Summery Sundays

I know I’ve complained about the weather a lot recently but I’ve also been very grateful for the last beautiful couple of Sundays.

During term time Sundays are usually our only family day without scheduled activities  so it’s nice to be able to get out and explore.

We headed to the coast for the last day of the SO Festival in Skegness  on July 3rd.  We watched circus acts and dance shows and listened to live music all as part of the outdoor arts festival but definitely the hit of the day had to be Pif-Paf Theatre’s Flycycle and Submercycle.

Luke was lucky enough to have a ride in the Submercycle – first being introduced to maps of the proposed route and getting dressed for the occasion whilst waiting his turn in the Departure Lounge and then belting up for his “underwater” trip up and down the street with Captain Calypso at the helm before being set back down with us and a beaming smile.

The following Sunday we took advantage of both the sun and a family ticket we won in a Christmas raffle to visit Doddington Hall and Gardens.  The Elizabethan mansion is also home to a lovely farm shop, interiors store and clothing store and we started our visit with a stop at the Giant Store bike shop.

Thanks to store assistant Katie we finally managed to buy a cycle helmet to fit Willow.  (Our minis are definitely mini – Willow is 19 months old but wears predominantly 9-12 month clothing at the moment).

Preparing for their Brave, Bold and Strong sculpture exhibition (July 30-September 11), we were greeted by an impressive dragon on the front lawn which they enjoyed running through.

Inside the hall the tent room was definitely a hit:

And outside in the gardens there were puddles and pillars to play with and sheep sculptures to “feed” and swirly ones to curl up by and emulate.

We finished the afternoon with a stop off at Blackmoor Farm for a spot of strawberry picking.  We managed to get a few red ones among the enthusiastically picked green ones and – after we finally managed to get them to stop -we picked up some cream on the way home to go with them.