Sheffield Park

The latest National Trust magazine arrived on Saturday morning, which reminded us that perhaps we don't get the nest value from our membership.  So we loaded into the car and headed for Sheffield Park, which is yet another 'Capability' Brown garden north of Lewis.

The ordering of these pictures is all over the place - I'm sure you'll forgive me!

It was pretty muddy...

On the look out for ducks....

Little waterfall....

Not such a fan of silly hats as her dad then!

There were plenty trees to climb.  The gardens are bound to be stunning in Spring, Summer and Autumn - but they were also pretty special in Winter.

Bigger waterfall.....

Charlotte has a fascination with ducks.

 

Picnic at Woods Mill

Yesterday I took the children to the park for some fresh air.  Callum made a quick call to Granny.

And today we took a picnic to Woods Mill (despite the cold!) and even took some bread to feed the fish.

However, apparently the fish don't eat in the winter!!  Well, not bread off the surface anyway..

So we got on and had our own food.

All gone!

New Beginnings

Today was the first day at a new nursery for Charlotte - she obviously had a great day!

And Callum has started at his school.

He will be there full time proper as of September. But in the meantime he is there two days a week.  Blimey, he looks grown up!

Happy Birthday to......?

New Year's Eve.......

.......was spent with Laurie and Jo in Somerset.

Here are Callum and Charlotte enjoying Laurie's scooter.

As they live just a few miles from Glastonbury we took the children there for a look round and a play at the park. Some of the locals are 'facinating'!

In the evening we enjoyed a beautiful curry and some very good wine! New Year was seen in outside with some champagne and the bells from the local church.

Christmas Part II

We were in Scotland between Boxing Day and the 30th of December.  Callum was given a Superman  outfit which he literally did not take off the whole time we were there (even sleeping in it the first night).  See the video above for the trip to Perth!

Here he is with the rest of us having lunch in Abernethy.....

.......and saving the world back in Milnathort!

This is  Charlotte with Corrina (who used to live next door to Grandma and Poppa).  They were very sweet together.

All in all a great few days!!

For the Musicians

Christmas Day

Christmas Day was fantastic! Callum was so excited I thought he might explode! Here he is with his stocking from Father Christmas...

We had a lot of fun and a fantastic lunch....


And some brilliant presents.







After a wonderful few days in Herefordshire, we are now in Scotland having Christmas all over again - Fantastic!

Christmas Eve

Tradition is a wonderful thing, especially at Christmas. And of course, traditions can be started at any time!!!

On Christmas eve Grandpa, Uncle Adam, Daddy and Callum walked over the hills and fields to pick up the turkey (and some cider).

The last time we all did this traditional walk was two years ago, when a certain someone was a wee bit smaller.

Earlier in the day Callum and Granny made the mince pies...


A new traditional was adopted in the evening when the men made paella and the women enjoyed nibbles and champagne.

The evening was rounded off with a very funny game of Pictionery (the new version)!

Conversation

"So Callum, you are going to have a haircut."


"No seriously, you are. The man on the bus thought you were a girl."

"Oh dear, never mind"

"Only joking, you look great!"

Wilderness Wood

Sunday and the action packed weekend continues!

We took the children to Wilderness Wood near Uckfield which is a working woodland with a big trail and adventure playground.

So off we marched through the woods.

We all had our sticks!

After all that walking we needed some lunch and a little rest in the glorious sunshine!

mmmmmmmm pasta! Brilliantly heated up by some soup we had in a thermos flask.

Just a little bit cute!

After lunch we made it to the adventure playground where Callum had a ball!

King of the jungle - imagine the Tarzan cry "consisting of five distinct phases, namely sustain, followed by ululation, followed by sustain, but at a higher frequency, followed by ululation, followed by sustain at the starting frequency" if you wonder what I'm on about check out here

Finally, some more video. He really had to hang on tight!

Spring Bank Farm Park

On Saturday we met our friends Ben and Dinah with their little girl Phoebe and baby boy Charlie. We went to Spring Bank Farm Park near Lewes.

It was great - a lovely day with hardly anyone else there. They had lots of animals of course and hay bales to play on/hide behind....

Here is Ben with Phoebe and Callum hiding from a monster. The monster in question was another little boy there who was a bit vicious (he bit someone else!!).


Callum and goat, but I guess you knew that already!






The best fun was had on the go-karts. They had ones for adults as well as children. Charlotte loved it!!

However, no one had as much fun as Vic. Here she is beating Dinah in a Mum's race. You can see that Vic won by a couple of lengths!

Here is a little video showing me and Dinah having a race joined by a few others.