Driving back a few days ago, husband and I both saw a sign at the same time and needed to investigate….
(Excuse the terrible pictures, they were taken from the car)
It turned out to be a tiny bar in a hostel/camp site/caravan site, with a nice beer garden.
We sneaked a little drink whilst the boys played outside:
I’d definitely recommend for a nice pint/overnight camp if you’re ever passing Edmundbyers.
I don’t think I’d ever been fruit picking before, but husband suggested it for a family fun day (it’s something he did as a kid) and the kids seemed excited, so we decided to give it a go. After a bit of research, we went for one a little while away, as it had more amenities and parking (we need places we are going to have coffee, especially during the holidays!).
We ended up at brockbushes, near Corbridge. It’s a decent sized place, with a farm shop, tea rooms and outside seating. It has a few different fruits and they update their website through the week with what is available to pick (which is handy to avoid disappointment with little ones!). We picked (many) Strawberries and some greengages.
We even hid a few Tyneside rocks.. but eventually it descended into ‘look, I found fruit that looks like a bum’
Cos, well you know… kids and dads are not that mature!
It was a fun day, with few unexpected bonuses – as well as eating lots of fruit, the kids tried a new fruit and did some baking (apple, plum and strawberry tart and apple and strawberry crumble!). It was nice for them to see where food comes from (other than asda or lidl!) and get them involved in making it too. Shame we couldn’t convince them to do the dishes!
Well, I probably ended up painting more than the kids!
It says ‘rolled round in Earth’s diurnal course, with rocks and stones and trees’, which is a quote from one of Wordsworth’s ‘Lucy’ poems (‘ A slumber did my spirit seal’, if I’m remembering correctly) – so I think it’s fitting it got left in a pub in the Lake District.
So, the boys received a donation to ‘do some nice’ last weekend. Unfortunately, we were a bit split up over the weekend (kids birthday parties!) and It was the following Wednesday before we were all together and had a car.
I asked the boys if they wanted to go to a farm they ask to go to every time we drive past, Hall Hill Farm. We’ve not had a proper ‘family fun day’ since baby 3 was born (8 months ago!!!!), so I was hoping they’d enjoy it.
I needn’t have worried, it was much nicer than previous places we’ve been. I’m vegetarian, and always feel sorry for the animals in these places, but feel I should take the kids there to show them exactly what it is they aren’t eating! The animals all looked happy and well cared for, and were in clean surroundings and stuff – I’m no expert, but they seemed happy.
We all had a tractor trailer ride (baby included) and played a family game of crazy golf – two things I’d never actually done before (I lost at crazy golf!).
The boys – held chicks, fed goats and lambs, played inside and out, had a barrel ride, a donkey ride, fired water balloons at each other in a giant inflatable contraption and other things I’ve probably forgotten. (Not to mention hiding their Tyneside rocks as we went – and finding out first one!). The staff were lovely, dealing with hyper kids very well, including the baby by bringing a chick over for her to see (look at her little face!!!), and joking on with the kids.
Definitely a successful family fun day! By the time this publishes, we’ll be having our ‘holiday’ – nearly a whole week together, and the next family fun day is adults choice, so we’ll see where we end up!
Could be photobombed by a pooping alpaca!
