some of the fun that we had:

8 Track Slot Racing

This is so much more fun when you have a group to race against so perfect on our break. Even I got to have a go, although I swear I always get the slowest car!

Bumper Boats

I really need to have a go on these next year as my son and the other children had a wonderful time crashing into each other!

Mini Landrovers

Langdale Gala 2018

On the first Sunday of July its the Langdale Gala at Chapel Stile which is a traditional Cumbrian event. The weather wasn't typical when we arrived:

After signing in for the fell race the first event my son took part in was the school's Cumberland & Westmorland wrestling. There was a little mix up when he wasn't in the draw for the juniors but after I'd pointed this out he ended up winning and getting £5! This was a friend's son in his first ever bout as an under 15:

The flat races then started with traditional events such as sack, sprint and egg & spoon races. My son was in the sack race:

 and then I had to head up onto the fell side for the fell races:

Due to the heat all the juniors took the lower level route. There were some disappointed teenagers that they had to only do the under 13 route:

Chateau and Velo Rail at Commequiers

One of days out was to the Velo Rail at Commequiers. We first discovered the joys of the Cycle Trains when staying in Seine et Marne in 2013 and so were keen to have another go now that my son was tall enough to pedal! 

We allowed time to picnic on the way having pre-booked for 2 pm (be warned its very popular so you have to reserve...). So we hunted down the Chateau Commequiers:

Unfortunately due its state of disrepair the castle has been closed for access since 2014 and they are raising funds to rescue it. They still use the grounds for a medieval spectacular in August:

Hidden in the woods we discovered a children's play area:

#CountryKids Wray Castle, National Trust

My son was asked which National Trust property he would like to be taken to by his aunt and uncle. It was no surprise to me that he chose Wray Castle:

We weren't the only ones who knew that this is the best place to visit with children on a wet, autumn Lakes day and it was very busy with a full car park. Luckily we managed to get in alright. There are plenty of things to occupy children indoors including building blocks in the Peter Rabbit rooms:

We also managed a short table tennis game before checking out the Steam Gondola room:

One of the most popular rooms (and now upstairs) was the castle blocks room. Lots of children building, balancing and having fun with the foam building blocks:

Reasons to be cheerful: Easter family fun and a cat! #R2BC

I am so glad we still have this week off for Easter as time is simply flying! Thanks for joining in last week and I hope that more of you are back from school holidays to join in this week. Don't forget to visit the other linkers and leave a comment... Here are my reasons to be cheerful this week:

1) Coco

We adopted a cat called Coco last Thursday he is an adorable 9 month old kitten who has stolen all our hearts. He is fitting right in at home and hopefully he will soon feel like this is where he belongs. I have never had a cat before and it so far is a pleasure to have one (especially as its my daughter's job to clean out the litter tray!):

2) Proud Mum

On Saturday we all wet to Parkrun with my wider family. My daughter was the official photographer and took so many fabulous shots. My son ran his best time for 18 months and really is coming back into form again:

3) Family

We really enjoyed having our extended family around last weekend. Things like the park are so much more fun with others to share it with:

4) Family days out at National Trust

I have already blogged about how we have already made use of renewed National Trust membership. We are lucky to have some fantastic properties near us like Allan Bank:

and Sizergh Castle:

#CountryKids at Allan Bank National Trust in Grasmere

Having renewed our National Trust membership yesterday (and getting a voucher for free Easter hunts!) we picked up the grandparents and headed for Grasmere and Allan Bank. You have to  find somewhere to park in the village (get there early) and then walk up the drive to reach the house:

We found the first clue for the Easter hunt before we had even reached the house:

Once we had collected our back we headed straight out to find the next one:

#CountryKids Easter Fun at Sizergh Castle

Today my son and I headed over to Sizergh Castle. We wanted to do the Easter trail around the grounds and even though it was damp we weren't the only ones following the signs:

I think it was the best one we have done there yet and there was plenty to spot and clues to solve including this chap on the pond:

The route took us passed the Stumpery which is looking resplendent with Spring growth:

#CountryKids Cruising on Windermere #CumbriaIsOpen

I was very lucky recently to win a prize during a weekend celebrating Cumbria and giving a much needed PR boost to our flooded county. Our prize was a Freedom of the Lake family pass with Windermere Cruises, we hadn't been on the steamers since 2013 so it was a big treat.. We were unable to use them on the original weekend as my daughter was in hospital so they kindly gave us a pass for any day this year. This meant we were able to use them during our Easter holidays.

The trip did not start in a promising fashion as when we got to Bowness the boats were not sailing due to the fog on the lake:

We decided to wait and hope that we would get our day out! There was time to see whether the children would have been underwater in the last two floods. Looks like my daughter would have had her head clear but her little brother would have been in deep water (hence the sad face!): 

In the end we didn't have to wait as long as we feared and were on board the Teal and ready to go:

#CountryKids at Warwick Castle

As part of our single parent break we had a day at Warwick castle with three other families. We were lucky to get special £5 a head tickets to make it an affordable trip. First photo opportunity was the stocks:

It is an amazing sight with its medieval walls:

We decided to brave the rampart walk with its 530 steps. A bit of exercise and fresh air:

Worth it for the views:

#CountryKids at Carew Castle and Tidal Mill

This is the last story from our summer holiday in Pembrokeshire. On the last whole day a few of us decided to head together to Carew Castle and Tidal Mill as there was a special medieval weekend going on. Its another one of Edward I's Marcher Castles and its still impressive even in its ruinous state:

First of all the children did a special  treasure hunt which had them all hurtling up and down the many stair cases:

Oakwood Theme Park, Pembrokeshire

On the second day of our holiday the group all headed to Oakwood Theme Park which a popular destination for thrill seekers. We were a mixed group and most of the families found something to suit them. My son had paired up with a boy a similar age and my daughter vanished off with her new chum and his mum. Our day started fairly sedately with the bob sleigh:

I love these rides having been on the one in Robin Hill Country Park but it was my son's first ever. He got a bit more than he bargained for as the ride was paused when he was nearly at the top as the next sled hadn't engaged on the chain.. 

Reasons to be Cheerful Back from our Hols! #R2BC

This month the linky is being hosted over at Ojo's World and next week it will come back to me! I may need poking to remind me... Meanwhile here are my reasons to be cheerful this week:

1) Back from a super holiday

I have briefly mentioned our holiday last week. There were so many reasons to cheerful about with a fab bunch of families in a beautiful location:

Lots more to come later this week!