• social distancing at Copas
    days out - Local Review - London

    Visiting the Pick Your Own Farm with kids

    July 3, 2020 - By 

    We’ve been so excited, waiting for our favourite fruits and veggies to be ready to pick. It seems ages ago since our last visit to our local Pick Your Own farm in Iver, just down the road from Ruislip. You can now book a slot to visit, so we booked an early morning slot and set off to pick some delicious fresh fruit. Visiting the Pick Your Own Farm with kids A huge sign greeted us, letting us know what was available to pick. We showed our tickets and were let through to the fields. We picked up some buckets…

  • Walking amongst the moon daisies in West London
    days out - Hillingdon - Local Review - London

    Walking amongst the moon daisies in West London

    June 27, 2020 - By 

    We’ve discovered some amazing places to walk our puppy near us. I’m not sure we would have found quite so many pretty places on our doorstep if it wasn’t for the puppy. He loves going on a walk, especially if he can run through long grass. We recently re-visited one of our favourite walks to tick some more geocaches off our list. We went out after dinner when it was cooler and came across the most wonderful fields of moon, or oxeye, daisies in West London. They were so pretty shining in the late afternoon light. We definitely have a…

  • Cranford Country Park, Hillingdon
    Family Life - Hillingdon - Local Review - London

    A trip to Cranford Country Park, Hillingdon

    May 22, 2020 - By 

    Last week we were able to visit Cranford Park, another Green Flag award winner (in 2002 and every year since then) in the London Borough of Hillingdon. The weather was amazing and we were all excited to visit somewhere new. We took the puppy and were excited to learn something new about the borough we live in. Cranford Park, Hillingdon Cranford Park was the former seat of the Berkeley family, and is now the surviving remains of a former country estate easily accessed from the M4 motorway. The 144 acre (58 hectares) park features a number of historical relics including a…

  • exploring Ickenham Marsh
    Family Life - Hillingdon - Local Review - London

    Exploring Ickenham Marsh

    May 17, 2020 - By 

    The major benefit of life right now is the chance to explore our local area. Living on the edge of London means the best of both worlds – a quick hop on the underground into town, and fields and woods on our doorstep. Over the last 2 months we’ve been exploring all the paths and byways around our village. We’ve kept the kids busy with geocaching and collecting leaves and flowers to press when we get home. Hillingdon Trail We live in the middle of the Hillingdon Trail, a 20 mile path though Hillingdon’s countryside from Cranford in the south…

  • Crafts to celebrate the Chelsea Flower Show from the gingerbread house
    Crafts for kids - London - London crafts

    Crafts to celebrate the RHS Chelsea Flower Show

    May 16, 2020 - By 

    I’ve always wanted to visit the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. It takes place every year in May at the Royal Hospital Chelsea in London. It opened in 1862 and has been a fixture of the gardening world every year, except during the First and Second World Wars. As mass gatherings are currently banned the 2020 RHS Chelsea Flower Show has been cancelled and a version of it has gone online instead, RHS Virtual Chelsea Gardens. Although we’re hopeless at growing anything, we love flowers. Flowers have inspired our crafting so many times from making sun catchers from petals, to using…

  • Looking for the Battle of Britain House, Ruislip
    Family Life - Hillingdon - Local Review - London - Ruislip

    Looking for the Battle of Britain House, Ruislip

    May 9, 2020 - By 

    We’ve lived in Ruislip for a good few years now and were intrigued when we heard about the ruins of a house in the heart of Ruislip Woods, where agents of the Clandestine Operations Division were trained for secret operations in occupied France! Doesn’t that sound like an amazing story!? We’ve wanted to look for the ruins for years and finally found the time. I wrote a little about Ruislip Woods a few weeks ago. There are numerous paths through the different woods and we’ve had fun exploring them over the weeks. This is my favourite time of year and…

  • The best place to see bluebells in West London
    Family Life - Local Review - London - Ruislip

    The best place to see bluebells in West London

    April 24, 2020 - By 

    I’m not sure if Spring came early this year but two weeks ago we came across the best place to see bluebells in West London. We are fortunate that Ruislip Woods is our go to place for our state sanctioned daily exercise. We might be a little biased, but I think it is the best place to see bluebells in West London. The best place to see bluebells in West London Ruislip Woods is a Site of Special Scientific Interest and national nature reserve covering 726 acres in Ruislip, Hillingdon. The woods became the first national nature reserve in an…

  • Exploring the film character statue trail in London's Leicester Square
    days out - Family Life - London - Sculpture trails

    Exploring the film character statue trail in London’s Leicester Square

    March 1, 2020 - By 

    We love a public art trail. They are are a great way to encourage my kids to walk and it’s been a while since we explored the Walking with the Snowman public art trail at London Bridge City last year. Today we spent a day in London as we were invited to watch a preview of My Spy (it’s a really funny film and I will be telling you all about it soon). Whilst we were in London we made a visit to the Lego Store and had time to explore the new film character statue trail in London’s Leicester…

  • Walking with The Snowman trail, London Bridge City 2019
    days out - Family Life - Local Review - London - Sculpture trails

    Walking with The Snowman trail, London Bridge City 2019

    December 31, 2019 - By 

    We’ve been wanting to get out to explore the latest art trail in London for a while. Did you know there was a Snowman art trail in town this winter?  This year, London’s most picturesque Christmas market, Christmas by the River, has welcomed a festive sculpture trail celebrating Raymond Briggs’ The Snowman. The Snowman story has been an integral part of our book advent for a few years now. We love the story and have enjoyed the animated version to over the last few weeks. So when I heard there was an art trail dedicated to The Snowman I knew…