Living just over the Norfolk border, the Roarr! Dinosaur Adventure theme park, near Norwich, was always on our list of places to take the boys. From an early age they, like many children, were really into dinosaurs, but we’d never managed to get there.
At 47,000 acres, Thetford Forest is Britain’s largest lowland pine forest that spreads across the border between neighbouring counties, Norfolk and Suffolk – slap bang in the middle of East Anglia. High Lodge is an activity-packed recreation site within Thetford Forest and is owned by Forestry Commission England.
Being a 50-minute drive from our house, it’s a place where we go for a whole day. There is plenty to do whether you want to be active, take it easy or a bit of both. Adrenaline seekers should head to Go Ape! Founded by Tris and Becs Mayhew back in 2002, High Lodge was its first location. On Day 43 of #100DaysNoTV, I took our family for a Go Ape adventure.
Back in 1979, the RSPB invited their junior members to count the birds that visited their garden at a set time. It encouraged children to get involved with nature and allowed the RSPB to work out the top 10 UK garden birds. Fast forward to 2018, and it’s gone from strength to strength with over half a million people expected to take part in the annual #BigGardenBirdwatch.
Our boys are rarely happier than when they’re playing outside, and as we like to encourage their love of nature we ordered this year’s RSPB birdwatch pack. Within it was a ‘recipe’ for bird cakes. Simple to make at home, we decided to make this our activity for day 39 of #100DaysNoTV.
I think we can all agree that life these days is stressful and we could all do with finding more time for self-care and relaxation. Trying something new is known to be good for you; trying something new that enables you to switch off totally is all the better! This is exactly what I did on Day 36 of #100DaysNoTV – I joined nine other absolute beginners for an afternoon of basket weaving.
A super simple activity for Day 17 of #100DaysNoTV. I made a little memento of an autumn walk I had with the boys last year. They love being outdoors and collecting “treasure”, and we had carefully chosen some fallen leaves and – incredibly for the time of year – buttercups and daisies. I pressed them, stored them, and now (finally) they’re displayed!
Luckily, I was able to use things we already had in the house. I used a frame that had been sitting in a drawer, for goodness knows how long. We have an abundance of card and poster paint, so there was no issue with making a background for the flowers and leaves to stick on. I just had to decide how I wanted it to look.
#100DaysNoTV 