The 4th Coombe Mill Annual Raft Race

It has become a bit of a tradition over the Easter break to hold a raft building and racing morning. I would love to take credit for this one but I have to hand that to a family of our regular guests. My contribution being more to inform those unaware that they are missing the event of the week and to come on over and join in. This is one that works in numbers and with a little guidance the children just love the whole thing.

It all begins after the morning feed run as the children gather round the outside of our hosting family's lodge. Prepared with the best of Coombe's recycling, gathered twigs, masking tape and a bundle of Farmer Nick's old baler twine Mums, Dad's and children set to work to build and name their raft for the race. 

To sustain the builders were some delicious homemade muffins; perfect on a chilly morning.  

Building complete it is down to the river. I did my best amidst the excitement to gather the children for a quick photo with their rafts

Then they are handed down to the water for the grand send off. Much shouting, cheering and a few prods from a good stick when they run ashore and they are away.

I love to watch the video; the excitement in the children's voices is obvious as they dash down to the finishing line along the banks of the river.

The winner once again is the original raft of 4 years ago. This one comes back each year to face the new challengers but is yet to be beaten. It has been into school for show and tell, used as an example of ideas with water and explaining buoyancy in science; a true treasure from Coombe Mill.

There were many tactics tried this year from a little water or sand to prevent capsizing, to taller and wider sails. It made a great science experiment never mind the fun!

Down at the finishing line the children waded into rescue their rafts before they drifted off downstream.

Only my boys had to go one step further and jump off the bridge to the calls of "please can we do that" from the guests children!

My sincere thanks go to our guests for organizing a great morning on the farm.

Joining in with Country Kids 

If you have been enjoying some fun outdoors please come and join me here on the linky. Whether City or Country, the garden or the beach a little outdoor freedom is good for mind and body. Grab the badge and remember to check out some of the other lovely ideas here. A huge thank you to all who linked last week, it really was a bumper week for outdoor Easter Fun. If you are short on outdoor ideas do take a look at 30 things to do with pavement chalk from Mummy Alarm and I hope I am putting an end to winter weather by suggesting checking out these wild weather ideas from Creative Star. Finally a 3 cheers for Becky Willoughby who managed 3 entries last week, my favourite being rambling in Cumbria as the landscape reminds me of Bodmin Moor.

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Full of the Joys of Spring

Lambing here on the farm has been a delight this year.  With 3 sets of healthy twins and a singleton our nursery field is buzzing with spring happiness. Every new guest to the farm lets out an "ah" when they see their playful frolics and can't wait for a cuddle.

I was beginning to think we could be in for a clear run this year with no orphans or disinterested Ewes; however that dream was shattered this weekend. Saturday is our busiest day, the only day when we don't do an animal feed run with the guests, instead two of my boys Theo and Jed are in charge of feeding the animals while the rest of us are all hands on deck for our holiday changeover day. All was calm, the animals fed, the guests had said their farewells to us and the cleaners were hard at work to turn things round before the new holiday makers arrived.

I Spy Trouble

Nick was just working on re-hinging a door in one of our lodges, when his eagle eye spotted a small black and white blob across the river lying alone. Alert to the fact it might be a baby lamb and that lying alone was trouble, he radioed for the boys to go and check it out. Two anxious faces racing up to me said it all before they uttered a word. Twin lambs shivering violently, abandoned with all the cold slime of birth still lying wet on their skin. The boys were clearly in panic mode like rabbits in the headlights needing a sense of purpose and instructions to act. I sent them back to the field to gather up the lambs and bring them back to the house. They really were a sorry sight and my heart went out to them as we wrapped them in big old dog towels to clean and dry them before popping them in a laundry basket together under the radiator. The boys then set off in search of a large box and straw and were left to watch and cuddle the twins back to temperature while Nick downed tools and headed off to the farmers shop for bottles and lamb milk.

By this time the cleaners were finishing and I was tied up with checking the properties but Nick arrived back with all the necessary items in record time quickly setting the boys up to help the lambs take their first drink while he returned to hanging that door which was still sitting in the pathway!  

The lambs were hungry and took most of the first bottle which is so important for them. They visibly perked up and had by now stopped shivering completely. The boys were thrilled and tended to them all day helped by Guy and Clio when they had finished their jobs, stripping beds and bagging up the laundry. It is important for new born lambs to stand and practice walking so tending also included a little exercise out on our lawn once they were warm and fed.

I gave the dear little lambs their last feed at 2am then left them snuggled together in their box under the radiator for the night.

The whole house woke to the welcome sound of bleating lambs in the morning. Guy and Jed were first up to do the morning bottles and Nick declared them strong enough to try the day out in the nursery field. They rode in style with Guy and Jed on the morning tractor and trailer run much to the delight of the newly arrived guests.

The boys made their home in a pen within the field and proceeded to tend to their needs diligently all day. The wind was wicked so they made use of their little shelter too.

As the day wore on the boys feared for their new "babies" over night, so they took it upon themselves to carry them back to the house and make them a home in the green house. Minutes later they wheeled up a bale of straw to make them very cosy indeed. Just as well I hadn't yet got round to planting in there this season!

Before I knew it they had sleeping bags out there too and were planning to spend the whole night with them. I considered calling them in at this point, but given they had got this far I thought I would just let it play out a little longer, this turned out to be a wise call since it wasn't long before the weaker of the lambs with less than solid poop had made a lovely mess on the boys in their sleeping bags sending them scurrying back indoors!

Far better to have the children change their mind at the reality of the situation than me pre-empt the inevitable and drag them in earlier when they were so committed to their plan. It was bath and bed for them and straight to the washing machine for all the clothes and sleeping bags!

Fingers crossed for a good night all round! 

Easter Magic

Having watched so many lovely Easter Egg hunts on Country Kids last week I thought I'd share our fun day here at Coombe Mill.

Last week saw many regular guests returning to the farm to the delight of my children. We have become a meeting ground for children from year to year and they just pick up where they left off each year, yet also including any new arrivals into their group in that casual "just join in" way that children do. It is lovely to watch the spread of ages and see those now into secondary school still favouring returning to the farm for their holidays and playing out with the younger children, the worries of school class years and age forgotten.

I had been asked by parents even before they arrived if we would be organizing an Easter Egg Hunt and had raided the shops in advance for all the small egg, chicken and bunny chocolates I could find. Thank goodness I did since the shops were empty the day before! That was the easy part, deciding how best to organize 30 children from age 1 to 13 on a hunt was more tricky. In the end I came up with a plan that worked a treat.

Our daily tractor rides leave the main car park to feed the animals at 9 am. Just before everyone assembled for the first ride of the week I nipped into the adjacent toddler ride on play area to hide the first wave of chocolates.

The children arrived expecting to hop into the tractor but instead the under 5 year old's were invited into the play area to see if they could find an egg first. It was bitterly cold and I think the chocolate fueled them on for the rest of the feed run as they all lasted the full hour and a half.

Ten minutes later and the tractor set off with further treats in store.

It has become a bit of a tradition for our chickens to lay chocolate eggs on Easter Sunday and the children knew just what to expect hunting in the nesting boxes. I had to ensure I strategically dropped a few more encouraging them to "check again" if the box had already been emptied! Satisfied that everyone had an egg and that the chickens, ducks and wallabies had been fed, the tractor continued.

When they finally wound up back at the car park I gave the older children a half an hour warning to go and warm up and wash their hands before returning for their Easter Egg Hunt. With a huge cheer they did as instructed, I hope!

I toyed with writing farm clues and making it more of a game but all they really wanted to do was tear around and find chocolate so in the end I decided to humor them hiding chocolates around the farm in the daffodils, gate posts, up trees all over a wide area. The chocolates sank into the undergrowth more than I anticipated and I had to remember where many had fallen. It became all part of the fun as they raced from place to place as a group while I shouted out clues to them.

I was delighted it all worked out and that I had thought to separate out the younger children before as I knew the older ones would be excited and boisterous. 

Joining In with Country Kids

Country Kids is about being outdoors, being free from computers and television for a while in favour of enjoying the freedom of the garden, woods, the park or the beach. Even our towns and cities have some space where children can enjoy a little freedom to create, imagine and explore. If you have had the chance to do this recently please join in by grabbing the badge and linking up below. Do take a look at the other posts here; there are always some inspirational ideas. Last week I loved all the National Trust Easter Trail posts, from what I could see they were great value, educational and fun, a perfect combination!

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Also Adding to the Spring Carnival:

Travelling with young children

The clocks have changed; summer is officially with us and getting out and about with the children on the increase over the summer months. When you have very young children in tow then you want them to fit in with your activities and be as happy and safe as possible too.  From an afternoon nap in the pram to an overnight in a hotel room, having a way to recreate the darkened room they enjoy in their own home can be the difference between a happy child and a grumpy sleep deprived child, not to mention the knock on effect for you as a parent. 

Snooze Shade has the complete solution

I have had the pleasure of receiving the quality darkened cot cover and pram shade from the lovely Cara Sayer who owns Snooze Shade. Cara is a Mum who created Snooze Shade out of her own frustrations of travelling with her little girl. From a trip to the shops to a holiday this is a product range that can make a difference. These products are made to a high standard from fully soft and breathable fabric, they are light weight, easy to pack and adjust to fit all travel cots and prams. We have a full range of cot sizes here at Coombe Mill and I tried the cot cover on each style finding it could be adapted easily with the elastic edging and Velcro tabs to fit all of ours including some of the larger wooden cots.

Over on the www.snoozeshade.com/ website there are some excellent videos demonstrating how to put up the snooze shade range and all the versatility of use. Do take a look, but be warned, you will want one after watching! Cara has deservedly won many awards for the range. 

Tried and Tested

With no children of pram age myself I have been offering our holiday guests a try over the past season. I can vouch to the quality as they come back each time looking as good as new with no wear and tear. The pram cover was a universal success doubling up as a darkened napping place and a sun shade in one. The Cot cover was favoured by most, though some with older toddlers who had never tried anything like it before said their child didn't like the enclosed sensation on full sleep mode.  Snooze shade have thought of this and there is a zip which goes across the whole of the top and the sides to allow you to make it as enclosed and darkened or as light as you choose. If I had the chance to use one I think I would use it from the start with a new baby and take advantage of the zip according to the time of year, age of child and natural light in the room. I could have saved myself endless stubbed toes on the end of beds in unfamiliar rooms being able to turn on the light and find my way to bed safely without worrying I may disturb the baby I finally got to sleep!

Win your choice of Snooze Shade with Coombe Mill

Cara has kindly offered you the chance to win any product from her lovely Snooze Shade range. The products range from £19.99 to £69.99 so a very generous offer. Take a good look around the helpful Snooze Shade website at the full range and let me know in the comments below which product you would like to win. Remember to also leave a way for me to contact you.

To increase your chance of winning:

'Like' Snoozeshade 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 Cara Sayer 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 my choice of Snooze Shade for baby with @SnoozeShade & @coombemill http://bit.ly/11nMebu Why don't you? Pls RT

The competition is open to UK residents and will close on Thursday 24th April 3013 at midnight with the winner chosen by RandomOrg.com and announced the following morning. Good luck to all taking part.

This Competition is now closed.

True Random Number Generator Min: 1 Max: 185 Generate  Result: 14 Powered by RandomOrg

The Winner is Otilia aka @romanianmum. Many Congratulations and thank you to all who took part.  

Disclosure: I was given a pram cover and cot shade for the purpose of this review, all thoughts are my own or those of our holiday guests who tested them for me.  My cot and pushchair shades are available at Coombe Mill for our holiday guests to use. Please just ask when booking.