Cogges Easter Fun

Well where did that easter school holiday go?! Working part-time always means a juggle of childcare and holiday days taken, so school holidays are never restful but I'm very lucky to have a lot of help from my parents, especially for the older two. With the weather getting nicer it's easier to find things to do to make the days go quicker, and this holiday all of us have spent many days down the road at Cogges Manor Farm.

We were very lucky with the weather as we had some cracking days, it was even ice-cream weather!

The eldest two enjoyed the new parts of the play park, which included a rope swing, which try as she might my eldest 10 year old just couldn't do, every day we went she tried but to no avail, we had to admit she was too big for it as her legs kept dragging in the mud :( It's no fun being almost as tall as your mother when you're only ten - it's also impossible to find clothes, but that's another story!

On Wednesday we enjoyed cake decorating in the kitchen.

On Thursday we enjoyed adding to the rag rug that's in progress.

And we all enjoyed dressing up!

When we got home, I was inspired to get my own rag rug back out, so I've started adding to it again.

We also found some new geocaches near us and even managed to pick up a trackable, which we enjoyed seeing online where it's been (Germany & the US), we hope to drop this off soon and get it on it's way.  We've also been trying to scout out good places to make our own first cache.

Who needs an expensive holiday when all this was right on our doorstop!

Blue Monday

It certainly was Blue Monday this week not because it was in anyway depressing but because of the winter sky.

A time to get out of the house and go for a walk.

  

Time to notice the small and have random conversations with the 3yo.

Meandering like the river. 

Although we did stop off in town to get my first free Waitrose cuppa ;)

This in hindsight was not thought out well as it ended up slopping out into my buggy organiser on the way to the park, where I had hoped to enjoy it!

I obviously need more practice at the art of having a cuppa on the go!

Time for a run around the playground (to warm up!) before heading home for the school run.

New camera on a sunny day

 My Canon compact has been on it's last legs for ages, the battery cover was held on with tape, it wasn't focusing properly, the SD card was stuck inside and it wasn't holding a charge for long! 

So I've been waiting for Christmas & Birthday money to help fund a new compact, which then took ages to find one I thought I might like.

 I wanted to be able to shop and actually hold/use a physical camera, but as it turns out, retailers only usually stock the cameras that are new, on special price or 'recommended'.

So after hours/days trawling Amazon for prices, reviews and technical spec's in the end I had a short list narrowed down by price! I was adamant it was to be a Nikon, as I've always been a Canon person and really wanted to try them out, it may not be an SLR but I wanted a camera that was small, reliable, fast and had the ability for me to override any auto settings.

In the end I went for a lovely red Nikon Coolpix S6700.

It's new and shiny and full of settings such as beach mode and image stabilisation but for the moment I'm happy to bumble along playing and it seems pretty good, sharp, good colours, metering, I can't wait to actually test it on the beach!

So, the first test was out on a stroll, would it be quick enough to snap away while trying to wrangle a toddler and a buggy on a walk?!

Yes!

We had a lovely pootle into town via the swings and past the lovely old houses of West End, over the river and a stop at the library.

A simple day but one to remember.

I love all the colours of the front doors and the different styles, I really must put painting ours on my list to do, as it's a very boring white, a whole new front door with a window bigger than a postage stamp would be great, but hey, lets not get silly!

Witney blanket mill chimney in the distance.

 

Back home as usual via Cogges, past the Priory. We're so lucky to have all this on our doorstep.

A Christmassy Weekend

I was in denial about Christmas coming up, but after this weekend there is no doubt, everywhere you looked there were signs!

First off on Saturday it was our annual pilgrimage to the Christmas Vintage and Handmade Fair in Chipping Sodbury and I'm afraid to say I was disappointed. I spent a total of £3 on vintage baubles and that was all that tempted me. 

It wasn't very Christmassy, there was nothing to my liking and yet again no upstairs, which meant the tea area was again in a poor position and we were unable to sit, so we left. 

Knowing that they made £900 on entrance fee alone, seems a bit poor, you could have had more tea area upstairs and more stalls. The uniqueness and quality of items has been waning recently so I won't be rushing to the next one, I think I preferred the one at the Corn Exchange, Devizes this year.

Happily our long drive was not wasted as there was the rival vintage fair around the corner, which had more vintage items to my liking and then over the road at the church we happened across the Crib Festival.  I had no idea what this was but thanks to my Mum who ventured inside it was marvellous, lots of local people/groups had made their own versions of a nativity scene, they ranged from the artistic to pre-school groups and they were all wonderful, such a lovely idea. There were several knitted versions, and the large version below is a full life-size knitted display which is touring around to raise money for a hospice charity, you have to see it up close it's amazing, so much work and so much yarn!

There were even real donkeys in the church!

A visit to Chipping Sodbury isn't complete without a visit to Hobbs House Bakery, there's a great gift shop on the corner and now it also boasts a Waitrose (which made parking easier !) and it also had a cafe which we'll definitely use next time and the play park was loved by my girls, after being herded around shopping!

Saturday didn't stop there for me as no sooner had I got home then it was time for me to head out for a night out with a meal and music to see Deacon Blue at the New Theatre, Oxford.

It was definitely worth it, there's something about live music that makes you feel alive and energised.

Sunday brought more Christmas spirit, in the morning was our school fair full of chocolates, tombola and a visit to Father Christmas.

After lunch we walked over to Cogges Farm Museum for their Christmas Fair and enjoyed browsing the stalls, seeing the knitted nativity in the kitchen and the girls were itching to get to the play equipment. It was so busy and it was lovely to see so many people there all enjoying the atmosphere.

Walking home there was the most fabulous sunset to close out the weekend.