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Tag:

nature trail

AdventureExplore

Woodland wonders at Box Hill, Surrey

Who needs soft play?

Box Hill isn’t all bikes and lycra you know. It has an amazing natural play trail that follows two mile’s worth of wooded path. At the beginning there’s a natural play area with carved out trees to run through and wooden boulders to climb. Further on, there are dens made out of branches to explore and build up further, and a wooden bridge to clamber across. Finish up with a play and a picnic in the meadow that overlooks the view of the surrounding countryside.

Even without all the magic wooded play stuff created by the National Trust, woods are ace for kids (and even babies) to play in and explore. Freddie was as absorbed in stacked stones as he ever is in lego, and as happy collecting and sorting sticks as he would be in plastic stacking cups.

And Box Hill also has loads of meadow space to have a picnic and let kids run wild a bit. There’s a handy car park at the top of zig zag road (love that name) with a cafe, shop and toilets.

Freddie and I have visited Box Hill a lot since we moved out to the Surrey Hills. I like the buzz around it. I don’t know if it was so popular before the 2012 Olympics but it’s always busy now, and there are always lots of MAMILs (middle aged men in lycra) about as well as the usual National Trust suspects (read many families and larger percentage of grey-haired folk) so it’s a lively mix of people. I like going as it reminds me a bit of being in London. That sounds silly but it’s the vibe about the place. It’s full of promise, and feels like a place where things happen, even though it’s deep in the countryside. If I’m feeling a bit lonely I like coming here as you always end up having a chat with a friendly dog walker or mother. Nothing being than a walk in the woods, admiring the view and settling down for a cup of tea and a bit of cake to raise the soul.

February 5, 2018 1 comment
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Coolings garden centre, Sevenoaks: cafe and animal heaven

Ah well this could have gone horribly wrong but it turned out okay in the end. Don’t you hate it when you have it all planned out in your head. “Yes, he’ll fall asleep in the car on the way there, nice half an hour nap so he’ll be in a good mood for when we get there, we can have some lunch and not rush, and get back before he nods off for his afternoon nap so I can enjoy lazing on the sofa watching Made in Chelsea and eating biscuits catch up on all the housework.”

But instead it turns out that he looks as if he may fall asleep any moment, so you carry on driving past the entrance but those slitty eyes carry on pee-poing at you for a good half hour later so you think fuck it let’s just go in I’m running out of petrol anyway. So you go in and you’ve actually come to the wrong place and it has started to rain and the little guy starts to whinge. So you get back in the car and try to find the right place, but you can’t find it so you think sod this let’s go, but you then drive past the entrance, so with a screaming baby in the back you think it can’t get any worse and you turn around and go in.

Hallelujah Coolings we found you!

So that was our journey to Coolings Garden Centre. We didn’t really go for the garden centre. We went for the nature trail and cafe. Freddie is having a love in with animals at the moment. It’s more of the dog and cat variety but he’s not too fussy. Coolings has Wallabies! Sheep! Pigs! Goats! Chickens! Geese! Ducks! Plus a buggy-friendly nature trail that takes a toddler walking in random directions about an hour to walk around. All this plus a really spacious cafe with lots of kiddie meals and a baby change facility. You can either pay £14 for the year or £3.50  per visit (under fives go free).

Freddie cheered up wandering around the nature trail. I cheered up after I’d had a cup of coffee and a fat slice of chocolate cake.

February 5, 2018 0 comment
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for families who like to explore

The Smaller Explorer is a blog for adventurous families. I search out the best of what's out there that's fun for kids AND adults (and maybe a bit of a break from the norm), plus provide lots of achievable ideas for exploring and having adventures in the UK and overseas.

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