Mummy Diaries | Superworm Trail at Salcey Forest

“Superworm is super-long. Superworm is super-strong. Watch him wiggle! See him squirm! Hip hip hooray for Superworm.”

We love a family day out, and we've been to Salcey Forest before – to do the Gruffalo Trail. A quick search online informed me that there was now a Superworm Trail and as a lover of Julia Donaldson's books, I knew Alfie would love it.

Spoiler Alert: it was much the same as the Gruffalo Trail.

We parked in the overflow car park again. It costs £4 for two hours or £6 for all day. I think we went with the latter this time, as we left abruptly on our last visit, as Alfie fell over. Of course, you don’t need to have the Superworm Trail pack to embark on the walk, as it’s just one of the standard routes on the map. However, I think it cost £3.50 and the pack included an activity booklet, some fact cards, a pencil, a crayon, some stickers and a Superworm headband. Using the stickers, your child could choose their own superpower, and naturally Alfie went for super-fast!

On the trail, there were six checkpoints to stop at. Each was inspired by an animal or insect with large information boards displaying facts, a question, a challenge and even the animal’s own superpower. Some of the examples included Super-strength and super-burrower. At each point there was also a rubbing to be completed in the activity book – using the crayon. This was based upon the animal in question. Sadly, the first couple of points weren't available as it appeared they had been vandalised. Instead, a small card explained what your child should draw in the box, instead. Naturally, this is where I was roped in.

I'm sure the route was exactly the same as the one we took for the Gruffalo Trail, but there was still that level of excitement when it came to finding the next board and trying to guess which creature might be next. We even had time to visit the small wooden play area. We missed out last time as Alfie fell over en route and wanted to go home. He much preferred climbing and balancing on all the surrounding logs – instead of actually going inside the little dens and fairy houses. There is a bigger play area near the entrance too, but I'd say he's probably still too small for that. It's all high ropes, balancing and climbing.

I’m sure I said it in my last post, but I'd love to explore more of Salcey. There are so many walking, cycle and even horse routes to discover. A longer walk would be ideal – maybe during the autumn months, when it’s cooler and with the change of colours. Of course, our afternoon ended with an ice cream. The Grounds Cafe has a really lovely selection of cakes and local ice cream. I tried the limited-edition summer berry cheesecake (one scoop in a waffle cone), while Alfie had a kids’ cone with a scoop of (bright blue) bubble gum ice cream. The scoops were huge, so I was really glad I opted for one, rather than two. And Ash went for an Oreo brownie instead of ice cream.

They also have two table tennis tables which can be played on – free of charge. We said to Alfie he could have a go next time, as they always prove popular and you find people waiting around for ages, to get a turn. And I’d love to bring a picnic as an incentive to explore further. You could easily make a day of it.

Love, Lucy xx