Life | Easter Weekend 2019

Nothing says Easter like a mountain of chocolate (that we’re still getting through) and an egg hunt, or two... or four!
Easter, Mummy Diaries, Easter Weekend, Ascott, Wing, LoveMK, Ascott House, National Trust,
Easter, Mummy Diaries, Easter Weekend, Ascott, Wing, LoveMK, Ascott House, National Trust,
 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, Mummy Diaries, Easter Weekend, Love MK
Easter Sunday
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, Mummy Diaries, Easter Weekend, National Trust, Kedleston Hall, Kedleston, Derby,
Easter, Mummy Diaries, Easter Weekend, National Trust, Kedleston Hall, Kedleston, Derby,
 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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