Croft Castle and a bug

Well it's half term already, time to find things to do to entertain the little people. When we were living in New Zealand I joined Heritage NZ which also allows us to visit National Trust properties in the UK. It cost a fraction of the price it does to join over here, and I can still renew my membership with them even though we are now back in the UK. I know some people may say I'm depriving the National trust of their money but if we had to pay the UK price we just couldn't justify the cost (I know several people who have cancelled their membership as the price just keeps going up).

So we decided on visiting Croft Castle, near Leominster. National Trust are good for entertaining the kids in the holidays as they always have some sort of activity going on. Croft Castle had a 'Wind in the Willows' trail, where we had to follow the clues to find the characters of the book hidden in the gardens.

Modelling the trail sheet above is my lovely best friend who met up with us with her two children. We drifted apart after we left secondary school, like you do, but about three years ago I had a message on Facebook from her asking to get in touch. Being in New Zealand at the time we couldn't meet up, but spoke regularly on FaceTime. She came to see me a few days after we arrived back in the UK, and even though we'd been apart for over twenty years, it felt like yesterday...

via Pinterest

via Pinterest

Anyway, enough of sucking up to my mate (I have to be nice to her as she reads my blog ;-)  )

The trail, I'd say it was more for the younger kids, as all the locations are numbered on the map so there isn't much of a hunt. But I guess it gets them out in the fresh air, and at only £2 per child it didn't break the bank. Every child gets to pick a prize at the end; they got to choose from some dominoes, a bird caller, some bubbles and a model plane to make.

There wasn't much growing in the garden but I bet it looks gorgeous in the summer...

There is a second hand bookshop and a shop full of gifts and souvenirs, where I just happened to treat myself to a scarf...

There are several walks around the estate, ranging from one and a half to five and a half miles, and dogs are welcome as long as they are kept on leads as there are livestock and wild deer. We will definitely come back and visit, as there is a natural play trail, natural play area and a rather impressive fort for the kids to play in right beside the cafe.

Trail over, we were going to have a look around inside the castle, but Little Boy really wasn't feeling well. He'd had a bit of a cold for a few days so I thought he was just a bit stuffy, but by the time we sat down in the cafe he was burning up, with icy cold hands and feet. So everybody stuffed down something to eat whilst I got him back to the car

Poor little man, he was sick a few times when we got home, and spent the rest of the day and the next one snuggled up under his blanket on the sofa....

Luckily he was soon better, up and running around like normal, ready for more fun :-)

Xxxx