Secret Housewife in Outdoor Girl Midlife Crisis...

Having satisfied the cerebral side of my nature I decided to attempt the more physical activities that the rest of my family enjoy.Another way of phrasing this could be that I set off on the trail of a Mid-Life Crisis...

My ever young and athletic husband had taken part in a company team building exercise at a Go Ape recently and he decided that our family could do with a bit of team building too. He booked us in.... my sister, my nephew, my 11 year old, me and, of course, Mr Adventure himself..my Man.We arrived on a sunny day at the woodland setting and embarked upon a half hour training session.

I have always rather hankered after the "outdoors, skiing, climbing, hiking" look. You know the type? Lean, tanned... afraid of nothing... sporting a belt full of shiny carabiners and a smile.... This was my chance to fulfill that dream. I could show my family that I was afraid of nothing... swinging from tree to tree in a harness and some very nice lip gloss.

It all started well.My outfit fitted nicely and my muffin belly was tucked beautifully inside the harness.The first mistake I made was the 'Pact of Death'. This involved swearing that none of us would resort to the Chicken Run Trail. We would all, come what may, go for the Black Runs.... the hardest path, the scariest route.I blame this, again. on my Man, closely followed in the blame stakes by my son and nephew. What is it about men?? Why can't they be happy with a cup of tea and a biscuit infront of the telly? No... they have to drag us all through hoops and hell in the quest for macho world domination.

Much of the afternoon is a blur of rope ladders, 40 ft high platforms and woodchip down my knickers.Every sinew in my body cried out to me that standing on a platform only 24 inches across was abnormal... wrong. Throwing myself from said platforms... out into the wide open expanse of woodland, into cargo nets huge distances away.... was wrong.As the afternoon went on... and on... and on.... I hoped for the thrill of adrenalin to kick in. I hoped that I would start to bathe in the joy of the outdoors...

Sadly, however, that thrill never came.I am proud to say that I did not chicken out. I climbed every ladder, crossed every tightrope, zipped every wire. I threw myself, with abandon ,off towers and platforms and never once did I hesitate.To the casual onlooker I was that 'Outdoor Girl'.... whooping and laughing in the face of fear and danger.But inside? Inside I wanted the damn thing to end.... I wanted to be on my sofa watching Strictly, with a bloody big glass of Merlot and a chocolate Digestive...

The following day I awoke as if from a nightmare.I had fallen into bed at 8pm and slept for 13 hours. My body felt broken and battered... as if I had been beaten with a large stick and muscles screamed from places that I didn't know had muscles.I am not the Commando Girl I had hoped to be..... but only you and I know that.... ssshhhhhh......

The Country Fair.

My Man had tickets to watch Arsenal the other weekend. He took son# 1 so son#2 and I decided to visit a country fair. I have never been to one of these so it was a treat for both of us. A country fair is full of animals, farm produce,artists,artisans rides and amusements.



We wandered around in the sunshine enjoying the sights and sounds. We saw sheep with horns like you've never seen and smelled the scents of everything countrified, from fudge to roast pork and from hay to horses.



My son bought a cap gun and I bought mosaic mirrored bowls. We both drank sweet cool water in the sunshine and watched fishing exhibitions and trap driving displays. I rescued an escaped goat and son#2 tried his hand at target shooting.






All in all a good afternoon...

The Gibberd Garden - a gem in the English countryside.

the lane and countryside surrounding the Gibberd Garden.


Ok. Enough self pity and misery! What am I like?? So here is a post about something lovely! We went, the other day, using the promise of cake and ice cream to get the boys there without dragging them by the hair, to the Gibberd Garden.


tree house

Sir Frederick Gibberd was the architect who designed Harlow New Town in Essex. He searched for several years to find a property near the town and eventually found some land with a house which suited his needs.The house was small and not particularly lovely, but the grounds were beautiful, sloping and with water running through them.


Columns from Coutts Bank, the Strand,London.


He planned to knock the house down and design his dream home, then surround the house with fabulous gardens. Not everything went to plan and despite him being the designer of the whole town nearby, the local council refused him permission to fulfill his dream. He had to be happy with building an extension to the house, but was able to turn the grounds into the most gorgeous gardens where he could display his collection of contemporary sculpture.


Mother and Son by Gerda Rubenstein

This is where we went and it is glorious. Nestled in the heart of the English countryside, down a tiny lane, it is an absolute gem. Paths lead you around the garden, taking you on a mystery tour of "rooms" where sculptures are carefully placed to be enjoyed at their best.


castle and moat


The boys particularly liked Sir Frederick's fort - a gift, complete with drawbridge and moat for his grandson, I believe. My favourites were the water features as shown in the video below and the mother and child.


The house, which Sir Frederick, extended and improved to create a light, spacious, modern place with fantastic picture windows onto the gardens, is super. It is as if he has just stepped out to the garden and will return momentarily.


The whole feeling of the place, which is kept going on a shoestring by volunteers, is of tranquillity and beauty. The enthusiasm of the staff is wonderful and as we sat on the terrace eating homemade cakes and drinking tea from a pot, even the boys agreed that this was a special place to be. We will definitely go again and I recommend it to you if you are ever near. It is a special place.

Bliss,baseball,bikerides and butterflies....

I have had such a busy and enjoyable weekend! I travelled down to West Sussex to my cousins wedding lunch on Saturday. He actually lives in Australia, but has come over to introduce his wife to all the relations. The wedding lunch was in a gorgeous pub on the South Downs and I saw aunts, uncles and cousins that I have not seen for years.


They are all such lovely people - very down to earth, genuine. They reminded me of my childhood and the lovely times we had together.



I also went over to watch my husband play baseball yesterday. It was a lovely hot summer's day ( one of about 3 we have had this year!) and although his team was beaten we had a good time watching.



And today we went out with our neighbours for a bike ride through the woods. It was such fun - we are so lucky to live where we do. So there, a brief catch up on my weekend - hopefully I can write in more detail about something soon!!


Oh, and one last thing - the garden is full of butterflies this year. I took this photo this morning as I was waiting to go on our ride...

Geocaching in the wilderness...

a badger's set we found on the way...


a horse...nearly home by this time...or we might have rustled it



We went Geocaching yesterday. It was my plan that we complete a circular route, finding about 5 or 6 caches on the way round.We found the first one quite easily, but then things went downhill... and uphill... and through woods...across fields...



How on earth can you become so hopelessly lost within 5 miles of your own house??We trudged about with no clue as to where we were.Luckily there were wild plums growing in the hedgerow, which my country boy husband ate, along with my boys. I did not eat as I was always taught not to eat stuff that's not shrink wrapped and in a box with Tesco written on the outside...


sweet plums...alledgedly...


Still, eventually we found our way out of the wilderness that is the rural home counties and ended up finding 3 caches in all. Exhausted by our adventure we limped back to the car and headed for the nearest Pizza Express where we ate until nearly sick, then retired home to watch Top Gear.
3 and a half hours of walking. 3 caches. 33 hours of sleep needed!!

Day out at the Water Mill...

Another good day today. We went over to a water mill with our neighbours.It is now a museum, but has been there, on the river for hundreds of years, grinding wheat to make organic flour. It is in a lovely setting and I took my sketch book to see if anything inspired me.I am finding more and more that I am inspired.


Slowly, slowly I am regaining my confidence in drawing and painting. I sat with my neighbour, as the children played tag in the grounds of the mill, chatting and sketching. Then we went out for lunch together before wending our way back home. This is a photo of the mill... to see my sketch and water colour please click on the Secret Gallery link on the right hand side.Or here...


We are so lucky to live in a country with so many things to do, places to visit... and all for free. Well.... apart from the pub lunch... we had to pay for that obviously... duh.

Den building in the woods

We are now in the throws of the school summer holidays. Being naturally rather tight with my money ( apart, of course, from trips to the Clinique counter) I am always on the look out for cheap/free activities for my boys to enjoy during their time off school.




Yesterday I had them booked onto a "Den Building Course". This involved taking them to some nearby woods where a team of people took them, and several other children, to make dens. It was raining, but they had the most brilliant time! They were with some of their friends and made a den, complete with extension and carpet, which won them first prize. There was no actual prize, just the joy and honour of having made the best hideout!



We then had a picnic in the woods with our friends. By this time the rain had stopped and we decided to go for a walk. The trail was about 2 1/2 miles, through the trees and was most enjoyable.All in all a good day out!! I even managed to be a good mum when we got home, digging up potatoes from the garden and making a yummy chicken pie.Ho hum!!

Cycling in the English Countryside.

You could do a lot worse, as far as I'm concerned, than go for a bike ride through the woods with your children and husband.This is exactly what we did at the weekend - our first proper longish bike ride together from our house. We are very lucky to live very close to the woods so its a case of cycling out of the drive and 2 minutes later you are there!


We took water and various munchies and followed our noses through the trees. We had one road to cross and then onto an old railway path that is now a well travelled path between villages.



Son #2 insisted on bringing home this little souvenir, apparently a rabbit, which has seen better days.


Along the way we met lots of walkers and a few other cyclists. I love the way everyone is so friendly, smiling and saying hello. Its very rare for walker, runner or cyclist not to give some sort of greeting. We stopped on the way back for a drink and a bag of crisps at the pub we had passed earlier and then it was on the bikes and back home for tea!

In the end we had cycled about 10 miles. All in all a jolly good way to spend an afternoon.