Pumpkin Patches in South Wales 2023

Autumn, the season of cosy knit sweaters, hot chocolate and of course pumpkins. The popularity in pumpkin patches has grown year on year in South Wales and while there only use to be a few places you could pick your pumpkin off the vine, there are now plenty. Many also offer more than just pumpkin picking, such as corn mazes, spooky crafts and everything Halloween-themed.  While of course there is nothing wrong with picking up a pumpkin from your local supermarket and having fun carving it at home, if you are keen to spend a few hours outdoors in nature and enjoy a bit of Halloween treat then here are the best pumpkin patches in South Wales. Some of the patches below are offering more of an "experience" with additional things included in the ticket such as corn mazes and entertainment, while others are more traditional patches you can roam around and just pay for what you pick so there is something for every budget.  Pumpkin Patches with free entry in Southern Wales  ......

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6 Outdoor date ideas in Cardiff

*AD Written in collaboration with Get Blogged I often feel that Cardiff is overlooked when it comes to places to visit or spend the day in the UK, but the Welsh capital has a lot to offer and is the perfect place for a coffee date with a friend, a romantic stroll with a partner or a refreshing solo date with yourself (I'm all about exploring on my own). No matter what kind of social plans you have, at the moment things are still hard and staying outdoors is the safest option especially when it comes to being able to socially distance and there are without doubt bonuses to that as you get to enjoy the fresh air, reconnect with nature and your friends or partner and discover some of the best places in Cardiff. We are all at different stages in how we are dealing with the pandemic and lifting of restrictions, some of us are still not ready to meet indoors or go to the pub so I hope this offers you a few more ideas for outdoor dates and socialising in the Welsh Capital. Meeting up with......

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Family Adventures of Late

Wow what a busy first three months of year! We have certainly managed to pack a whole lot of adventures in both close to home and further afield. Despite its being fairly cold, life has been very colourful and action packed and we have made the most of every single dry day we have been given (as well as preserving in the cold and wet too). Here are a few highlights from the past few weeks. 1. We tried out a new cafe in Llandaff North called Coffee Rex , they make excellent Italian coffee as well as these delicious Waffles 2. Cotton Twist were kind enough to send some party bag fillers for my son's birthday, we had fun making the superman masks. * Review * 3. We spent time at one of our favourite places in South Wales - St Fagans Outdoor Museum . A unique family friendly museum that takes you through the history of life in Wales. 4. If you follow me on social media you may know that I recently spent a weekend exploring Manchester with Hotel Indigo, do check out my blog p......

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6 activities in Bristol and Cardiff for the whole family

Me and my youngest on the SS Great Britain  I love that I live about 20mins from Cardiff City Centre and about 50mins from Bristol which means to fantastic cities pretty much on our door step meaning tons of opportunity to explore. Saying that however when it comes to planning family days out it’s easy to go with what we know, everyone does it every now and then when your short of time and cannot be bothered to research new places, sticking to what we know the kids will enjoy. After all, it saves having to convince them how much fun it’ll be (without actually knowing ourselves) and it’s far easier to actually get them in the car to go! So thought I would save you time and share six of our favourite places in these close but very different cities and here are some of the best Bristol activities and Cardiff activities that the whole family will enjoy. We The Curious (formerly At Bristol), Bristol This city centre science hub is full of fascinating exhibits that will ......

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Winter Warriors with Kozi Kids

As you may already know we truly love the outdoors, growing up in a warm country meant that my childhood was pretty much spent barefoot running around in the garden which was on the slopes of table mountain, climbing rocks, trees and basically enjoying a wild and free existence. Life however is not exactly the same here, in rather wet and windy Wales but I certainly won't let that damped our sense of adventure, it simple means we have to be more prepared. The lovely people at Kozi Kids - a Swedish outdoor kids clothing company sent my eldest, Mr A a  Alaska Parka Jacket  which is both warm and waterproof and for Baby G a Snowflake Baby Snow-suit which is both breathable and water resistant. These are both from their winter collection and will see us through the colder months of winter and spring and I love the ethos that by having the right kind of clothing your children are able to enjoy nature no matter what the weather. We have had loads of mini outd......

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This Homeschooling Life

So this is coming to you a few days later than usual as we are still having some interesting sleeping patterns with our 11month old but for one thing I cannot believe we are already into our second month of the year! I love to look back and reflect on what we have been doing together as a family, the adventures we have been on and what we have learnt. So what did January have in store for us? Well for one we decided to be a little bit more organised this year - we are neither structured or unschooled when it comes to the way we home educate - we simply do what feels right and allow Mr A some control over what he learns, of course with lots of encouragement. We picked up a few things for him over Christmas to help with reading and telling the time and have continued our outdoor adventures despite the constant rain we have had in Wales. Watching the blacksmith at work Our main highlights have included looking for animal foot prints at Dare Valley Park, watching t......

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Embracing winter outdoors, getting creative indoors

I thought I would write a little post about what we have been getting up to outdoors of late as well as our favourite things to keep us entertained indoors when the rain hits. We made the most of the mild autumn, seeing the leaves change in dramatic fashion and spent every dry day running around outside, unfortunately the start of winter saw us all come down coughs and colds and in Baby G's case teething coupled with Bronchitis. Luckily and fingers crossed we have got most of that out of the way and have started going on some mini adventures and enjoying the wonderful festive season and our "activity" advent has been going very well so far. Last weekend before picking up our Christmas tree we enjoyed a little jaunt around one of our favourite spots - St Fagans where we spotted lots of Robin Redbreasts darting around as well as trying to name different leaves as we are trying to learn all the names of Britain's most common trees. The past fortnigh......

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The Freshest apple

We have been slowly making our way through the National Trust 50 things to do before your 11 3/4 and are at about the half way mark. We don't really plan when we are going to tick something off this adventure inspired challenge so it's always really fun when something happens naturally like when we were at St Fagans a few weeks ago and walked through the small apple and pear orchard. Mr A loves apples and spotted some low hanging ones and before I knew it he had picked one and taken a big bite, which meant we can ticket off challenge No.9 - Eat an apple straight from a tree" We grow what we can in our small vegetable patch at home and it's always wonderful to see the journey of where our food comes from first hand, even with something simple like picking an apple from a tree. We are hoping to tick of a few more challenges this autumn such as playing conkers and setting up a snail race. These slower quieter days are the ones we treasure the most and even ......

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Our place to restore the calm

Mr A at St Fagans Life at the best of times can be described as manic or crazy as we move through this modern world at a faster pace than ever before. It can at times be pretty overwhelming and I think that every now and then it's a good idea to take a step back, breath in some fresh air and take time to enjoy the little things, as we as recalibrate. I know if the little man and I don't touch base with our two favourite places we both start to get a little bit of cabin fever especially since we love the outdoors but St Fagans and the Amelia Trust farm hold a special place in our heart and whenever things seem on top of us, o r my mind is feeling full and I can sense those dreaded heartaches coming these are the two places we visit to restore some calm back into our lives. I am a true believer in the healing of power of nature and the benefits of spending as much time connecting with the natural world. I certainly feel more grounded and have a clearer head after ......

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