Easter Egg Trail at National Trust Polesden Lacey

This weekend has been a bit, how can I put it? Rubbish. Noah has been a bit poorly for a few days (as in constant calpol and really not his usual fun self) and the OH also seems to have a milder version of what Noah has. We also had a situation with the car which has now been resolved. We had lots of plans for this weekend which included a big family get together at our house and seeing loads of friends that have had to be cancelled. So today I decided that there was no reason why Isla and I couldn't get out and have some fun, so we headed over to my parents first for a bit of lunch, a few puzzles for Isla with Nanny and car advice for me from my Dad and then we went to National Trust Polesden Lacey for a Cadbury Easter Egg Trail. It was great. We've done one for the past 2 years and the weather has been blazing, so this year was a slight let down on that front but no less fun as the lure of a chocolate egg had Isla running round the whole trail. It was great to see her really running and balancing on logs, collecting sticks and having a go at climbing trees. She also loved the binoculars that you can borrow:

The idea with the trail isn't that you collect eggs all the way round (as obviously there would be none left within an hour of the trail opening!), instead you spot letters of the alphabet on your way round, note them down, then unravel them to make a word and collect a Cadbury's egg at the end. What I liked this year was that the letters were on papier mache eggs that were hanging in the trees and if I read rightly the eggs were made by local school children (couldn't stop to read it properly as Isla was already running off to find the next one! Previously it was just a letter pinned on a tree or a clue. 

Isla literally ran the whole way round. I mostly had this view:

There is a cool little woodland playground in the middle of the trail which she loved:

We noted down all the letters, great alphabet practise for her and then we climbed a couple of trees:

After that we collected our egg and queued up for the face painting. And I think that was my only gripe. We waited half and hour for face painting. She was really good at waiting but it did feel like a long time. It is included in the price of the trail though (£2.50) so I wouldn't complain at all. There were 3 face painters and think if this had been doubled it would have been better but the queue did became outraged when an adult emerged from the tent with his face painted as it was felt that he had taken up time that could have been given to one of the kids and I can't help agreeing really. However - that is a really small thing and Isla loved the result of her face painting:

All in all, we really needed that time in the fresh air today and when we got home it seemed that Noah and Daddy were on the road to recovery, far less Calpol and Nurofen had been administered today and more food had been eaten. So here's hoping that everyone is on the road to recovery!

National Trust is THE Best Place For Family Fun

I recently posted about the Cadbury Easter Egg Trails at National Trust. They're in full swing already and we went on one at the weekend. We went to Nymans House and Gardens and it's our brilliant day there that has made me want to share with you how a day out at a National Trust property is bloody brilliant for families. We have a family membership and it's been such good value. We always take a picnic (sometimes planned with all the trimmings, and other times just stuff cobbled together from the fridge and cupboard), we always try to remember a ball and for me I always have to have some method of capturing the day be it my iPhone or camera.

We went to Nymans on Sunday and we had fantastic weather, a lovely picnic, a good stroll around the grounds (thanks to being on the Egg trail!) and on the way home a super sleep out of the baby! Here are a few of our snaps:

There are so many properties up and down the country. I tend to use the National Trust app on my iPhone to see how close we are to places. When we go on our long weekend to Yorkshire in July I think we will also stop by an NT place as a rest stop, which will mean we'll get to see places that are beyond our own area too!

This is not a sponsored post, it's just me saying what a great organisation The National Trust is and what a great investment an annual membership is.

Cadbury Easter Egg Trails at a National Trust Property Near You!

Last Spring we went with friends for our first National Trust Easter Egg trail at Polesdon Lacey. The events are sponsored by Cadbury and they really are such a great family fun day out! Last year I was pregnant with Noah, and Isla was just about old enough to appreciate the trail, and she was definitely old enough to appreciate CHOCOLATE! Our friends brought their little boy Samuel along and they were also expecting their second baby. Isla and Samuel are good buddies and they had a lot of fun that day. We went on the Easter Egg Trail which involved going on a walk through the beautiful grounds of Polesdon and following clues, answering questions and completing challenges to earn a delicious Cadbury's Easter Egg! The weather that day was beautiful and lots of families were also enjoying the day surrounded by the gorgeous Surrey countryside and many made a base for themselves in the grounds and spent the day there picnikking and relaxing.

So this year when I was invited to a warm up event for the Easter Egg trails at Morden Hall Park I had to go as I knew that it would be good fun and so I invited my friend and Samuel along too. When we got there we got to have some lovely food and delicious cakes from Hummingbird Bakery - YUM! Once we'd had lunch we went out and let the kids loose on the Easter games and on a chocolate egg trail - Isla was like a sniffer dog for chocolate! There were 'egg-shies' - coconut shies but with eggs, giant snakes and ladders, space hoppers, hoopla and football.

The kids had great fun, Samuel loved scoring goals and Isla clung on to her basket of chocolate eggs for dear life. We came away from the event absolutely certain that we definitely want to go on the Easter Egg trail again this year as we could see that the kids would be even more into all the entertainment that is put on for them.

Cadbury Easter Egg Trails run over Easter weekend (6th - 9th April) at 245 National Trust places throughout England, Wales & Northern Ireland. To join in the fun, simply visit www.Eastereggtrails.com where you can find your nearest Cadbury and National Trust Easter Egg trail event and details of how to participate, along with how to make the most of the Easter weekend at home.