Showing posts with label #countrykids. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #countrykids. Show all posts

Friday, 5 June 2015

It's Open Farm Sunday this Weekend

Last week my #CountryKids post was all about our preview of Open Farm Sunday, where we got to visit Elm Tree Farm on Sunday 17th May. Well since then, since last Friday, I put my video vlog together of our day there. Last week I only shared Aaron falling on the chicken wire, but very soon after did the proper vid, which I love:

It's been a week all about farms on my YouTube channel, as the above spurred me on to edit our footage of Folly Farm Wales, which was gathering dust on my computer, what with us having been there the last week of April whilst we were at the lovely Bluestone Wales.

We haven't been anywhere this week worthy of a #CountryKids blog post, but my country kid is a very outdoorsie boy, so we HAVE been to the park every day after school, even staying there till 20:30 one night. Yes, I was exhausted.

But, back to Open Farm Sunday (which you can follow on Twitter and Instagram via #OFS15), all you have to do is go here and see where your nearest participating farm is:

You even get to dictate how far you are prepared to travel.

It's this Sunday 7th June.

Liska x

Find other country kids blog posts by clicking on this badge:
 Country Kids from Coombe Mill Family Farm Holidays Cornwall 

Friday, 29 May 2015

Open Farm Sunday 2015 Preview and our visit to Elm Tree Farm

Open Farm Sunday is coming up on Sunday 7th June 2015 and we were invited to a preview, so that we could tell you all about Open Farm Sunday and why you and your families should join in the fun.
We spent the day at Elm Tree Farm on Sunday 17th May 2015. It is a private farm that is not normally open to the public and focuses on special needs projects; however there are LOTS of activities on Open Farm Sunday and the public are welcome from 11 a.m. - 4 p.m. on Sunday 7th June.
The farm, located on Park Road in Stapleton
BS16 1AA next to the cricket ground, will be open to visitors from 11am-4pm. There is parking on-site and entry is free as part of the national Open Farm Sunday scheme.For more information, contact keily.elvin@brandontrust.org or phone the farm on 0117 958 6206.
The first thing we did was visit the chickens. Aaron spent what felt like ages feeding them grass. They're also hand fed corn, and their delicious free range eggs are sold to locals. The lovely lady who showed us around had to keep turning the electric fence off each time Aaron went back to the chickens again and again. It is there to deter foxes. It didn't deter this fox though LOL and thankfully the fence was off at this point and neither Aaron nor the chickens were hurt. It's only now I can see the funny side:
Clearly Aaron needs to be a little less free range. Although to be fair he is not normally this clumsy.

Aaron was rather taken with the farm cat. As you can see below, the chickens yield a decent amount of eggs.
We spent a good couple of hours exploring the farm with our personal tour guide and we were made very welcome. I can imagine the farm will be so exciting Sunday 7th June, as they have many plans to make it a wonderful day.

We loved looking at the newborn lambs:
Thankfully there was another boy there exploring the farm, and he and Aaron went everywhere together, which was wonderful to see. Also meant he stayed interested and wasn't bored just with us adults.
What I LOVE about Elm Tree Farm is it is a functioning farm, not just laid on for visitors. It has a very warm authentic feel, which I think you'd love if you visit:
My Aaron who was fox for the day, chased these ducks around until we told him off (you'd be forgiven for thinking they are geese - they're not). Before we stopped him doing it, it was so interesting to see how the ducks would chat about Aaron and stare at him. Felt like I was in a story book:
The ducks continue to keep a beady eye on Aaron:
I have LOTS and LOTS of footage of our day at the farm, and desperately need to edit it into a montage or vlog but just haven't had chance yet. REALLY must do that this weekend.

Aaron was so happy after his visit to the farm. Very at peace too. Time in nature is great:

Where: Elm Tree Farm,
Stapleton, Bristol BS16 1AA

Time: 11 am to 4 pm

Contact: keily.elvin@brandontrust.org

Activities: Take a walk around the farm to see the animals, make a model out of vegetables or maybe create your own bug hotel and more! There will be a pig roast and other refreshments, a plant and produce sale and our friendly team will be there to answer all of your questions.

I have copied the above from their poster, but from talking to them on Sunday 17th May 2015 I know that they have a LOT more than that planned, like for example they have a foal, and on the day you get to compete to name him. If your name is chosen you win a FAB prize.
You can follow: Open Farm Sunday on Twitter
or get more information here: Open Farm Sunday 2015


Tonight at midnight I am going to hook this blog post up with #CountryKids
 Country Kids from Coombe Mill Family Farm Holidays Cornwall 

Friday, 10 April 2015

The Country Kid is Back in Action

He may now be a toothless boy wonder but he's back on top form thank goodness. My lil hero. And in time for us to enjoy the school Easter holidays.
The quickest and easiest way to share our Easter weekend with you, is to get you to watch this video below :=) Shows our Park Life Easter Sunday (which was in the evening) and Monday (which was the whole day). Aaron had lots of fun and adventures. The sky could not have been bluer, and it seems like only yesterday when I recently said Spring has started in the UK, but now I can honestly say SUMMER HAS! So soon after the clocks going forward too! We've had a whole week of 20 degrees! Been very welcome!
Would love it if you could watch on You Tube and like, comment and subscribe. I'm a tad addicted to You Tube myself currently. Seems there are heaps of Parent Vloggers on there. Something for everyone. My favourites are the Saccone Jolys, as you feel like you get to know them with every video.

So back to #CountryKids... Aaron's accident hasn't dented his fearlessness ness ness! He is still just as adventurous as he ever was (thanks be to God), although I hear myself and Daddy saying things like "be careful"  or "take it slow" or "watch out" a lot more often, which is strange given it wasn't any carelessness on Aaron's part that caused the fall, but enough of that...
He's quite a chilled out country kid though :-)
Me, Mummy, I get to chill, like truly chill, when he's playing with Daddy, or as below, just spinning around cloud watching, not that there were many. They both love that roundabout thingy. It's got no bars so you just lie on it and relax after Mummy's pushed you. As you'll also see in the vid above, we got to relax Easter Sunday and Monday too. That's the fab thing about school holidays: LOTS of quality family time. The weather has been conducive to this Country Kid enjoying the great outdoors. Looks like 2015 is officially open for business, especially now that the Solar AND the less talked about Lunar Eclipses are both out of the way. Time to start living!
What's your Country Kid been up to? For outdoor inspiration, head over to Coombe Mill's blog (or  go there in real life like I hope to one day).

I'll be adding this post to the #CountryKids linky when it opens at midnight tonight.
 Country Kids from Coombe Mill Family Farm Holidays Cornwall 

Liska xx
@NewMumOnline


Friday, 20 March 2015

Our Spring Equinox and Solar Eclipse for #CountryKids

I remember a couple of years ago, actually last year AND the year before (Feb 2014 daisies 2013 daisy picking), both years feeling really Summery when Aaron picked me daisies. I am pleased to say this has begun in earnest, so you can relax that Spring is definitely underway with Summer round the corner :-)
Excuse the crusty nose, but we all have the lurgy in this house presently. His nose gets like that at school as they expect them to be independent. Suffice to say, yesterday and today I have got through quite a few wipes to clean him up after the school run! Today in the morning I even put a pack of tissues in EACH pocket of his school trousers and it still happened...

Despite me and Daddy both having Spring flus, Daddy indulged Aaron in a kick about in the park, as the weather was too good to ignore.
There's little I love more than watching them play footie. It warms every cockle of my heart and I get to unwind knowing they are both briefly occupied and I am not needed for a few minutes. And breathe! :-)
Love hearing the football tips that Daddy passes onto Aaron that will put him in good stead for football coaching starting once again in April - Aaron's looking forward to it already. Bless! I love our cycles to and from just as much as watching the football. I enjoyed giving it up once the evenings got cold and dark though, but with the clocks going forward soon, we're ready to adopt all our Spring Summer routines once again! Yee haw!

So, a few weeks ago I was blogging how Aaron was making me go to the park every day after school. Well yesterday and today we were back to that once again. Last night (Thurs 19th March) we went there straight after school at 15:15 yet we were not home till 18:45 at which point my fingers were numb! Tonight thankfully we were home soon after 18:00. It was a warm evening this evening but only until 17:00. My last hour in the park a chill had set in, which Aaron running around does not notice.

I've made a video, I hope you enjoy it:

My favourite photo from tonight, has to be this one. Aaron and his classmate. Both #CountryKids
I'm hooking this post up with #CountryKids over at Coombe Mill.
 Country Kids from Coombe Mill Family Farm Holidays Cornwall 

Friday, 7 November 2014

Our Bonfire Night

Country Kids love getting out and about and what better excuse than Bonfire Night to a fireworks exhibition that would actually have a real life Bonfire; Aaron's first time seeing one.

I decided to put Aaron's skeleton costume (we reviewed it a few weeks ago for Aldi) on. Nobody else as it turned out was dressed up, but I didn't regret it as it meant it was really easy to spot him in the dark, if he walked a couple of steps away from us.
We've got SO much wear out of it. This is his 4th time wearing it - love it! Next year, keep an eye out for their Halloween Special Buys week a few weeks before Halloween - bargains to be had AND way cheaper than buying from those online costume companies. You may remember from the end of my Halloween post that even I had a costume :-)
We go to a fireworks display every year but we have never been to one with a real bonfire before so Aaron was amazed and spent about 30 minutes staring at it. He was fascinated that the flames got lower as the wood burned down. There was a fun fair there, which Aaron was thrilled with. The ride he is standing by below was something you walked through, and even up a level. Every few feet there was an activity you had to climb on, or over or through. It was like a soft play area without any soft. Never seen anything like it before but Aaron loved it, and was over the moon that Daddy went on it with him.
I love it when Daddy is off work and we do things as a family because I can get pictures like this that I can treasure forever: 
Even though I don't have a DLSR I do have the function for background defocus, so this is my attempt at a clever shot. Sadly I cannot show you ANY of my pictures of the fireworks, because as good as my point and shoot is, it just didn't cope at all. So jealous of +TheBoyandMe who can even take fireworks photos with her PHONE - that is SOME phone! Samsung like mine but way superior...
My favourite picture of the night has to be this one. Aaron just adored the Thomas train, and insisted going on it twice, even though Daddy couldn't understand how he could love such a slow ride, but Aaron despite his 4 years continues to adore trains and Thomas like he has done since he was 1.
So as usual my Aaron, definitely a #CountryKids kind of boy, had plenty of outdoor time. Given that Halloween was 21 degrees and I didn't even need a jacket on the way home that night, none of us on 5th November (Bonfire Night) had gloves on. So as wrapped up as Aaron is, he did have cold hands on the way home. We'd been standing there for 90 minutes if you add up the fun fair time, the bonfire and the fireworks; on the way home my toes and my fingers were both numb. I made us all a BIG family dinner when we got in and the heating went straight on. God knows what we'll do when the temperatures really drop, as I think it was 10 degrees, and as we all know, it'll get down to zero and just below at some point. Time to dig out our hats, gloves and scarves me thinks! But then it is not everyday you stand around outside in the evening for 90 minutes so maybe we'll be alright for a few weeks yet.

Alright? Am I mad. Clearly I have already forgotten how drenched I got cycling back from the school pedal (#SchoolPedal) this morning. The wind and the rain were in my face all the way home, despite it being dry when we cycled to school. I am glad about that for Aaron though. When I got home I had to put my jacket and jeans straight in the washing machine as they were soaked. Wow, the wind blowing on wet jeans is a horrible feeling, and cycling against the wind is like cycling uphill. None of this will stop me and Aaron being outdoorsie though. I think we are BOTH of us #CountryKids :-)

Liska xxx

Hook up with others over at:
 Country Kids from Coombe Mill Family Farm Holidays Cornwall 

Friday, 1 August 2014

Spending time with #CountryKids

I've got no shortage of #CountryKids blog fodder this week, and for once I am organised enough to get it online. So often on Friday night blogging is the last thing I feel like doing. 

This Tuesday, it was like Harry met Sally except it was Harry and Aaron. They had a great time at the farm.
As you can see from the last photo it was a sad goodbye.

They really enjoyed the climbing frame in the "orchard" and feeding the pigs, with apples from the trees hanging directly above. I hope pigs like apples. I think Harry and Aaron converted them if they didn't. Aaron was very insistent that they be clean from the tree, so kept getting adults to pick them for them. (Not me, I was resting my plantar fasciitis ridden foot).

Anyone who has followed my blog for years will know that we used to holiday often in Ireland, and Aaron would always find his way onto a tractor with my relatives. Well it's too long since we've been so he was fascinated with the tractors we saw in Glastonbury on Sunday:
I blogged about our trip to Glastonbury here: Where Jesus Once Walked. It includes a video that I made of all of our photos.

The thing with #CountryKids is they are adventurous. This was us Wednesday and this time it was Aaron meets Amy. This video is only a few seconds long (I didn't notice it when making the later one) but watch it to get an idea of how truly high up they are - brave little people:


This high dome, and its highest climbing frames within didn't phase them AT ALL, despite their ages of 3 and 4. Aaron was too scared to go down the metal slide as he assumed it would send him down too fast but Amy got in it without hesitation.
That's Aaron in the red t-shirt on the bottom ladder to get into the meshed area tunnels. He said the ladder was wobbly, bless him. Look how upright some of the tunnels are, in the photo to the right of the ladder one.

That morning the Nurture drinks had arrived for review in the post, but Amy wanted water and Aaron was doing his funny "I don't want to drink or eat in front of anyone" thing. 

I'd frozen them in the morning, so they were like slush puppies but without all of the nasties. So I enjoyed mine and know Carolin really enjoyed hers.
There are currently quite a few grey hairs in my fringe I don't know how they are not visible in that photo - thanks for taking it Carolin.

There's so much to do in the park, +Carolin Mader and I got lots of opportunity to chat and 100% relax. Aaron was a bit whingy at first as he hadn't had lunch but he soon cheered up.

There was a splash area there with water pumps and bits to paddle in. Lots and lots of sand, near the water and near the dome.

What I loved was there was plenty of space to find a spot to drop a rug, and have a picnic or just lounge.

Now that I know what it is like, I will be so so so going again, and even more prepared next time.

The cafe there is way cheaper than other park cafes I have been to, but sadly the kitchen closed before I ordered my chips. I think Carolin felt bad so did not eat hers, which being that I am a gannet, I then ate, despite them being cold. Oooops.

There's a region of the park for every age group - never seen a park as good as it actually and it's free to enter. We were thrown out at 17:45 though due to staff shortages, but ordinarily they are open till 19:00.

Aaron revitalised himself with a KFC as soon as we left before we embarked on an incredibly long journey home.

Here's all of the photos of our two adventurous #CountryKids.



I will be linking up with Coombe Mill's #CountryKids when the linky opens at midnight tonight.

Liska xxx


 Country Kids from Coombe Mill Family Farm Holidays Cornwall 

Saturday, 7 June 2014

A Day at The Beach Doesn't Have to Be Hot Especially if it's Weston Super Mare

So, last weekend, at the end of half term, we headed off for the beach. May as well end half-term with a bang eh? It was overcast and not particularly hot but that wasn't the reason we were going. We wanted to go on the rides, enjoy the "sea" air, look out to "sea" and just generally be there. Hubby doesn't like the heat, so it was the perfect day to go. Aaron's not yet done the whole beach thing (his last time at the beach was Summer 2012, a day trip to Brighton) so he wasn't nagging us to paddle or anything like that. PLUS he'd just been (I nearly forgot there) on Wednesday of half term, to Southend with me, ALL of his cousins, and my brother in law. So to him now, beach means rides. By the way did you know that Southend has the longest pleasure pier in the world - no I didn't either! Anyway rides is what we went to both beaches for. Great eh! No beach for 2 years and then 2 in 1 week. Like buses, you wait ages and two come along at once!

Will have to re-train Aaron when the weather kicks in, that sun, beach, sand and sea, means towels, picnics, cossies, sun cream, tans and sandcastles, and NOT rides.

You can tell by how he's dressed that it wasn't a particularly warm day:

He's sporting his brand new bucket and spade, as he's never owned one bless him!

I join in with #CountryKids when I can because Aaron is SUCH an outdoors active boy and because he ADORES animals and is fearless unlike me:

On honeymoon, would I go on a camel ride? Would I 'eck. But suggest a donkey ride to Aaron and on he hops, and even makes his Dad pay four times as he refuses to get off. I think if he could have done he'd have taken one of them home. Dare I go to Coombe Mill when he literally won't want to leave?

So, above kind of gives you an idea as to how a beach post has become a #CountryKids post. My boy, preferred more time with the animals than on rides. I am so glad I get out and about with him as much as I do, as this boy was built for the great outdoors. Don't get me wrong, he has about 15 favourite shows on TV, so he's not a complete farm hand, but he is a robust adventurer!


By the way, it's deliberate that he is on a donkey called JAKE as Jake and the Neverland Pirates is his favourite show on TV.

As enamoured as he was with the donkeys, what then made even more of an impression on him was the Weston Wheel,

The views from up there are spectacular which you don't really get from my photos - sorry. Hopefully you can see the bars on the right hand side of the beach photo to see that that is an on ride view :-)

What I haven't told you is Aaron did not at all want to go on. We had to drag him on convince him! Yet he couldn't get on quick enough for the second ride and as this pic shows, due to the cool temperatures (it didn't actually rain) there were no crowds, so bliss, no queues!
Whenever Aaron's had a good time, he doesn't want to leave. This was the "I don't want to go home yet pose!"


Which was closely followed by the "you will if I carry you pose"


But bless my fun seekers, on the way to the carpark they stopped at an arcades place (we got kicked off the pier as it closes quite early). So we stopped in somewhere, after the above, and they ended up having a full game of ten pin bowling. Considering I was on the team at Uni, you'd think I would have joined in, but my gout had given up the ghost by this point so I sat on a high bar stool and just enjoyed watching them have fun:


Oh, before I forget, apart from some GREAT donkey photos, this is my favourite photo from the day:




With our beach day in the bag, the next day, the Sunday, the last day of half-term, when the temperatures soared and everyone else was at the beach, we spent the day gardening:


I did a bit much, despite going easy, and ached for the next few days after. Clearly I need to do it more often and get fit. Who knew gardening could be exercise ;-)

Bye for now,

Liska xxxx

 Country Kids from Coombe Mill Family Farm Holidays Cornwall 

Friday, 30 May 2014

The Great Outdoors. Bike rides with a 3 year old. Cycling to the Farm.

We've always been very outdoorsie Aaron and I.  Very intrepid and weather on the whole doesn't stop us going anywhere and good weather, gets us going everywhere!

But now that he's on a 16 inch Avigo big boy bike, I have dusted down mine, which I hadn't ridden since pre-Motherhood and now there's literally no stopping us. I am used to not using umbrellas as I couldn't hold one and push a buggy, so the bike's the same drill. All we need is a water proof jacket each and hoods! Always have a hood when the weather looks like there's a chance of rain. We're saving money on bus fares as the bikes are taking us all over. My country kid is a natural on his bike. Very proud of him.

I wish I had chance to join in with #countryKids every week. I will certainly try to from now on.

 Country Kids from Coombe Mill Family Farm Holidays Cornwall 
I have some perfect material this time :-) A recent bike ride about a week ago, saw us heading off to a farm. Aaron was disappointed though as all of the animals had already been put away when we arrived. We got there as they were closing. They were nice enough to still let us look around though:


Aaron, being that it was daylight, was in disbelief that the animals were in bed so he literally walked up to every closed door, closed coop or closed shed, trying to see could he hear animals, or perhaps peek inside bless him:


He was very thorough in his search for animals. No stone was left unturned:


A closed gate wasn't going to slow down his intensive search either:


He continued to search, with his serious face on. I just quietly followed and enjoyed the scenery, whilst grabbing each and every photo opportunity I could:


Once he realised that the Farmer was right, ALL of the animals were indeed put away, and unlike Aaron himself they were asleep BEFORE dark, his sad face started to appear:



I'll always class it as a successful visit, as we got some beautiful photos and we now know we can cycle there.

These were taken on the same hill at the same time, but just because of the difference of a few feet, which effected the lighting, look at the difference in shade/shadows:



I think I would love that last photo on a canvas. It's always the moody scenic shots of Aaron that I love, and not necessarily the cheesy grin ones, although clearly they are lovely too.

It's these scenic ones that I will look at fondly in my old age I think. Aaron often leads the way, apart from when he's tired or stopping to look at each and every snail, so this is often my view of him, so here you are seeing Aaron from my eyes. My tall 3 (soon to be 4 year old) whose had TWO growth spurts in recent weeks. Did you know that can cause them to trip on their own feet? He only did it for a few days, but I was REALLY relieved when nursery informed me that was the reason. I worked in the footwear industry for 6 years, so I am thinking it must be his proprioception having to catch up with the adjusted size of his body/length of his legs.

Bye for now,
Liska xxx
@NewMumOnline on Twitter << follow me :-)