Whilst Hubby was doing his 100 mile bike ride for Parkinsons UK (which actually turned out to be 117miles), my Mum and I took the Beans to Sacrewell Farm for the night camping. We have been camping at Sacrewell a number of times since living in Peterborough and apart from the time that the Beans got the chicken pox and Mum caught a sick bug, it’s always been a pleasurable experience.
A Pitch in Time
We arrived just before lunch time and set to work on pitching the tent in blustery winds. We still haven’t quite mastered keeping the children entertained whilst putting up the tent so this generally turns out to be a stressful experience (though we have a plan for our next trip). This time around we tried holding off on letting them have their Kindles and Tablets until we arrived as well as their packed lunches. This bought us around 30 minutes before they were asking to get out of the van to go to the toilet, to ‘help’ or just to fight with each other.
A little help from the Beans
In around 45 minutes the tent was up and holding it’s own nicely against the wind. The Beans then ‘helped’ in a manor of speaking to move into the tent with chairs, bags, airbeds and sleeping bags. They managed to empty the toy box all over the field and fight over one toy countless times. As we moved the last of our belongings into the tent, the rain came and the wind gathered muster so we shut ourselves in whilst we finished our lunch and Mum and I enjoyed a much deserved coffee.
Letting off steam at Fineshade Woods
Thankfully the rain didn’t last too long so we hopped back into the car and drove to Fineshade Woods so the children could play and we could rest – hahahaha!! There is a lovely play area by the visitor centre which the children love and couldn’t wait to get stuck into. The sun was shining and all should have been well but during the 30 minutes or so that we sat in the park we got through approximately 15 plasters between Lillie and Ollie, narrowly avoided a stick in the eye of one child thanks to a rather aggressive little boy running around and that was when we decided it was a good time to go on the Gruffalo Spotter trail.
The Gruffalo Spotter Trail
For those who haven’t discovered the Gruffalo Spotter App yet, you’re missing out. It’s AMAZING!!! The Gruffalo Spotter is an app in association with The Forestry Commission so you need to visit one of their sites to use it. Using the App and signs around the forest sites you follow clues to search for the Gruffalo. The App invites you to search for special signs which come to life on your phone screen when it is pointed at the sign. The Beans LOVE this and still haven’t tired of it the 2 or 3 times that we have done it so far.
The longest day (nearly)
The day that we went camping was just a few days after the Summer Solstice which meant it was a long day with regards to daylight hours, this in turn meant that although we had tried our hardest to wear the Beans out with lots of exercise and fresh air, they just couldn’t get to sleep at night. Thankfully it was a warm night too which was a relief since we had chosen to book a non-electric pitch since it was just an overnight stay.
Early start
Albie woke first at around 5.3am, I did manage to get him to go back to sleep for about 40 minutes but then everyone was awake. After breakfast, the Beans helped Mum and I to take the tent down. Once again it was very blustery so we had to keep the Beans standing on the tent whilst we de-pegged and folded it to stop it blowing away. Their favourite part is the folding because we get them to lay on it each time we fold to squeeze all the air out and always results in fits of giggles.
Fun on the farm
By 11am the van was all packed up so that meant the day was ours to enjoy on the farm. The Beans loved seeing he rabbits and the calves, they decided the ferrets were a little too stinky for their liking and some of the baby birds looked like they had been to a funny barbers.
The new Millhouse and pond area looks beautiful since it’s restoration project after a donation from the National Lottery Fun. Down by the stream they were able to take part in Pond Dipping which they loved. They all surprised me by the number of pond-dwellers they were able to recognise, even I didn’t know the names of some of them. We fed the sheep and the goats, had some lunch and finished off our camping trip with an hour in the Play Barn.
The Summer before us
It certainly wasn’t the easiest of trips, the Beans were not in the best of moods but it was a night away to get us geared up for our Summer of camping trips. We are looking to go away a few times over the Summer with the Camping and Caravanning Club so stay tuned to find out what sites we shall be visiting this year.
If you have any recommendations of your favourite Club Sites then we would love to hear about them in the comments below.
To see the full gallery of photographs from our camping trip to Sacrewell head over to our Mummy Matters Facebook Page.
