Country Kids: Shorne Woods, Kent

I've lived in London for the best part of 10 years now. Five north of the river and five south of the river, with a short break back home in Suffolk in the middle somewhere. 

Living for the Weekend

Living for the weekend, the two days after five of working, the time for rest and play. A largely credited to the Victorian invention and we have a lot to be thankful for for their introduction. The change of pace and the change of priority is vital for many of our mental healths and for our families. It is a time to reconnect and savour.

In the past, in the distant memory of life pre L, our weekends were spent lazying around in the mornings, lunches out, dinners out, dancing, visits to friends and some more lazying around. Visits to galleries, houses and gardens, weekends away to Paris or staycations. 

Life with L has slowly changed our weekend plans, and now that we have a fully fledged toddler, sob, our weekends now are much more jam packed. They need to be for L as she is a little whirl wind of energy who needs constant stimulation or she drives her parents potty! We now try to head out early for days out, swimming, visits or holidays to make the most of these precious days. With J working long hours during the week L doesn't much of her Daddy so the weekends are a time for filling with memories. 

After a week spent reading about and playing with farm animals I decided to research local farms and found one a 30ish minute drive which promised big things. Farm animals, playgrounds and soft play. Toddler paradise. 

Day on the Farm

We had a slight home emergency two weeks ago which required L and I to leave J in a floorless home and move down to my parents for the foreseeable future.

The massive upside to this was that we got to spend Easter Weekend in Suffolk with my family. Lovely. We took advantage of a nice looking day to head to the farm on the Saturday and visit Jimmy's Farm. This is really close to my parents and we have eaten there a few times but never visited the animals. 

Today we rectified this and paid the wholly reasonable sum of £10 for two adult tickets and two bags of feed, under 2's are free. This price includes entry to the nature trail, woodland walk, butterfly house and all the animals, feeding time or petting specials and two fantastic adventure playgrounds. There is also a large picnic area and giant sandpit which I think L will love when she is a bit bigger or less sleepy as she was today. Brilliant by my books. If you are a family of two adults and two paying children there is a family ticket option as well as an annual charge which I think would be well worth it if you were going to be visiting regularly. 

We ate in the outside cafe because the main restaurant was fully booked, much to our disappointment, but were speedily served burgers and chips and were able to borrow a highchair from the main restaurant for L. The burgers were meaty and the chips crispy. L enjoyed some of each and loved the floured bap! A quick look round the farm shop found some sweet treats for afters in the shape of fudge and cookies! We have previously brought sausages from Jimmy's and been really chuffed with them, and the pork pies look fantastic today. 

After filling our tummies it was onto the main event! The queue was short and quickly dealt with meaning we were in and ready to meet the animals in about five minutes. 

Park Life: April 2014

A big photo dump for the weekend! 

Enjoy the Easter weekend with your family and loved ones, this is what bank holidays are made for. 

Me and Mine: February

It was the first beautifully sunny day in weeks, after all the rain, after all the gloom after all the days stuck in side.

We were certainly not the only people to be making the most of the sunshine on this day. And Lloyd Park was full to bursting! This is a park in which J spent many a day when he was growing up, this was the first time he has taken me and we will certainly be going back.

So here is a massive photo dump of our day out. Check out the cool swing so that mum and dad can join in the fun, or siblings obviously but I can not be the only adult who is jealous of a child on the swings.

The Week That Was Spent in the Park

Autumn Walks

On our way back from Baby Bounce at our local library I was getting busy with my camera while L napped in her pumpkin hat.

Autumn sunshine is so beautiful.

I don't know if that is because the grey days are so grey and miserable that you properly appreciate the sunshine or if there is something actually physically different about the low lying autumn sun.

Here are a few snaps (taken on my trusty but much abused phone) from my walks this week.