Half Term begins

It's the second May Bank Holiday in these parts, which means half term is this week too. A whole week of no school runs or lunch bags to pack! However, what this does mean is half term bored-ness to combat without spending an absolute fortune. I'm a firm believer in finding pleasure in the little things, and the kids will back me up with that. Seriously, hand a bottle of bubble mix to my three littles and they will giggle and squeal for ages out in the garden. It will brighten their day and cost you pence (especially if you reuse the bottles and make your own solution with water and fairy liquid!) 

Since I have to work tomorrow, I wanted to take my minis out for a treat. After pricing up various farms and zoos, I finally settled on taking them to a local owl sanctuary, which is conveniently located near an adventure playground.

It took around thirty minutes to drive there, during which time I gave the girls clues on where we were headed. The big girls had fun reading the road signs to try and decode my scheming but my littlest fell asleep right away.

We met up with a friend of mine and her little boy, and after a quick caffeine fix from Costa, we were good to go.

We walked the forest walk to get to the entrance and the children enjoyed skipping off ahead to race us there.

When we reached the sanctuary, we played spot the owl, since owls like to hide up high or sneak down low- the kids were enthralled and I admit I was too. They are such beautiful creatures!

You could hold the Owls below with the assistance of a falconry glove and an owl assistant, however we got there at lunchtime when there were no holdings, so we admired them from afar, before heading to the activity centre to do owl colourings and make bookmarks.

There's no entrance fee to the sanctuary, but donations are greatly received, since my girls had a blast, we made a donation before we left, but you're under no obligation and can give as much or as little as you like.

After visiting the birds we headed to the playground where I let the kids burn off all of their energy before treating them to a McDonald's ice cream on the drive home.

I think I spent around £15, but that's including ice cream and petrol, so it was a pretty cheap day out. The fact it's 7.10pm and the children are fast asleep in bed is testament to a successful family day out!