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Coombe Mill Blog
"Tales from the farmers wife" shares the funny and interesting happenings on our lovely holiday farm with Farmer Nick and our 6 children. A behind the scenes look on balancing family, farming, the holiday business and cooking for all.
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The marmalade eating bear that has captured the nation’s heart is now available as a wonderful family board game from University Games. Paddington sightseeing Adventures see’s our friendly bear take to the streets of London for a grand tour of all the key attractions. It is a wonderful way to get to know our capital city ahead of a family visit and a great way to enjoy some screen free family time over the holidays. Read on to discover how to play and for a chance to win Paddington sightseeing adventures, the board game, for your family to enjoy.
The Object of the Game
To be the first Paddington Bear to reach 32 Windsor Gardens, having collected at least 4 selfies from 4 different London attractions along the way. Watch out as things don’t always go according to plan with Paddington, and who knows what might be in the Marmalade mystery cards!
What we liked
The game is fun for all the family and takes a modern look at life with the scrapbook collection of selfies. There are enough twists and challenges to keep things interesting especially with the marmalade cards: we had some laughs over having to “growl like a bear” and “give your best Paddington Stare”. Take a sneak peak at our game in action in the video below:
Need to Know
RSP
£21.99
suitable for
Age 6 upwards
Players Needed
2 – 4
Contents
Contents 24 Marmalade mystery cards.
24 Selfie picture cards.
6 London attraction pieces.
4 Paddington Bear playing pieces.
4 My Scrap books.
1 Playing board.
1 Die.
1 rules sheet.
Produced by
University Games
Stockists
Amazon, Argos, John Lewis
Win your Paddington Sightseeing Adventures Board Game with Coombe Mill and University Games
For a chance to win this fun family game simply follow the instructions below. Good luck to all taking part.
We were sent our game for the purpose of this review; it can be borrowed by Coombe Mill guests from our holiday games room. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are my own.
Caramel is our only remaining alpaca. Once we had Coffee, Toffee and Caramel, but today just Caramel remains. Alpaca are herd animals and poor Caramel is very lonely having recently lost Toffee through old age. Currently we are on the search for some new playmates for him and following up a couple of local leads. Alpaca owners are proving to be very passionate about their animals and not keen to part with any, but listening to Caramel calling for his mates in the field is heartbreaking so our search will continue. In the meantime he is making friends with the sheep who are turning into a fair substitute. Perhaps it is the common ground of losing their winter fleece that bonds them.
Our shearer comes each year but we have to wait our turn as he covers the whole of the south of England and northern Europe. Thankfully the dry weather in the lead up to his arrival meant Caramel’s fleece was beautifully dry and ideal for shearing. To us Caramel can be shy and standoffish; however to Colin the shearer he is as good as gold. Colin walked straight up to him and brought him into the barn where we had a group of eager guests waiting to see the expert at work.
Colin is used to being watched at Coombe Mill and takes time to explain to the children what will happen and how he is going to tie Caramel down. By explaining that this is for the safely of Caramel and us and doesn’t hurt him everyone is more relaxed.
The process is so nimble and quick it is a delight to watch and in no time the children are stroking Caramel and touching his shawn fleece. Meanwhile Caramel has his teeth and toes filed wormer and fly protection administered before happily strolling out in the field with his friends the sheep.
As for the 2 bin bags of fleece, we give them to local crafter Kay. She made wonderful shoulder bags with our Jacob sheep fleece, I wait to see what comes back from the soft alpaca fleece of Caramel.
Caramel the Alpaca with full winter coat.
Colin the shearer explaining how the shearing will happen.
Children watching Caramel the Alpaca being sheared.
Helping bag up the Fleece.
Caramel the alpaca back in the field with his friends the sheep.
So what to do with a group of preschoolers at the end of a week on holiday in the heat wave? The group was boy heavy and I knew crafts in the sun weren’t going to excite them. They needed to be active and somewhere cool. I knew just the place where we could light a campfire, make and sail bark rafts and be at one with nature.
I prepared a back pack with everything we would need and we headed off to the farm to follow the Welly Walk Trail.
Bark Rafts
A walk is always more fun with a little challenge. In this case the children were looking out for a tree with loose bark, a twig and a large leaf to make little sailing rafts. I have to say credit for the idea goes to an Instagram photo from Louise George.
The children hung onto their raft pieces as they came through the bamboo tunnel out into the open clearing at the end of the welly walk.
Here we assembled our rafts and floated them in the stream under the shade of the trees. It is such a beautiful cool place to be on a hot day.
Many faces of an old oak tree
Next we made nature faces on the tree with pieces of air dry clay as the base. Sticks, moss, acorn shells and leaves gave the faces their unique features.
Campfire
The children settled to a little colouring of our lovely picnic blanket and bag while we lit the campfire. I must say in all the time I’ve been making campfires this was by far the easiest thanks to the long dry spell we had been enjoying.
The sight of the marshmallow packet soon had pens being dropped and children crowding round. There is nothing quite like a campfire to spark imagination. One little one told me as he left this was the highlight of his week!
All that marshmallow eating is thirsty work. Thankfully I had anticipated this and brought squash and cups along.
Catch those bubbles
Revived the children jumped up to chase bubbles.
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While the Grandparents sat and watched the stream
There was even time for a little turn on the rope swing before heading back for the evening train ride.
It was a perfect way to spend a hot afternoon shaded from the heat of the sun on holiday. The cooling stream for a little paddle when needed was an added bonus.
I think we have all been affected by the heat wave this summer. Like it or loath it, you can’t avoid going out in it and even fast tanning skin can burn in the height of summer. Far from avoid the sun I love it, it makes me happy to be outdoors and see my family out enjoying the summer sun here on the farm or down at the lovely Cornish beaches. However with fair skin I know we need to be careful. When Calypso invited me to try out some of the new products in their range I couldn’t resist. Read on to see how we got on and for your chance to win a Calypso sun protection bundle for your family.
Why Calypso Sun?
In a nutshell Calypso offers a wide range of quality sun care products at affordable prices. Think of the specification of the best without the price tag. We put them to the test to see if they really lived up to their word:
The Kids Favourite
Clear Protection continuous spray.
This product is a real gem, especially with older kids and teens who don’t want to ‘look’ like they are bothering with sun cream. Simply spray and go for an even coverage and no visible marks. It really was true to the claims and the number one choice here.
My Favourite:
Sun-Sea Hair Protection AND Scalp Protection.
These products are great for keeping long hair conditioned at the beach and preventing colour fade. I really felt they made a difference and prevented the straw like feeling that days in the sun can create. Now if they could only stop my roots growing through too!
Farmer Nick’s Favourite
Press & Protect Sun Lotion
A bit of a traditionalist, Farmer Nick loved the traditional press and squirt lotion. It is easy to dispense, you can see where you are rubbing it in and has anti aging ingredients, perfect for all the time he spends outdoors on the farm.
Best for Young Children
Kids Coloured Roll On
For a high Factor 50 protection for younger children the roll on blue range is perfect. Simply roll the ball over the skin and gently rub in the liquid. The clever blue colouring helps you see where you have been but rubs in clear.
Overall we were very impressed with Calypso, so much so we have also been out and bought their insect repellent which, like the rest of the range, is very reasonably priced and perfect for keeping all the farm flies and bugs away from us when we are out on the farm and down by the river.
Win your Calypso Sun protection bundle worth £31.45
For your chance to win these 5 great products and keep your family Calypso sun safe this summer simply follow the instructions below. Good luck to all taking part.
Remember a few weeks ago we had our sheep sheared? It was just before the heat wave took hold and perfect timing for our lovely Jacobs. I mentioned then that the fleece all went off to a local crafter who washed and spun the wool to make all manner of wonderful items to sell at local craft fairs. Last week I received a stylish Jacob wool shoulder bag as a gift for donating our fleece.
Jacob Wool Shoulder Bag from Coombe Mill sheep fleece.
I’m absolutely thrilled with my wool shoulder bag. It is just perfect for taking this out in any season and the natural neutral colours of the Jacob wool will go with any outfit.
My lovely bag with photo credit to my daughter Clio.
The bag is all handmade on a tiny peg loom from our own sheep’s wool and then hand stitched together. The strap is made on an inkle loom. The Lady behind this genius creation is local Cornish crafter Kay Walker. If you fancy one too I’ve asked Kay and she can make one and post it to you. They cost £20 plus P&P and will take about 2 weeks to make. Just email me or message me on Facebook. I have already put a notice up on my Facebook page and taken a couple of orders from there. I’m so pleased to see our very own Coombe Mill sheep fleece put to such good use.
Meanwhile our Jacob sheep are equally delighted to be enjoying their light weight summer coat as the heat wave shows no sign of ending. You can really see the difference in their once lush field when they were just sheared compared to now. Much as I don’t want the rain these fields now need it.
Jacob Sheep with their new fleece just beginning to show.
You can see some of the other lovely crafts Kay makes over on her Facebook page. Next up will be our Alpaca wool. I can’t wait to see what Kay makes from the soft fleece of our lovely boy Caramel.
“Tales from the farmers wife” shares life on our lovely holiday farm with Farmer Nick and our 6 children. Step into our beautiful 30 acres and experience nature close up with farming and educational crafts in stunning North Cornwall. Family, fun and adventure start here.
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