Hengistbury Head

Good Morning ! Hope you are enjoying the beautiful weather we have here in Dorset today.

Yesterday we visited Hengistbury Head and the Visitors Centre sited on the fabulous walk there.

We love coming here as a family and now it has only gotten better with this fabulous addition.

Any parent will agree that criteria for places to visit with children include plenty of entertainment ,educational and fun for everyone in the family. Not just the kids!

The Visitors Centre is all of this. There are interactive displays where you and the children can get involved and learn as you go. Artifacts and treasures found on walks and digs around the area are showcased for us to view.

My children loved it, especially the fish tank with the Starfish in it and the microscope , looking closely at a wasp , some other creepy crawlies and interesting things.

I would highly recommend you take a look at the visitors centre next time you are going for a walk around Hengistbury Head.

***Parents- It is pushchair friendly and there are lovely baby changing facilities available ! ***

Wimborne Minster Folk Festival

A fantastic day was spent at Wimborne Folk Festival today.

If you have ever been, you will understand buzz around the town over this weekend. Preparations have been going on since Friday, and today regardless of the showery weather forecast, it all went ahead. And what a day it was !

The sun shone for us with no need for the jackets and umbrellas that the weather man recommended.

There are lovely stalls lining the towns high street and Bands performing in every venue, that fill the air with that wonderfully inspiring folk music.

You cannot miss the English Folk/ Morris Dancers dotted around the square . We stopped a while and watched the groups performing their dances. Each one has a story either dark and mysterious or happy and jovial. They really are lovely to watch.

I will be visiting again tomorrow for the last day and hope to snap some more photos for you to see.

I hope you are having lovely weekend!

XxP&TxX

Pheasant Tea Cosy

Pheasant Tea Cosy

Hot off my sewing machine is this lovely tea cosy!

It was the first time for me using the Pheasant fabric. I have been trying to think of a new project to use this fabric for and came up with this.

With its simple shape and soft peach coloured lining it would look beautiful in any kitchen. The wadding is very thick so it should be a not only lovely accessory but a functional piece too !

This are available to order but there are a limited number available. Every tea cosy will be slightly different due to placement of the birds on the material its self .

What do you think?

XxP&TxX

Grass Green Hare!

You may have seen the sneak preview this morning for a new colour combination I have for the Hare fabric cushion.

I only have a very limited number available to order as this is an end of line piece of material but I think it has worked fantastically!

What do you think?

If you love it as much as I do, please give this post a share so I can be seen!

XxP&TxX

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Popcorn Garlands

A family project today at Little Orchard, Popcorn Garlands !

These are so easy to make and the birds just love them. They have proven pretty popular so will be a repeated activity .

Using a needle and thread, we threaded the popcorn to create a yummy garland snack for our feathered friends. This is ideal for all ages, everyone got involved and made their own string to hang.

I managed to snap some lovely pictures of the birds today, but check out this hungry starling at the snack bar !!

XxP&TxX

‪#‎30dayswild‬ RSPB Love Nature RSPB Arne & East Dorset BirdWatching Magazine ‪#‎feedthebirds‬ ‪#‎gardenbirds‬ ‪#‎wildlife‬

A Recycled Bird feeder!

Todays ‪#‎30dayswild‬ activtity was this rather 'unique' looking fat ball holder.

We decided the activity today was going to be aimed at the birds that visit out garden. Recently we have noticed that the number of birds visiting our garden is growing, Partially due to some hedgerows being removed in our village to make room for new houses , the birds have been searching for new homes and appear to have taken notice of the food we have been putting out.

I did not have a holder for these fat balls , so we decided to have a go at making our own!

First we marked out on the bottle where we wanted to cut slots for the birds to be able to reach the food. In hindsight now, we should have cut strips around the top and around the bottom separately to hold the shape of the bottle more once full. But it was very much a trial and error practical activity and we now know for future projects !

Evie ( age 3) found some sticks to act as supports for the birds to stand on so they could reach their lunch better. Together we poked these through the bottom of the bottle.

With a few leaves as decoration to make it pretty , we used Twool twine to hang it from a tree in our garden. We also used some of this twine to pinch in the middle of the bottle as the fat balls kept escaping due to our slight design flaw.

We are hoping to have lots of visitors to our feeder soon. We will keep you updated as to whether it receives our birds approval!

Fat balls are easy to make if you fancy having a go at them, all you need is bird seed and lard/suet. You can add other kitchen scraps such as bread crumbs, bacon rind ( a favourite with robins ) or small pieces of fruit.

We documented our morning in our log book as well ! A well spent productive morning.

XxP&TxX

#30dayswild Dorset Wildlife Trust Twool RSPB Love Nature RSPB Arne & East Dorset

Urban Nature!

Today we had a day out to Bath to explore the more urban side of nature!

We visited The Parade Gardens which was such a beautiful place! With the natural tones of the limestone walls complimenting the gorgeous flowers and trees growing it really is quite spectacular in the June sunshine.

As part of ‪#‎30dayswild‬ , we are aiming to educate our selves and our children on nature in the world around us. Today, we wrote a log book of our findings! Including an acrostic activity where we wrote the words 'Spring' and 'Summer' and found an item to fit each letter. This was a brilliant activity for my eager 3 year old to keep her mind active and her eyes open!

As you can see from our log book and the photographs , we were very busy! When you think of a city the size of Bath, you may think that nature has been removed to allow us to live ours lives. What we found was quite the opposite.

Stopping to look at the buildings, we noticed Ants making their homes in cracks in the pavements, Daisies growing against lamposts in small patches of dirt. Dandelions growing in groomed gardens and window boxes.

Next time you are in an urban environment and find you are surrounded by bricks,cars and metal- have a look a little bit closer and see what you can see living !

XxP&TxX

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