Forrest

Castle Howard in the Wind

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Wow, what weather! With lockdown eased and a new tier system looming, we headed to meet some friends at Castle Howard. What started as a nice day, ended up bitterly cold and windy.

We arrived a little early so did as we usually do and went and had a cup of tea. James was on top form, supping away on his hot chocolate like a real little man.

It was not long before our friends arrived and we headed into the Castle Howard estate. The weather started nice, however, over the course of the day, that was too change. However, we headed in, sunglasses on a spring in our step.

We headed into the woods first to try and tire the little men out before lunch and the play park. It was a great idea as we spent a good couple of hours exploring.

The look of disappointment!

Before too long though it was time for lunch. we managed to bag ourselves a table by the lake. By this time, the wind was blowing a gale and it was bitterly cold. We huddle up with a cup of tea and shivered our way through lunch.

Once we had scoffed lunch, we unleashed the little ones on the play park. Despite the kids throwing themselves all over the climbing equipment, the only casualty was Lyns as she brained herself on a beam while trying to take a photo.

Before too long though, it was time to start thinking about head back. We, of course, took the scenic route via the pond and the walled garden. The kids got absolutely drenched as the wind was whipping the fountain water through the air like a hose.

Even though the wind tried to blow us away and we got drenched through, covered in mud and freezing cold, we all had an amazing day, as usual!!

Moorlands Again

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Lyns is still on nights so James and I had a lazy day, not even getting out of our pjs until late morning.   We spent the morning playing with Lego and watching Despicable Me 3, which is so funny.   I had asked a James the day before what we had wanted to do and he had said he wanted to go to the woods.   I did think about going to Dalby to do the new Zog trail but we were just not up and ready in time.

We headed out wrapped up for the cold and equipped for really muddy paths, however, it was neither which was nice.   James loves this bit of woodland and he knows all the places to explore and where the shortcuts are.   

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James was full of beans and from the word go he was off.  In the teaching area he had great fun running and jumping between the seats.   He was so adventurous, he was hauling himself up small trees. 

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After causing chaos in the teaching area, we were off to explore.   James had lots of fun running in and out of all the areas just off the path as well as venturing into areas we had not been in before and I an not completely certain we should have been in. 

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At one point James declared he wanted to climb a really tall tree and I thought yeah yeah, you’ll get scared once your feet have left the floor, alas no, he was off up the nearest one like greased lightening.   With my heart in my mouth I watched him climb, turns out he is actually a monkey as he deftly shot up the tree. 

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After completing the loop we were back at the entrance.   I had one tired little boy on my hands.   We had climbed trees, fought pirates and raced our way around the area.   What a lovely couple of hours spent out and about. 

Kicking Leaves and Climbing Trees

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Today saw us have a lazy start to the day. Lyns was on a late shift so I headed out early for a run before heading home and spending a little time with them both. After Lyns had headed to work, I asked James what he would like to do. He decided that he would like to go to a wood to find some conkers. After we had had lunch we headed out to my favourite local woodlands, Moorlands.

We go there quite a bit, but if you have not been, it is perfect for toddlers. It takes an hour or so to slowly wander round, with lots of areas for playing in. James loves it. Today there were lots of people there as the weather was nice and it was relatively dry under foot. We went with the expectation that it would be really muddle and wet but the path was really dry and we both would have been fine in trainers.

As you can see, James took his halloween bucket with him so that he could collect conkers. We did not see a single conker but he had loads of fun seeing what else he could find. We came home with a rare old collection of sticks, stones and leaves. Talking of leaves, James was loving kicking through all of the leaves. He was in his element and leaves were flying everywhere for most of the walk round.

When we had come before we had found a big badgers set, well thats what we came to the conclusion it was, so more than happy to stand corrected if there are no badgers in the area. James remembered this and spent a lot of time going off the path seeing if he could find more badger sets or rabbit holes. He was intrigued by things that live underground and kept telling me to be quiet so we did not wake them up.

For most of the walk round the leaves on the floor were the standard autumn brown. We came round one corner and there was a beautiful tree dropping red leaves everywhere. James was amazed that the leaves were red, not brown, and spent a long time examining them and asking why they were such a nice colour. I was useless as I had no idea at all what type of tree it was, any help gratefully received.

About half way round there is a bird hide tree house. We did not see any birds as there were a lot of children running around making a lot of noise but we had a good play in the tree house. James was up and down the steps hiding from the Gruffalo and the Gruffalo’s Child. He has some imagination that boy.

After we had spent about twenty minutes playing in the tree house James was starting to flag so we headed back to the car. It is roughly twenty minutes walk, at a tired James pace, to get back to the car but he kept is little legs pumping and with a few breaks en route, we made good speed.

We got back to the car and headed home. I was fully expecting the little man to fall asleep however he chatted all the way home. When we got home it was out with the Hot Wheels before he had some home made tomato soup and headed to bed. A lovely little stroll in the woodland that James thoroughly enjoyed.