Good Friday
On
Good Friday, mum had booked Alfie’s place on Ascott Garden’s Cadbury hunt. With
her National Trust life membership, I was able to visit for free as her guest,
and we don’t have to pay for Alfie yet, so we only had to pay in advance for the
Easter trail. We had been to Ascott before, in July, but I don’t recall the
weather being as nice then as it was over the Easter weekend. Alfie was also in
the pushchair then; this time I left it at home, believing he’d walk around the
gardens... oh, how wrong I was! Mum and I were taking it in turns to carry him.
We
began by picking up his trail sheet from the start/finish point and part of the
tearoom was open as a craft area. We were able to decorate bunny ears with
tissue paper, coloured pencils and stickers. Alfie wasn’t interested in
decorating or wearing them. I thought we’d have more luck at the face paint
area. He definitely didn’t want his face painted – but it didn’t stop me from
getting some grey whiskers and pink nose (which I had totally forgot about when
I needed to nip into Asda on the way home)!
When
it was time to start the trail, there were 10 checkpoints we needed to find,
and each had a question or something we needed to do. Some boxes were a simple
tick to say they had been completed (like making a grass trumpet, which mum
did, and Alfie loved); while others required an answer like number 7, which
asked us to say what we thought the clouds looked like. Obviously in this case,
there was no right or wrong answer, but I believed one looked like a sugar
mouse... I wonder what the answer would be on a cloudless day!
The
map wasn’t easy to decipher and we had to ask another parent where one of the
boards was – and she said she had struggled to find it too. It just wasn’t
where we were expecting – but eventually we found it and then made our way back
to the start/finish point to collect the Cadbury chocolate egg.
It
was lovely walking around the gardens, which are so beautiful, particularly in
bloom. We definitely earned our refreshments afterwards. Mum had a coffee and
piece of coffee & walnut cake; I had a tub of mint choc chip ice cream and
I bought Alfie a Jude’s mini milk, which he didn’t enjoy, so I had that too!
Easter
Sunday saw two hunts: the first was a little one we organised in the garden for
Alfie and the second was one on the estate, with the money going to charity. It
was organised by Mikee, who runs the classes I go to on a Friday. There were
eight clues this time, which were all questions to do with Easter – and being a
personal trainer, Mikee set a bunny hop challenge at every point, which I didn’t
participate in (I hate burpees).
We
walked from our road, across the lake to the starting point and from here,
walked around the lake, to the school and through some of the woodland. The
three of us went with Rebecca and her girls and as you can imagine, with three
children under four-years-old, it took us a while – especially when we returned
home for a toilet/drink break!
We
took photos at every point to prove that we had been there, before returning to
the start to collect our eggs... unsurprisingly we were the last to finish and
poor Mikee had left the air-con in his car running to ensure the chocolate didn’t
melt!
It
was a lot of fun though – and now Alfie’s getting bigger, it’ll be good getting
involved in more community events.
Easter Monday
Our
final Easter hunt took place on Easter Monday, when as a family, we travelled
to National Trust property, Kedleston Hall. I say property, we didn’t look
around the house, but land is extensive and there are a number of walks, differing
in length, to enjoy. In case you were wondering, Kedleston is in Derby.
According
to the walks map we received on arrival, we embarked on the ‘short’ walk for
the Easter trail, which was 1.7 miles. On the Easter trail, there were 10
questions we needed to answer. It was such a beautiful walk and en route, we
saw (and stroked) horses, watched the sheep in the field and walked through
various woodlands. The bluebell wood was particularly beautiful and would have
made for some lovely springtime photos. Again, we struggled with the map and we
missed one of the clues – I must have spent about 10 minutes getting lost in an
area of woodland, only to find it was further back on the main path and we must
have not been looking in the right direction!
At
the end, the lady stamped Alfie’s sheet with a star and complimented him on his
handwriting and knowledge (unreal for a 19-month-old). You guessed it, another
Cadbury chocolate egg was won... our fridge is honestly full of boxes of eggs
and Tupperware with broken eggs in them.
While
at Kedleston, Ash and I got a joint National Trust membership and I’m sure we’ll
put it to good use; especially as with the guide book, we received a map of all
the properties. We love a challenge, so I can see us crossing off each place as
we go. It’ll be good to see how many of them we get through this year and I’m
sure that’ll determine if we renew.
We
also raided the local Marks & Spencer for picnic food and on arrival, had a
really lovely picnic on one of the grass verges in front of the property. Alfie
tried Scotch egg for the first time (but only really enjoyed the breaded
sausage meat) and I chose a lot of tapas bits: some chicken & chorizo
skewers, as well as jamon wrapped manchego cheese bites. We definitely bought
too much but I love a nice picnic – no soggy sandwiches and crisps in sight. The
smoked salmon & broccoli quiche more than upped the fancy stakes!
It
was a lovely Easter weekend, blessed with family and beautiful weather. Things
are very much back to reality now though – and I have no plans for the next
Bank Holiday. How was your Easter weekend?
Love,
Lucy xx
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Love, Lucy xx