A walk through the orchard

In the village where the boys go to school, there is a perfect park.  Set well away from the road, with a football pitch and hills to roll down, it is the best place to while away the hours after school.  After a while though, the noise and the bustle of children will disaappear, as will the children and all you can hear is excited cries in the distance.  They have all disappeared into the orchard.

I don’t know who owns the orchard, the grass is deep but it does feel cared for; thoughtfully wild,  with trees, bushes and loads of space.  The children love it. It cries out for games of hide and seek and tag. there are trees with branches touching the ground, ideal for den making and there are spaces for group games and small pockets of solitude.

A and I decided yesterday to take a proper tour of the orchard and I could instantly see why the children love it so much.  A place for kids to be kids.

A spent a happy hour running through the grass and making ‘paths’ through the trees.  We looked at the different flowers and weeds growing everywhere and blew dandelion clocks to see what the time was.

We swooshed through the grass pretending it was a jungle and looked for wild animals.

A found a ‘pink bush’ which was the ‘perfectest colour’.

 And then we gathered up the tired, grubby troups and headed home for tea.

This month as part of the Center Parcs Family Blogger Club they are encouraging us to get out and explore our natural environment, find out more along with some great tips here.  I’m a Center Parcs Family Blogger and visited Longleat Forest village with my family. If you want to enter to win a place as a wildcard winner just go to the challenge page to find out how http://bit.ly/1okzxJv