Play

"Twang, twang, la, la…"

We do love a bit of music.

Over the last four years we have had some absolutely stunning musical interludes. Still the most memorable being the extraordinary rendition of a tiny chunk of Dido and Aeneas by two of our lovely guests. Their voices bounced off the glass windows of the lodge leaving us all gasping for breath as the entire site clapped from their domes.

It doesn’t happen every week, and sometimes not for a while, but there have been loads of others. From a full scale gospel choir singing 4-part harmonies to single people with single instruments, strumming simple tunes to tiny children singing nursery rhymes around the fire.

It doesn’t have to be huge and it doesn’t have to be amazing, we’ll still love it. And more power to your elbow – or your larynx – if you want to step up, or sit down and join in.

And, as we’ve always said, a free rounds of drinks for those who do!

"Cluck cluck squawk…"

Ok, not sure this should be under “Play” as Chickens aren’t strictly toys – are they?!

It’s not like you can play with them all day, or swing them around your heads, or climb into the coop and use it as a playhouse, or chuck them in the air to see if they fly like paper planes!

Is it now?

We do have the friendliest chickens ever and they are certainly the most tolerant – if they weren’t they would pack their bags every August and head for the woods to play with Mr Fox! But apart from the fact that they are lovely, their main purpose is to produce eggs – which are fantastic, and whenever possible go into all our breakfasts.

They don’t lay everyday and never at the same time so if you want some you do have to play a bit of ‘hunt the egg’.

But it’s certainly more humane than ‘chase the chicken’!

"Swings and roundabouts"

Actually that’s not entirely true, No roundabouts,

But we do have swings. Really long ones that hang down from the tops of the trees to make sure the rides are slow and gentle but very long.

We also have a zip wire which isn’t slow, nor particularly gentle and not very long – but the dads love it!

Although you have to be careful of the tree at the end – oouch! –

I did warn you!

"Little kids"

“I think its dead.”

“No its not, its still moving”

“Beetles don’t move when they’re dead.”

“Well, its not a beetle. Lets go and play with the Chickens”

Not only is it amazing what children find in the forest, but also how much time they can spend dissecting it to the tiniest detail. So for smaller children the Dome Garden and the area around provide a mine of fascination and amusement far more unpredictable than any battery driven hard drive can provide.

For the bigger guys the list is bigger.