mybigadventures.com

Happy Easter everyone. Just a quick question to think about, which would you pick - Lego and chocolate . . . 

. . . or chocolate Lego?

Mum's down to visit for Easter so after a bit of breakfast we headed out in to town. We headed to National Trust Fenton House in Hampstead and joined a short queue by the entrance. It was only as we got to the front of the queue that it became apparent that we weren't getting in. They had been running a timed ticket system for the day and all of the tickets had been given out already so there were no more slots. I guess we'll have to try again another day!

Feeling a bit disappointed we ended up having a bit of a wander. We had a walk up towards Hamstead Heath past the Royal Free Hosptal and saw lots of people heading for the fun fair that was based on the edge of the heath. We caught the 46 bus to St Pancras International terminal and then walked along to Kings Cross to have a look at a large chocolate Thomas the tank engine that mum had read about in the paper. The 6ft chocolate train was made by master chocolatiers from Sussex to celebrate the bank holiday weekend. There's an article on Eastbourne Herald website about the work that went into it and the 100Kg of choclate used. Given the massive amount of chocolate and effort involved, there didn't seem to be any information about it and lots of people just walked past without noticing it. A few people seemed to know however and watched a couple of people seem to walk right up and lick it to check it was chocolate - we decided we didn't need the proof! The weather was bright and sunny and warm all afternoon. Have a look at the photos and let me know what you think!  

Today, we continued our adventures in the local area (and a little further afield). We started off at Runnymede, a small area of landscape by the Thames, owned by the National Trust. It is regarded as the birthplace of democracy as it marks the spot where King John first placed his seal on the Magna Carter, marking the beginning of democracy. It was quite a small area of parkland, with two different memorials - one to JF Kennedy, a memorial following his assassination, and one to the Magna Carter itself. Both were surrounded by woodland, so we wandered in the area for a little bit, enjoying the bluebells and spotting a few bunny rabbits darting into the bushes. We had a mosey around for about 40 minutes, although it was quite cool in the shade compared to our previous days out. We walked back to the car park along the river, and made our way to the tea room by the car park for some lunch. Just for a change, we were served immediately in the cafe, and the server even went to make our sandwiches while we dithered about drinks. Such efficiency!

From there we made a short-ish journey to Ham House for a return visit. When we went last time, it was in January 2016, so it was a little different this time, with a good show of tulips in the kitchen garden and a spectacular display of wisteria against the Orangery (tea room). The gardens are certainly well-manicured - lots of topiary carefully shaped and 'coiffured'. There was a partiularly symmetrical arrangement of spheres of lavender and curry plant in one part of the garden, divided neatly into sections by box hedges and cones. We managed to get into the house just before 'last entry' and were suitably impressed - it's all fairly original (so we were told!) and very luxurious, with quite a range of styles and furnishings. Had to speed round a little bit towards the end as they were due to close, but just about saw everything!

We treated ourselves to an ice cream (well, I had a coffee and his lordship had an ice cream) and sat next to the wisteria, enjoying the fine fragrance! Then we ambled slowly back to the car, along the Thames again (a different part this time) and then made our way home.

The weather remained great again today so we had planned to make the most of it, this time heading for National Trust, Wimpole Estate. I think we're gettiing value on the cards now! It seemed that lots of other people had the same idea and arriving just after 12 put us in the overflow car park. The estate was pretty busy with lots of families out enjoying the sunshine.

There was lots to see including home farm, the house, gardens and a folly. There were thousands of daffodils lining the walkways around the park and lots of colourful flowers out in the walled garden. There were some new piglets in the farm to visit and some Shetland ponies, and Shire horses.

In the end we didn't have time to see the house, instead having a long walk around the parklands out towards the folly. It was a great day out, and definitely worth a return visit. Enjoy the photos! 

Today we went bird spotting at RSPB Rye Meads nature reserve. The weather was great again with blue skies and sunshine, but despite the nice weather it was fairly quiet. There are a number of hides dotted around each focussing on different types of birds, but the real highlight had to be the kingfisher. We saw at least two, possibly 3 different kingfishers and took a few photos but I could have done with a longer lens. There was a guy in the kingfisher hide rocking a massive camera lens that I think must have cost thousands. The end of the lens was the size of a dinner plate and it was more than 2 feet long! I suspect his king fisher pictures were probably epic, but nevermind. The kingfishers then seemed to hide as there were a couple of heron stalking around. The RSPB lady in the hide was telling some other people that the eels have found a nifty way to escape being eaten if caught by the heron. They wrap themselves around their beak so they can't be eaten until the heron gives up and lets them go. 

Took a final few photos of the blue tits back by the entrance before heading back. It was a great day out and definitely worth a visit if you're ever in the area.

The weather today was fantastic, you might even have believed it was summer. I was in school this morning but given the weather we decided to head out for the afternoon. Having had a quick browse for ideas on the Internet, we decided to head for RSPB Church Wood. There wasn't much information about what was there but figured it was worth a shot. In the end we're not sure if we made it to the right place, we did go walking in some woods next to a church where the satnav had directed us to, but there wasn't anything to suggest it was the right place. We did see the start of a sweep of blue bells that were mentioned in the decription we had read, but think we're just a little too early as only a few of them were in flower. Undeterred, we had a bit of a wander around and then decided to head on to something else nearby. After a quick check on the national trust app, we were headed to Cliveden which was only 10 minutes away.

Cliveden was lovely and definitely worth a visit. The garden is divided into a number of smaller gardens, the first of which is the water garden. The water garden had an oriental feel with large carp in one of the lakes and giant stepping stones to walk across the water. We didn't go in the Cliveden house, which is having some work done at the moment. There was a sign up to explain that work had just started as they had been waiting for the hibernating bats to wake up and move out. The house is open for tours on the bottom floor but is also a hotel. We walked up the steps on the outside to admire the view down the garden, which must go down well with the visitors to the hotel. 

The weather stayed nice all afternoon with warm sunshine, we even found time for a cheeky icecream in the cafe before heading back! Enjoy the photos