Educating Kings: Camping at Baldock Mill

We have another few camping trips booked up in the next few weeks before the school kids go back and we start attending a few classes ourselves.

Caden and Miles have been really enjoying the ABC song and consequently Miles can now sing the whole song correctly, so he knows his alphabet. He now needs to learn to read it, that's the next step. I will be very happy if he is reading his alphabet and a few words like his name by the end of this 'school' year. There is no rush for him, we can celebrate all his little 'Miles' stones' when he reaches them.

We all went camping at Baldock Mill near Letchworth. This is the cheapest campsite I have stayed at to date at £7 a night for me and the two boys. Pretty amazing price but it was very basic (which I don't mind at all). There was no hot water and you had to take your own rubbish with you. The up sides were that there was a beautiful small lake, a lovely walk to a playground, gorgeous countryside and a little wood nearby. It was safe, enclosed and there was enough space for the kids to run wild a little bit. There was also a small area with two trampolines and a play house that the kids spent a lot of time in. It was very natural, no media/technology played with by the kids and no actual toys, just sticks, running, role play and wrestling. They had a good wholesome time!

This is our camp. I couldn't face putting the tent up twice in a week so I put up the gazebo instead and the boys and I slept in the car with the seats down. Very, very comfortable I have to say. It got really cold on both nights outside but we were quite toasty in the car. You can lock it from the inside so you are safer than in a tent and with the windows slightly ajar, there is lots of fresh air. We all slept well enough.

Miles played with lots of his little 'age' mates. He is such a sociable little animal.

Ang brought glow sticks and balloons for the kids, she was suddenly the most popular person on the campsite. The kids loved the glow sticks. Such a great idea for camping.

Glow stick wrestling pile up. The older boys there were allowing themselves to be attacked by all the little kids, they all loved it, except the older boys actually! Haha! I think the little ones got a bit rough.

The boys getting ready for bed the first night, cosy eh!

Trampolining the next day. Lots of wrestling and harmless play fighting between the kids on there was going on.

We found a hairy caterpillar and a large frog that was even too big for me to pick up, I am not usually squeamish about these things but I couldn't touch it.

We took a walk to the little local play area and they all had a good climb.

We found a load of hazelnut trees on the way to the play area and as we have got into foraging lately we got stuck in and picked loads. I brought the branches down for the kids and they all had a great time picking the nuts off. Then I showed them how to crack them with their molars and which ones are good and which are bad. They all ate them and enjoyed them which is wonderful!

Here is Caden picking the leaves off his cob nut.

Back at camp we got all the kids together and collected sticks/stones and found a fantastic load of supplies in the thicket that people had thrown away including a round rusted tub with a hole in, perfect for a campfire. We found bigger logs too, started the fire with cotton wool and hay. It took a couple of goes, the kids loved watching it all kick off and we all sat around it. The kids had been running all over the place but as soon as the fire was lit, everyone came and sat down together, it was lovely. The fire really brings people together like that.