Sensational Learning with Penguin

On the first day of October, as we were heading out for a visit to Sissinghurst, I was telling Penguin about it being a new month, and about things taking place during October. Halloween and pumpkins were mentioned, as well as it being my birthday month.

It’s not always clear if Penguin is really paying attention to what is being said, but within a minute of me mentioning pumpkins, he’d found the Halloween episode of ‘Shaun the Sheep’ on our smartphone. Since then, he’s been watching that video frequently, as well as the episode of ‘Big Cook Little Cook’ in which they make a pumpkin pie. So, last Friday we headed out to a place not far from us called Tibbs Farm (in Udimore, East Sussex), to get ourselves a few pumpkins, and also to say hello to their lovely pigs.

On the way there, Penguin started asking me for a drink, by reaching into my bag for the straws I keep in there. I handed him his AAC on iPad and he went straight to the section for drinks and pressed ’cola’. So we promised him we’d stop for a drink on the way home.

I modelled ”First pigs then pumpkins then pub for cola” on his AAC, and we headed down to see the pigs at the bottom of the hill where they have their area. They were all having a snooze when we got there, but got up to come and say hello when they noticed us!

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Next, as promised, we went back up to the farm shop to pick out a few pumpkins. They have a café there as well, so we could probably have got Penguin’s drink there too, but as we’d already said we’d go to a pub that’s nearby, we stuck to that plan. The views at Tibbs Farm are amazing though, so to sit there for a drink (and maybe a snack as well) could definitely be a good thing!

As we walked up from the pigs to the farm shop, we passed the hop fields. They look bare now the harvest is done, but the naked ‘bones’ of it has a certain magic about it too, I think. A small bird of prey appeared from behind the bushes as we walked past. Not sure if it was a kestrel or a hobby, and unfortunately I didn’t manage to get a clear photo of it either, but it was fun to see none the less.

Anyway, after selecting and purchasing our pumpkins, we went to ‘The Plough’ around the corner from Tibbs, and sat outdoors despite it starting to rain a little. It was only a light drizzle, and actually felt quite cosy. Very autumnal for sure! They have a couple of oak trees growing out of their veranda, and we got some shelter from one of them. If any pub owners are reading this post, we’d like to suggest investing in a few pateo heaters (and perhaps a bit more shelter of some kind as well) for this covid winter approaching. I think that could attract quite a few more people, don’t you think?

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After finishing our drinks we went home, and now we’ve got these three handsome pumpkins brightening up our living room. Might make a ‘pie with the innards of the large one, following the recipe from ‘Big Cook Little Cook’, although pumpkin soup can be really nice too… Perhaps you have a favourite pumpkin recipe that you’d like to share with us in the comments?

Thank you so much for reading! I hope October is treating you well so far, despite all that is going on with the world. I try to keep my focus mostly on ‘the little things’, while the world can often seem too crazy… x

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