Weekend walks and playing in the snow

We had the most perfect trip to the Lake District this weekend, it really was a lovely family day out.  Josh works every other weekend 7.30am – 7.30pm so we try and make sure we make the most of the time when he is off.  This weekend we decided to go to Grizedale forest and walk their Stick Man trail as Ellie is loving him and all things Julia Donaldson at the minute.

We had a late big breakfast and got all our warm clothes out ready to set off.  The journey itself took just over an hour and a half and the weather was kind to us, so when we arrived we bought one of the activity packs from the visitor centre and set off in search of Stick Man!

 

 

Once we found the start Ellie was off and finding all the signs, showing us which way to go.  The walk itself was perfect for her; it was quite flat and had lots to look at, my favourite was the wind up musical trees!  We could hear music as we started the walk and had no idea where it was coming from until we came across this…

 

You turned the wind up key and music would play, it was the cutest touch to a children’s themed walk and there was a few different ones along the way.

 

I couldn’t recommend trying one of the trials more, Ellie was kept entertained throughout the walk.  She found all the signs and showed us which way to go, we read parts of the story on the big activity boards and had little challenges to complete such as making a birds nest and playing pooh sticks.  Ellie loved it as they are activities specific to the story itself and made her laugh as we put Stick Man in the stream and watched him swim down away from the family tree!

 

I love being outdoors in the fresh air, being away from the hustle and bustle of ‘normal’ life does so much for my well being and puts a fresh spring in my step.  It was very cold and that day I could have quite easily have curled up on the sofa watching family films and eating pop corn in front of the fire, but I’m so glad we got up and went.

 

We found Stick Man!

 

As if we weren’t having a lovely enough day as it was, it started to snow!  If there’s one thing that’s going to make a lovely day perfect it’s snow.  Ellie was memorised, she wouldn’t have remembered the bit of snow we had last year so she was in her element.   We had a hot chocolate and sandwich in the beautiful little cafe then went outside to play!

 

 

Family is the most important thing to me and spending days like this together is my absolute favourite thing to do.  The giggles, the excited pitter patter of Ellie’s feet running through the forest and sheer delight of playing in the snow was just priceless.  I can’t wait for us to go on the Gruffalo trail!