Exploring The Countryside

Yesterday I woke up with a desperate yearning to get out of the city! Hannah loves being in the countryside so we took several buses and went out to Denmead for a country walk.

We found a little footpath along the side of a field where we stopped for a picnic lunch.

Hannah wrote down all the birds, flowers and butterflies she could see while we ate.

And then delighted in running up and down the footpath! The grass was taller than she is!

 We explored the hedgerows for wild flowers and insects and found Bees, lots of different coloured Snails, Ladybirds, Dead Nettle, Elderflower, Speedwell, Forget-Me-Not, Buttercups, Stitchwort.

 I told Hannah how I had loved finding Stitchwort seed pods when I was little and popping them, so she scoured the hedges looking for some, and discovered that she loves it as much as I did!

I really love sharing these memories with her. I had a very traditional, rural upbringing which I always hoped Hannah would have, but sadly we live in the city. Sharing my childhood memories with her, and just wandering around the countryside showing her the flowers and birds is so rewarding, she is really interested in everything, and I really believe she is a much happier child when she is out in nature.

Anyway, we wandered on and came to a dairy farm..........much excitement from Hannah!! We saw Swallows swooping overhead, a Kestrel flew up from the field really close to us and there were Bluetits and Finches all around the field gate . Hannah climbed up to watch them!

 I would have liked to get some bird pictures, but they were just too quick for my phone camera to get them.

Denmead Farm

We were just walking across this field when a shower hit - huge sploshing drops came down and soaked us! We ran for the trees in the distance and sheltered under the picnic blanket until it passed!

Then we followed the bridleway back to the lane where Hannah was amazed to see the tarmac steaming!

You can't make it out in the picture but the whole lane was steaming in waves as it dried and everything smelled beautiful and fresh.

 As the rain clouds blew away all the insects came back out,

Hannah spotted a Green Woodpecker, and we finished our walk listening to the song of a Skylark.

Learning New Things!

On Monday Hannah decided that now she is 8 she would like to learn a few new life skills! So she began by learning how to cook her favourite breakfast - bacon and eggs!

She even managed to seperate the egg as she doesn't like the white part!

And then she washed the dishes afterwards and tidied the kitchen!

It was such a lovely day that we took Hannah's school work out into the garden, where she finished the second to last section of her grade 2 maths, and did some English.

After that she worked on her Nature Watcher Brownie Badge. One of the things she had to do was to make a wildlife feeding station so Hannah made one for Butterflies.

She later added a big , bright flower shaped sponge to the dish of honey water.

On Tuesday we had a Jubilee celebration at home ed group, and the children ran some sports races. Hannah had never run in any races before and was really excited to try the three-legged race and the sack race!

The races were just for fun and all the children had a great time!

Hannah's 8th Birthday

On Saturday Hannah turned 8 years old!!!

When we asked her what she'd like to do she asked if she could have her riding lesson in the morning, and then go to Manor Farm for the afternoon. This is what she has asked to do for at least the last 4 birthdays, she loves to spend her birthdays out in the countryside surrounded by animals!

So after presents in the morning, which included a dolls pram from Grammy, lots of money, and a My American Girl Doll (caramel hair and blue eyes just like Hannah) and accessories from us, she was really excited to catch the postman before we left the house! He brought her a parcel from her lovely friend Sydney in America who's mum had made Hannah and her new doll matching hats and a purse, as well as sending her new clothes :-)

Then we left to go to Hannah's riding lesson where she got to ride her favourite pony Freddy and had her favourite helper Amy!

Untacking Freddy after her lesson

Next we went out for a quick lunch and it was on to Manor Farm!

Hannah 1 and Hannah 2 waiting for Grammy and Auntie Anita to arrive!

With Grammy

Auntie Anita, Hannah and Daddy

Hannah and Grammy did the small animal handling session together - this is the duckling!

Rabbit

Duckling again

We visited the Piglets

There is always a chicken picture - they are my favourites!

 Then Auntie Anita took Hannah in to the milking session while my mum and I had a walk around the farmhouse.

When we caught up with them Hannah was just going to bottle feed the Calves and Lambs so luckily I was able to get some pictures of that as well.

 After all that we went back to Grammy's house for more presents - some surprises from Grammy including two new additions to Hannah's Blue Nose Friends collection, and a beautiful garden bird table from Auntie Anita and Uncle Andi, with lots of food and accessories and some more new clothes - Hannah is SO lucky!!

Finally Hannah went to her Nanny and Grandad's house where she had a lovely visit with them, was delighted to get a cool new Barbie puppy play pool and some more birthday money!

She really did have the best birthday, and was so happy to see so many family members on her special day. She is having a birthday picnic with her friends next weekend.

Just to finish off this marathon post, here are a few pictures of Hannah's new bird table after she set it all up yesterday!

Hannah would like to say a huge thank you to everyone for making her day so perfect :-)