It feels like ages since my last post, it is only just over two weeks but we have been up to so much it seems like longer.

We have all travelled down to Surrey on the train for next to nothing (ahh! how I love the perks of Hubbie now working on the trains). Niblet and I have been on adventures, mainly in Yorkshire (again on the train). There has also been a bit of sewing, lots of loveliness in the garden and plenty of photo-taking all over the shop.

A couple of weeks ago Niblet and I took a train to York. We went to York Castle Museum, to one of their under 5’s sessions. Niblet was the only one there so he got to play with everything, make a sword, have stories read to him and generally enjoy himself. We also visited Clifford’s Tower, the only bit of the castle that remains, Niblet enjoyed waving his sword around and pretending to be a knight. We also saw lots of geese and their goslings.

Just 2 days later we were back on the train again, this time heading south to ‘the outlaws’ in Surrey. We had a wonderful, sunny weekend with lots of golf related activities (not my choice, but keeps the boys happy) I took photos instead.

We had a little explore at St. Pancras station on the way home.

Last weekend, we headed to Leeds. We went to Rory’s Saturday club at the Leeds City Museum, where Niblet (& I) made a paper/plastic bowl/elastic band guitar and a cup and string telephone. The museum however didn’t open until 11am, so we had half an hour to kill in Millenium Square/Nelson Mandela gardens – we both took photos of golden owls and big hands!!

We had a wander round the museum, Niblet enjoyed all the children’s areas, but were both disappointed to find that there was nowhere to eat our packed lunch – especially as it was raining so heavily there were streams running down the pavements!Similarly, there was nowhere to eat at the art gallery. We were advised to head for the Trinity shopping centre food court, as it had tables and chairs. This proved to be a long way for a cold, wet, hungry 4 year old (& 40 year old) and we were quite hacked off when we finally got there and then found it hard to work out where the food court was. We ended up sitting in the pop-up Bonne Maman ‘kitchen’ eating our sandwiches and some of the delicious banoffee pie they were demonstrating. We also got free mini jars of jam and marmalade. An unexpected silver lining to our very grey, wet cloud.

We headed back up to the art gallery in the afternoon for an artist lead activity, which involved building a den with bamboo canes and cable ties. Niblet LOVED it, it was definitely worth the still rather damp walk back through Leeds.

Earlier this month we also squeezed in a visit to The Hepworth in Wakefield. Niblet was a bit scared by some of the sculptures, but loves the playground outside.

Totally loving all the trips in Yorkshire with many more planned (but obviously Leeds would be better if it’s public buildings had somewhere to eat your own sandwiches)