Clumber Park

We tested out our new bike rack yesterday and headed over to Clumber Park for a ride. We hadn't been to that park before but I'm glad we did as it's beautiful! The road into the park is lined with two rows of Lime trees on either side giving it rather a grand feel. There isn't a house there as it was demolished last century but the walled gardens and huge greenhouses survived. We didn't look at these but plan on going back to explore. I didn't have time to take loads of pics so these are courtesy of others . . .

We actually didn't get to see as much of it as we'd have like since we ran into a few problems. Steve's bike had a puncture that he intended fixing with a spare inner-tyre once we arrived. However, it didn't fit and the puncture was right by the valve so couldn't be patched. So, I took the trailer (quite hilarious since I'm a bit unsteady anyway) and Steve was going to catch up once the bike shop opened and he could get fixed up. It was lovely riding, along the lake and through the woods. Unfortunately there are so many paths, Steve and I missed each other and had totally separate rides eventually meeting back at the car. It was Toby's first time out for a bike ride and first time wearing his helmet, he did pretty well.

From there we headed down to grandma and grandpa's house for the rest of the day. The weather was lovely and Beth and Toby spent the majority of the afternoon in grandpa's homemade sandpit making flower pies and Bob the Builder pies.

Today I took the big pushchair and both kids for a walk from the house. We walked along the river for about four miles following part of the Trans Pennine Trail. It was a lovely walk though a bit windy. Beth walked for just over a mile before moaning herself into the pushchair to join Toby. There was hardly anyone about and we had the path to ourselves, passing an unused viaduct, a castle and lots of lovely views. Steve met us at the other end and drove us home.

Just thought I'd bung these two pics on the end. One of Toby enjoying his spaghetti bolognaise - can you tell he's spoon-feeding himself these days? The other is of Beth wearing two of her birthday presents, a Tinkerbell t-shirt (thanks T) and a ballerina style skirt (thanks H), the perfect princess!