Blenheim Palace has always held a special spot in my heart: It’s a beautiful estate just a stone’s throw from Oxford. We’ve had many Sunday walks there and the kids have ridden the little train, admired the butterflies in the butterfly house, conquered the maze more often than I can count. I love following the […]
natural childhood
Travel: returning to familiar places
Travel is all about discovering new places, new experiences and new adventures… or is it? Can travel be about returning to the same place again and again and discovering more nuances about a place? Years ago, I remember being very surprised when a friend was going back to the same holiday park in Devon for […]
A Postcard…with love: the Gower Peninsula, Wales
Hi, We’re sending our love from the Gower. If you are ever after endless beaches to share with few others, this is the place! We’ve had lovely long walks, splashed in the shallow waters and delved into rockpools. Little mobile reception, little interruption from modern life. We bought our veggies straight from the farm from […]
A Postcard…with love: the New Forest, UK
My Dear, We’re having such a fabulous time with our friends in the New Forest at Aldridge Hill campsite. It’s hot and the kids are in the stream constantly; discovering all sorts of small and large critters, building dams, swimming, swinging, cycling. I totally understand why this site is referred to by the Camping […]
What? No toilets or showers? Camping at Aldridge Hill
What better (or more insane?) way to start our summer holidays of camping, than to pick a site with no facilities aside from drinking water and chemical toilet disposal point? And to top it, invite a friend with her 3 kids who is “not into camping” and loves her 1-2 showers a day. Two […]
Follow Tolkien’s footsteps to a forest of magic- Puzzlewood
The Forest of Dean is a gorgeous spans of woodland, but it has a extra special corner-Puzzlewood, an eerie and mystical forest. This is a forest I’m not sure I’d dare to enter as the night draws in! A landscape shaped by, what geologists think are, collapsed caves and ancient trees. The floor of the […]
Badger watching on an early May evening, Wytham Woods
There we were badger watching; sitting in Wytham Woods with a small group of folks. My 5 year old and 7 year old were fidgeting, but trying their hardest to stay as quiet and still as possible. Almost 2 hours; It was a long time to sit still, especially on a chilly evening! It […]
Allen Banks: How far can a 22 month old toddler walk?
Allen Banks is a stretch of the Allen river managed by the National Trust. We missed the Bat walk with the ranger 2 nights before (find out why- here), but I was still keen to explore this little piece of nature. Dadonthebrink was stuck working, so off me and my brood went. The Allen Banks […]
Rock pooling with Jane #50things
What lives in a rock pool off the coast of Northumberland? Call me naïve, but I never realised there were hermit crab living in UK waters, let alone in the cold North Sea in Northumbria! Oh were our eyes set to be opened to the richness of sea life in simple rock pools […]
Waddesdon Manor in the winter
Imagine a bitter cold, but sunny day. You decide to go for a little walk at one of your favourite National Trust properties. On your walk you stumble upon a café terrace with sheepskins on the chairs and warm woollen blankets ready to wrap up in. It is so tempting to just snuggle down with […]