Greek Easter

Greek Easter is one of the greatest events of the year for the Greek community. With Farmer Nick being half Greek it is a custom I have come to love too. For the past few years we have been to visit the family in Sussex, but this year as we had holiday cottages available on the required dates we invited family and friends to us, included our Cornish friends and Coombe Mill Guests and made it a real party to remember. Our garden and the wider facilities of Coombe Mill turned out to be a wonderful place to host the festivities while the glorious bank holiday weather was a real bonus.

The main feature of the day is a spit roast lamb which has to be rigged up from early hours and tended lovingly for the duration of the morning and well into the party. All the children helped out and had a hand in basting and turning. Nick remembers fondly doing the same as a child and encourages ours to help knowing that one day they will want to host the celebrations themselves. 

Food and drink is the main feature of the party, and there was plenty to go round as I brought out course after course. So many friends and family helped to make the dishes that it really was a team effort. 

This is very much a family day and while the adults chatted the children had their own entertainment. For the youngest I raided the toy boxes of the properties and laid them out on a picnic rug so that they could be part of the party with something to keep them entertained.

The older children all took off around the farm to play, popping back in to visit the never ending food table periodically to see if a new delicacy was on offer. I broke away from the adults at one stage to catch them all climbing a tree in the sheep field and in with the rabbits. It was lovely for them to have the freedom to come and go as they pleased.

The highlight for the children is the egg game and our children couldn't wait to show their Cornish friends how to play this all so Greek game. Each person holds a hard boiled egg, cooked in special red dye, and takes it in turn to hit the opponents' egg to see whose will crack first. The winner is the person whose egg is unbroken. This year's winner was just two years old so the rest of us have a thing or two to learn. With all the eggs cracked it became a free for all for the kids in a massive egg fight.

The adults watched from afar sipping retzina, eating and chatting in the sun!

A Rare picture of Nick and I together enjoying our party

If I say so myself, it was a wonderful garden party as part of an amazing bank holiday weekend with all our family and friends together. 

Joining in with Country Kids  

Country Kids is all about having fun outdoors; spending time away from screens and sofas and enjoying playing, crafting or learning outside anywhere from the garden to the beach. Stretching limbs and imagination and enjoying family time is important for us all.

Here are just a few posts that inspired me last week. Playing with stones from Becky at Baby Budgeting,  Snails and worms from Sabrina at Brinabird and Son and I could just see my boys enjoying the day Goblin had at Mountfitchet Castle from Taming the Goblin. 

Please grab the badge and share your outdoor adventures here on the linky. Do take a look around the other posts as there are always some wonderful ideas.

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You may also like to join in the Spring Carnival blog hop with your Country Kids post

When Jo from Toddle Bike contacted me about her new concept first balance bike range I knew instantly this was one for Coombe Mill. I had seen bikes without pedals before, but never one so perfectly targeted at the 18 month to 3 year old age group. 

What makes Toddle Bike special?

I have 6 toddle bikes around Coombe Mill and have been watching our guests using them over the past month. I can now say from firsthand experience that these are the main benefits:

Durable.

Bright fun colours.

Lightweight and portable even for a toddler to carry around!

Work equally indoors and outside.

Easy to wipe down and clean.

Easy to ride from the very first go.

Inexpensive at just £23.95 including UK delivery currently from the Toddlebike Shop 

Loved by toddlers who can feel like big kids learning to balance and cycle.

Seeing is Believing

Clearly I am a fan having seen the bikes and the wonderful times children here at Coombe Mill have been having. The bikes are located in our toddler play ground and inside our larger properties. As they are so portable they regularly migrate around the farm and further afield too, which is fine with us so long as they come back home at the end of a busy day in use. 

In the Toddler Play Area where the bikes live and round the Coombe Car park the tarmac surface is perfect for a beginner:

The More adventurous take their Toddle bike out on the farm. Spot the older children joining in, just to prove how durable they are:

Our lovely sandy beaches are perfect for a Toddle bike, though you have to watch out for the tide when they are abandoned to play in the sand:

The happy smiling faces on our little video here are sure to have you reading on and entering our fabulous competition to win a bike for your toddler too:

Win Your Toddle Bike with Coombe Mill

To be in with a chance of winning take a good look around the Toddle Bike Web Site and let me know in the comments below why you would like to win one.

To increase your chance of winning:

'Like' Toddle Bike and Coombemill on Facebook and leave ONE separate comment here to say you have done so with your Facebook name.

For an additional entry, follow Jo Hockley and Coombemill on Twitter and leave ONE extra comment here with your Twitter name.

For one final entry, please tweet the following sentence and leave another comment to say you have done so:

I've entered to win a Toddlebike for my toddler with @toddlebiker & @coombemill http://bit.ly/18rkaY1 Why don't you? Pls RT

The competition is open to UK residents and will close on Wednesday 22nd May 3013 at midnight with the winner chosen by RandomOrg.com and announced the following morning. Good luck to all taking part.  

Disclosure: I was given our Toddlebikes to trial at Coombe Mill for the benefit of our holiday guests and for this review, all thoughts are my own and those of our guests whose children trialled the bikes. 

A family Day out to Cornwall Crealy Adventure Park

The children adored Crealy when they were younger but we haven't visited in years. Several of my friends have membership and the children really wanted to join them for a family outing so we packed a picnic, left Daddy tinkering on the railway line at Coombe Mill (this one is really starting to annoy him now) and set off. Crealy is only half an hour from Coombe Mill but compared to our sheltered valley the exposed hilly coastal location always means an argument with my kids to take a jumper for the cold and a waterproof coat for the wet rides! I had a free pass for two of us which only left five to pay for. I was expecting it to be expensive but £80 for five was still a shock! Small children do get in free but my only just 9 year olds counted as adults which I thought was a tad steep! Up grading to £150 gave me annual membership so I figured it was worth the extra for the younger ones. We will have to make plenty of use of it now! 

Something for Everyone

There is plenty to keep young children amused with small ride on play, sand and diggers and seasonal shows, Peppa Pig was there on our vist. The toilets are good and dotted all around the park which is handy with little ones. 

As an adult I appreciate that there is plenty of green space, picnic tables and a beautiful lake to take a wonder when my kids have dashed off to do their own thing, though I do wish they would put wi fi in, with no phone signal and no wi fi it is really cut off. 

There are plenty of farm animals too but given where we live my kids didn't give then a second glance, though they did find the reptile house fascinating.

It is the rides that really do it for my children, they had a wild time dashing from one daring ride to another and the queues were only minutes. This is where I would love a decent camera to capture their faces flying down the slides and log flume. It is far from my perfect fun, but I did brave a few rides with them and managed not to look too green at the other end!

The kids would have me back again tomorrow, but there is only so much Crealy I can cope with. Still it was good to get out and have a forced break from any work and a totally different sort of day for my Country Kids.

Joining In with Country Kids

Hoping you have some outdoor adventures to link up. From play to learning, the garden to the beach, please come and share your inspiration for enjoying the outdoors. Please grab the badge and remember to check some of the other lovely ideas here. A few that stood out for me last week were the tadpole to frog explanation from Cafe Babe, a lovely day out from Silk Scarf Mum and how could I not point you to this wonderful first day of the holidays from Edspire. I also promised a mention for the Lollibop Festival 2013 at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London on August 16-18 which looks like a fun family day out. They are selling tickets now and I saw lots of good feedback on line from the event last year, but sadly a tad too far away for me! 

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A Special Angel Star is 1 today

The Lovely family of Jenny, David, Esther and William are holidaying with us at Coombe Mill this week. This was to be the happy birthday for their beautiful baby Matilda Mae. Tragically Matilda Mae is with the family only in spirit today on what should be her 1st birthday. I feel privileged to have Jennie and the family here in the peace and tranquillity of Coombe Mill at this difficult time and delighted to have seen some of the joy the twins have experienced on their holiday. I hope what we offer at Coombe Mill has made this week a little easier for Jennie and David. Unable to find the words, I have put together a video of a few holiday moments I have captured for them this week:

David and Jennie for you:

Love and best wishes to the family today here at Coombe Mill as they celebrate the birthday of their shining Star Matilda Mae.  

There is going to be an auction to raise money for The Lullaby Trust in Matilda's name and memory. For details please follow at Edspire and  Ghostwritermummy. The auction will be running from the 11th-20th May.