Tackling the 50 things to do before your 11 and 3/4 list

We love completing things from the 50 things to do before you're 11 3/4 list. The scrapbook is often in my handbag and we've almost memorised the list so we are always on the look out for fun things to do. We will write up the scrap book and get our stickers and then come home and update the 50 things website. Without realising it Charlotte not only is having lots of fun outside exploring, she's also mastering her writing, typing, keyboard and mouse skills.

So what things has Charlotte managed to complete so far.

1. Climb a tree - finding that perfect tree can be tricky but once mastered she doesn't stop.

a great tree to climb at Harcourt Arboretum

2. Roll down a really big hill - I love how when ever we find a slope big or small you will find a gaggle of kids rolling down again and again.

a perfect slope at Greys Court

4. Build a den - we are yet to build the perfect den but we have started a few in different places, or cheated and added to others we have found along a walk

we spotted this den at Wittenham Clumps and "improved it"

9. Eat an apple straight from a tree - couldn't wait to do this one

We found a large orchard at Upton House

14. Dam a stream - we got caught in the rain and whilst sheltering under the trees spotted a perfect place to make a dam

our dam at BBOWT Lashford lane fen

16. Make a daisy chain - a perfect reason to sit and relax for a moment in a lovely field and make daisy chain crowns.

a princess at Basildon Park

19. Play pooh sticks - of course we had to go to "the" place to play this, Days Lock, Little Wittenham.

Days Lock

22. Explore inside a tree - Harcourt Arboretum has some wonderful old trees for this.

I'm going to disappear

23. Visit a farm - what better day to visit a farm than go to see the baby lambs.

Earth Trust lambing day

24. Go on a barefoot walk - we don't have grass in our back garden so this was actually really exciting for Charlotte. Such a simple thing that we hadn't actually thought about.

no stopping her at Chedworth Roman Villa

26. Hunt for fossils and bones - we didn't have to hunt for this we spotted it on a walk. Charlotte took it to school to show her friends.

found at BBOWT Lashford lane fen

28. Climb a huge hill - we are often going to the top of wittenham clumps to look at the views across Oxfordshire. The hill at Cliveden was one heck of a climb too, all worth it for the views.

top of Wittenham Clumps

41. Plant it, grow it, eat it - thanks to the fab lunch bag and seeds with Charlottes national trust lunch at Hughenden we got to grow some cress

growing cress

42. Go swimming in the sea - we cheated and went abroad for this one, to the lovely warm waters of Tenerife and even had fish swimming round our feet

getting deeper

 There are a few things I've missed out but a great start and given us some fab ideas to make our walks and days out more interesting.

The places we visited this summer

Since taking out National Trust membership earlier this year our weekends have been transformed. Friday night we can be found reading the NT bible and the app to check out whats on near us and find interesting places to explore. So where did we go this summer?

Greys Court  - A wonderful 16th century mansion with so many different walled gardens and also a donkey wheel. We loved looking round the house, and the guides in each room were really great with Charlotte pointing out interesting things for her to look at. The house had such a homely feel to it, you could still imagine the boys playing there. We enjoyed climbing the great tower and looking across the grounds and then exploring all the different bits of the garden. I could have easily sat for hours reading a book by the pond, it was so peaceful and beautiful. The hidden play area was fantastic. A Greys fort, slide, archery, and games, all hidden amongst the trees.

Walled Gardens of Greys Court

 Basildon Park - Which I reviewed earlier this year, and we have since been back to for a big walk. We got to explore the extensive grounds on our second visit which gave some wonderful views looking back across to the mansion. There were lovely seats on the walk in just the right spot for a sit down. There were log bridges and dens to explore along the way so Charlotte wouldn't get bored, we almost got chased by cows through the last field... which stopped any "my legs won't carry me any longer" grumbles. It really wasn't that long a walk!

View across Basildon Park

 Hughenden - we visited on a re-enactment day which made it a lot of fun. Punch and Judy shows, dressing up, Zulu Dawn re-enactment. The house was such a contrast with the stunning upstairs rooms and then the war room downstairs, the ice house bunker which use has only just been discovered was amazing. The formal garden was lovely to sit in and the walled garden was great for children to explore and find the hidden things. Charlotte also made us go on a walk to find the dog graves, we weren't the only parents to be dragged along to check these out thankfully.

Hughenden gardens

 Upton House and Gardens - From the start Charlotte was made to feel welcome, having a map to herself and being shown the special trail for children to follow to the house spotting the characters along the way. She was so excited. We loved exploring the house with the balcony that looked down over the games room. We sat for some time playing snakes and ladders, it was nice to have a room where you can sit down and touch things. The dressing up room was a big hit, and the oh so glamorous bathroom. The contrasting garden areas were lovely to walk round, if a little hard climbing back up. The kitchen garden on the hill side with the lake at the bottom which can't be seen from the house was a surprise. The sunken garden was our favourite for sure, but wish we could work out where the smell of toffee was coming from.

Upton gardens

 Cliveden - We have now visited twice as the grounds are so huge, and we still haven't seen it all. I reviewed our first trip earlier on this year, and the second time we went back to explore the long garden, secret garden and war memorial garden, and of course the excellent slide on the south terrace.

plenty of statues at Cliveden

 Stowe -  fantastic magical grounds with something round every corner to explore. The grounds are so vast it will take a couple of visits to see it all. Before you even get to the grounds your journey starts at the New Inn, with parlour rooms, games rooms and kitchen from the 1700's. The one thing we found stopping us enjoying it quite so much was the one set of toilets right at the start, not great with a young child. The map said there was a second but these were closed.

Stowe grounds

Chedworth Roman Villa - I blogged about this earlier in the year and keep saying we will go back again soon as it was such an excellent day. Its really educational for children and has a wonderful lawn to picnic on. There are plenty of things going on at weekends with traditional skills being shown off.

layout of the formal villa rooms

Waddesdon Manor - Readitdaddy and Charlotte went for the day by themselves. We have visited a few times over the years but this was the first time they have been inside the house and were really wowed by it. The grounds are fantastic for walking round with children and the play park is great.

Big bird at Waddesdon

Now where shall we visit next?

Wittenham Clumps to Days lock, Oxfordshire

This is a lovely walk round the base of Wittenham Clumps where people don't often walk heading down towards Days Lock which is famous for Pooh Sticks and then back up to the top of the clumps.

Approx time: 1-2 hour

Paths:  grass and mud
Points of interest: wildlife, river
Amenities: car park at Wittenham Clumps
Grading: possible with all terrain buggy but hard work going up the hill
Weather: all seasons  (except after heavy rain)

map of the area, following the red line

Starting at the Wittenham Clumps car park take the small gate to the left before heading up the hill, currently its all very over grown looking.

the footpath from the car park

This footpath is quite flat and takes you around the base of the clumps, we spotted quite a lot of wildlife (or signs of) and also lots of blackberries ready to pick. After a short time the footpath will widen out.

clear open space

 You will eventually come to a gate and into a wooded area. This is where they hold the Earth Trust birthday parties so we came across a lot of dens almost the trees and we had a great time building some more dens and improving others.

checking out the dens

 At the end of the wood you will get to another gate and come out the other side of the hill. Turn left after the gate heading down the hill towards the church. At the Church turn right and you will cross a couple of bridges and days lock. This is where they play the famous game of pooh sticks every year, and we had a couple of goes ourselves.

days lock

When you are all pooh sticked out retrace your steps back to the base of the clumps, and if you are up for the walk head up the hill for wonderful views across Oxfordshire.

looking back towards Wittenham Clumps

 There is a bench right at the top to rest any weary legs.

view down towards days lock

 Circle round the top of the hill and then back down the other side to the car park.

Wittenham Clumps and Pooh Sticks at Days Lock both feature on the oxtrails app.
If you are ticking off your 50 things before 11 3/4 then den building, climbing a big hill, fly a kite, play pooh sicks, pick blackberries, eat an apple from a tree, make a trail with sticks, hunt for bugs, catch a falling leaf can all be done on this walk. I do not advise rolling down a big hill due to cows and sheep grazing!

Exploring the Canary Islands - Tenerife

We all loved our first family holiday abroad to Lanzarote last year, not too long a flight, good weather, contrasts of scenery and things for everyone to enjoy that we were almost tempted to book it again this year but instead decided to explore a different Canary Island and settled on Tenerife.
Whist in Lanzarote we had a day trip to Fuerteventura so this will make Tenerife our 3rd Canary Island.

view from our balcony

 The plane did a wonderful circle of the island before coming into land, going over the south of the island so we could look down on the beaches we would soon be sitting on with the volcanos in the background. And it really wasn't long before we were in our hotel room overlooking the beach. We were so close to the beach you could hear the waves breaking. We were staying in the Guayarmina Princess, Costa Adeje and it was a stunning looking hotel. Amazing entrance area, 2 pools on a sun terrace (and a toddler pool which was quite deep for toddlers) and a lift down to the beach. We picked this area of Tenerife as its outside of the popular Las Americas (think club 18-30's) but still had things to do and nice evening strolls along the promenade.

surfing and rock pooling

We had a couple of days of sitting by the pool, on the beach and taking a stroll to Las Americas, you can walk all the way to the small port of Los Cristianos but little legs in the heat wouldn't make it that far. It was a lovely walk though passing a couple of beaches, kids play areas, bars and shops and an area that was great for rock pooling. Can't say we found Las Americas appealing in any way but its fine during the day, bit different at night time I'm sure. We grabbed a taxi back to the hotel, too hot for walking back.

Las Americas

Our first trip was to Masca, the hidden village. Its nestled right in a valley of steep mountains and a very popular spot for walking. I would love to go back and do the walk from there down to the coast in a few years time when Charlotte's little legs are bigger. It looked stunning and was so secluded.

Masca

Next up was Loro Parque, this was an hour on a coach to the other side of the island but was a fantastic day. The animal park has been running for 40 years and tries to create natural environments for the animals.

Gorilla at Loro Parque

On the most part I think this was achieved with a large rainforest environment for the gorillas and keeping the penguins in semi-darkness for part of the year. There are lots of animals to see with a big killer whale show on the scale of what you would see at Sea World, Florida.

Killer Whale at Loro Parque

 We sat right at the front and got soaking wet, having been to sea world myself I knew how wet we would get. @readitdaddy thought it great but Charlotte got a little upset and we had to move seats. The aquarium and dolphin shows were excellent, we only caught the end of the sea lion show and couldn't even get a seat at the parrot show it was so popular.

dolphin show at Loro Parque

 There is a treetop walk way to climb up and lots of other animals you would see at an animal park. We didn't think much of the eating places and were very pleased we opted for a pack lunch provided by our hotel.

Mt Teide

 I think our best trip of the holiday was a jeep trip into Mount Teide National Park. So much more exciting bumping along in the back of a land rover with the hood down taking in the amazing views of the volcano and rock formations. We only went "off road" once but the cars could take better routes than the coaches can and we could stop off at the quieter locations for photo opportunities. The tour guide was excellent getting all the kids involved as well as the adults and teaching them about the volcano's and lava.

looking down a lava tunnel

After the national park we had to get dressed up to go on a camel ride, not sure I've ever looked or felt quite so silly in my life, but everyone happily joined in. I am really not a fan of camel rides but Charlotte seemed to be loving it and happily sang song to our camel to make him happy.

camel ride

 Our last trip was a pirate boat trip to see dolphins and whales, and yes we really did see them. There are so many different boat trips to do in Tenerife, but I think with a child at 3 hours long this one seemed just right.

pirate boat trip

 There are a number of "fish farms" off the coats of Tenerife that the dolphins do obviously love, and yes we did see some dolphins there. But the boat did go further along the coast to see families that are to be regularly spotted in the waters. The boat was a 150 year old wooden sail boat, but now with a motor fitted. This made it a little choppy in the waters so not great if you get sea sick. After sailing around for 2 hours looking for the dolphins and whales they stop outside of the bay of Las Americas for lunch (provided) and a swim in the sea.

pirate boat trip

 Costa Adeje was a good pick of areas to stay, there were bars and restaurants and a lovely beach. It was very dark sand though but if you walked around the bay (away from Las Americas) you would get to a lovely cove and beyond that another beach which was a bit more golden sand. The whole area is very build up, once you are up into the mountains you find all the lovely Canarian houses but the scale and sprawl of the tourist areas was sad to see. Hotels built into the sides of volcano's to try and cram in a bit more space.

evening view from balcony

 The Guayarmina Princess Hotel was wonderful. We stayed half board and are also vegetarian and didn't struggle for food. Almost all food is labelled in English, Canarian potatoes are a must try. There were plenty of waiters to seat you and take your drinks order (you have to pay for drinks at dinner, we often skipped drink with dinner and brought it from the local shop to have on our balcony).

pool area

 We upgraded to a junior suite room with sea view. The room was excellent giving 2 double beds and a sofa/tv area, we don't often turn the tv on when on holiday but finding BBC, ITV & CH4 was a bonus. But sadly for a room sleeping 4 adults only 2 chairs on the balcony. There is evening music from the restaurants below but this stopped by 11pm.

hotel room

There was the usual reserving of sunbeds even though you are told not too but there were usually enough to go around. We aren't fan of sitting round the pool so would often go there about 5pm when it was quieter. The kids club we found understaffed, and not up to UK standards at all (its run by the hotel not the tour company). No signing in our out or even asking of names. The day we went along one lady took 10 kids off to the little pool and we went to find a spare sunbed (being 2pm there were very few). 15mins in I went to check Charlotte was doing ok, peeped over a balcony and she was fine. Another 15mins went by and just as I'm about to check her again I hear crying. She had been wondering around trying to find us. She said she didn't enjoy it so asked to leave, the lady said she could go. She said to the lady do you know where my mummy and daddy are. The response was no and she still let my daughter go. There are 3 swimming pools and a few hundred sun beds and my daughter was left to find us at the age of 5. We never sent her to the kids club again.

South Tenerife

That moment aside everything else about the holiday was lovely, but we did spend the whole week comparing it to Lanzarote and we felt that Lanzarote was the better of the islands. It seems to have a bit more culture and love the white wash buildings and less high rise buildings thanks to Cesar Manrique.

Healthy Back Bag

I was in serious need of a new bag for our holiday, I often use my cross body bag from M&S, but its that bit too small. Fine for essentials: purse, keys, phone, plasters, tissues, wipes, pen, paper. But for a day trip with camera, snacks, bottle of water I wanted something bigger that wasn't a rucksack but neither a handbag. Taking a look round Boswells, Oxford I spotted the healthy back bag. It looked really different to other bags, came in lots of different size and colour combinations. Every time I passed the shop for a few weeks I would go in and take a look, but the cost was really putting me off. In the end @readitdaddy got a bit fed up of my going on about it he made me buy it (he made me you see so I can blame him if I didn't like it!).

my chosen healthy back bag (taken from healthy back bag website)

 Here is a run down of what makes it that little bit different. Its a teardrop shape so it fits to your back, with a zip the full length of the inside making it quite secure. This was a big selling point to me as I hate putting phone and purse etc into a rucksack pocket and worrying that someone might be trying to get into my bag when in busy areas.
It will go across the body (left or right) or over one shoulder. So you have a handbag or rucksack in one. I love this and its quite good going on a longer walk I'll put it across the body,  when I need to be in and out the bag I put it on shoulder like a handbag.
The inside is silver... oh how I now wish all bags were like this. I can see what is in the bag and its great. No black umbrella/hairbrush/purse hidden at the bottom of a big dark bag.
It has lots of pockets, and I mean lots of. Love all the pockets. Its got 2 bottle/umbrella/sunglasses shaped pockets and on holiday we had water bottle for us adults in one pocket and a smaller bottle in the other pocket for Charlotte.

bag turned inside out (from healthy back bag website)

The bags are unisex and I brought a aqua blue so @readitdaddy doesn't look too embarrassed when I make him hold the bag for me!
We've proved that its splash proof. I've not used it in the rain but we sat at the front of the killer whale show at Loro Parque, Tenerife (think sea world show at Florida) we came off dripping wet but the contents of the bag were still dry.
It washes well, came home with some odd stains on the bag from being in boats, in various cars and coaches quick handwash, drip dry on the line and came up as good as new.
When the bag is on your back you can twist it round to the front and with a full length zip you can get to all the things you need without having to take if off your back.

bag worn on one shoulder

 I think the only minus to the bag is when across the body it will do the between the boob thing, which is what I was worried about... I keep moving it out the way but it slides back. But its not uncomfortable as its a wide strap so I don't mind too much. The cost as mentioned before is also a minus, I'm not a shoes and handbag girl so usually opt for the cheap options.

bag worn across the body

Its called a healthy back bag, I have no back problems so can't comment on this but with the bag fully laden down it would pull on the shoulder a bit. They do say to put in as little as possible, and it is more comfortable to wear with less in but at the start of a trip we had it quite full. You can get bigger (and smaller) bags, we brought the small and this seems just the right size for carrying everything we needed.

UPDATE 09/05/14: I have since reviewed the big bag healthy back bag

Watlington Hill, Oxfordshire

Approx time: 1 hour

Paths:  grass and mud
Points of interest: wildlife, red kites, white mark
Amenities: car park
Grading: baby carrier or a pushchair if you can lift it over 1 stile
Weather: all seasons

As the weather took a wonderful turn for the better we had a spare afternoon and wanted to make the most of the sunshine. Charlotte gave instructions -  "I want to go somewhere new mummy".

So I picked up my phone and checked out the oxtrails app to see what it came up with, Watlington seemed to be the area to visit and we decided to go find the Watlington white mark.

the view towards Watlington

The directions got us there fine, right to the car park that we seemed to miss other times we have tried to find the white mark. Was a good size car park already quite full with lots of people taking advantage of the weather. There are 3 notice boards with maps and wildlife to spot.

The start of the walk

After a short walk through a dark wood, you come out at a kissing gate and then your at the top of the wide open hill with stunning views looking across Oxfordshire. There are a lots of benches to sit on to just soak up the view, but that doesn't last long with a 5 year old shouting come on.

View from the gate

To find the mark you just have to keep walking straight ahead and you end up heading down the slope. We took a slight diversion from this route and ended up following an almost non-existent route amongst the trees, brambles and stinging nettles. But it came out right at the bottom of the mark so was wonderful to look straight up and see it ahead. 

looking up the white mark

The climb back up from the mark is quite steep but a wonderful view down.

White mark looking down on Watlington

Our walk back towards the car park was wonderful watching the red kites swooping low over head and watching a small plane climbing high in the sky and then diving down before pulling back up again. We found lots of bugs along our walk coming out to enjoy the sunshine and Charlotte came up with pockets full of flint, stones and bits of tree.

Watlington

We had a really enjoyable walk and the Oxtrails app worked well. It also works offline so very handy for when at the top of a hill with no wifi, so i could read out handy facts to those who would listen.

looking towards Lewknor and Thame

This was a really lovely walk, that didn't take too long and was easy going most of the way to perfect for younger walkers, there is just the slope back up the hill. Sadly because of the kissing gate it would make it hard for buggies unless you wanted to fold it or lift it over.

Chedworth Roman Villa, Gloucestershire

We are really enjoying our year of National Trust membership and visiting Chedworth Roman Villa was no exception.

It would be an ideal place to visit when Charlotte learns about Romans in school, but she learned so much just from that one visit so its worth going at any age.

The view across the site

It's a wonderful drive up to the site, and the area looks beautiful on a sunny day, people taking advantage of the weather (us too) were having picnics on the front lawn or what would have been the Garden. The visitor center is newly built to the side of the site, and also houses the shop and cafe (we didn't use the cafe but the manager was selling ice creams outside).

Formal reception hall

First stop on entering is of course the latrines, perfect subject that all children love learning about! Then comes the newly built shelter that protects the fragile remains of mosaics and walls that would have been the grand dining room and bath house.

Newly built shelter

There is a wonderful suspended walk way over the mosaics so you can look down on all the detail. There is an area to play roman games, design a mosaic and dress up.

Designing a mosaic

Back outside and you can wonder up to the water shrine and learn about the roman snails (but no collecting snails for a snails race if ticking off your 50 things as they are protected and can't be touched). Then take a walk past another bath house and the underfloor heating system.  Having 2 bath houses and underfloor heating means the villa would have been a grand country house in its time. With a last stop at the little museum (and don't forget to water the plants on your way past with the handily provided watering cans!)

The museum and picnic area

There are very popular tours going round the site and we sat on the edge to listen to a few snippets. I think I'm right in saying that not all the site has yet been discovered and hopefully with more funding can start to uncover other areas.

underfloor heating

There are information boards dotted around the site, and audio tours are available. I think we will give the audio tour a go next time we visit, as I said earlier the older Charlotte gets the more interested she will be.

There aren't many 50 things to tick off at Chedworth Roman Villa, it's a very different site to other National Trust places we have been, but it was a highly enjoyable few hours.
We did get our shoes off and do some bare foot walking, made daisy chains, made a grass trumpet and watched the swifts flying overhead.

Our last stop was the shop where we picked up a mini-mosaic kit which Charlotte did the second we got home.

Most of the site is easily accessible if taking a pushchair along.
http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/chedworth-roman-villa/visitor-information/