The grounds were open, however, and there was a sort of treasure trail for children to follow. We had to follow the animal spoor along tracks all over the gardens, find the different animals and in the end find the squirrel. Isaac turned out to be very good at following trails and Imogen turned out to be very enthusiastic. Here they are in the rotunda checking out clues.
And here we all are following the spoor along one of the alleys.
Here is one of the animals we found.
And here was squirrel's house in the woods with a post box where we could post cards to the squirrel (don't ask - the kids knew what they were doing anyway).
Here are the gatekeepers waiting for the back gate to be unlocked.
When the gate was open, we walked down to the lake for a picnic.
And threw some bread to the ducks,
with a wary eye on the rest of the ducks, in case they decided to descend on the bread (and us) too.
Home now and kids sleeping. I feel as though I've just led a walk on a seven day hike across the country. Hope I can stay awake long enough to watch the film on TV . . .
What a magical day for the children to remember. I remember going with my uncle to Beacon Hill Park in Victoria for the same kind of adventure but there were also peacocks doing their noisy calls and preening. He remains my favorite uncle even though he is an alcoholic. He is a gentle one. What do you mean by spoor? I immediately thought droppings and wondered who would have the job of collecting and setting the poop piles out for a trail to follow. That's not quite as nice as bread crumbs.
ReplyDeleteThere were photographs of footprints and poop hanging from the trees for kids to spot. Kids are totally unfazed at following a trail of poop photographs.
DeleteA lovely fun day for the kids :-))
ReplyDelete