Camping holiday in Rutland

We went on our annual August Bank holiday weekend break with our friends and their children. All the children have known each other since they were babies and it is lovely to see how they have grown in a year. They all played brilliantly together. 

Gaia and Miles really clicked and spent a lot of time together. They are chatting on the bench here and Miles is sharing crisps with Gaia. Rowan and Caden are hanging out on their bikes with the boys by the trees. 

We went for a bike ride around the Hambleton peninsula which is inset within Rutland Water. We didn't realise when we set off that it was a seven mile cycle. Miles was very unhappy about going, he is sat behind me in the bike seat but he cheered up eventually. 

Caden has a single speed, tiny wheeled spiderman bike so he had the hardest job out of everyone with the cycle ride and a naff bike. Rowan had a 20 inch wheel bike with gears so he managed to make it up more hills and didn't fall off his bike. Caden fell off at one point and really scraped his knee up. He got back on his bike though and carried on. He feels pretty good about this now! He learned to ride on the left and wore a high vis. jacket too (which he felt very important about). 

We cycled to the pub for a pint and the kids made paper aeroplanes and did colouring in with the boy's new watercolours. 

Caden is really into Harry Potter at the moment, he drew a dementor and Harry Potter. 

Having a drink of water. 

Another day we went for a long walk up a hill with the kids. It was about 4 miles there and 2 miles back so again the kids did really well. They were very tired. 

They were told to get out of the farmer's wheat though it does make a pretty photo. 

We popped to a local pub for a pint and there was a kids 'Go-Ride' cycling race on. It was great to see all the bikes and Caden was very interested to see the numbers on the top of a boy who had been racing and was only a couple of years older than he is. The kid's bikes were all very good ones. I am looking forward to getting Caden a proper bike. I think it will completely change cycling for him. Especially with the redway system that we use in MK all the time. 

Back at camp, toasting marshmallows. 

The next day it was pouring it down so we decided to stay an extra day camping and go to Rockingham castle to see a Viking village and battle re-enactment. 

It was really pouring it down when we arrived... look at those faces! 

We saw people living in their tents and looked at how simply they were constructed. 

We had a lot of opportunity to talk about the Vikings, we talked about where they came from and the fact that they invaded over a long period of time, it wasn't just one single invasion. Caden learned about how they settled in the UK and that we are all descended from them in some way. 

He is holding an arrow head that was just forged by a real blacksmith in a Viking style. It was fascinating to watch. 

Miles pressed his own coin with a very heavy hammer. 

He was so excited about it, he talked for ages about all the things he would buy with his coin. 

Then we got to the armoury section. The kids really loved this bit once they got over their initial shyness. 

They are holding a small bit of chain mail here, you really get to feel how heavy it was for the warriors/soldiers to wear this stuff. 

They also saw some actual battles, they were very exciting and a little scary. The boys both really loved this bit. 

They both loved holding the armour, especially Miles who was in his element!

 We were told what all the different spear heads were for, it was very interesting. 

Enjoying the view!  We had a soggy picnic on a bench, just sheltered from the rain! We made the most of our day out. 

Caden enjoying himself. We climbed up some stairs to get to the turreted bit in the centre of the photo. The views were spectacular. 

We went inside the castle. It is excellent, beautifully preserved and full of interesting relics for children and adults alike. The kids asked lots of questions about the food they ate and the things that they saw that were used at the time. 

Miles was happy to see a real knight!

A model of the castle. 

This is an old street within the castle grounds leading to the laundry. 

A 'warden' in the kitchen let Miles play the gong, Miles was careful at first not to make too much noise. He was very happy about being allowed to do it. 

Trying on real knights helmets. 

We packed up our tent in the rain which was pretty horrid and then got home to find the house had flooded. Needless to say we haven't really done a lot on the 'home education' front since then. It has been mainly trying to get the house dried out and getting rid of wet and damaged things. 

The kids have been doing jigsaws, reading, playing their usual role playing games and riding bikes. We have been out to playgrounds a couple of times. 

Here they are making music.