What sets Mystery Guides apart is their unique blend of creativity, historical facts and meticulous detail. These aren’t just simple trails or treasure hunts. These are immersive experiences that make you feel like a real detective on a case. The amount of work and thought put into each hunt is evident in every clue, puzzle and fact. These guides are a labour of love.

Perfect for amateur sleuths, history enthusiasts and adventurers

I’ve always loved detective shows, solving puzzles and cracking codes. One of our favourite shows as a family is The 1% Percent Club because we love working out logic problems. We also love visiting places of historical interest. So when I discovered the Mystery Guides series, I knew that with their combination of all these elements, they’d be the perfect adventure for us.

Mystery Guides – the outdoor escape room

‘The Champagne of treasure hunts,’ Mystery Guides immerse you in a whodunnit adventure around the streets of 25 UK cities. You read maps, unravel clues, decode symbols, decipher cryptic messages, eliminate suspects, and follow a trail leading to the final ‘wow’ moment of solving the mystery and revealing the villain. All the while, you enjoy an intricate story and fact-filled tour of the city, discovering its rich – and often lesser-known – history and secret hidden gems.

Each trail includes carefully selected historical pubs to stop at and takes approximately two-to-three hours to complete. 

Our City of London Mystery Adventure

I bought the City of London Mystery Guide as a present for the family. It was beautifully presented and looked very intriguing. We couldn’t wait to do it.

Having worked in the Square Mile for years, I thought I knew the area inside out. However, Mystery Guides proved me wrong. The trail, created by Jack Wells, a historian-turned-entrepreneur who loves puzzles, revealed a different side of the city—one filled with under-the-radar landmarks and untold stories. We even learnt new things about the more familiar sights on our trail.

As we embarked on our adventure, we encountered other couples and groups engrossed in the same trail. We loved the challenge and feeling of accomplishment of solving each puzzle and clue. We weren’t competitive at all! After almost three hours of sleuthing, we unravelled the mystery. The sense of achievement was immense, and the whole experience left us with wonderful memories.

Much more than your average adventure trail

What sets Mystery Guides apart is their unique blend of creativity, historical facts and meticulous detail. These aren’t just simple trails or treasure hunts. These are immersive experiences that make you feel like a real detective on a case. The amount of work and thought put into each hunt is evident in every clue, puzzle and fact. These guides are a labour of love.

The experience was not just about fun, though there was plenty of that. We learned so much about the city’s history and its unexplored corners.

While Mystery Guides are designed for adults, they’re a great family experience; our kids, aged 12 and up, were completely captivated. I’d say they’re suitable for ages nine and over.

We can’t wait for our next Mystery Guides adventure. Luckily my mother-in-law knows me well and bought me a Mystery Guides gift card for Christmas. Now I need to decide where we want to go and discover next. I think I’ve narrowed it down to Cambridge, Oxford or Stratford-upon-Avon!

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If you’re looking for a unique way to explore a UK city and create lasting memories, I highly recommend giving them a try. Mystery Guides cost £19.99 and are available to buy here.

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National Trust’s work, land and properties

The National Trust (NT) is Europe’s largest conservation charity whose ethos is to protect and care for places so that people and nature can thrive. The charity is responsible for the care of over 780 miles of coastline, more than 250,000 hectares of land, in excess of 500 historic houses, castles, parks and gardens, and almost a million works of art spanning the length and breadth of England, Wales and Northern Ireland (there is a separate and independent National Trust for Scotland). A National Trust membership provides access to all of these treasures.

Exploring your local area and beyond

As soon as we became members, we discovered just how many interesting places there are to explore in our local area. Many of the venues also have great natural play areas. Over the years, it has really helped with planning easy days out. As we are members these days are free as our entry and parking are both covered. Often we head to some of our favourite places such as Claremont, Polesden Lacey, Morden Hall Park or Box Hill. We regularly head further afield, and when we visit friends and family in different parts of the country we explore National Trust venues near them.

The National Trust was a godsend during lockdown. Whilst houses and cafes were shut, the NT provided free local access to parks, gardens, countryside and other outdoor sites for everyone.  

The benefits of National Trust membership

• Free entry to more than 500 historic houses, castles, parks and gardens
• Free parking at most National Trust car parks
• National Trust Handbook, which provides lots of information about all the places the NT looks after
• You receive the National Trust Magazine three times a year, which has loads of inspiration for family days out
• You’ll make your money back really quickly

The National Trust always has extra activities at Christmas, Easter, half-term and during the summer holidays. These range from outdoor family trails and nature-inspired activities to indoor arts and crafts, so there’s something for all weathers. There’s also the ongoing 50 things to do before you’re 11 3/4. Whilst these activities aren’t restricted to members, as a member you hear about what’s happening first. Similarly, the Trust holds lots of events throughout the year.

The cost of National Trust membership

I find the National Trust membership really good value. To put the following costs into perspective, Attingham Park, Cliveden and Dunham Massey – the Trust’s three most visited venues in the 2021–2022 season – cost £37.50, £42.50 and £36.25 respectively for a family ticket for a one time visit.

Family National Trust membership

A membership for a family of two adults (aged 18+) living at the same address and their children or grandchildren (17 or under) costs £146.40 a year or £12.20 a month.

A membership for one adult and their children or grandchildren is £91.20 a year or £7.60 a month.

Joint or Individual National Trust membership

Children under five are free so in this case, you only need to get a joint or single membership; a joint being £139.20 a year (£11.60 a month) and an individual £84.00 a year (£7.00 a month).

You’re not penalised for paying monthly, so this is a great option for spreading the cost.

Further membership details can be found here: https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/membership

Currently, if you pay for a new joint, family, individual or young person membership by annual Direct Debit online you get a £15 National Trust gift card. This can be spent in any National Trust shop or café.

There’s also the option to buy membership as a gift. This would make an excellent Christmas present for someone. You could even put it on your own Christmas list (if you’ve been good!).

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For more details about the National Trust go to: https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/

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Autumn walks

It’s really the most interesting time of the year to go on a walk. Here are some of my favourite places to visit with the family.

Painshill Park at Autumn

The beautiful landscaped gardens of Painshill Park (which you may have glimpsed during the Bridgerton series!) have a host of attractions at any time of year. There’s the Gothic Temple, the Turkish tent, a 14-acre lake, the Temple of Bacchus, the fairytale crystal grotto and the Gothic tower to name a few.

Autumn only adds to its charms. There are a number of walking routes you can follow, which take in the Painshill sights. Additionally, it’s running a Wild Halloween Camp over half term from Monday 28th, October – Wednesday, 30th October 2024 (9am– 3.30pm).

For ages 8-11, it includes:

• Den building – build your own haunted hut
• Campfire cooking and hot chocolate
• Wonderfully wild, weird and wicked wide games
• Making spooky woodland craft

Find out about all of Painshill Park’s activities here: https://www.painshill.co.uk/events-at-painshill/

Leith Hill (Dorking)

We’ve had some lovely walks around here. The Woodland trail is a route of 2.5 miles (takes up to two hours), which takes you through woodland, up to Leith Hill Tower – where you can grab a cuppa and a sweet treat – and Leith Hill Place. This was home to Josiah Wedgwood III (of pottery fame) who was married to Caroline Darwin sister of naturalist Charles. It was more recently the childhood home of composer Ralph Vaughan Williams.

In season, there’s a huge array of mushrooms (for fungi enthusiasts, this is a great spotter book) and there as loads of great trees, including sweet chestnuts, which offer bountiful foraging opportunities.

Here are the details of the different routes: https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/surrey/leith-hill/leith-hill-woodland-walk

Claremont Landscape Gardens (Esher)

This is another National Trust favourite of ours near Esher. There are lovely landscaped gardens but with plenty of wild areas, and a big lake complete with plenty of wildlife an opportunities for boating. You’ll also find a very nice children’s play area (Queen Victoria used to play at Claremont when she was a child).

The Wandering Witch returns for Enchanted Claremont, another fun adventure trail around the garden between Saturday, 19th October and Sunday, 3rd November. This year, the garden turns into Magick School – follow the spellbound path and find games and activities inspired by the sprites, goblins and fairies’ favourite lessons.

Find out more about what you can expect to see at Claremont this autumn: https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/claremont-landscape-garden/features/autumn-colour-at-claremont-landscape-garden

Winkworth Arboretum at Autumn

What better place to witness autumn’s splendour than at an arboretum? Winkworth Arboretum comprises of 121 acres of wild woodland with over 1,000 species of trees and shrubs. It is wonderful at any time of year, but it is renowned for its displays in autumn.

On its Autumn Colour Guided Walk (Sunday, October 20th) you’ll be treated to arrays of copper, amber, fiery reds, gold and about every other autumn hue imaginable.

There will also be a free, fun-filled autumn trail based on the Sarah the Spider children’s book this October half-term. Children help find all of Sarah’s shoes and boots that have been hidden by the mischievous mice. The trail takes children across the arboretum where they’ll find eight activity stations themed around friendship (and a very friendly spider who loves to dance) all whilst taking in the beautiful autumnal display.

More details about Sarah the Spider at Claremont.

More details about what is on at Winkworth this autumn can be found below.
https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/surrey/winkworth-arboretum/winkworth-arboretum-autumn

Wisley in the Autumn (Woking)

RHS garden Wisley is vast and boasts a wide range of flora. As well as an arboretum, there’s Seven Acres with its wide open lawns, ponds and fine specimen trees. Oakwood is a hot spot for autumn foliage, and you’ll be able to see many autumn-flowerers in the Rock Garden, Alpine Display House and in all the borders.

Find out about all of their half term activities – running between Saturday, 26th October and Sunday, 3rd November – including gardening, walk and talks, shows, a spooky Halloween trail (where you’ll learn about the most wicked plants) and lots of arts and crafts: https://www.rhs.org.uk/gardens/wisley/whats-on/half-term

For full details of what’s looking good at Wisley right now, visit: https://www.rhs.org.uk/gardens/wisley/explore-wisley/looking-good-now

Autumn at Polesden Lacy (Great Bookham)

From the South Lawn at Polesden Lacey, you can take in the lovely views of Ranmore Common. The ancient woodland has a diverse range of trees, so it is awash with striking colours until late October. Perserve Copse has a variety of Acer trees. These provide a lovely display and there’s plenty to see in the Sunken Garden. There are many trails to explore too.

Discover the autumn highlights here.

There’s also the Autumn Explorers for preschoolers, which takes place every Wednesday from September, 18th until October, 16th. For the adults, check out its Autumn Wreath Making workshop.

Enjoy your autumn walks and please share your favourites.

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Garsons

Garsons has two sites: one is Esher in Surrey and the other in Titchfield in Hampshire. Both have an award-winning garden centre and farm shop. For the kids though it was only going to be about picking their favourite produce. We headed to the Esher site, which is the largest Pick Your Own farm in the UK (more than 30 different crops grown over 150 acres).

Pick your own

The girls were really excited about the prospect of picking their own and all had specific things that they really wanted. We got a map as it’s pretty extensive so you need to be in the right part. There was loads of parking on the periphery by the garden centre and farm shop, but also by the different crop sections.

Strawberry picking

Strawberry picking

We parked and collected punnets for the fruit and bags for the veg from one of the many kiosks on the site. There was an absolute abundance of strawberries and raspberries, which they all wanted. There were information boards, which explained how to know if the raspberries were ripe so with this in mind the girls were let loose. They picked loads! We then moved onto the strawberries and the children quickly learnt which to pick. Again we picked loads.

Maria has a particular thing for sugar snaps so we headed to that section next and on the way stocked up on a few blackcurrants. We then moved on to the neighbouring broad beans. We were about to go and pay and then saw some people with courgette flowers. I love ‘fiori fritti’ – literally deep fired courgette flowers – so off we headed to another section. We picked both the courgettes and the flowers and a marrow for good measure, then headed to get everything weighed and pay.

The lovely courgette flowers

Courgettes and a marrow!

Pick your own: what’s picking

You can check on the site what’s currently in season: https://www.garsons.co.uk/pyo-farm/pyo-crops. At the end of July, this is what’s picking…

What we thought about Garson Farm Pick Your Own

The girls definitely considered it a day out and had a lot of fun. The produce was great quality and lasted ages. We used some of what we picked that day for dinner. Along with fish and meat we had a broad bean and potato salad and deep fried the courgette flowers as an antipasto; Eton Mess was dessert. Fruit is usually a big hit anyway, but vegetables can be a harder sell. The girls were so much more willing to try the veg they’d picked themselves.

We’re looking forward to going back in late summer for a different selection.

What you need to know about Garson Farm Pick Your Own

A Farm Pass is the only way you can enter and visit Garson Farm Pick Your Own. You can only purchase this online ahead of your visit on the Garsons website.

The costs are as follows (under twos are free):

£5 per ADULT PYO Farm Pass (Aged 15 + years)
£2 per CHILD PYO Farm Pass (Aged 2-14 years)

The value of the Farm Pass booking is deducted from the value of the crops you pick (providing the picked produce is of an equal or higher value than the Farm Pass booking price).

Garsons, Winterdown Road, Esher, Surrey, KT10 8LS.

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We discovered Mayfield Lavender – a family run certified organic lavender farm in the North Surrey Hills – last year (despite it being five minutes from our house!) and were bowled over by its beauty and went back a number of times. It is just 15 miles outside of London, so the farm gets a good many tourists as well as plenty of locals visiting.

It was lovely to return for the new season. It was pleasantly busy (it’s never been chaotic) when we arrived just before 4pm and the beautiful smell immediately greeted us. I was happy to see that admission prices had not increased. It is £1 per adult to enter and children under 16 are free. The price also includes parking, so for £1 the four of us got in and parked.

There is a cafe and shop by the entrance, but we headed straight to a grassy, benched area amongst the lavender, which had a nicely styled, chrome van selling refreshments. I had a lavender Earl grey tea and the girls had a lavender lemonade. It was extremely peaceful, and I carried on drinking my tea and sat and watched as the girls ran off – free – through the many rows in the huge field.

I then joined them and we had a lovely weaving stroll, where we identified lots of butterflies and plenty of insects, as we headed to a red phone box for a photo opportunity.

Next we hit the shop and I bought some more lavender plants for our garden (reduced in price to a bargain £2 a pot). As I was paying, I spotted a poster…

The Rosemary beetle – Lavender’s enemy

As the poster says, the rosemary beetle feeds on lavender and then releases a toxin into the stem, which can kill the plant. We collected our jam jar and then went on a beetle hunt. The hunt was so popular with the girls (and me) that we stayed on almost an hour extra! After a slow start (and a botched initial capture), we found 19 of the pesky things. We headed back to the shop and the girls claimed their sweet treat reward.

What a lovely way to spend a mid-week, late afternoon.

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Favourite castles

Sometimes the best thing about castles is they are just ruins to run around and explore, other times it is that they are amazingly well preserved and there are loads of artefacts and a lot of detail about the people that once lived there. Here are some castles that we’ve visited recently and we all really enjoyed:

Arundel castle

OK, I didn’t take this, but it shows just how big this castle is 

Arundel castle in West Sussex is one of the longest inhabited country houses in England and is the biggest out of all the castles I have ever visited! It looks really impressive as you drive towards it.

There are a number of different tiers of ticket. We went for the second highest (Gold), which gave us access to the gardens & grounds, The Collector Earl’s Garden, Fitzalan Chapel and the shop, café and restaurant. These are all included in the bronze and silver tickets but we additionally got access to the castle keep (which I’d thoroughly recommend) and the main castle rooms. A family Gold ticket, which is for two adults and up to three children costs £41.

The castle has an extensive events calendar, which really enhances the experience and our visit happily coincided with the medieval tournament weekend. This was a 15th Century Tournament where competitors used a variety of weapons to recreate very convincing tournament combat. The girls LOVED it. After lunch, which we had in the castle, we headed to the keep. This was brilliant and offered fab views over the surrounding countryside. We then toured the rest of the castle, which had a lot to see in terms of rooms and artefacts.

On the way up to the keep

Back down from the keep

View from part way up

Back outside we watched some more of the medieval tournament and headed over to falconry area. We didn’t see the actual display but the girls really loved looking at the birds. The adults all had a go at the archery. I liked it rather too much!

After spending a lot of time with the birds, we headed to the Fitzalan Chapel with its beautiful ‘White garden’ and then did a tour of some of the 40 acres of stunning grounds and gardens. The Italianate Collector Earl’s Garden was beautiful and featured pagodas, water fountains, a water grotto and lots of beautiful plants. A highlight for the girls was Oberon’s Palace, which contained a crown dancing on a splashing jet of water.

The floating crown in Oberon’s Palace

Alliums were in full bloom and just one of the attractions in the walled garden and the English Herbaceous borders were beautiful and in a natural style, which contrasted to the more tropical style of The Collector Earl’s Garden.

The glass houses were very interesting too. We didn’t have time to visit the rose gardens and quite a few other outdoor parts.

Bodiam castle

Bodiam castle in East Sussex is a National Trust property. Built around 1385 and boasting England’s oldest dated portcullis, it’s regarded as both a defensive castle and a home. It’s a ruin, but an extremely picturesque one. The grounds are beautiful with plenty of ducks milling about and outdoor games set up. A great bridge across the moat (which is full of really greedy carp) takes you to an octagonal island and then on to the castle.

There was plenty going on in the courtyard with medieval character presentations and exhibits. We explored all of the ruined rooms and climbed the high towers to get fantastic views. There were lots of people on hand to answer questions and all the rooms had good explanations so it was easy to picture how the castle would have been and have operated when in tact. The ‘murder holes’ were well-preserved and particularly gloriously and gruesomely described.

We spent a lot of time there and Sofia and Matt even tried their hand at archery.

Scotney castle

Scotney castle in Kent is another National Trust property. It is a 14th century moated ‘fairytale castle’ with a beautiful tower, which reminded the girls immediately of Rapunzel. Within the estate there is also a country house and chocolate-box gardens.

The house at Scotney Castle

We toured the house first. The girls were really interested and they also had a trail to do (relating to cats) so they were in their element. It wasn’t just a dusty old house and wasn’t overly ornate and ostenatatious; you actually got the feeling that it was still a family home albeit a pretty grand one.

We had lunch afterwards and then headed straight down to the castle. The castle was deliberately ruined to create a ‘feature’ in the garden. It’s some feature! We climbed the tower and admired the views and then explored the gardens.

Scotney Castle

Another view of Scotney Castle

After that we headed to the playground. It was a really nice natural one and the girls were extremely reluctant to leave. As always, there was much more to explore, but we just didn’t have the time.

Hever castle

Hever castle on our summer visit

I was eight when I first visited Hever Castle in Kent. Last year I returned to the childhood home of Anne Boleyn when we had a summer holiday meet up with my eldest daughter’s friends. It’s an RHS partner garden, so concessions for the gardens are available to RHS members (you still have to pay for castle entrance). However, many restrictions apply so do check the website.

We loved it so much we went back with my husband. There is so much space for running around in the beautiful grounds surrounding the castle. It’s double-moated and the water is very picturesque with its lily pads, ducks (which we bought food for) and swans.

Our return visit was just before Easter so we had the added bonus of a Lindt Gold Bunny Hunt. This also gave us the opportunity to visit the Italian gardens, which we hadn’t seen last time around. Although not much was in bloom at that time of the year, they were still stunning.

Hever castle on our pre-Easter visit

The adventure playground with its Tower Maze was a big hit again. We all went into the English Yew Maze, which was good fun as we let the girls decide the route?!

In the warmer weather the water maze is open. It’s quite a unique maze and the kids absolutely loved it on our summer visit. You do get a soaking, so sensibly it was shut during our cold March visit.

The water maze in hotter weather

This time around we went into the castle itself and we all really enjoyed it. There were plenty of interesting rooms to visit, characters and costumes on display and lots of Tudor paintings, tapestries, antiques and furniture. There was even a whole room dedicated to instruments of torture (oddly quite a highlight for all of us!).

We still haven’t visited the Japanese Tea House, Miniature Model House Collection, English Rose Garden or Tudor Garden or even gone on the boating lake. Hever castle and grounds is definitely somewhere you can spend a whole day. We’ll be going back soon.

Penshurst Place

OK, so Penshurst Place (also an RHS partner garden) in Kent isn’t actually a castle, but it is a stunning fortified manor house, set in gorgeous grounds, that looks very castle-like; it has vaulted crypts and was once owned by Henry VIII. Armada: 12 Days to Save England, Wolf Hall and The Great Fire were all filmed there.

There are 48 acres of grounds including the 11 acre formal Grade I listed gardens. They are truly beautiful and you can spend many hours here. There’s also a toy museum.

One of the creepier exhibits in the toy museum

I’d love to hear about any of the castles you’ve visited recently; just comment below…

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All venues such as this seem quite expensive for a family of five. However Godstone Farm compares slightly more favourably to nearby Bocketts Farm. You can also save 10% if you book online five days in advance. Godstone Farm also has a really nice, almost community, vibe and is so well-staffed you can see where your admission price goes.

• Adult (16+)   £8.40
• Child (2-16 Years)   £8.40
• Child (Under 2 Years)   £3.20
• Child (Under 1 Years)   Free

The animals at Godstone Farm

There were plenty of ‘traditional’ farmyard animals such as pigs, sheep, goats and cows alongside the ponies, horses and donkeys. We also got to see lots of lambs and kids as many had been born over night (very cute!). Along with the many daffodils on display it certainly felt like spring was springing.

You can feed most of the animals and the girls loved doing this. They actually spent plenty of time with each of the different types of animals instead of just wanting to race around. There were good explanations about all the different breeds and plenty of facts, which added to their experience.

Outside we also saw llamas, alpacas and a huge variety of birds and poultry.

Next stop was the indoor animal handling area where there were chicks, chickens, rabbits and a number of other fluffy and furry things. The girls loved that they were able to dive straight in and touch the animals and weren’t nervous in the slightest.

There was also the opportunity to hold the rabbits but the girls wanted to visit the tea room for lunch so we took a rain check. After lunch we headed straight for our tractor ride. We bought the tickets (£1 per person) an hour before and had a designated time slot.

The other stuff at Godstone Farm

We all liked the Dino Trail where we ‘saw,’ amongst others, a Mammoth, Stegosaurus, Pterosaurus and T-Rex. There were plenty of facts and information, which my eldest daughter (seven) loved and there was the opportunity to dig for bones in sand pits, which appealed to my younger twins too.

After a tour of animals that lived millions of years ago we then had a look at their closest living relatives – snakes, spiders, bearded dragons, iguanas and a scorpion.

Following this it was play time and we headed to the Adventure Playground. It is very large and they thought it was brilliant. They could cheerfully have spent several hours there alone. However, it was dropping a bit colder -being mid-February – and a coffee was calling so we lured them away with the promise of indoor play! We didn’t visit, but there’s also the Red Slide Barn, which has a wooden climbing frame and slides and wooden play vehicles. It’s a halfway house being outside but undercover.

We spent quite some time in the Play Barn. It has a separate section for the under fours, which has a smaller play frame and lots of toys, but my three were straight onto the main frame. It’s definitely big enough to keep them entertained for well over an hour, but isn’t so vast that you can’t keep an eye on them.

We left feeling like we’d had a great full day of activity. As soon as we got in the car they were asking when we could go back, so definitely a hit.

• To celebrate Mothers Day, Godstone Farm is offering all mums free entry for the day

www.godstonefarm.co.uk

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Day Thirty Two

The girls loved Tulleys Puzzle Park (the summer holidays offering from Tulleys Farm) in West Sussex so much that we made a return visit so that they could show daddy.

In the maize maze

We didn’t take a packed lunch this time, so our first stop was The Farmyard Grill, which does BBQ food and sandwiches/baguettes. The food was really good and reasonably priced.

Then we headed straight into the maze. I think Matt had underestimated the scale of it. It was blisteringly hot so I guessed we wouldn’t last the two hours plus of our last visit. As before, the girls really loved it. After getting off to a good start by collecting several stamps quite quickly, we had a dry spell. Luckily this coincided with finding the cafe within the maze. We stopped for refreshments, but unfortunately Maria got stung by a wasp. We got some emergency ice lollies to calm the situation and the guy at the kiosk gave Maria a complimentary one.

Duck racing

We gave it a good go, but Matt, Maria and Gabriella were tiring. Sofia and I were up for carrying on, but the others won. So much to Sofia’s disgust, we cheated to get out.

Tractor ride

Then it was duck racing, rope mazes, the giant slide, trampolines, a family tractor ride and a go on the quad barrel train. Just as we were about to leave we bumped into my friend and her family, who live in Madrid and had just arrived in the UK for a visit. She’d been reading the blog and seen my earlier post about Tulleys so decided to visit. Quite a coincidence!!

The girls thoroughly enjoyed their day and were tired out.

Ice creams: 0  Ice lollies: 4  Minor bickerings: 0  Arguments: 0  Small tantrums: 0

Day Thirty Three 

Sofia had another Pizza Express party to go to today, which chopped the day up quite a bit, but did mean we ended up having takeaway pizzas for lunch 🙂  The girls have played pretty well on a day that saw us having to do lots of boring kitchen-related stuff, so I broke out the new High School Musical doll I had stowed away for just such a day.

Ice creams: 0  Ice lollies: 0  Minor bickerings: 1  Arguments: 0  Small tantrums: 0

Day Thirty Four

A proper rainy day. We have an annual pass, so we headed back to Hobbledown. It’s a farm, but also has a lot else going on. For a bad weather day like today, we were going for it’s vast indoor play area; a saviour in the holidays. Shortly after we arrived there was a break in the rain so we went straight over to The Crystalite Mine.

A lot of crystalite

This is a giant sand pit where crystalite (green gems) are hidden. If you find enough pieces they can be exchanged for lollipops at the end of the visit. The girls go crazy for this. As not many people were mad enough to head over there straight after the downpour, it was rich pickings. We then visited the animals, including the new wallaby enclosure.

taking a look at the otters, who were being shy

Then it was off to watch a puppet show before having lunch. After that it was several hours of indoor play. The girls actually went to bed slightly earlier than usual!

At the puppet show

Ice creams: 0  Ice lollies: 0  Lollipops: 3 Minor bickerings: 2  Arguments: 0  Small tantrums: 0

Day Thirty Five 

A wet miserable day, which meant indoor play and a disco with some of our favourite tunes complete with disco ball.

We did venture out of the house to go to the library. Sofia has now finished the Summer Reading Challenge and was very keen to collect her stickers and medal. She’s opted to receive her certificate back at school. All three chose new books to take home.

Very happy despite the serious face

Ice creams: 0  Ice lollies: 0  Minor bickerings: 0  Arguments: 0  Small tantrums: 0

Day Thirty Six

This rain is torrential! Thankfully we’d already seen the forecast so planned a cinema trip with one of Sofia’s oldest friends (from baby group) at Dorking Halls. We went to see Strange Magic.

It was all about love: infatuation versus true love. The story was mainly told via song and had elves, fairy princesses, goblins, imps, magic and love potions. It was a big hit with our party of five girls. However, the adults were a little bit skeptical: two princesses who are sisters (one of whom becomes fiercely independent), power ballads and a good looking, male protagonist who turns out to be a wrong’un… hmmm familiar. Think Mr. Lucas let it go a bit.

Then it was off to Côte, which a very nice childrens’ menu, for a late lunch.

Ice creams: 3  Ice lollies: 0 Popcorn: bucketloads  Minor bickerings: 1  Arguments: 0  Small tantrums: 0

Day Thirty Seven

We had a meet up with some of the children that are going to be in Sofia’s new class when she goes back after the holidays.

We went to Jupiter Jos in Ewell. It’s a soft play centre on two levels, but it’s fairly small scale. The kids love it there as there’s some really good apparatus and the mums love it even more as it’s really easy to keep tabs on where the children are. Some soft plays are vast and it can be really difficult to spot your children, let alone get to them if they need. It is one of the few soft play venues I can actually relax a bit and – dare I say it – have a cup of coffee.

In the evening we had friends over, who also have three girls. Carnage!

Ice creams: 0  lollipops: 3 Minor bickerings: 0  Arguments: 0  Small tantrums: 0

Day Thirty Eight

Pre- back-to-school haircut in the morning for Sofia. Then we had lunch and playdate with two of her oldest and closest nursery friends. It was a lovely day, and so great to see that they all had such affection for each other despite not seeing each other that often. Maria and Gabriella also had a fab time. Picnic lunch and plenty of play. Perfect!

Ice creams: 0  Biscuits: 6 Minor bickerings: 2  Arguments: 0  Small tantrums: 0

Day Thirty Nine

First curry sitting for the kids

We travelled to Wiltshire for the bank holiday weekend as we were celebrating two family birthdays on the Monday. There was lots of family time playing cards and games and Matt cooked up two wonderful curries. We had proper dessert, but I’d also bought some pop corn kernels and the kids and I made it in the pan. To say it was a hit was an understatement!

Ice creams: 0  Ice lollies: 0 Minor bickerings: 0  Arguments: 0  Small tantrums: 0

Day Forty

The five of us plus my mother-in-law went for a really lovely trip to Stourhead, one of the nicest National Trust places I’ve been to. It has a wonderful Palladian mansion and absolutely stunning landscaped gardens. We had lunch at the NT restaurant and then headed straight to the house, which as you’d imagine was steeped in history. However, the focus was on ‘Harry’s Story,’ and the house brought to life what it was like growing up in this family home. The children had a few activities to do so were fully engaged. It was definitely one of the more hands on NT properties we’ve visited. After exploring all the rooms we headed outside into the rain…

The Stourhead estate is 1,072 hectares and includes farmland, temples, grottoes, lakes, a huge number of rare and exotic trees, a gothic cottage and the stable yard, which had shops, a gallery and a pub. We were there for some hours but only covered a small part of it. The girls particularly liked the grottoes. I’d love to go back and explore some more.

Then we went back to a high tea prepared by Matt’s dad: sandwiches, scones with jam and clotted cream and cake. Lovely!!

Taking a rest in the gothic cottage

 Ice creams: 0  Ice lollies: 3 Minor bickerings: 0  Arguments: 0  Small tantrums: 1

Day Forty One 

Today was a big family day with a double birthday celebration. Lots of lovely food and good company.

 Ice creams: 0  Ice lollies: 0 Cake: lots  Minor bickerings: 0  Arguments: 0  Small tantrums: 1

Day Forty Two

Another play date with one of Sofia’s old nursery friends. A lovely lunch and lots of outdoor (and indoor) play. It was lovely that Maria and Gabby were very included. A very nice day and mummy got to have some Prosecco too!

 Ice creams: 0  Ice lollies: 3  Cake: 1 Meringues: 3 Minor bickerings: 0  Arguments: 0  Small tantrums: 0

Day Forty Three

Last day of the holidays, and today we had a meet up with Sofia’s old reception class and headed out to Kent’s Swanley Park. It is billed as a traditional town park set in 60 acres of landscaped parkland. 

We parked up and got the miniature public railway into the park, which the children all loved, as did I if I’m being honest.

The weather was decidedly iffy; sunny and warm one minute and raining and chilly the next, so we had a big job preventing them going into the paddling pool and splash park. The girls headed straight over to the bouncy castle, which was £1.20 per child, but didn’t go on the battery-powered bikes as Maria and Gabby were too little. We then spent some time in the small children’s play area and sandpit before grabbing some lunch. Then we hit the cafeteria. It didn’t have the healthiest of food options, but they were plentiful and VERY child friendly if you know what I mean.

Next it was off to the main play area, which has really nice apparatus. We spent quite a lot of time there an then it was time for ice creams and ice lollies.

The children then spotted the collection of bouncy castles and inflatables. It was £7 per child for entrance, but as we were a big group they reduced it to £5. Still, £15 for my three on top of everything else was a little steep and a few activities within the section needed additional payment. Maria and Gabby weren’t tall enough for the best inflatable (the huge slide). I wasn’t overly impressed but the kids really enjoyed it.

The park also boasts a big boating lake with pedal and rowing boats and canoes. We’d all really have loved to go on, but time was pressing and we’d spent quite a bit of money.

I wish we’d had done more walking around the park itself as opposed to just going to a number of different attractions, but that’s what the children wanted to do and they had a really brilliant last day of holidays.

So, goodbye summer holidays and hello labelled uniform and school bag and new shiny shoes by the front door.

The summer holidays have seen 34 ice creams, 42 ice lollies, 45 bickerings, 11 arguments, 11 tantrums and visits to London, Surrey, Kent, Wiltshire, West Sussex, Somerset, Devon and Cornwall.  

• Read part I here
• Read part II here

The post Diary of 43 Days of School Holidays: Part III appeared first on The Parent Social.

Day Eighteen

The big drive today from Surrey to Cornwall for a week’s holiday. It should have taken about four hours but took seven and a half instead. However, we had plenty of food, Matt had downloaded some of the childrens’ favourite programmes and we played many rounds of a great game called Are We There Yet?, which I much preferred to I Spy. They were very good and it could have been a lot worse. Amazingly no arguments or tantrums!

Lolly pit stop

When we arrived at the property it had been worth the long drive. The view was stunning.

We sorted ourselves out and chose rooms. The house is in Widemouth Bay and is literally a five minute walk to the beach. We were already on holiday time as it was 7pm, which is approaching usual bedtime, and we were just heading out for a beach walk. We had a bit of a makeshift tea after a lovely walk.

Red wine, cheese, pate, bread and Scrabble for Matt and I once they were in bed.

Ice creams: 0  Ice lollies: 4 (including mine)  Minor bickerings: 0  Arguments: 0  Small tantrums: 0 

Day Nineteen

The weather didn’t look great. Following a leisurely start we took a drive across the border into Devon  and to the lovely Hartland Quay. After going down to the quay, doing a bit of stone skimming and getting a soaking we met family for a big Sunday roast.

After that we headed out to Northam Burrows Country Park  near Westwood Ho! There’s a small toll to pay and then you take the road through grassland towards the beach. We encountered lots of sheep and horses (who got up very close and personal) and a few golfers before getting to the car park.

This close to the car!

Then it was buckets and spades, boule set and football out and onto the beach. The weather had cheered up a bit. We all went for a paddle and the girls loved running away from the encroaching water and generally getting pretty wet again. We played a lot of games and spent several very nice hours on a rather windy beach.

Ice creams: 3  Ice lollies: 0  Minor bickerings: 1  Arguments: 0  Small tantrums: 2

Day Twenty 

It was absolutely hammering it down in the morning, but we headed out in any case with the first port of call being an early lunch at the St. Kew Inn in St. Kew. We had a really lovely meal, which was very fish and shellfish heavy and by the time we came out it was stunning.

Before…

and after

We had a look around the local church and then picked up some lobsters and crabs for dinner from nearby The Crab Shack. After that we headed to the beautiful Polzeath beach via Boscastle.

Polzeath beach

Polzeath beach

The surfers were out in force and by now the suncream was needed. Amazing to think the weather had changed so much. The girls had a wonderful time at the beach. Then it was back home for a family dinner for nine. The lobster and crab was fantastic.

Ice creams: 3  Ice lollies: 0  Minor bickerings: 0  Arguments: 0  Small tantrums: 0

Day Twenty One 

We went back to near Hartland to meet up with Matt’s mum and dad who are staying near there and went to the quay. We messed about in the rock pools and used the nets we’d bought. The tide was coming in very fast, which provided its own entertainment as the girls were chased back.

Scorchio in Hartland

We went into the pretty little village of Hartland itself for some lunch. Ironically I had my first Cornish pasty of the trip whilst in Devon. Then we headed back into Cornwall to Bude. We played some pitch and putt, which was a first for the girls (and the first time for me since I was about 10!) and then went to the cafe for ice creams, tea and cake

Pitch and putt was a winner

Ice creams: 3  Milk shakes: 1 Ice lollies: 0  Minor bickerings: 3  Arguments: 0  Small tantrums: 0

Day Twenty Two

Today we want back into Devon to visit Clovelly. The village is privately owned and is completely vehicle free. It costs £6.95 per adult and children  (ages 7 to16) are £4.35;  under 7s are free. However, I reckon it’s worth it. It’s one of the most chocolate box, picturesque villages you’ll ever see.

Just before the descent into the village

We walked down the very steep cobbles in blazing sunshine taking in the cute little cottages, looking in on the Fisherman’s cottage with artefacts that Sofia was particularly interested in.

Our lunch spot

We broke up the walk with a nice lunch at The Cottage Tea Rooms and then continued our walk down to the harbour and had another paddle. Then it was off to the Red Lion in the harbour for some refreshments before getting a rather exciting Land Rover ride back up (at the specific request of Matt who was nursing a beach football injury).

Down to the harbour for a paddle

We paid a visit to the gift shops and then headed back home. Family came over for dinner, but we headed to Widemouth Bay for a bit of a run around and beach fun before eating.

Ice creams: 0  Ice lollies: 0  Minor bickerings: 2  Arguments: 0  Small tantrums: 0

Day Twenty Three 

The day was meant to be a right off weather-wise with torrential rain forecast for the entirety. However, it stopped quite early in the morning so we seized the opportunity to go for a walk. Matt’s older brother and his family were camping at Stoke Barton Farm and Campsite in Devon, so that’s where we began our walk.

A bit breezy at St. Catherine’s Tor.

It was a lovely walk that took in plenty of farm animals, stunning coastline, wildlife and St. Catherine’s Tor, where we stopped for snacks and a photo opportunity.

After lunch it was back to Widemouth Bay to go and collect scallops and more lobsters for dinner before some crazy golf in Bude with the girls’ aunt, uncle and cousins.

Finally, a lovely dinner followed by plenty of card games. Knock is Sofia’s new favourite game.

Ice creams: 0  Ice lollies: 0  Minor bickerings: 0  Arguments: 0  Small tantrums: 0

Day Twenty Four

Not a great day for outdoor activities so it was bowling en masse in Bude. The girls have only been bowling once before and absolutely loved it so were very excited to be doing it again.

After that it was a cafe lunch in Widemouth Bay and then a walk on the beach. It was pretty blustery so I sat this expedition out and left Matt and the girls to it.

Port Isaac

Late afternoon we went to the pretty little fishing village of Port Isaac. Sea shanty group Fisherman’s Friends (native to Port Isaac) were playing there in the evening and Matt’s family were keen to see them (as were many other people!). I was very keen to visit Port Isaac generally, so it all worked out nicely. We had some food, bought some goodies from the fudge shop, had a wonder and then had a drink at the pub before the gig. There was a really great vibe to the place and we all really enjoyed our visit. My only disappointment was that we didn’t get to eat at Nathan Outlaw’s place.

Ice creams: 0  Ice lollies: 0  Chocolate and fudge: quite a lot  Minor bickerings: 2  Arguments: 0  Small tantrums: 0

Day Twenty Five

We vacated our lovely holiday home and got on the road. Thankfully we weren’t doing the whole trip home; we were stopping the night at friends in Somerset for a bit of a uni reunion for Matt. We got there early afternoon and the adults partied until 3am. It was good. The hosts have three girls of similar age to ours and another friend had a mother girl. They absolutely loved it and had a trampoline, sweet and TV-fuelled party of their own until 10pm.

Ice creams: 0  Ice lollies: 0  Sweets: off the dial  Minor bickerings: 0  Arguments: 1  Small tantrums: 0

Day Twenty Six

Following a morning of playing with friends, an extremely boring day of travelling and unpacking.

Ice creams: 0  Ice lollies: 0  Minor bickerings: 2  Arguments: 0  Small tantrums: 0

Day Twenty Seven

Post-holiday chores done in the morning so we headed out after lunch to do a few things including buy a birthday present for one of Sofia’s friends. I let the girls go into their favourite shop (Claire’s Accessories). After a lot of deliberating Sofia treated herself to something. I hadn’t planned to, but decided to brave Clarks to see if we could get Sofia’s school shoes. To my amazement we were seen immediately and managed to make a successful purchase.

I’d bought water balloons in the toyshop earlier so they came straight out once we got back.

Ice creams: 0  Ice lollies: 0  Minor bickerings: 3  Arguments: 0  Small tantrums: 0

Day Twenty Eight

Today it was back to the Epsom and Leatherhead Multiples Club. Although the oldest by some way, Sofia loves it when she gets the chance to go outside of term time. This week had the additional draw of a bouncy castle. There was lots of colouring, sticking, playing and bouncing.

Afterwards, we went to Pizza Express for lunch. The chain is very accomplished at catering for kids, which is just as well as the place was rammed with them (all behaving I should point out)!

After a hearty three courses we headed to the library. Sofia has completed five out of her six books for The Summer Reading Challenge 2015, so it was time to collect some of her stickers and also her key ring, which she was very pleased about. We also took out a load more books.

Quite a bad day for arguments though!!

Ice creams: 0  Ice lollies: 3  Minor bickerings: 1  Arguments: 4  Small tantrums: 0

Day Twenty Nine

I had to work so the girls had a few hours with our childminder. They love it so much, not least playing with her two year old. They had a picnic in the park that they were very excited to tell me about.

After that we headed into Kingston-Upon-Thames to get school uniform. We were the only ones in the Back to School section and were done and dusted in a few minutes. I was expecting a nightmare.

To counter the boredom of that we paid a visit to Paperchase. The girls have certainly inherited my love of stationery. Then it was off for ice-creams – the good stuff – at Gelateria Danieli.

Ice creams: 3  Ice lollies: 0  Minor bickerings: 1  Arguments: 0  Small tantrums: 0

Day Thirty 

Today we headed back to West Sussex and to Tilgate Park with a friend of mine and her daughter. It’s a huge park with multiple lakes, a walled garden, a nature centre, adventure playground, Go Ape and probably a lot of stuff we didn’t see.

We started with a picnic and feeding the ducks and then it was off to the adventure playground, which they loved. Sofia was itching to get involved with Go Ape, but even if she was big enough the others weren’t. Luckily the adventure playground kept them entertained for quite some time. Afterwards we headed to the maze. They were all absolute monkeys in there; it has little child-sized holes cut into the hedges. All the kids took full advantage and kept disappearing. Fortunately they were laughing and shouting so much we were able to find them.

After we’d had enough of chasing them around we hit the cafe for lollies and ice creams.

We finished up with a visit to the nature centre. The otters and pigs were firm favourites, but they loved feeding the goats with leaves they picked themselves. We also visited the bee hives, which we all found interesting.

I would definitely like to go back and probably arrive earlier as I think there was a lot more to explore.

Ice creams: 1  Ice lollies: 3  Minor bickerings: 0  Arguments: 0  Small tantrums: 0

Day Thirty One

Today was a day to play in the garden. I’d foolishly bought a bumper back of water balloons so it was a change into swimming costumes and an hour of getting each other soaking wet.

In the afternoon it was an impromptu playdate with the little girl next door: someone else’s toys, lots of bubbles, chalk pictures and playing with her pet rabbit and dog. They didn’t want to leave. Things are always so much more interesting at someone else’s house!

Ice creams: 0  Ice lollies: 0  Minor bickerings: 2  Arguments: 0  Small tantrums: 0

• • Read part I here
  • Read part III here

The post Diary of 43 Days of School Holidays: Part II appeared first on The Parent Social.

How many outings will we go on, how many places will we visit? What number of craft ideas will I develop? How many lazy days will we have? How many ice creams and ice lollies will they consume? There’ll be lots of fun and no doubt some tears and tantrums.

Half Day 

Last school run of the year and stayed on to present the teachers and TAs with their gifts. Then off to the Epsom and Leatherhead Multiples Club with three-year-old twins Maria and Gabriella. Lots of play with a bonus birthday celebration.

Cake!

Very quick lunch by the duck pond in Ashtead. After picking up a few essentials from Sainsbury’s we went to pick up Sofia from school. We’d organised to go down to Woodcote Green Garden Centre with a few of Sofia’s friends straight after. The garden centre has a nice cafe and lovely play facilities. A good couple of hours enjoyed by all.

Ice creams: 2    Ice lollies: 1   Minor bickerings: 2   Arguments: 0  Small tantrums: 0

Day One

First day of no alarm clock and girls up crazily early as usual. However, a far more leisurely breakfast .

We had to run some errands, but made a stop off at our local toy shop – Lorimers. I steered Sofia away from the hugely expensive Barbies and more towards the arts and crafts: the compromise was a GALT Nail Art set, which was far more in pocket money territory. I treated them to a £6.99 boule set for the garden.

We had to get back as someone was coming to buy some of my old maternity clothes. My new obsession is Jellybugs Children’s Market  a Facebook group for selling childrens’ and maternity items in my local area.

We had quite a few games of boule before the weather turned and then it was lunch, which was followed by homemade ice lollies.

Homemade lollies

The afternoon mainly consisted of indoor play (including den building) and old favourite Pick up Sticks.

Ice creams: 0  Ice lollies: 3   Minor bickerings: 2   Arguments: 1  Small tantrums: 0 

Day Two

Today was a big meet up at the wonderful Hever Castle in Kent with Sofia’s friends from reception class (a tight-knit group despite being separated when they went into year one). I hadn’t been since I was eight, so I was rather excited.

I booked online yesterday to get a slightly reduced rate; I’m an RHS member so I got into the gardens for free (and as it happened, outside was so fantastic we didn’t even go into the castle) and under fives are free in any case, so it was just Sofia’s ticket to get.

We got into the car, armed with the girls’ trusty I-Spy books, for the 45 minute journey.

We arrived at 10.15am (and didn’t leave until 5pm) and started at the cafe. All the kids were really happy just running around the beautiful grounds by the water with its lily pads and ducks and swans. Next we moved to the adventure playground and Tower Maze. We spent absolutely ages there and ate our picnics. We then all took a walk past the castle and onto the English Yew Maze, which again kept everyone entertained for a big chunk of time. Next it was on to the water maze. For the kids, this really was saving the best for last. It was really unique and they LOVED it. They got absolutely soaked. I finally had to lure them out with ice creams. After that we went back to the lake and had a bit of a chill out.

We didn’t do the boating, see the Japanese Tea House, Miniature Model House Collection, Italian Garden, English Rose Garden or Tudor Garden; in fact we barely scratched the surface. However, all the children and adults thoroughly enjoyed it; it was a truly relaxing and fun-packed day.

All three girls asked when we could go with daddy. We’ll definitely be going back and hopefully we’ll get to see some of the summer jousting that’s taking place and see and do some of the many things we didn’t have time for this visit!

Check out the Visit Kent website for other great things to do in the county.

Ice creams: 4 (including mine)  Ice lollies: 0  Minor bickerings: 0   Arguments: 0  Small tantrum: 1 (having to put wet shoes back on) 

Day Three

14c and torrential rain: welcome to British summertime.

Not much happening in the morning apart from drawing and a bit of TV, but we cooked a curry for lunch. In the afternoon we went to Hobbledown – ‘an adventure farm park’ in Surrey. The girls absolutely love the place. However,  it is pretty pricey, so I bought an annual pass last year, which although expensive itself, has actually saved money for days out since I got it as we’ve used it loads.

As it was absolutely pouring we didn’t even attempt to see any of the huge range of animals. Instead we headed straight to the play barn, which is probably the biggest indoor play centre I’ve ever seen. We spent three hours in there and they still didn’t want to leave.

Ice creams: 0  Ice lollies: 0  Minor bickerings: 2  Arguments: 0  Small tantrums: 2

Day Four 

Sofia had a birthday party to go to at Pizza Express and I had to go shopping, so dad was in charge for a couple of hours. Many weekends now consist of driving to various parties around Surrey.

My husband then took Maria and Gabby to our local playground, which is home to Pistachios (one of a number of lovely cafes in parks in Surrey and London, which always have lots of activities on), for a play and toasties for lunch. He then took them for a haircut at our local childrens’ salon. They absolutely love having their hair cut, not least because they get to watch Ben & Holly whilst sat in a car and get a lollypop afterwards. Naturally, I’ll have to take Sofia for a haircut next week!

Late afternoon was spent playing some garden games and and generally just messing about.

Ice creams: 0   Ice lollies: 1 (at Pizza Express) Minor bickerings: 0   Arguments: 0  Small tantrums: 0

Day Five

Today was all about a BBQ at friends. Everyone ate (and drank) very well and had a great time. The girls had a four-month-old baby to coo over. No ice-creams or ice lollies, but plenty of chocolate cake

Ice creams: 0  Ice lollies: 0  Minor bickerings: 2  Arguments: 0  Small tantrums: 0

Day Six

I’m a freelancer and needed to get some work done today so the girls went to the childminder for a few hours. They absolutely love going, which is brilliant as essentially they view it as a proper day out (and I can get on without worrying). They do loads of arts and crafts, enjoy playing with different toys and absolutely adore her two-year-old daughter.

In the afternoon we had an impromptu play date. Two hours passed very quickly as all five girls raided the dressing up box and did some imaginary role play. A very busy and happy day for them.

Ice creams: 0   Ice lollies: 3  Minor bickerings: 0  Arguments: 1  Small tantrums: 0

Day Seven 

I packed a picnic and got everyone in the car so that we could head out to Wisley, an RHS garden in Surrey.

This summer, all four RHS gardens are celebrating the 150th anniversary of  Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. There were a number of Wonderland-inspired activities at Wisley, and each of them got a book which contained quizzes, things to spot and conundrums related to the novel. It was rather beyond Maria and Gabby (perfect for six years and over I’d say), so we only very loosely followed it. We visited our favourite parts of the gardens, of which there are many, and did lots of walking. They love all the water features and the glass house as well as the orchards and fish. However, they were all very intrigued with everything Alice-related – including a game of flamingo croquet – and Sofia now wants to read the book. For once, we didn’t even make it to the playground as everyone was so interested in everything else.

We headed over to The Clore Learning Centre and Teaching Garden to plant some pansy seeds (pansy Joker Series), which we brought home. We had a great day and all of them were asking when we could go again. Sofia especially wants to do the Alice trail properly.

Ice creams: 0   Ice lollies: 3  Minor bickerings: 3  Arguments: 3  Small tantrums: 2

Day Eight 

So, we’ve embarked on a kitchen renovation. It started today. We were intending to stay the day here, but by 9am it became obvious it wouldn’t work so we shipped out to my dad’s.

Loom bands and tea parties

Then the real excitement came: their very first sleepover. They were so excited that I was very surprised that Maria and Gabby, who were sharing a bed, actually fell asleep within five minutes. Sofia, wasn’t asleep when we left, but was reading one of the books she’s chosen as part of the Summer Reading Challenge. She’s already four books in.

Ice creams: 0   Ice lollies: 0  Minor bickerings: 2  Arguments: 0  Small tantrums: 0

Day Nine

I managed to get a lot done before heading over to my dad’s to see the girls.

They actually did this unprompted

We headed to Nonsuch Park, which houses Nonsuch Mansion, and is literally across the road from my dad’s.

We had a nice walk to the lovely Nonsuch Pantry where we got fed and watered. The girls were particularly intrigued when three men in full on Highland dress walked in. There was a wedding happening at the mansion and as soon as we went outside for a play, we could hear bagpipes playing.

We spent several hours exploring, playing, climbing and racing and then headed home.

We got back to my dad’s and renewed several library books online that are part of the Summer Reading Challenge but had to go in person to return one, so headed to our local library.

Ice creams: 0   Ice lollies: 0  Chocolate lollies: 3  Minor bickerings: 2  Arguments: 0  Small tantrums: 4

Day Ten

Today was a meet up with some of my friends who also have kids. We decided on National Trust venue Morden Hall Park as it was pretty central for two of us that live in Surrey and the others who are in South West London. It describes itself as a green oasis in the city, giving a taste of a country estate with a glimpse of its agricultural and industrial history. A pretty accurate description.

Adventure playground – kept them entertained for some time

We spent a lot of time in the great adventure playground – including the favourite zip wire -, played plenty of Pooh sticks and did lots of walking and tree climbing. We had a lovely picnic in the rose garden and then walked to Deen City Farm. It is a very manageable distance from Morden Hall Park and suitable for buggies. We even picked some early blackberries en route. The girls liked them but way too tart for me!

Picnicking in the rose garden

Once at the farm we spent some time with the chickens and then had the obligatory ice creams/ice lollies to recharge. Then we went on to feed the bigger animals.

Finally we headed back to Morden Hall Park; Sofia had knocked off a few of her National Trust 50 Things to do before you’re 11 3/4 and went to get the stickers to prove it.

The kids (22 months – 6.5 years) had a wonderful time. Six kids and not a single argument or meltdown. Amazing!!

Ice creams: 1   Ice lollies: 2  Minor bickerings: 0  Arguments: 0  Small tantrums: 0

Day Eleven

We went to Glorious Goodwood today for the horse racing. We live right by the Epsom Downs so the girls have been to that race course a couple of times and love it, but it was our first time at this one.

My brother’s girlfriend had invited us to go as it’s something that she and her family do annually.

We travelled down, met with some of the group and went straight on for a pub lunch at the lovely The Earl of March. It’s believed that the view from here inspired William Blake’s poem And did those feet in ancient time (Jerusalem). The girls were brilliantly behaved over lunch.

We headed off to the races in a minibus (another cause for excitement!) as soon as we’d finished eating. The food had been very good and won the childrens’ seal of approval also.

Once at Goodwood the girls were immediately captured by the buzzy atmosphere. There was plenty of space for them to roam about and they just loved every minute of it: both the social aspect and the races themselves. A really great day where they were entertained throughout, which meant not even a minor bickering!

Checking out the form

With daddy

Ice creams: 3   Ice lollies: 0  Minor bickerings: 0  Arguments: 0  Small tantrums: 0

Day Twelve 

We travelled back from West Sussex this morning but stopped off for coffee and to say hello to an old family friend who lives near where we were staying.

My dad was making one of the girls’ favourite meals for our return – Spaghetti alle vongole.

We went into my dad’s garden to play and his neighbour (who has a couple of grandchildren and who we get on with very well) called us over. He has actually bought a huge bouncy castle (OMG!!) and invited Sofia, Maria and Gabby over to play on it.

Later on, I decided to go up into the loft and found loads of my old story books from when I was a little girl. I was so excited as were they. Sofia was ecstatic when she found Alice in Wonderland (we’d been to the celebrations at Wisley earlier in the week).

At bedtime, I read one of my favourite stories from the books I’d discovered: The day the clocks stopped. They really enjoyed it, and I was really pleased that they had

Ice creams: 0   Ice lollies: 0  Minor bickerings: 2  Arguments: 0  Small tantrums: 0

Day Thirteen

The girls busily made some thank you cards whilst I did a bit of work in the morning.

After lunch we went back to our house to sort out a few things and called in on some friends. It turned out that the little sister had tonsillitis, so we took out big sis for a walk. The walk culminated in a trip to Mococo’s, an ice cream parlour in Banstead. Ice creams all round except for Sofia, who had her usual crepe with Nutella.

Sofia waiting patiently for her crepe

Ice creams: 3   Ice lollies: 0  Nutella crepes: 1 Minor bickerings: 2  Arguments: 0  Small tantrums: 0

Day Fourteen

We went to the Epsom and Leatherhead Multiples Club with Sofia. She’s been a handful of times before and loves it as she always slightly begrudges what her sisters and I get up to when she’s at school.

All three delved straight into the arts and crafts, which was butterfly-themed this week. The art box is very well stocked and maintained and there are always loads of different materials available.

After ages at the art table they started playing with the toys and hooning about pushing each other in dolls’ buggies. In no time it was juice and biscuit time and then home time. Two hours had flown by and they’d all had a really good time.

We didn’t actually go home straight after, we went for lunch at the Woodman in Ashtead (next door to the the centre where the club is). We all had a very nice meal at this very family-friendly pub. The girls were kept well entertained with the sandpit outside and then some of the toys inside when it started to rain.

Ice creams: 4 (the pub made a mistake and gave us an extra one free of charge!!)  Ice lollies: 0  Minor bickerings: 3  Arguments: 0  Small tantrums: 0

Day Fifteen

Today I randomly decided we were going to Tulleys Farm in West Sussex, despite the fact that is was over a 45 minute drive away. They have the traditional farm and then put on loads of additional seasonal activities; for the summer holidays it’s the Puzzle Park & Giant Maize Maze (which is exactly as it sounds).

A small part of the eight hectares of maze

I booked the tickets online as they are cheaper than on the gate (always search Twitter/Facebook for discount codes ahead of booking).

We did some mini mazes whilst we waited to get into the maize maze, which is carved out of eight acres of corn. Then we went in. I can honestly say I have never seen a maze like it before. We usually go into a maze pretending, for the childrens’ sakes, that it is ‘really difficult.’ Not this time; Bear Grylls would have struggled! The aim is to collect eight stamps, which complete a castle, then find the exit.

We were in there for well over two hours (including a short packed lunch stop at a cafe hut near the middle), and still only managed to get six out of the eight. You’re provided a flag on a long pole in case you need to attract attention or exit quickly. You’d think after a couple of hours of going around paths lined with tall maize plants the girls would have been fed up. Quite the contrary. I had to force them to leave.

All aboard the quad barrel train

Afterwards we headed to the other attractions. There were inflatable slides, trampolines, tractor rides, quad barrel trains, duck racing, skittles, the secret forest, mining, sand pits and playground equipment to name a few. We could have stayed for another few hours easily, but the M25 beckoned just before rush hour. As we were getting in the car, they all asked if we could come back and bring daddy. We will be back as I want to complete that damn maze!! Hey, we might even go and see some animals at the actual farm next time.

Ice creams: 0  Ice lollies: 0  Minor bickerings: 2  Arguments: 0  Small tantrums: 0

Day Sixteen

After a dull morning of chores, we all went for lunch at Caballo Lounge in Epsom. The place is truly child-friendly: colourable menus with crayons (sparkly!) on arrival, brightly coloured child cutlery that isn’t babyish and a load of lego and games to help yourself to. Sofia is obsessed with chess so she dived straight in and grabbed a set and started playing with Matt.

Maria and Gabby had opted for sausage, chips and beans and Sofia, a burger and chips; whilst Matt had fish finger sandwich and I had a halloumi wrap and glass of Prosecco. All the food was great and it was clean plates all round. They really liked the venue.

The afternoon consisted of playing in the garden. After dinner Sofia and I tried out a microwave cake in a mug. We used a recipe from BBC Good Food. It took five minutes in total and everyone loved it so much we made a second. We may need to work on presentation, but move over Great British Bake Off!!

Oo-er!

Ice creams: 0  Ice lollies: 4 (including Matt’s)  Minor bickerings: 1  Arguments: 0  Small tantrums: 0

 Day Seventeen

Today was a playdate at someone else’s house: three sets of twins plus Sofia. It could have been absolute chaos, but instead they were all brilliantly behaved. They all played really nicely; on the trampoline and with lots of toys – NB other childrens’ toys are always infinitely more interesting than their own!

They had a great picnic lunch complete with plenty of goodies, then it was back to playing whilst we (three mums) had our lunch. We actually managed to have lunch in complete peace. This does not happen often.

Afterwards we a had a lovely walk to the local duck pond and then walked on to get ice cream.

It was the perfect day. Not complicated, just lots of fun.

Ice creams: 0  Ice lollies: 3  Minor bickerings: 0  Arguments: 0  Small tantrums: 0

• Read part II here
• Read part III here 

The post Diary of 43 Days of School Holidays: Part I appeared first on The Parent Social.