Food and so much more at The Big Welsh Bite

  Earlier this month was the The Big Welsh Bite, an annual Welsh Food festival held in Pontypridd Park each year and while we of course expected loads of great food there was also a whole lot more on offer. So my eldest and I set off with our bikes on the Taff Trail to Ynysangharad Park to find out more and of course tastes a few local delights. The last time we went to the Big Welsh Bite was when my eldest was a toddler and the new lido had yet to be built so I didn't really know what to expect this time around. Despite the on and off heavy showers in between moments of warm sunshine, it was wonderful to see such a good turn out for an event that helps showcase local and independent food and homemade goods. As we had planned our day to arrive around lunchtime so our first thought was to find a bite to eat, after having perused what was on offer we started out with a Vegan Oreo milkshake made with almond ice-cream and it was amazing! We followed this up with a wood f......

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End of the summer daze

Enjoying my energy levels before I hit the third trimester So we made a little list of things we wanted to do over the summer. I had been to the Amelia Trust farm before with Mr A but we had not been as a family and thought the first week all the kids went back to school would be a perfect time to explore (pros of not having a child in school). So we headed out to this lovely community run farm in the Vale of Glamorgan There is a lovely array of farm animals as well as a great little nature inspired play park with an old tractor that Mr A would happily spend all day sitting on. They had some organic veggies on sale and we picked up a lovely little pumpkin after which we sat down at the little farm cafe for a coffee and homemade shortbread as well as picking up some fresh eggs for home. Our favourite part of the farm is the forest walk which eventually leads onto a wild pond filled with beautiful water-lillys. We spent a lot of time at the pond, just sitting and wa......

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A little trip to the Zoo

So last sunday for mothers day we thought we would treat ourselves to a trip over the boarder into England and a mini adventure to Bristol Zoo. The last time we went was fathers day last year as we take full advantage of the fact that on one of those days either the mother/father goes free and also any excuse to spend some time in Bristol is always welcomed. It was a very relaxed affair, we took our time and walk around the whole place with little snack stops in-between, including an ice-cream stop, which went down well with both the boys. Mr A just loves to run and jump everywhere and even though the animals were lovely too look at it really was like a big playground for Mr A who enjoyed climbing everything in sight as well as playing hide and seek in the willow maze. I was enjoying the day so much with the family that I actually hardly took any photos but the few I did take I del summed up this beautiful spring day which was lovely and warm and was hopefully a ta......

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Community Farm Adventure

So last monday even though it was cloudy it was dry and that meant family adventure time as John is lucky enough to get mondays off it means we can avoid the weekend madness as places like Greenmeadow Community farm . It's based near Newport and is a little bit further than our usual haunts but it makes it more of a treat. What is great about the community farm is it helps people with disabilities work in a fulfilling environment where the learn about animals care, hospitably, working in the kitchen etc and it's a lovely place to support. I think what is so great about this place is it's a working farm (you can buy produce in the farm shop) but it also encourages children to touch the animals and feed them - something which is being lost in this crazy health and safety world. Mr A loves feeding the goats, sheep and highland Coo. It's also very reasonable with a simple cafe serving basic but beautiful meals at a very good price whic......

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Back to the Farm

So some of you may know that we have had a few car issues of late and have been without a car for about 2 months now, which we have no problem with except that we cannot get to some of our favourite places, St Fagans being one, so when I was leant a car for the day we couldn't wait to make our way there and it really made no difference it was raining. We really put Mr A's regatta puddle suit through it's paces and I have to say even with the intermitten downpours it kept him nice and dry, alongside his waterproof gloves and wellies, I think as long as your well prepared rain really shouldn't stop you from enjoying the outdoors, well it doesn't stop us anyway. Wet weather won't stop us First thing we did was check the small apple and pear orchard as the last time we were here the trees were filled with fruit and I always encourage the little man to have an understanding of where his food come's from. The trees are now bare, with the odd apple and......

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Cardiff Country Fair

A country fair right in the middle of a city? Yes that's right, a full on country fair with tractors, animals and british bake-off style cooking right in the centre of Cardiff. Taking place last week inside the Cardiff Castle grounds, we just knew we had to have this marked down in the diary. Luckily though the Cardiff Country Fair was actually looking for bloggers to review the two day event and being lovers of the outdoors we jumped at the chance and were kindly given tickets, so thanks very much lovely organisers. Anyway back to the review, the first thing that bombarded our senses was the lineup of John Deere tractors outside the castle, which Mr A couldn't contain his excitement at seeing, as John Deeres are his favourite tractor going (since watching Tractor Ted our knowledge of tractor makes has massively increased). If this was a taste of things to come inside the event we couldn't wait to see more. There we tons of local food producers and various produce o......

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Birthday at the Zoo

Mr A intrique by the Gorillas having their lunchtime In a way we are still recovering from the past two weeks, with two birthdays - mine and the little man's, plus a trip to London to the MADS Blog awards and John having the past week of work, it has meant a lot of time spent outside, we even managed a warm day at the beach! So some posts are a few days behind simple because, well we have been enjoying ourselves so much, except for the past two days which really caught up with us and we were slightly under the weather. Anyway back to the post at hand. The day after the MADS blog awards we decided to treat the little man to a trip to London Zoo for his birthday, in my mind a perfect way to celebrate turing three. Luckily we had 2 for 1 on entry otherwise it would of been a very expensive day, even for London, but well worth it. I have to say without a doubt our favourite animals were the Giraffes, they remind me of home and are simply so foreign and exotic for children, ......

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