Exploring Tredegar House & Gardens (Country Kids)

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Growing up in south Wales means that I have a heads-up on the types of places and activities that are good to take The Boy on weekends; there's now't as good as personal experiences and happy memories as a reference bank to fun!

One of the places that I didn't really experience much as a child was Tredegar House in Newport, probably due to a mixture of cost, subject matter (my mum doesn't like history as she doesn't like to dwell in the past) and distance. I do remember going there once when I was about eight years old, and have a photo to prove it, but haven't been since. And that was a long time ago.

Having a media pass to the National Trust for the year, and being a NT blogger, means that we are now visiting places that we wouldn't have thought of going to before; Tredegar House is one of those. It was taken over by the National Trust last year and since then there have been changes to make it more interactive and interesting to children, something I've noticed in every National Trust property we've been too.

And so we decided to visit Tredegar House last Saturday when they were running a special event to promote the 50 Things campaign. The irony is that we spent so long playing on the lawn with the old fashioned games, having a picnic and exploring the house, that we didn't have much time to try and tick off some of our 50 Things. It's just as well we're making good progress anyway.

Spring had definitely sprung; the brilliant sunlight was glistening through the freshly budding leaves, casting dappled shadows on the lush lawn and providing a veritable paradise to play on. From the huge conifer, spreading its arms over the lawn protectively, hung tyre-horses swinging back and fore with the giggles of The Boy and other delighted children. The huge open space provded him with the ideal opportunity to fly his kite with just enough breeze to lift it.


Tredegar House & Gardens, Newport

And after we'd enjoyed our picnic lunch and explored the partly restored manor house, we managed to find a cracking tree to explore inside. The only problem was… how to get up to it? Well, that's what daddies are for, isn't it?

—

coombe mill

Learning for Life

Cowboys And Rockets (Featured Post)

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As part of my acceptance that September will happen and that The Boy will have to go to school, I've been starting to think about moving him out of his beautiful nursery into a big boy bedroom. Only starting to think about it however, but the realisation is there.

I've been toying with a variety of themes for his room, and as I'll be painting a mural on his walls it has to be something that can last a few years; I really don't want to have to repaint a very complicated picture after only a year or two. There have been a variety of ideas from a zoo, space, the countryside, pirates, the sea, a farm, the wild west with cowboys and then back to space again. Knowing me, I'll probably try and fit all of these in to the small room and completely overpower it! I have a vision of a landscape (of some sort) and the sky fading up to a darker blue with a rocket zooming through the stars and planets. I just hope it won't be too much!

Of course the added complication comes when finding soft furnishings to match. Many of the bedding sets I've seen are quite stereotypically boyish, which is not The Boy. I definitely prefer the hand-drawn style prints that are available as they look more child friendly. However, finding curtains and bedding to match is very difficult and leaves me to think about buying a ream of fabric and making it. This Gary curtain fabric turquoise fabric seems ideal as it has the watercolour and hand-drawn appearance that I've been hankering after, plus it isn't too boyish.

Gary Curtain Fabric Turquoise

I think a picture like this would make an ideal mural for a young boy's bedroom. The only question is where I can still have rockets zooming through space three foot above a cowboy and his horse?

This is a featured post.

Butlin's Secret Weapon

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Receiving the invitation to become Butlin's Ambassadors was a dream come true. We'd been on a weekend Christmas break in December 2011 to the Bognor Regis resort, and pretty much fell in love with the hotel and all the facilities. It was around the time that I was chosen to become an Ambassador that I'd been thinking of booking another holiday there anyway, so the timing was perfect. We went for our five-day break in March and had such a magical time, that in the car on the way home I whipped out my phone and booked us on the special Ambassadors' weekend that was due to take place three weeks later.

That was last weekend, and if possible we had an even better time in three days than we did on our week-long break. There are two reasons for this.

  1. Laura from 'Tired Mummy of Two';
  2. The Skyline Gang.

When we went on our break in March, we had been so overwhelmed with all the outdoor and indoor activities in the very full programme that we didn't even contemplate booking in for activity sessions or trying to squash in the evening performances. This was a huge mistake, but easy to do. Laura took us under her very experienced Butlin's wing and booked us in to activity and craft sessions over the weekend, not a vast selection but enough to show us the plethora available. Everyone should have a Laura when they go on their Butlin's break.

For those not in the know (and if you've never been to Butlin's you'd be forgiven for not having a clue what I'm going on about), The Skyline Gang are a group of six performers (three women, three men) who make up the resident Butlin's own performance team; you'll only find them in Butlin's resorts (unlike external shows). Bud, Sprout, Pip, Candi, Mimi and Dude all have their own rainbow colour, and a very distintive personality. And they are magical.

On the Saturday evening we nipped into the Skyline Pavilion and assumed our position to watch the half-hour long performance of The Skyline Gang. The Boy was captivated, and to be fair he wasn't the only one. All six of the characters can sing, act and dance, and they did so without stopping for the entire performance. In this show, Candi loses her colour and her friends set out to ensure she returns to her characteristic pink. The Boy hasn't stopped talking about it all week.

After the show, we stayed around for a few minutes to meet the gang and this is where we realised their worth. All six stayed in character throughout the meet and greet session, and they were amazing. They quickly picked up on the children's names, sized up their confidence and approached them accordingly. There wasn't someone ushering them along, they didn't try and escape; The Skyline Gang stayed and engaged with the children until it was the infants who'd had enough. The Boy met everyone of the group and he fell in love with them there and then. His first ever hero-worship.

Meeting The Skyline Gang

The next morning we went to our first activity; Circus Skills with The Skyline Gang. The Boy settled down in the centre of the room with the other thirty or so children and they all held onto the parachute while being assigned a Skyline Gang member's name. And then I saw his little lip going. He glanced around and a frantic 'mummy' was issued. Before I could get to him, Sprout was up and there, trying to reassure him that everything was ok. And he remembered his name from the night before. Out of all those children that he met that weekend, he remembered one three year old little boy's name. And he wasn't the only one. Because actually, all of The Skyline Gang tried to engage him and reassure him that he'd have fun. (I don't know what it was that upset him, I suspect he became confused about being given a different name, not realising what it meant). He soon settled down into rotating around the carousel of activities learning how to hula-hoop with Pip, juggle scarves with Candi, use a diablo with Dude and bounce a yo-yo with Bud. His favourite activities were walking on 'stilts' with Sprout and spinning plates with Mimi (mainly because he could do both of these easily).

Circus skills with The Skyline Gang

The most amazing thing to me was how patient The Skyline Gang were with him, and how genuinely attentive. They were very tolerant of the three year old child who'd sneaked into a session intended for children over five, and they really helped him to complete the tasks.

It is little wonder that these are the former Redcoats who often progress onto the West End stage having been spotted by talent scouts; the way that they constantly stay in character and bounce around the stage for thirty minutes astounds me. Well done Butlin's on persevering with a good old-fashioned variety act with added caring and enthusiasm.

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Four Essential Dresses For Every Woman’s Work Wardrobe (Guest Post)

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When I went to Britmums Live! blogging conference last year, I attended a stylist session with Jenny from Mummy Mishaps. The very lovely stylist was desperate to get me to wear a dress, and Jenny hasn't stopped begging me since. It is a fashion item that I find difficult to wear and the last one was my wedding dress, however (as explained in this guest-post) I'm aware that there's a style to suit every woman; even little old me!

Whether your work environment is smart and sophisticated or casual and chic, it’s important to have a wardrobe that you can always rely on, and particularly that will take you through the seasons. For effortless professional wear throughout the year you can always turn to a great dress, and there are four styles in particular that we think should be a part of every ladies’ work wear collection – you’ll wonder how you ever coped without them!

The Wrap Dress

No matter what your figure, you can trust a wrap dress to flatter it, which makes this style of dress a staple in a work wear wardrobe. After all, when you look good, you feel confident too, and we all know how important that is for client meetings or critical presentations! Choose a wrap dress with three-quarter length sleeves and you’ll wear it all year-round, and what’s more, by adding a bold necklace or a fabulous pair of heels, you’ll have work-to-dinner dressing nailed.

The Shift Dress

With a cap-sleeved shift dress in your work wear arsenal, you’ll never be stuck for the perfect dress, and there are dozens of ways to wear it. In the Winter, a blazer, opaque tights and boots completes your seasonal work look, whereas when the weather gets warmer, switch your boots for ballet flats and add a chiffon scarf and cardigan to look elegant, and appropriate. Stores like Bonmarché always have a fantastic range of ladies’ work dresses to choose from, including stylish and affordable shift dresses that are designed to complement every shape, and will help you to build your essential work wardrobe for less.

The Maxi Dress

When you want to look pristine and put-together, yet a shift dress feels a little too restrictive, a simple yet sophisticated maxi dress could be the answer. Designed to skim comfortably over the figure and keep you cool and covered, ankle-length maxi dresses are perfect for Spring and Summer professional dressing as they can easily be accessorised with a wide belt and flat pumps, or even wedges for a more formal occasion. When the seasons turn cooler, add a light cardigan and scarf over your maxi dress for an on-trend layered look.

The Skater Dress

Although skater dresses are currently very much in vogue, we believe they always deserve a place in your work wear collection. The full, knee-length skirt is surprisingly flattering on many different body shapes, as it helps to add the illusion of curves to slender figures, whilst it works to balance out curves on hourglass and pear-shaped bodies. Sleeveless or cap-sleeved skater dresses are ideal for Summer, yet when you add a suit jacket and a scarf, you’ll be wearing your skater dress through Autumn and beyond.

This is a featured guest post.

365 #18

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What an absolutely glorious week we've had, the sun has shone nearly every day and the warming rays lift my soul. There is no question that in weather like this it's very easy to meet our Project Wild Thing pledge of spending as much time outside as looking at a screen, to be fair I think we've spent triple the amount of time!

Show me your blue skies, show me your outdoor play, show me your week (even if it was inside)!

This linky only works because of people linking to it and then contributing their thoughts to others' posts via comments. I can't emphasise this enough, it's the whole point of the linky!

Congratulations to Carole Finds Her Wings who is completing her 365 this weekend!

Join in by entering the URL of your favourite photograph of the week (either a 52 or a 365 photo) and show some comment love to everyone else in the community. We've got a Facebook group, and now I've created a collaborative Pinterest board (if you'd like to collaborate, let me know and I'll add you).

  1. Choose your favourite photo from the past week and link it up below.
  2. Please add the badge to your linked-up post so that other people know how to find all the other fabulous entries.
  3. If you can spare five minutes to comment on a few other entries I know they'd appreciate it!
365



I've been 'shortlisted' for the Photography category in the Britmums Brilliance in Blogging awards. Many thanks to all how nominated me, if you could spare another minute or so to vote for me then I'd be really grateful! Just click on the badge below to be taken to the voting form.

NOMINATE ME BiB 2013 PHOTO

Days 118-124 of Project 365

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118-124 of 365

118. Zoom! (We went back to Hotham Park next to Butlin's today, this time taking Laura and her family from Tired Mummy of Two. The Boy had a great time playing with Alison and Elizabeth, especially showing Alison exactly how much fun a zipwire is!)

119. Every Drop Counts (We called into The Vyne, a National Trust venue, on the way home from Butlin's today. More about that in my Country Kids post!)

120. Builders' Yard (I set up another small-world play scene for The Boy today in his water table which he spent quite some time playing with, before we headed off to gymnastics and shopping.)

121. Green Fingers (Wednesday today = first day at work of the week. However, this is not a sleeping photo which is a bonus. The Boy was determined to water the plants in the garden, something tells me this could take some time!)

122. Turning Point (After a good day in work, where I was more than happy to be on playground duty due to the glorious weather – so much so I took my classes out on the playground to do ICT that afternoon – mum and I took The Boy down the pier for an ice-cream and cycle ride. The sun casts such amazing shadows at this time of year. The Boy was having an amazing time racing up and down the pier, until he fell off and ended up with more than fifteen splinters in his right hand!)

123. New Glasses (After picking The Boy up at lunchtime from nursery, we nipped over to a small park in Cardiff Bay which I found a month or two back. It's next to the busy area of the Bay, but because it's behind a high wall and in a residential street, it's usually empty and so we get a chance to play in peace and quiet. I love this snap today for the comedic value.)

124. #22 Explore Inside A Tree! (We went to Tredegar House in Newport for the first time today. I vaguely remember going there once as a child with my parents and sister, but didn't think there would be much for children aside from a play park. It transpires that the National Trust had done a huge amount of work to make it interactive for children and they were also having a launch weekend for the '50 Things To Do Before You're 11&¾' campaign. We actually spent so much time having fun exploring the house – more on that later – that we almost missed the opportunity to cross off about eight of the fifty things. In the end we saw them and got ideas of how to fulfill them, but we didn't actually do any apart from #22 with the help of daddy.)

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TheBoyandMe's 365 Linky
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Exploring The Hidden Realm (Country Kids)

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On the way home from our weekend break in Butlin's on Monday, we decided to break up the journey with a visit to a National Trust venue. We picked The Vyne in Basingstoke as it would be a perfectly timed mid-way and mid-day break, and I'd also recently seen MummyMummyMum's post about the new Tolkein-inspired play area; The Hidden Realm.

The Hidden Realm is a new play area, only opened since the beginning of April, and inspired by the well-loved book The Hobbit. Tolkein is thought to have based his tales on the ancient, gold ring on display on site, and so it was an obvious theme for a play area to occupy the once abandoned area of walled garden. Over the past six months, it has been transformed into a unique fantasy landscape for children with elements of jungle, mountain and stream, based on the Middle-Earth landscapes.

When we arrived there were only a couple of other children playing and so we pretty much had free run of the place, the perks of weekday visits! It amazes me how much has been fitted into such a small space, bridges, tunnels (with inter-connecting communication pipes), slides, stepping stones, fireman's pole (very Middle-Earth), and the best bit (for me anyway) was a dammed stream with a standpipe nearby to allow the children to play with the water.

The Hidden Realm at The Vyne, Hampshire

I really hope that the National Trust start building some more of these themed play areas in their venues, such great fun and a joy for both adults and children to enjoy.

—

country kids

Snappy Presents

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It's coming up to a busy time of year for us with birthdays; between the months of March and September we have a total of sixteen family birthdays! That might not seem that many to others, but we only have four for the remaining six months of the year, it does mean that when it comes to Christmas time I haven't been completely zapped of all inspiration.

And this is the problem; after a while it gets very difficult to find meaningful and worthwhile presents for certain family members, especially when they are the more senior members of the family. They've reached the point where they have most things and also are able to purchase anything they'd like in between special occasions, whereas the younger family members are still trying to find their feet with their finances and so it's easier to buy them things that they need.

Added to this though is that the children are all growing up and the youngest child (aside from The Boy) is seven years old while the eldest is celebrating her seventeenth birthday in a few months. I'm a little out of touch with what teenage boys and girls like, it's quite some time since I was one and therefore it's making me quit discombobulated. I think probably the easiest thing is to buy an iTunes voucher as all the teenagers have either iPhones or iPods and they can download which ever apps they'd like to use. I'm pretty sure that Angry Birds or Cut The Rope are staple dowloads for everyone including my husband's nephew, and my teenage niece probably spends most of her time on Facebook.

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When it comes to  buying presents for the older generation, I find that you can't really go wrong with a photo mug! Practical and easy to create, especially with a photo mugs iPhone app which actually allows the user to snap a photo and instantly upload and edit it, adding any text and then paying straight away. Perfect for finding a present on the go!

Capture

That's three presents to go, just need another thirteen! Any ideas?

This is a featured post.

Filofax: Back To School (Review)

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It's not often that I am offered things to review that are related to my day job, but when I was approached to receive a sample of the new Filofax 'Back to School' range I jumped at the chance.

Filofax

The 'old skool' soft green cover reminded me straight away of the exercise books that I used to have in secondary school (I think it was the maths books that were that colour), and I loved the soft textured material the cover had been made out of.

Once the elastic band has been popped off, inside it resembles a normal Filofax with the click-shut ringbinder, and the different sections for addresses and diaries. The 'Back to School' range comes with six dividers and to-do lists, coloured lined paper and white squared paper. The diary inserts are available to purchase separately.

It's a great gift and one I'm thinking of getting for one of my colleagues who loves retro products like this. I do wish the diary section was available with it, as it would actually help students using it for school information, but it's a great basic starting kit to engage the younger consumer.

The Filofax 'Back to School' range is available from the Ideas Network for £20.

The New '50 Things To Do Before You're 11&¾'

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I'm a really big fan of the '50 Things To Do Before You're 11&¾' campaign. Combine that with 'Country Kids' and it has transformed our weekend activities. That is genuinely no exaggeration; I like completing challenges and blogging about them as part of our lives, if it was the initial motivation for becoming more physically active then I see that as no bad thing.

The '50 Things To Do Before You're 11&¾' campaign has been created to help ensure that our children are having the natural childhood they deserve. With children in the UK being the most depressed in the western world, providing them with a sense of achievement and pride in their accomplishments (while also reconnecting them to nature) is essential. The exhilaration experienced from managing to climb that tricky tree or seeing a kite that you've made soaring through the sky is second to none for a child.

In order to update the list and make it more relevant to children in the UK, the National Trust have made a few changes. Initially I was a little irritated as quite a few things that they've removed were challenges that we'd managed (feed a bird by hand, visit an island, bury someone in the sand, balance on a fallen tree) but upon further examination I realised that they are now far more accessible for all, and realistic to achieve. It's all very well having the challenge of 'getting behind a waterfall' but if you live in the middle of the flattest part of Britain then it's rather tricky to achieve. Likewise for landlocked residents, visiting an island or hunting for treasure on a beach is nigh on impossible. And I can't thank the National Trust enough for changing 'see the sun wake up' to 'go star gazing'; after many years of teaching The Boy to not wake up at the crack of dawn, I wasn't relishing that task!

I've blogged previously about the Fifty Things so am not going to write them all out again, but I would like to highlight the changes:

 

Out

In
11. Throw some snow Go on a really long bike ride
12. Hunt for treasure on a beach Make a trail with sticks
15. Go sledging Play in the snow
16. Bury someone in the sand Make a daisy chain
18. Balance on a fallen tree Create some wild art
19. Swing on a rope swing Play Pooh sticks
20. Make a mud slide Jump over waves
21. Eat blackberries growing in the wild Pick blackberries growing in the wild
22. Take a look inside a tree Explore inside a tree
23. Visit an island Visit a farm
24. Feel like you’re flying in the wind

Go on a walk barefoot
27. Watch the sun wake up Go star gazing
29. Get behind a waterfall Explore a cave
30. Feed a bird from your hand Hold a scary beast
33. Catch a butterfly in a net Catch a falling leaf
36. Call an owl Make a home for a wild animal
42. Go wild swimming Go swimming in the sea
43. Go rafting Build a raft
44. Light a fire without matches Go bird watching
46. Try bouldering Try rock climbing
48. Try abseiling Learn to ride a horse

 I'd urge parents to sign their children up for a '50 Things' account as it's fun to use and a great record of all the tasks completed, ours shows we've completed 21 of the tasks so far.

50 Things

I have a linky running for anyone who has blogged about their children's '50 Things' challenges, I'd love for you to join in below.



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