Staying Local

Hi there everyone 😀

Following our big day out at Shugborough we opted for something a bit more low key and less strenuous for our second day with Bobby … I was hoping that it would be just as much fun though. 

We started out with a morning at home. Bobby had come prepared and we started our day off with a few games of

‘Poo Bingo’ which is nowhere near as disgusting as it sounds …

Bobby was not the only one was prepared and I had plans for some baking on the cards …

It had taken me a while to find a recipe that I thought would be fun for Bobby. I wanted him to be able to do everything and, as mixing by hand is hard for little ones, I opted for a Magimix recipe so he could use the food processor. 

We were making gingerbread men and, whilst it took a while, which was absolutely fine with me, Bobby had a whale of a time. 

He weighed out the dry ingredients … with less flour spillage than I normally make …

He sieved the flour …

He weighed out and cut up the butter …

He weighed out the sugar …

He then tipped all of the dry ingredients and the butter into the Magimix and mixed them together. 

He then had a go at cracking the egg and, after fishing out a few bits of shell, he beat it up … 

He measured and added the golden syrup …

… which I believe may have been his favourite ingredient  …

Once I’d helped add the wet ingredients to the Magimix he pulsed it all until it turned into a nice ball of dough …

There was then a bit of kneading …

… before we put the dough in the fridge to chill for half an hour, which was just long enough for a bit of Lego building …

Once the dough was chilled we cut it in half and Bobby got cracking with the rolling pin …

He did a great job and it was soon time to start cutting out our gingerbread men (people) …

Once the first lot of dough was done all was repeated for the second half and we were ready for the oven …

After about 15 minutes we were pretty excited …

We chilled out for a bit whilst they cooled and then got on with the decorating … starting off with mum, dad and Bobby …

Bearing in mind we had already taste tested a few, which were scrummy, we made an absolute load. …

We covered our gingerbread families up and left the icing to set whilst we headed into town where we completed a few errands before stopping for lunch in our local theatre …

… where a bit of a look round was an opportunity not to be missed …

After lunch I’d got another activity on the cards and I wasn’t sure what to expect. It was an augmented reality tour called ‘We Love Tamworth’. I’d already downloaded a free app which sent us to different interesting spots around the town where we had to look through the phone camera to see all kinds of odd things. 

My capturing of images wasn’t brilliant but these are some of what we found …

It was a really warm afternoon and, whilst it had been good fun and lovely to see Tamworth looking so lovely in the sunshine …

… we were all more than ready for an ice cold treat …

We had a really lovely day. It didn’t end up being as unenergetic as I’d expected but we’d done loads, not gone far, not spent much and we still had a stack of gingerbread men to enjoy 😊 

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Exploring :: Shugborough Hall NT … with the little Folks

Hi there everyone 😀

After we got back from the lodge at the beginning of August we had a couple of very busy weeks before it would be time to head down to Cornwall and Devon … for a few days in Bude with the family … and a very special wedding in Ilfracombe. 

We had a couple of days looking after Bobby, which is always an absolute joy, a couple of foodbank shifts for me, wedding haircuts for us both, lunch out with friends and the usual catching up on garden, home and general life admin. 

For our first day with Bobby we headed to Shugborough Hall for the day … along with Mum and Jackie and Phil and their youngest granddaughter Erin … and a picnic. It was the first time we’d all been out for the day together and none of us were too sure how the day would go. We needn’t have worried … everyone got on like a house on fire and we had the loveliest of days … though we were all absolutely shattered by the end of it. 

The forecast was fabulous and we were there and parked and ready to go by about 10.30. The plan was to have a wander round the walled garden, let Bobby and Erin have some fun on all of the children’s activities, maybe have a look at the farm area and then stop for our picnic. 

We started off in the walled garden which was looking lovely and Bobby dived straight in for some green beans straight from the plant. Erin decided what was good enough for Bobby was good enough for her … though one bite was all it took to decide raw beans were perhaps not for her 😂 …

After a bit of a blackberry feast, which was definitely more to Erin’s liking, we headed into the meadow area at the bottom of the walled garden, where all sorts of children’s activities had been set up … and the little ones dived straight in …

It wasn’t all fast action, high impact activity … there was a nice chill out space too …

There were puppets …

… musical instruments …

… and lots of other games and activities to keep the little ones entertained … a few nice benches for the adults wouldn’t have gone amiss 😜

Time to move on and after numerous refrains of … “just one more blackberry” we headed back through the walled garden …

We decided it was a little too soon for lunch and had a wander up past the cattle …

… to the farm, where the two most popular things by far were the chickens and the soft play. Fortunately there was a very well positioned bench for us oldies …

I think Bobby and Erin would have happily stayed on the soft play for the rest of the day but our picnic was calling so Martin and Phil headed back to the car to collect everything whilst the rest of us found a nice spot to eat …

It was really hot sitting in the sunshine and Bobby and Erin had a fabulous game cooling us all down by putting the picnic ice packs up the backs of our tops … for once there was far more squealing from the adults than the children 😂😂😂

After lunch we caught the buggy up to the house where we had a very swift look at the servants quarters and Mum, Bobby and I had a look round the Lichfield apartment. 

By now it was definitely ice cream time as we were all beginning to flag a bit …

We then decided we couldn’t leave without a quick walk around the rest of the gardens, so we left mum on a bench in the shade and headed off. It wasn’t long before there was a bit of tree climbing going on …

… and a bit of a stop for a breather …

We were all about done by now so headed back to find mum and wait for our buggy ride back to the car park …

It was about 4.30 before we were ready to head off. We’d had a really lovely full day and Bobby and Erin had been an absolute delight. 

The only thing that we missed, much to Bobby’s disappointment, was the Pooh sticks bridge, but we did manage to improvise … we will just have to visit again …

Thank you National Trust for another lovely day out 😀

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