I’ve been looking back through some of my photos of the wonderful recent bank holiday weekend his bank holiday weekend so I just thought I’d share some of my highlights.
Some of my friends had seized the chance of the three day weekend as the perfect opportunity to disappear off somewhere nice for a little holiday break, but with us travelling off to Texas in only a week, we stayed home to save our pennies.
So instead, we pottered around in the back garden, we took the children off to their usual weekend classes and to friends birthday parties, and of course spent time in the house doing some of the habitually mundane chores.
But with the weather turning out so much nicer than we thought it was going be according to the weather reports we’d seen, I was desperately keen to get out and about as much as we could around everything else that was planned in already.
With that, no sooner had I woken up on the Saturday morning, and noticed the beautiful rays of sunshine streaming in from behind the curtains, did I quickly whip out my phone and text a friend to see what they had planned for the day.
And that was that, before long, we had agreed for both familiies to meet for a picnic lunch at a country park only a few miles down the road from us, but one that bizarely none of us had actually been to before.
I’ve said it previously on this little blog somewhere, sometimes it’s the places on our doorstep we overlook or dismiss in favour of going further afield, when really, the perfect day out is right there on your doorstep!
So, just before lunchtime, we set off to Wellington Country Park, located between Reading and Basingstoke, armed with bag loads of yummy picnic food!
This was actually something my husband and I had a little ‘discussion’ about. Whenever I go anywhere, on day trips, other outings, or even if I have people round for a few drinks or for a party, I do like to cater for the masses. I like to put on a bit of a speed and provide for people. So with that, having sent me off to Sainsbury’s for a few rounds of sandwiches and a large bag of crisps, I returned home to proudly unload my boot-load of goodies. Oops! Oh well. The kids loved me for having oodles of fab treats to keep them going through the day! Ha!
As we met with our friends and walked though the park entrance, I must say, we were really pleasantly surprised. Not of course that we were expecting anything less, but the whole set up just looked really cool!
To be honest we likened it to that of a small Centerparcs shop and restaurant. The decor was lovely, the food smelled wonderful, and it really did appear to have all wants and needs well and truly catered for! At one point I was actually a bit miffed I’d bought all that picnic food, as the jacket potatoes looked amazing!
Anyway, we walked through the restaurant and out into the park beyond.
It was Bouncy Castle Day at Wellington Country Park!
The whole first section of the park had been covered in bouncy castles, bouncy assault courses, and bouncy slides! The kids eyes just lit up at the sheer sight of it!
So, we decided this was a good spot for our picnic, as we were all a little peckish. (Phew!)
As we sat and chatted over sandwiches, strawberries and olives (and the rest of Sainsbury’s!) the kids went off to have a bounce. This lasted a while, and I must say, could probably have entertained them for the entire afternoon, had it not been for the fact there was more of the park to see. So, once we’d hauled them back and put their shoes back on over the top of their now very muddy socks, we set off to see what else we could find.
The park is absolutely lovely, full of fabulous activities for children of all ages. I must say though, the one thing which struck us most about the place was its sheer size. The amount of space available for your children to run around and play in is just superb and we really didn’t find it overcrowded in the slightest. Whether this was because it was early in the season I don’t know, but we absolutely loved it.
The children spent absolutely ages at one particular place where there was a large adventure play area, built up on a hillside. Here they played on the apparatus provided for them, but really enjoyed just running up the hills and rolling back down again. Even my friends little one year old was joint in the fun too!
The park also has an Animal Farm & Petting Barn, Jumping Pillow, Sandpits, Mini Diggers, Dinosaurs, Mini Golf, Welly Wheels and a Miniature Railway. Also, coming soon to the park is a pretty amazing sounding ‘Splash Pad’ which I absolutely cannot wait to try out for the children.
Both my friends and us had a brilliant afternoon, even though we still missed a few more of the attractions.
It really is the perfect place to take a *large* picnic, with a big group of friends and then sit back and relax as the children have absolutely oodles of fun.
We will most certainly be back.
(Maybe even to camp overnight too – as there is also a camping & caravanning area!)
