Beltane Festival at Celtic Harmony in Hertfordshire

Today is a holiday in England and luckily the weather is a gorgeous 22 degrees and sunny! We headed towards Hertford to attend a Beltane Festival at the Iron Age education centre Celtic Harmony.

Beltane is the Gaelic May Day celebration. It marks the beginning of summer and was when cattle were driven out to the summer pastures. Rituals were performed to protect the cattle, crops and people, and to encourage growth. Special bonfires were kindled, and their flames, smoke and ashes were deemed to have protective powers. The people and their cattle would walk around the bonfire, or between two bonfires, and sometimes leap over flames or embers. All household fires would be doused and then re-lit from the Beltane bonfire. Doors, windows, byres and the cattle themselves would be decorated with yellow May flowers, perhaps because they evoked fire. In parts of Ireland, people would make a May Bush; a thorn bush decorated with flowers, ribbons and bright shells. Holy wells were also visited, while Beltane dew was thought to bring beauty and maintain youthfulness. Many of these customs were part of May Day or Midsummer festivals in other parts of Great Britain and Europe.

Isaac was not very well so we did not stay for the music, dance and ritual (this evening), I was looking forward to it but I guess these things can wait till the boys are older. They enjoyed the time there and we liked using Celtic money instead of pounds. This is what we did today:

Walking into the site you can see the chieftain roundhouse on the right

First stop: sand pit

The play area was nice

The boys were captivated by the ravens

Campfire and basket weaving

They spent ages trying to send the smoke the other way!

We loosely followed a trail around the woods, I have to say it was
one of the best we've done, magical!

The event was sold out but not over booked and the atmosphere
was relaxed and very friendly

Exploring the woods

We were very excited by this but never found him... there was a storyteller
in that direction though

Our last activity, Reuben tried archery, he was very good but such a
perfectionist! He got upset he hit the target but the arrow didn't stick,
I heard him say to the instructor: I only have little arms...

Stockwood Discovery Park

My mum sent us a list of places to visit that the boys would enjoy, so we are making our way down the list! Today was grey and miserable (to start with) but at least it wasn't snowing or raining so we decided to go out. I didn't think I could cope with another day indoors being forced to play Lego Batman for hours (I enjoy a good game but not a whole day of it...).

The Stockwood discovery centre in Luton displays collections of: Local Social History, Archaeology, Geology and Rural Crafts. It also houses the biggest horse-drawn carriages collection in Europe, the Mossman Collection. We all like a bit of archaeology and the carriages intrigued me!
The external part of the Discovery Centre features extensive gardens. The Period Gardens, ranging from the Elizabethan Knot Garden to the Dig for Victory Garden, were created by Luton Council from the mid 1980s onwards. Re-development work in 2007 included the building of the Sensory Garden, World Garden and Medicinal Garden. It is one of the few places in the country where the work of acclaimed artist Ian Hamilton Finlay can be seen on permanent display. Improvement Garden is a classical garden in which Ian Hamilton Finlay sculptures are an integral part of the landscape.

As soon as we got there the boys wanted to head to the play area, this was very well done in the sense that I saw not one garish colour in sight! No painted metal or plastic, wonderful! Lots of things to climb on and explore. All this was enormously helped by the fact that Luton airport is very close and we saw a good few planes seemingly landing on our heads, we weirdly all loved that!

From the play area you seamlessly drift into the gardens which were truly beautiful and very well kept, there is a small bee centre, greenhouses and lots to explore including unexpected statues (Isaac at one point started screaming SEA TURTLE!! He was right) and small mazes.

There are two museum bits, one at the end of the garden (complete with fossils and human remains) which charters the geological makeup and human occupation of the area. And the galleries near the entrance with all the carriages. The boys liked it all as usual, especially the fossil rooms and the archaeological dig pit.

We tried lunch at the cafe, very average, next time we will just use the cafe for coffee and cake but it was a good place to rest from the cold and as soon as we had finished eating the sun came out. So off we went again to the play area where the boys made some friends. All played happily until Isaac pretty much fell asleep in my arms. A good day out (we were there till nearly 4) and the entrance is free.

The play area

One groovy spider web climbing wall

The heritage gardens

I love this pictrure, you can make out Reuben's reflection taking it

We love an excavation pit

Space2play in Hitchin

As the weather continues to be grotty (I love England dearly but would not complain if I was magically transported to a Caribbean beach right now) our plan to explore local parks and playgrounds is on hold. But the boys really need to run around, climb and generally have a lot of space to explore so we remembered this indoors play centre we visited last year.

I am not really a huge fan of these places as all the garish colours and plastic get to me. Without mentioning the terrible music... But the boys really like them so today I made an effort and actually it was ok.

Some indoors play centres we have been to have a terrible vibe (that's you Hobby Horse in Syston) and the boys always end up hurt and upset, and some have a good one (Oak farm park). Luckily space2play was in this last group, we went from around 10.30 to 1 so avoided all the "big kids", Reuben is getting a bit old for toddler oriented things but we were happy to find some older children there today and I wondered if they were home educated too.

So all was well then after about an hour, while we were sitting down having a drink, the weirdest thing happened: the music got really loud, millions of bubbles suddenly appeared from nowhere and someone in a lion costume materialised and started to dance!!! Reuben thought it was hilarious and Isaac was terrified. But at least now we are prepared if we go again.

Before we left Reuben had a go on the go karts, he looks so small but at 5 he can do a lot more on his own that I imagine.
So I'm still not convinced about these places but the boys now want to go every week!!



Spot the Reuben

Bubbles, lots of them

Weird lion thingy, excuse the blurred photo

Cars!!!

And motorbikes!

Another blurred photo but I had an excuse here, he was going VERY fast

Wrest Park in Bedfordshire

We are slowly exploring the area around Hitchin and the websites of the National Trust and English Heritage were amongst the first resources I used, I came across this amazing place (a 25 minute drive from us) and we had to visit! Wrest Park is a country estate located near Silsoe, Bedfordshire. It comprises Wrest Park, a Grade I listed country house, and Wrest Park Gardens, also Grade I listed, formal gardens surrounding the mansion.

Before you even go in there's lots to do, the very very cute wooden playground is free to use (but it was very busy today as it's a half term holiday) and the cafe and shop are nice. I made a quick mental calculation and worked out that joining English Heritage as a member would save me a lot of money if the boys like the place and we want to come back, in the end that is what I did as the entry fee is £8 per adult and as a member I paid £47 for 15 months allowing me entrance to any EH property.

And the boys loved the place, absolutely loved it! Reuben made lots of friends and they all played happily for 4 hours!!

You can spot the mansion in the background

There was a layer of ice on the pond and the boys had fun cracking it

Picnic

Hide and seek in the garden

Running towards the Pavilion

Lots of slopes to run up and down on

Chinese bridge

The Chinese temple

Cracking the ice

Snow in Hitchin

Since my last post we have once more turned nomadic and we are now in Hitchin, Hertfordshire! This is where my mother is from and we are currently taking advantage of the fact that one of her properties is empty, well... It's not empty anymore!

This morning we woke up to a very white world and of course the boys were in the garden until their feet froze and clothes were soaking wet, they eventually retreated to ask for porridge, toast and tomato soup, all together!!

Our last week in Italy

We are finally back home in Leicestershire still a little dazed from all the train travel. A lot happened in the week we spent on the coast including Reuben swimming in the sea in January, much skateboarding, broken water heaters and a trip to the local hospital... The train journey back was ok and this time we got a regular taxi in Paris and had no problems whatsoever. Here are some of the highlights!

Isaac on the beach in Sabaudia, on the Italian coast about 90 minutes south
of Rome, my father has a house there which he kindly lets us use.

Beach hut closed for the winter, it was a lot of fun exploring at this time of
year, this stretch of coast gets VERY busy in the Summer

There's a lot of debris and abandoned things on this stretch of beach

Coats and jackets are quickly discarded

A cleaner beach in S.Felice Circeo, the town next to ours.

Sand angels

The playground in S.Felice, our favourite in the area, at lunch time it was
empty!!

Skateboarding lessons in the S.Felice playground

Reuben really really wants a motorbike

He borrowed this battery charged bike from my stepsister's son,
he rode it into town, zoomed around the square then it ran out
of charge so we had to push it all the way back to the house!

More skateboarding lessons in Sabaudia's national park

The national park is a wonderful place for children, all sorts of interesting
things can be found if you walk around

Me and Isaac take a walk through the woods in the national
park

Actually I take a walk in the woods... Isaac enjoys being pushed in the
monster buggy

Our last day in Sabaudia and we take advantage of the
beaches again

The boys find lots of abandoned toys behind a hut

Pose for daddy

Isaac found some of my father's heart medication in one of the drawers
(my father had forgotten it there so did not tell us about it), not
knowing if he had swallowed any we took him to hospital in a rush. The
staff took the situation very seriously and we were there for 5 hours while
he was continuously monitored, luckily he showed no worrying symptoms
so we took him home. Here is is watching telly in the pediatric waiting room.

The hospital was in a terrible state, some of the machinery
was not working, the building was dilapidated in parts and
a lot of the signs were either so old you could not read them
or hand written

Waiting for our train in the Eurostar lounge in Paris

Gare du Nord

More skateboarding while waiting for the Eurostar