Sheffield Park

We went for a walk in Sheffield Park on the weekend. There are so many brilliant climbable trees there, not least the giant redwood they have.

The kids had a ball climbing all sorts of trees, hunting for the Gruffalo and playing all sorts of imaginative games.

There was also a "Darwin Trail" that teaches kids about all sorts of interesting plant facts, which Tyran was very taken with. they were each given a doodle book and a pencil when we went in and had a great time doing observational drawings and writing about what they could see. It was also lovely for me to be able to stand back and enjoy the scenery while Tyran read all the information on each stage to Hayley!

Sadly the day came to a rather abrupt end when Hayley entered her meltdown phase. This lovely photo completely belies the reality of the situation! It would appear that she's merely bending down and admiring the snowdrops. Couldn't be farther from the truth!! I snapped this as she bent down. What really happened is that she went from "Look at the lovely flowers" to trying to rip up handfuls of them in sheer temper that came out of nowhere. When we stopped her from doing that she started kicking and stamping on them. She ended up being carried away.

On a different, but sad note for me, I realised when we got in the car to come home, that this is the first time I haven't taken a sling with me to a National Trust garden. Hayley can and will walk the entire way now. So I know it's good, but I do miss that closeness.