We’ve had a lovely half term holiday that sadly flew by far too quickly. The weather was better than we had expected so it was lovely to get outside and take Willow for lots of lovely walks in the sunshine.
Lois and Lilian enjoyed taking part in an intensive swimming course for the week. They are both ASA stage 4 and Lilian was very happy to pass the stage by the end of the week. Cody just started swimming lessons in stage 1 the week before half term so he is keen to do the next intensive course that comes up. These courses are great as the kids get to have a lesson every morning (ours was at 9am) and we are ready to get on with whatever we want to do for the rest of the day. They were treated to a slushy drink at the end of the week 😉
We thoroughly enjoyed a walk round Mowbray Fields where the Earth Trust were running a free nature event which included trails, mud kitchen, track spotting, nature crafts and seeing some of the animals which live in the British countryside. We loved the little mice that had been caught the night before especially for the event.
One of our very enjoyable outings during half term was to the Pendon Musuem in Long Wittenham which has model railways and villages from the 1920s and 30s era. Despite only living 5 minutes down the road none of us had ever visited the museum before and we were really suprised by what a great place it is! To find out more about it have a read of our full review here: Pendon Museum
On Thursday the sunshine was lovely so we headed to Grey’s Court in Henley to make use of our new National Trust annual passes. The staff greeted us with a map of the site and pointed out all the best bits to visit. We had a lovely walk down to the new park area and fairy houses hidden in the woodland. It was an ideal spot for den building which lots of other children were enjoying too. We also loved the walled garden with its secret doors leading to different areas. It was such a lovely place to explore and I cant wait to go back again later in the year when the flowers are all in bloom. I will write a full review of Grey’s Court very soon but here are a few photos for now of our lovely visit.
In between our outings and dog walks the kids enjoyed time at home building dens in their bedroom, building with Lego and also playing some board games. They had a bit of time on the Ipad too playing Minecraft and using one of their instructional books to create all sorts of things in the game. It was lovely to see them helping each other and planning where to put things. A good bit of teamwork even if it was in front of a screen! I’m not a big fan of too much screen time but I think in small amounts it can be beneficial to have a bit of ‘down time’. Lets face it we all need a bit of a rest from time to time and the girls certainly started to feel it towards the end of the week with all their swimming and the walking we had done.
To finish off the week we had a lovely visit to the Millets Farm Falconry Centre. We visit Millets regularly but had never been to the new Falconry Centre before. It was bigger than we had expected and there were a lot more birds and animals than we thought there would be. I think for the price its a great trip out, especially as you can come and go all day and make a full day of it by enjoying all the other things on the Millets site as well. To read more about it you can see our full review here: Millets Falconry Centre
Thanks to the weather improving it was a lovely week and there is now certainly a feeling of Spring in the air. I can’t wait for the Easter holidays now for more fun and family time 🙂
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