Sun cream and Rain coats - A very British picnic
Today the National Trust hosted a Big Beach Picnic across the UK. When I heard they were hosting one at Rhossili, I knew we had to try and get along. With 3 kids and a husband to negotiate out the door my grand plans don't always pan out, but this time, I'm happy to say, it was even better than I had hoped!
With a grand piano, a male voice choir and a whole host of other musicians performing throughout the day, there was a lot on offer, but let's be honest... They had me at "picnic".
It wasn't all smooth sailing however. The kids had to do a LOT of walking. And in some rather drizzly weather. We had to get quite creative...
On the walk along the cliff tops, to check out the music, we sent them up onto the grassy hills alongside the path to play "king of the castle". Such a simple idea, but it worked surprisingly well.
And then there was the getting back along the cliff top. We fuelled up with a quick snack before heading back towards the beach, but it wasn't quite enough to keep them happy. So we created the "what's in the picnic game" we pointed out something in the distance for them to run to and once they arrived at that spot we revealed, that's right you guessed it, something in the picnic. I know, I know, I'm expecting a call from Hasbro any day now.
and yes, there was also some time spent posing as superheroes...
And then we made them walk down to the actual beach, for the much discussed picnic. But you agree right, it's worth the walk...
Thankfully by the time we got to the beach the sun had put his hat on and come out to play!
and apart from a slightly high maintenance 18 month old (someone remind me what age the beach becomes more playground and less health and safety nightmare?!?) it was a lot of fun.
And after all the picnic food was eaten and the playing was done we carried a very overtired toddler back up the hill, and a game of eye spy somehow managed to keep the older 2 from whinging. But on arriving back at the car, Noah (aged 5), announced "I wasn't made to do all this walking". Oops.
We asked a lot of them today, but they came through, and we all had such a fun day out.
It's really not hard to see why Rhossili has been voted as one of the UK's best beaches.