7 Simple Ways to Celebrate Autumn as a Family

Autumn is such a wonderful time of the year and offers up a lot of fun activities to do with children and as a family. However it's very easy to get caught up in the commercialisation of every seasonal holiday and also with Christmas on the horizon it can feel very manic as well as expensive but it really needn't be. In fact Autumn is the perfect time to slow down, recalibrate and reconnect with the people that mean the most to you as well as move forward towards Christmas feeling more balanced.  So I thought I would share a few easy ways to celebrate Autumn with kids for free, or very little as some of the suggestions do require basic ingredients but none of what I have shared should cost more than £2. 1. Head out on a Hike or Walk in the Woods Don't underestimate the power of fresh air and Autumn is the perfect time get outside as much as possible before it gets too cold so head to your local country park or woodlands and take in all those beautiful autumnal c......

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Little Adventures in South Wales

Is there really a better time to get outdoors than Autumn? One cannot help but be drawn to all the beautiful colours that comes with the Harvest season and such simple pleasures can be found around each corner from colourful crunchy leaves to stomp through or being a child for a moment and joining in with jumping in puddles or standing among tall pines and oaks trying to catch falling leaves. I have not always coped that well with the weather in Wales, not after having spent 19yrs in South Africa and a naturally warm climate with long hot summers and short and mild winters but as the years go by one after another I have really come to love my mothers birthplace, especially being a naturally outdoor person South Wales and all it's green mountains, forests, manor houses and country parks have become somewhat of a playground for not for my kids but also for me. We got up to a fair few adventures during half term despite some of us not being at full steam due to all t......

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This Homeschooling life

Wow how did a whole month fly by so quickly? We have been so busy with the changing of the seasons and have been celebrating everything that Autumn has to offer with most days being spent outside. Half term also happened which means we also have a bit of a break and any "formal" learning went out the window and we did a whole lot more hands on activities during the dry weather We enjoyed pumpkin carving in the Park, worm charming and apple pressing at Forest Farm Nature Reserve as well as Autumn crafts, wild art and being apart of a Spider survey which involved recording all our spider finds as well as coming across some earwigs and snails. Mr A has also shown a big interest in Bird watching and we actually spotted two beautiful Kingfishers over the weekend which was a real highlight Another thing we have enjoyed lately is cooking together, something which Mr A seems to have a love hate relationship with, he is not a big eater and rather fussy and a......

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Picking pumpkins

Pumpkin carving, crafting and dressing up for Halloween is too us a big part of what makes Autumn such a wonderful season, throw in stomping through leaves, puddle jumping and home baked goodies and your all set to go. Last year we bought some pumpkins from a lovely local community allotment and this year we had planned to plant our own but we had a bit of a break from our vegetable patch this year due to the birth of Baby G. So after we enjoyed some late season raspberry picking at Hendrewenno Farm in the Vale of Glamorgan we noticed they had a small pumpkin field which for a limited time allowed you to pick your own pumpkin so we made sure to head over last Friday morning and get one each for both of the boys. We got one large one which we planned to carve this week and one small one we are going to paint while we are going to make some pumpkin pie with the leftovers. After we had made our picks we spent a relaxed morning in the cafe and the boys exploring the hay......

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Beautiful Botanical Gardens, Oxford

Last weekend John was away in Berlin so Mr A and I thought it would be fun to take a road trip of our own. As we had been invited to an event in Bicester we decided why not explore the beautiful town of Oxford as well and we are so glad we did as it's such a wonderful place and so visualising inspiring. As always whenever we go anywhere we always look for some kind of outdoor natural space and when we discovered that the Botanical Gardens were literally a stones throw from the Eastgate Mercure Hotel we were staying in it seemed like the perfect place to spend the mid morning. It was really peaceful inside this walled garden and offered a lot of free range fun for Mr A as well as learning opportunities. We really enjoyed looking at all the late autumn crops they had growing including butternut squash, pumpkins, kale and brussels sprouts. There we also two large ponds filled with fish and ducks and two large greenhouses that had the biggest cacti we had ever......

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