A Day in the Lakes

We took advantage of the lovely spring weather to take a day trip to the Lake District. The Lake District holds a very special place in our hearts and is so beautiful in the spring. Our first stop in the Lakes was Townend house at Troutbeck. A farmhouse belonging to the Browne family for over 400 years, this delightful home really captured our hearts. The house and its contents were left to the National Trust by the last occupant, George Browne. A successful farmer, he was able to retire early and then took to carving the contents of his home. The house is filled with his intricate carvings, right down to the little chairs he carved for his children. The house has so much personality and I just loved it!

After Townend we took a lovely walk in the nearby St Catherine's Wood and, as ever, finished our day at Wray Castle where we enjoyed tea and soup at dusk on the shores of Lake Windermere as the bats flew over our heads in the darkening sky. Such a lovely day and such lovely memories.

Those curls! He melts me!

Messy Play!

 

I love good quality traditional wooden toys for my children, but there are undeniably times when a pile of mud and a bright yellow plastic digger are required! Alex normally doesn't like to get his hands dirty, but he had a wonderful time in the garden yesterday playing with the soil and some of his toy vehicles.

 

Planting

 

Cucumbers, Peppers, Chives, Sunflowers, two varieties of tomato, basil, mint and parsley. We started off with two enthusiastic little helpers and Daddy did the rest when they moved on to other things! Hoping for lots of lovely growing things in due course.

Into the Woods

 

Saturday afternoon in the woods with my favourite people. Alderley Edge has become one of our favourite woodland walks. A stop for tea and biscuits at Stormy Point whilst the Podlings play in the Devil's Grave is a must! We are happiest when we are outdoors together.

A Visit to the Aquarium

 

A visit to the Sea Life Centre in Birmingham on Saturday was a real treat for the Podlings and a special reward for filling their marble jar. We award the Podlings marbles for kind and helpful behaviour and take them away for unkind behaviour and disobedience. Their collective good behaviour fills the jar, so when the jar is full we agree on a special treat that the whole family can enjoy. A trip to somewhere like this (i.e. somewhere expensive!) is very rare for us and therefore even more special. The day was much anticipated by the Podlings and we had some excited little people in the car at the start of the journey!

 

They were a little more subdued by the time we had driven the hour to Birmingham and navigated the city to find the car park Mark had sought out beforehand. We tend to avoid cities and the Podlings were fascinated by the tall buildings and the general business of the place. Fascinated, and I am pleased to say, slightly horrified! We are definitely happier in the countryside! The aquarium was absolutely heaving when we arrived, which Tom found hard to cope with. With hindsight, we should have chosen a quieter time to arrive, but not knowing how long it would take us to go around the aquarium and given how much it cost we wanted to make sure we had plenty of time. We will know for next time, although given how expensive it was I am not sure when that will be!

 

Gradually the crowds spread out and we all started to relax and enjoy what we came to see...the fish! We had a lovely visit and we all particularly loved the walkthrough tunnel at the end where the fish (including sharks!) swim all around you. Alex still talks about the fish swimming "under our toes". I loved watching Alex taking it all in and the older Podlings all delighted in showing him everything and lifting him up so he could see better. Lily, Emma and Alex had a play in the small soft play area at the end of the aquarium before we went to the gift shop where they were allowed to choose a souvenir. The final part of the treat was KFC for tea, which all four of the Podlings absolutely love.

 

We loved our special day out, though I think we all agree we would prefer to visit at a quieter time. Emma was crying at the end of the day because she had had such a nice day and was so sad that the day was over. I hope it will be one of those pleasant 'Do you remember...?' days we will all look fondly back on in future years. It was such a lovely day.

 

Excited Podlings at the start of the journey (yes, I did adjust Alex's shoulder straps before we set off, in case anyone was worried!)

They loved that the fish swam underneath them

World Book Day 2017

Emma as Silky the Fairy from The Enchanted Wood by Enid Blyton

 

World Book Day always inspires a great deal of excitement in the Podlings. With Tom now at high school, only the girls got to dress up this year. Emma went as Silky the fairy from The Enchanted Wood and Lily chose to be Nancy Drew. Emma's costume was quite easy to put together. Her dress was the bridesmaid's dress that Lily wore to Mark's brother's wedding a few years ago and we had the wings in the dress-up box. I made the flower crown by stitching some artificial daisies onto a headband. I really wasn't sure what we were going to do for Lily's costume and went charity shopping the day before World Book Day with my fingers crossed. Imagine my delight when I found a beautiful purple, tweed-effect suit just waiting to be turned into a Nancy Drew costume! The skirt was much too long, so some frantic (and very messy!) hem sewing was required in order to have the costume ready for the morning. I couldn't bring myself to cut into the beautiful jacket, so I just pinned the sleeves inside to shorten them. A pair of black tights and one of my hats and Lily went to school looking very much like Nancy Drew and scarily grown-up!

 

It is always fun to see what the other children wear on World Book Day, but it saddens me that every year you seem to see fewer and fewer costumes that are actually inspired by books. World Book Day is supposed to inspire children to develop a love of reading, but increasingly you see movie characters, Disney princesses and even computer-game characters. They might as well re-name it National Fancy Dress Day! Such a shame!

 

Something new this year was the school's 'Reading in Unusual Places' competition, where the children were supposed to submit a photograph of themselves reading in an unusual place. We took reading books with us on our visit to Manchester Museum and photographed the girls reading there. Lily was standing in front of a flock of artificial butterflies with a complete whale skeleton suspended behind her. Emma was photographed standing in front of a leaping tiger. The winning photograph was of a boy reading in his own kitchen with his dog. One doesn't want to appear a sore loser, so I shall refrain from commenting further, but I was disappointed for the girls, who thought they were in with a good chance with their 'unusual places'.

 

This was Lily's last year to dress up for World Book Day as she will be joining Tom at his High School next year, but I think she went out on a high note. She made a lovely Nancy Drew and although none of the children knew who she was, the teachers were quite excited by it! I love it that my girls love to read and I hope that never changes. 

 

Lily as Nancy Drew. I loved the Nancy Drew books as a girl, so I am thrilled that Lily has really taken to the books too.



Emma's entry in her school's 'Reading in Unusual Places' competition, taken at Manchester Museum.  Probably not the tiger who came to tea! I still can't fathom why this picture didn't win! 

Lily's entry to the competition, again taken at Manchester Museum with a complete whale skeleton suspended in the background.