British Camp walk

Half term is upon us in our neck of the woods, and so plenty of ideas for entertainment are needed, particularly ones that don't cost lots of money. A good one, which also ticks the exercise box, is a walk up the hills. So today we had a jaunt up British Camp, the most recognisable of all the Malvern Hills. It is thought to have been the location of a hill fort dating from around 3,500 years ago in the Bronze Age, and stands at an impressive height of 338m above sea level. 

The photos aren't the best as it was quite overcast, but it wasn't as windy and cold as I thought it was going to be. Sometimes when you reach the top its bone chillingly cold. 

Little Boy and I headed straight for the top, whilst Big Girl decided to cut around through a valley and head up the side of the hill to meet us. She underestimated how steep it was, and got a bit stuck on the way up! It's steeper than it looks on the photos. 

When we reached the top we found a QR code on the floor, which when scanned with my phone came up with a History of British Camp article (from which I obtained the info about about British Camp in this post!)

I love this photo, it looks like a path to nowhere...

The British camp reservoir, owned by Severn Trent was built to supply Malvern with water, but hasn't been used for several years. On reading an article online (dated Sept 2017) I was surprised to read that the firm were hoping to partially or completely drain the reservoir by cutting a notch at the bottom of the dam to allow it to drain. Whether or not this is still going ahead, who knows. 

There were a few scary moments, as Big Girl decided she didn't want to be boring and use the paths, she was going to run down the side of the hill. Fair enough, but then Little Boy decided he wanted to as well 😮. Who am I to crush a little person's bravery, but there were a few heart in mouth moments as his little legs struggled to keep up with how fast he was going. He did face plant into some sheep poo at one point, but thought that hilarious, picked himself and carried on. I have a video of them both, but don't yet know how to insert it (if anyone does, please let me know). I've seen online tutorials on inserting videos onto your blog from YouTube, but mine is just a video from my phone. 

On the way home we popped into Waitrose and picked up some scrummy cakes for tea (well we had just burned a few calories on our walk so I think a reward was justified!)

Speak soon

XxXx

A February walk

If OH is working on a Saturday which means we aren't going anywhere special, I like to get the children out of the house and go for a walk somewhere. Last weekend I thought we would have a hike up British Camp, but that idea was squashed when OH phoned and asked if we could drop some materials off to where he was working. As I drove down the lanes to the address, we passed many footpath signs, so I decided on the way back we would just pick one and go for a surprise walk. 

There were signs of Spring - catkins, hellebores, snowdrops....

Little Boy pointed out Peter rabbit's house, and we did see a few rabbits too but they were too fast to photograph....

And Postman Pat - can you see him?

There were several horses dotted around, and some lucky person had a huge posh new stable block 

We had no idea where we were going, and how long it would take, but then we turned a corner and I realised we had done a full circle and were entering the village near where we left the car. Outside one house someone had a collection of gnomes, with rather a 'cheeky' little one at the front...

Sadly even garden gnomes can't escape modern technology - there was even a gnome with his face stuck in a mobile phone....

This photo tickled me - however often I ask Little Boy to please move out of the way so I can take a photo, there is often a little head photobombing my blog photos. It's like Where's Wally!

A signpost pointed the way to Stanbrook abbey, and you could just spot a tower pointing up in the distance between these two wonderfully shaped houses. 

I couldn't get a decent photo of the abbey, but looking at it online it sounds a great place to stay if you've got the spare cash. The abbey was originally built to house Benedictine nuns in 1838 but in 2010 was sold and converted to a luxury 55 bedroom weddings and conference venue, with 50 bedroom suites that were formerly cells belonging to the nuns!

By now Little Boy was flagging, but luckily the car was just around the corner. When I checked my fitness tracker on the phone, we'd done 1.78 miles so I think he did quite well for little legs. We all enjoyed our surprise walk, so I think we will do something similar again. 

Speak soon

XxXx