29 April 2014

A WEEKEND WOODLAND TRAIL IN PICTURES

We decided to brave the weekend's forecast of rain and head out of the city to the Dean Heritage Centre, taking this small boy on a big adventure. As soon as F saw the huge wooden Gruffalo at the entrance he was super excited and we were lucky that the Room on the Broom trail had recently been installed for Easter featuring one of F's favourite dragons.

This is quite a long one so click to read more.
As we followed the muddy trail, much to F's delight, we were met by huge wooden carvings depicting scenes from the book accompanied with a blown up page for you to read out loud. There were fun interactive elements making the story come to life, such as plaiting the witches hair or making the frog croak using stick down it's ridged back. F was thrilled to wave the magic wand and clunk out a spell on the outdoor xylophone before climbing aboard the witches most truly magnificent broom.   




After the trail and a quick stint in the adventure playground, where we pretended to buy ice creams from the playhouse, we headed a bit further up the hill to explore the log piles and camps set up to show how charcoal pits were used in the past. F wanted to try and build a charcoal stack by following the instructions and crisscrossing the logs, but after a few attempts with the logs toppling over, F decided to change tact and build a car park instead. With grubby hands and mud stained trousers, we took our time to soak up the outdoors and cherish the sunlight pouring down, watching this curious boy in his element. F looked for bugs, reenacted the Three Little Pigs oh so many times, danced and drummed before heading off to explore the Victorian classroom and Foresters Cottage that is part of the main centre.



We took a quick peek at the wood yard where the carvings for the trails are made, spotting some new characters being brought to life out of giant tree stumps. As we headed to the car the heavens opened, signalling the end to our fun day out in the woods and we drove to the sanctuary of home for hot chocolate and toast. 

Linking in with 
gingerlillytea
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35 comments

  1. That looks amazing! My little Julia Donaldson can would adore it! We have a similar place near us, and can't wait to take him on the Gruffalo trail in the summer!

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  2. Oh my! How bloomin' awesome is this!! This is why I love reading blogs - I find gems I'd otherwise not known about!

    In one of our local parks we've got a sculpture of the Gruffalo - I was so excited to find it lol! x

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  3. I so need to take mine there! Looks wonderful.

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  4. Wow, that looks fantastic. I would love to take my nephew somewhere similar whilst he's still small enough to enjoy it.

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  5. Wow that looks like an amazing place to visit with little ones! Looks like you had such a fun time.

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  6. Those wood caring Gruffalo figures are brilliant! I can imagine mine would have been there for hours with log stacking. It sounds like a great place to visit, made perfect by the apres-toast & hot chocolate.

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  7. This place looks amazing....am sure my girls would love it!

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  8. looks like you had a good day out. Pip doesn't seem bothered by The Gruffalo but she did rather like another one of her books about a ladybird.

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  9. Fabulous photos, I am sure most kids would love it there!

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  10. What an adventure that was. It looks like a really captivating place. Love the pictures

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  11. That place looks amazing, I've never of it! I think Theo would love it!

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  12. totally want to go here myself now!

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  13. Oh, I'd love to take my kids there. It looks really wonderful. We've always enjoyed reading Room on the Broom.

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  14. Oh my gosh, this place looks incredible. How have i not heard of it before? My eldest is a HUGE Gruffalo fan so i will definitely be taking him here in the Summer! xxx

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  15. That looks amazing! My kids adore the Gruffalo and anything written by Julia Donaldson.

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  16. this place looks fantastic! wish it was near us ;)

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  17. This looks like such a good place to go! I'm bookmarking and emailing to the husband asap - my three would love this :) Thanks for sharing! x

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  18. oh. my. goodness. This looks amazing!! I love that broom you can sit on!! I love it all...My children would love to visit here...I need to visit here!

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  19. This looks so much better than our local Gruffalo trail. I would love to visit!

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  20. The gruffalo and other figures are amazing! What a wonderful place to visit.

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  21. Love this!! Hayden would find it fascinating.
    Where is it?

    Lotte xo
    Berice Baby - London Lifestyle & Kids Fashion Blog

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  22. The figures are fab, what a lovely day out! We would love to go there x

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  23. Looks like a fantastic day out! Wish we lived closer x

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  24. wow this looks absolutly amazing, i would love to go there, great pics my children would have such fun

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  25. This looks like a wonderful out. I am sure my little man would love to go on a trip here x

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  26. Oh my goodness! What an amazing place!!!!!! Thank you for linking up darling xxxxxx

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  27. Wow what a great adventure. I love room on the broom as well as the gruffalo let alone the kids

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  28. This looks like a fantastic adventure! Can imagine Jack would be begging me to go!x

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  29. Wow what amazing pictures! Quite a weekend adventure, we went to the local park and shopping . . . .

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  30. oh look at his lovely little face! looks like a brilliant place, Wilf would LOVE it! x

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  31. The Gruffalo! This is brilliant. What an adventure x

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  32. Wow this looks amazing! I need to get to one of these Gruffalo setups my kids would love it! x

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  33. Wow that looks like an amazing trail - I love the Gruffalo footprints! Belated thanks for linking up to 'Let's Have an Adventure' :)

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