White Horse Hill to Wayland Smithy, Uffington, Oxfordshire

Approx time: 2 hour
Paths: gravel
Points of interest: trees, fields, wildlife, tomb, white horse
Amenities: pay and display parking (ice cream van most weekends)
Grading: bumpy underfoot so all terrain buggy
Weather: all seasons

(click map for larger size)

This was a long walk, and at just 4 I'm surprised Charlotte's little legs kept her going but I think the promise of an ice cream at the end worked its magic. It was mostly flat as we were walking away from the white horse hill and  along an open bridleway meant it was quite accessible to everyone. The path is a lot better than some years ago as vehicles are now prohibited on the ridgeway.

There is one kissing gate on the entrance to Wayland Smithy that pushchairs might struggle with.
We parked at the National Trust white horse hill car park and walked back to the road and continued up the road until you come to the bridleway. Turn right onto the bridleway and follow the path for about 1km until you reach Wayland Smithy.

We followed the same route home. The car park has picnic tables where you can sit and enjoy the lovely view across Uffington and the Vale of the White Horse.

Skinny Hippo, Abingdon

We recently booked a birthday trip to Skinny Hippo in Abingdon for Charlotte and a couple of her friends to do some painting. Skinny Hippo is a craft and gift shop in the centre of Abingdon you can go along any time for drop in painting/deco patch/bead making, or book with them a party. Depending on the age of the party there is the choice of painting, deco patch, silly signs, felt making, tiaras, bead jewellery and more. They have just started a build-a-bear workshop too which a couple of older girls were doing while we were there.

At 4 years old we thought the girls would be better suited to painting. They chose their models to paint and happily sat there quietly for a good 20mins concentrating on what they were doing. The paints they were given were very good quality acrylics which went on so well and left a good finish. Once finished we browsed the shop while the shop keeper dried and varnished our models. The finished products looked really good and Charlotte has loved showing it off to everyone.
http://www.skinnyhippo.co.uk/

Pendon Museum, Long Wittenham, Oxfordshire

My brother and I used to go to Pendon Museum when we were little, and at 4 we thought Charlotte would be just the right age to take. My brother has very fond memories of Pendon, he loved it so much he wanted to volunteer.

Pendon has recreated in miniature rural scenes and transport from the 1920's and 30's, since opening in 1954 the museum has always been a work in progress so each time you visit there could be another little house/person/animal recreated perfectly. The attention to detail is amazing.

The first room displays the Madder Valley Railway, which due to its fragile state only runs on a few days each year. There are boards explaining the use of buildings, and a display showing what the buildings are made of (manila envelopes it seems). The next room has the Dartmoor Scene with a stunning Brunel timber viaduct and mainline station. Seeing the trains go past and the people sat in the little carriages is lovely. Even better if you are fortunate enough to be there when they turn the lights out and see the carriages and station lit up.

The last room is the Vale Scene, a typical English countryside scene with farms and cottages and a train puffing through, all recreated with precision detail. Charlotte did laugh when the giant popped up from the middle of the display to get the train going again!
A lot of the displays are raised up and even with a step-stool (on loan from the entrance desk) we had to lift Charlotte up for a few things (she is 1m, displays are 1.4m). There was quite a bit of history we could teach Charlotte about, how buses have changed, and trains, how we get our water out of taps instead of a man with a horse and cart. But I think being a girl some of the train things were a bit lost on her.
Pendon does offer a good value hour or so hour slowly wondering around the displays, its all indoors and run by volunteers so great for damp days and something for all the family. There is one set of stairs if taking a pushchair, a small tea room, didn't notice any babychanging facilites in the toilets.
http://www.pendonmuseum.com/

Oxford University Museum of Natural History, Oxford

I can't believe I haven't yet reviewed the museum we are always going to. We love going to the Natural History Museum. I remember taking my niece and nephew for the first time a few years ago, the look on their faces when they first walked in and were faced with the dinosaurs was brilliant.

The museum is well known for its dinosaurs and also the Dodo but there is so much more. You can have a quick walk round and just pick out certain bits with stuffed animals to touch, rocks to feel, a herd of animal skeletons to look at. Or you can look in a bit more detail at all the display cases and interesting facts.

A lot of people don't seem to venture upstairs, but upstairs are live bugs to look at and also a great place to look down on the skeletons and also look up to the ceiling (which is undergoing some repairs) at the amazing detail on the pillars. Little known fact: in the 1970's when doing some repair work they found a rhino skeleton on the roof.

Upstairs also contains some local history about fossils and excavations.

Currently there are 2 whats exhibitions tunning, one oak is a really fascinating life story of a tree with a cross section of the tree to look at with dates on and also a wonderful carving to look at. This exhibition runs until 27th March 2012. Another is Ghost Forest, this has been running a while and when first opened was a bit of a talking point with huge tree stumps placed on plinths on the grass out the front of the museum. Ghost Forest runs until July 2012.

Every Sunday the museum gives out explorer backpacks for family friendly fun exploring the museum.

Behind the Natural History Museum is the Pitts Rivers Museum... which is just as excellent and deserves its own review very soon.

We can easily spend from half an hour to a couple of hours going round the museum, there are toilets but no cafe. So in the summer take a picnic to University Parks or you could visit the cafes of Little Clarendon Street or the city centre. There is no car park at the museum. Admission is free.

A Festive Walk: Broad Arboretum, Earth Trust, Little Wittenham, Oxfordshire

Approx time: 1 hour
Paths: grass
Points of interest: pond, wildlife, trees
Amenities: parking (toilets and cafe seasonal)
Grading: bumpy underfoot so all terrain buggy
Weather: all seasons

We have passed this walk many times but finally got round to it and we really enjoyed it. Why is it festive, have a look for the Christmas trees,

 holly and reindeer.

But its also great in the summer with a bench over looking the pond and a picnic table. Only downside to the walk was having to retrace your steps back to the car park.

Start at the Earth Trust car park, and if you face the buildings take the grass footpath to your right that heads out across the fields. After a while the footpath bears right, keep the farm outbuildings on your right and carry along towards a signpost.

 At the signpost turn right towards the arboretum.

There is a circular path around the arboretum. When complete retrace your steps back to the car park, note the excellent views across to Wittenham Clumps.

http://www.earthtrust.org.uk/Places/at-little-wittenham/BroadArboretum.aspx

Guest Post: Dear Father Christmas

Hi There. Guest Blogger "ReaditDaddy" checking in to moonlight on my wife's excellent blog. Bear with me, haven't quite got the hang of the controls yet - but I'm here to tell you all about "Dear Father Christmas".

Any event hosted at the Burton Taylor room at the Oxford Playhouse is destined to be a cosy, intimate gathering and "Dear Father Christmas" - a children's play for 3-6 year olds, was no exception.

Telling the story of a mischievous Elf, her boss Mr TickTock, and the preparations for Santa's big night, "Dear Father Christmas" largely takes place in Santa's Post Room and with an effervescent cast of two (oh, and Father Christmas himself of course), the play was an interactive fun experience that pressed all the right buttons with Charlotte.

All the Elf wants to do is travel the world, see interesting sights and then come back to sort through Santa's post. Instead she's stuck in the post room but there are lots of willing new elves to help her sort the mail, tidy up and solve the mystery of the missing polar bear - Santa's oldest and dearest friend.

Adults are encouraged to take part too (they call us "giants" don't you know!), but the focus is on getting children involved - making hats and elf ears, constructing paper chains to cheer up Santa's christmas tree - and joining in with the songs and activities that happen throughout the play.

Even for a slightly curmudgeonly sort, the play was good fun and Charlotte absolutely loved every minute of it. I think her favourite bit was probably when the polar bear reappeared and crept quietly through the audience (only one child cried his head off at this bit).

It's not really suitable for older children (quite a few kept making quiet comments about the cast basically playing all the different characters) but the two main cast members were brilliant, and Father Christmas did very well for his first dramatic role :)

All in all a great time was had by all - though it did feel a bit of a cheat that paying extra to spend time with Father Christmas after the play didn't quite happen as expected (I think we were expecting to sit on Santa's knee and tell him Charlotte wanted Barbie Washing Hair and Daddy wanted A Lego Technics VW Camper - but it was rather crowded and a bit of a push and a shove instead).

Despite the request for parents not to take photos, one couple decided to continually take pictures through the latter half of the show - which was a bit annoying but all in all it was a perfect hour-long mix of song, dance, activities and fun that sets the scene for the festive period perfectly. Dear Father Christmas runs until 24 December at the Oxford Playhouse

Charlotte's best bit - The polar bear

Daddy's favourite bit - Alright, a tiny little crush on the elf. She was very cute.

Rating - 4 out of 5 stars

(oops, I forgot - we don't do that here - but I'm sure CanIWalkMummy won't mind!)

Windsor Castle, Windsor

After our successful trip to Buckingham Palace we thought we would visit Windsor Castle. The first Saturday of each month they have children's activities, and also in December they have 2 state rooms set up with a Christmas theme display.

On approach we noticed the Royal Standard was flying, we tried to do Queen and corgi spotting. We were told by some very helpful guides that a good place to spot her was from the Crimson Drawing Room as this overlooks the queens garden but alas she wasn't there.

We collected our excellent audio guides, with a children's version for Charlotte to listen to, to take us round. The audio guides are really good with so much information, Charlotte really does listen to it as she asks us to find the things they are talking about. After passing the jubilee gardens and up to Edward IV tower where you get a wonderful view across the Upper Ward and quadrangle, this is where important visitors are greeted.

Heading towards the Henry III tower was the moat education room where Charlotte got to do some colouring and look at some pictures.

We headed to the State Apartments, and passed Queen Mary's Dolls house, which was fascinating with so much detail to it, also on display were dolls dresses which were so wonderfully made. The state rooms were quite different to Buckingham Palace, being a castle there was a lot of armour and swords on display. The fire in 1992 was covered quite a bit as you walk through the rooms that were destroyed. The difference in the old and new is obvious but the rooms are still to such high stadard and in keeping with the rest of the castle. The room containing all the Shields for the Knights of the Royal Garter was stunning.
We had lunch in the Undercroft Cafe, it was a little pricey but the food was wonderful.

We then went to St. Georges Chapel, where we got to sit in the inner chapel and look again at the shields and crowns for each of the Knights of the Royal Garter. We noticed coffins and shrines for most of the previous kings and queens, the most opulent was for Queen Victoria's children and grandchildren.
We had a really good few hours going round Windsor Castle, and even readitdaddy left having enjoyed it more than he expected.