When the forest paths turn to slippy, ankle-deep mud in the winter months, we like to take our four children stream-walking.
This is one of the forests to the north of the village we live in and we like to visit after heavy rain, when the tiny streams are full and running much more quickly.
We have to be very careful with our littlest, and whisk him onto the bank where the water gets a smidgen deeper, and threatens to flood over his wellies.
The stream leads into the middle of the forest, where a short climb takes you up towards an old quarry. You arrive in a high clearing, and the tree-lined basin is usually waist-deep in dry leaves for most of winter. With soft ground underneath, the children can jump in from a height.
The sunlight shines down on the frosty ground, and I remind myself that even though I’m willing on springtime, I’ll miss this sight when the weather heats up again.
Then we regroup and run down the other side of this hill together and the it’s time for an early Sunday breakfast on the go – usually gingerbread or fudge – and then we’re ready to go back home to put the kettle on and warm up.
Looks so peaceful.
It is, especially if you can fight off the urge to lay in on a Sunday and get there really early (a tough feat when it’s dark in winter!) 🙂
I love these little snippets of your life. This is fast becoming my favourite blog 🙂
aww thank you … likewise yours too! We’ve now booked two (!) camping trips in Norfolk before the summer, can’t wait to see the broads and the coast again x
I used to love exploring streams as a child and building dams on them. Your lovely post brought back all those lovely memories. 😊
That’s wonderful to hear 🙂 thank you for reading x I did too as a child, especially in mountain streams in the lake district, where there was lots of loose slate to make little bridges and stepping stones.
Lucky children (and adults!) to have such nifty places to explore so close to home.
Oh definitely adults too, the children are a great excuse for me to be a big kid 🙂
It all looks so idyllic and peaceful. A paradise on earth.
Thank you Gerard. The light in the early morning is brilliant for taking photographs 🙂
Hi there, thank you for helping me to find your beautiful blog. It is simply wonderful. I look forward to seeing more of your photos, recipes and stories.
Thank you – that means a lot coming from you as your website Chez Moi is simply stunning x
Lovely. You took me down a long-unvisited memory lane. At my Somerset boarding school we were allowed to walk round the surrounding countryside(so long at there were always three of us – one to stay with anyone hurt and one to seek help). Our little gang love to walk down a stream and sometimes we would blindfold one of us to see what would be like to be blind.
I just read out your lovely comment to my hubby and children – we’re really enjoying sharing all the responses and memories on this post! I like the idea of a blindfold to see what it’s like to blind. I might try that out with the children in the summer, see if it heightens what they can hear in the forest.
A lovely place and a worthwhile occupation. We used to take our two little ones down the lane and along the stream. They used to play there all day. Now they are oth at uni and time is much more constrained. But they have wonderful memores of our carefree happy times.
That sounds idyllic, to live so close to a stream 🙂 I gave up on buying paddling pools when I realised the children would much rather be paddling in a stream all summer.
It’s just down our lane. Magical old horse track with trees and hedging meeting overhead to create a tunnel. Lots of fun, and free!
That is so true – it’s virtually impossible to get two adults and four children into anywhere without spending minimum £30 … we challenged ourselves last year to only have free entertainment on days out, got quite creative with it and really enjoyed ourselves (city walks, free museums, free festivals) – so we’re trying to do the same this year too 🙂
We did that when the children were little. Their favourite places were the ditch where we had an apple tree with skirts right down to the ground. They made a den. And a sheet thrown over the washing line to make a tent. I can’t ever remember them complaining about being bored. Enjoy your family whilst they are young. Ours are at uni now. We still take them for walks around the fields and through the woods, but time is limited with them now. They have so many other people/places activities calling on their time. Just feel grateful they still want to spent time with us boring oldies 🙂 xxx
I have to admit to a love for walking through shallow creeks. I enjoyed this walk through the countryside 🙂
Fudge for breakfast? You are a very cool mom!
Ha 🙂 I’m glad you think so … although they do have to get up very early and walk a bit first to earn it! 😀 x