I had the mad hair brained scheme of going to Tatton Park for their Roald Dahl event, lots of things to do and see, we normally hibernate at home on occasions such as Easter Friday but the Spring weather was just too good, normally the thought of spending most of the day in the car just to drive 10 miles down the road fills me dread, it did fill me with dread knowing that a half an hour journey would take twice as long or more, as it usually does, but I still decided to take the plunge.
Off we trot on our journey expecting to be there by at least 12 in time for lunch, but no, the journey that should take half and hour took 2 and a half hours, I should have known better really with it being Good Friday, the roads are always a horrendous massive car park, but hey ho we still had a great time in the car, eating lunch and playing games with the animals, calling cows, sheep and any other ridiculous animal we could think of that was not actually the animal in the field, we also had the usual sing along to the radio and had a giggle at all the people who wasted so much time sitting patiently in the line of traffic only to loose that virtue of patience and turn back, one such fellow decided to stop and give us the grave warning that it would be another hour yet before we got to the entrance.
As it turned out it was only half an hour, but like me and the kids said, even if we only get an hour there, at least we have reached our destination, we ended up getting to the farm by 3:30 to be faced with another long cue, but they played on the surrounding bushes and naughtily played on the private farm machinery until the gates where locked, they made friends with other kids also waiting patiently to get to the farm, climbed the wall and had leaf fights.
By the time we did get to the farm we where relieved, we had a wander round at the animals and spotted a pottery in the corner which we usually bypass, but this time decided to pop in and have a look and maybe buy some pots to paint, they had some lovely dinosaur figures and butterfly figures that would have been ideal for the twins to paint, but sadly the woman in there lacked a few manners and we promptly ended up leaving with nothing, I have to say it is the first and last time we will be going in the little pottery.
The kids saw, some sheep which are about to give birth, there is an event here in early April for the lambing, which we do intend to come back for, Oliver is very keen to see the lambs being born.
There was a very ugly pig with very funny teeth that the kids found quite disgusting, poor pig, there where lots of ewws.. going on around him, bless his cottons... They laughed at the very funny goat lording it up in the barn, I can't wait to introduce the kids to how much dexterity a goat has and what they can do in terms of climbing, they will be very sorry they laughed at that poor goat in the barn.. 
They had tea with Mr Fox and didn't even notice that Mr Fox had a badgers face, lol, they listened to a story and looked at the 'man horses' as the twins call them, which are beautiful shire horses.
After the farm, we knew we did not have very much time before the place closed and Oliver was upset that we did not have time for the house but we wandered round the gardens and had a look at the amazing plants and designs, it was peaceful and relaxing to meander round the paths heading towards my favourite spot of the Japanese garden and looked at the Roal Dahl display, spot and see if you can recognise the book...
having fun with the washing line and chair.
a spot of den building,
tree climbing and even a wizz round the maze....
It turned out to be a good day, but next year I will stick to my plan of staying close or even at home around Easter, it is great being able to go to these places when everyone is at work and school, it is so much more peaceful and enjoyable not having to que for hours either sat in the car or stood waiting in lines....
Take a look at the video the twins created in homage to the very wonderful Spring day at Tatton Park...
Our outing to Tatton Park inspired our book of the week The Secret Garden...read more about our book of the week here
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