Not so autumnal walk & autumn activity

This morning I messaged my Mum asking her if she fancied a nice autumnal walk through the forest - except it actually turned out to be blooming beautiful! The sun was shining, and feeling very warm whilst we walked, so warm we needed an ice-cream! The aim of our walk was to collect some foliage, leaves and flowers for an autumnal activity. Hopefully we can use them for another activity for later on in the week too!

So anyway, back to the walk... We popped to Knettishall Heath, our local forest walk and decided to do the Heathland walk - its was 2.5 miles long and Darcie virtually walked it all!

We spent sometime taking some photographs, letting lady and Darcie explore nature . We even stumbled across some grazing ponies and a hungry caterpillar!

Some of the photo's we tried out included this one of Darcie and my mum. Last year we took a similar one in the exact same spot...

Can't believe how much Darcie has changed - time goes by way too quickly as a parent. I'm sure my mum would agree, in fact I think all mum's would agree time goes too quickly when you have little ones.

My mum also managed to take this beautiful picture...

I think its hilarious! Darcie looks so grumpy - but I'm having a hoot! hehe!

So, once our lovely walk was over and we had collected a bag of leaves, we headed home to create some art!

 Unfortunately, someone was a little too tired to get too into the arts & crafts. But we managed to do some leaf rubbings...

Like I said, we are hoping to do some more artwork using autumnal  leaves maybe even some printing using leaves. For now, we will stick with our pretty leaf rubbings.

How have you spent your Sunday? I'm now off to relax and help my mother set up her own blog!

Mummy B xoxox

Ickworth House with The National Trust

We were very kindly sent a family ticket to explore a National Trust site, we decided upon Ickworth House as it was a place relatively close to us but we had never gone to visit. When we arrived the staff made us feel very welcome, as it was raining and Darcie was walking veeery slowly, one of the staff offered to give us a ride on the small shuttle bus up to the house. When we approached I couldn't help but feel I was being transported back in time, like a character from Jane Austen - just with a toddler attached to my leg. 

We arrived just as a tour of the basement had started, so the lovely staff took our bags and brought us up to speed. I have to admit, the tour was my favourite part. It was fantastic to see the volunteers share their knowledge and love of the history. It was so fascinating to see how a house of that size used to function - I can barely manage my own modern three bed!

The National Trust have restored the basement so beautifully, I was very envious of the kitchen! 

For children, the basement was perfect. They can play a song on the servants piano, handle the kitchen equipment and even play a game of "I spy" with the National Trusts's well thought out activity sheets. Its perfect for getting them excited about history.

After this, we were a little peckish. We were going to bring a picnic, but one, we were very disorganised and two, the weather wasn't in our favour anyway! Luckily they have a superb restaurant, we can highly recommend the pate! 

It was then time burn off some calories and explore the grounds!

Darcie loved to have the freedom of running around! We saw many families who were lapping up the grounds, either in their wellies or on their bikes - I'm thinking this would be the perfect setting for learner cyclists! 

Before we headed into the house to take another tour, Darcie spotted some children's activities that were available - perfect for them to get involved!

Then it was time for a walk around the house, this part is not so good for tiny tots and unfortunately we didn't get to see everything. 

That being said, I think Darcie was in awe with much of what she saw. She kept saying "oh don't touch it!" - at least that sank in! 

We had an absolutely fantastic day, and we were very grateful to all the help that was offered from the staff and how they engaged with Darcie - we were blown away to be honest!

Thank you very much the National Trust, we can't wait to come back, next time with our wellies on so we can tick some more things off our "50 things" to do list (find out more HERE)!

What's your favourite National Trust Site?

Mummy B xoxox

Enjoying our home, Norfolk

When reading Kerri's blog Ginger Lilly Tea and her recent trip to Norfolk with her beautiful girls, it reminded me how much I love living in Norfolk. Having not even been home a week from honeymoon, it was a lovely to read someone's enjoyment of place in which I live and certainly didn't make me feel sad to be back home. 

Yesterday we spent some quality time with the family, it was Jamie's last day off after nearly three weeks. We decided to go for a family walk, and took our dog Lady to Santon Downham. Santon Downham is perfect for the whole family, it has a lovely walk along the river, you can walk through the woods or even have a splash or swim in the river if you're feeling adventurous! 

Lady was feeling especially adventurous, she never normally likes water but was completely lapping it up today! 

After Lady had finished playing in the river we headed for a walk through the woods. We managed to find blackberries and some pinecones too, though Darcie was way more interested in the blackberries!

Picking blackberries also meant that we ticked another item off the National Trust's "50 Things" (read more about this initiative HERE). 

It was so nice to feel like we were really appreciating our home, in fact I feel really lucky sometimes that we have all these beautiful places virtually on our door step!

Where is your favourite place in your local area?

Mummy B xoxox

Nature Misses You

Im teaming up with the lovely people at The National Trust to let you know that nature misses YOU! We are all guilty, at times, of spending a little bit too much time in front of the telly, on our phones or laptops and not enough time enjoying the wonderful world around us. As a parent, I'm conscious of making sure that I encourage my daughter, Darcie, to get out and explore, whether its just in the garden, a local park or something a little bit more adventurous.

The National Trust launched a fantastic website called "50 things", the site inspire children to get outdoors and complete 50 activities before they are 11 3/4! I think this is a brilliant idea and was really surprised at some of the "things" of the list. Most of them are simple and free activities - there are really are no excuses for not getting stuck in and to start exploring! 

The website itself is fantastic, if you join up you also get the opportunity to unlock special certificates, games, hidden challenges and rewards for the best exlporers.C

During our honeymoon in Cornwall, we decided to tick a few things off the list. We managed 8 in total! Not bad going! We had so much fun completing these things, all of which didn't cost us a penny. This is perfect for the summer holidays, especially as we are now well into the holidays and the kids might be getting a little bored, so why not give it a go?! If you want to download your own 50 Things list head over HERE.

Here are a few snaps from our adventures so far...

I think Darcie was most keen on the wave jumping, rock pool searches and kit flying... she is a definite beach tot! We can't wait to keep going on with our adventures, I'm determined to get everything ticked off the list... and as she is only two its definitely doable! I'm hoping to keep you updated on how she is doing, I would love to hear from you guys as well if you fancy joining in!

Do you think your children would enjoy this? Have they already completed the list?

Mummy B xoxox