Making Memories : Sherwood Pines Nottinghamshire

We all want the best for our children, and strive to give them everything that we can.  I think the thing in my heart I realise is the most important thing to give a child is happy memories.

This Easter Holiday we were given the chance to make memories with our children, as we went on an adventure to Sherwood Pines, in Sherwood Forest. Its probably only 20 miles from where we live but we have never been until now.  Sherwood Pines has a website which had lots of information, including facilities available, to help you plan your visit.  You could also follow them on Facebook, to hear news of events which I would highly recommend.

You can even sign up for a Forestry Commision Discovery Pass to support your local forest, which gives you lots of extra benefits.

We were met by a couple of the rangers, it was great to see how excited the children were. I captured this shot as Ranger Kev, asked the children who wanted to make a Den.

All of the younger adventurers (Miss A included) set about making a den for each of Kev (the rangers) friends – a badger, fox and a hedgehog.  Whilst the adults and my eldest daughter Miss N made a larger den, big enough to fit all of the younger children in. 

It was fantastic watching the children at work building the dens.  They built three different types, one supported by a tree, a free-standing one, and then one to cover a badger, in his sett.  They even made, and edged with sticks, a road connecting the three together.

The children were very excited to try out the adult den, and the rangers decided to test out whether the den was waterproof…It worked, each of the children did a twirl as they excitedly proved it!! When the adults tried it it wasn’t quite so successful ;)

It was soon time for lunch, and we tucked into lots of treats from the Sherwood Pines Cafe. The apricot flapjack was very yummy!

Once we had refuelled, we went on a nature trail, one of the two ‘all weather’ trails.  We had already been given a piece of card each, so as we walked, and we saw anything interesting we could stick it to the card.  We stopped and chatted as we found things.  The children took great delight in the task, and it seemed to make us all so much more observant of our surroundings. The ranger pointed things out to us, and answered questions.  Here are the great trail pictures we made, with our card:

Once we had finished our walk, we then started an art project where we made a fox out of things we could find on the forest floor. The children worked brilliantly as a team, coming up with ideas of what materials would make the Harry the Fox picture. With sticks for claws, and sharp stone teeth, even some of the green foliage, to make his tail extra bushy.

Next up was making a Boggart.

Never heard of a Boggart? Well neither had we!  They are the very strange creatures, that live on the floor of the forest, in puddles. Remember that time when your wellington boot was stuck in the puddle, the sound of the squelching, as your wellington stays in the puddle, leaving you bootless. Well that’s those mischievous Boggarts!

I really hope this post, conveys the fun that we all had at Sherwood Pines. Its fun, that is free, and the only thing you need really is imagination.  I think I’ve fallen a little bit in love with Sherwood Pines, and there was so much more that we didn’t even get time to do. I think next time we will make sure we have enough time to try out the amazing park areas, and if the weather was warmer, a lovely picnic too after a long walk or bike ride would have been perfect.

Here is the video made by my eldest daughter Miss N of the day through her eyes :

Thank you for reading

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