Category Archives: Countrykids

Our countrykids year

Countrykids, Family, Holidays, Wales

One of my absolute favourite discoveries from my blogging journey is the countrykids linky run by Fiona at Coombe Mill. The idea is simple – it’s an opportunity to share a post about being out and about with your kids – but also it’s a rich source of inspiration for ideas of what to do, and sometimes a metaphorical kick up the backside to just get outdoors and enjoy the fresh air, whatever the weather.

I don’t manage to link up with #countrykids every week, or to comment on as many of the posts as I’d like to, but I always start Saturday morning with a cup of tea and a browse – and I never fail to stumble across an idea for something to do, or somewhere to go, with the kids. More than that is the reminder that the biggest and cheapest playground of all is right outside our front door – something I’m guilty of forgetting too often – but not any more! So here’s a few of the outdoor things we’ve done this year,  many of them thanks to #countrykids…

We’ve had loads of fun over the last year – a big thank you to Fiona and everyone who posts up their ideas and activities – I’m really looking forward to more #countrykids fun in 2014…why not click on the badge below and come and join me!

Country Kids from Coombe Mill Family Farm Holidays Cornwall

On Cardiff’s Best Kept Secret – Cefn Onn

Cardiff Stuff, Countrykids, Family, Wales, , ,

Today was the first day this half term that I’ve not been in work, so I was really looking forward to spending some time with the kids. And as the folk at Lazy Jacks  have recently sent the kids some lovely warm tops to review, it seemed a good plan to get out and about and put the tops through their paces!

We decided to head to Cefn Onn, a Cardiff park I had never heard of until recently – and I’ve been here 14 years! The kids were really excited to be discovering a new place and couldn’t wait to go exploring.

First stop – pooh sticks!

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The colours were absolutely amazing – this picture does not do them justice by any means:

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But then I was distracted from looking at the colours by the sound of disaster up ahead – my littlest boy was being thrown into the stream!

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Then the big ones found an abandoned Summerhouse –  the littlest was absolutely not going to be left out of this discovery as you can see!

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There followed Gruffalo hunting…

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Stream un-damming (to make waterfalls, Mum!)

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Stream jumping…

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Chestnut hunting…

 

And acorn counting!

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It was through a Coombe Mill #countrykids post from The Boy and Me a couple of weeks ago that I heard of Cefn Onn, so it seems only fitting that I’m linking this post up too…if you’ve not discovered #countrykids yet, go and have a browse through, it’s a great reminder that the best playgound is the great outdoors (a fact I find too easy to forget, sometimes!)

Country Kids from Coombe Mill Family Farm Holidays Cornwall

 

 

On a night at the beach

Countrykids, Family, Holidays, Wales, , , , , , ,

 Last week I blogged some photos of our holiday in West Wales for the lovely #countrykids linky run by Fiona at Coombe Mill – but I ran out of time  saved the best for another post!

On the last day of our holiday, we had a lovely surprise when my friend Tanya from Beachlifeetc turned up to spend a week there with her boys, along with another friend and her two children also. I don’t see Tan anywhere near enough, despite the fact that we live so close to each other, so it felt like a lovely end to the holiday to be crossing over for a night.

Because we are all EXCELLENT parents, who put the needs of our children above all else, we decided, along with some other friends on the site, to take all the nine kids we had between us to the beach for the evening as a very special treat. This decision was IN NO WAY  influenced by the fact that nearest pub is, in fact, on the beach. And the kids actually thought it was pretty convenient to have somewhere to dump the adults while they had all sorts of adventures. You see? Always putting the little outers darlings first.

We had a great time chatting and catching up

They had loads of fun. Including shark spotting…

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Chilling out…

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Making friends with the fishermen (the fishermen might have different words for this)

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Realising that fishing seemed too much like hard work when there were literally hundreds of tiny fish (whitebait?) jumping out of the waves and getting stranded on the rocks

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Collecting the teeny fishes to throw them back

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Or alternatively to sort them by size

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And then to serve them to the grownups.

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I can’t leave you with the dead fishes, so to finish up with, here’s my favourite photo of the night, and perhaps of the holiday:

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I love this one, it makes me smile every time 🙂

I’m linking up our holiday memories with #countrykids at Coombe Mill – there are loads of lovely outdoor posts on the linky, so why not head over and have a browse!

Country Kids from Coombe Mill Family Farm Holidays Cornwall