A LITTLE BACKGROUND To begin with, I would like to express how infinitely grateful I am for having a garden! I love that we can step out into our own tiny little corner of the great outdoors. We can use it at any time of day and in any way we want, while showing some … More Paradise Lost… and Regained? A Tale of Two Gardens
As mentioned previously, we’ve just moved out of the static caravan which has been our home for nearly a year, and into a little house. We’re actually still in the process of moving, as we still have some cleaning out etc to do. The other day, as Daddy Penguin had a day off work, we … More Back to the Beach, by Bus!
I actually didn’t think we’d be getting any snow this year, in our corner of the English South coast. We’d just about got to the end of February without more than one light dusting, but then we were hit! ‘The Beast from the East’ struck, with snowfall and cold temperatures, and to Penguin’s delight we … More The Snow is Melting… Let’s Make Our Own Snow (safe to eat & coconut scented)!
On Sunday we went for a walk around the Sissinghurst castle gardens and surrounding estate. We go there now and then, as it’s fairly close to where we live, and it’s a great place to hang out for some fresh air and a fix of nature’s glories. At the moment their is some work being … More A Sunday Walk at Sissinghurst
On Sunday we went to Port Lympne. We’ve visited it a couple of times before, and as I wrote about in a post from our last visit, it’s not ‘just’ the amazing animals there that make it a wonderful place to visit, but also the impressive gardens around the manor house (which serves as hotel … More The Wonders of Water
As I was publishing my previous post the other day, on nature as ‘sensory room’, I realised that a large part of my examples of sensory rich nature experiences were from the seaside. Not so surprising perhaps. Just to stand on a beach, looking out across the eternity of glimmering water, hearing the rythmical swooshing … More “Beside the side of the silvery sea…”
When Penguin was younger, we sometimes visited a place that had a ‘Sensory Room’, also known as ‘Snoezelen’. In hindsight, we could have got so much more out of those visits if we’d been guided by an occupational therapist on how to make the most of it all, but at the time I didn’t know … More On nature as ”Sensory Room”
Scotney Castle is a National Trust property located near Lamberhurst in Kent. The main building at the property is a grand 19th Century country house, set in a large, romantically landscaped garden and surrounding estate. The remains of the Old Scotney Castle, which dates back to the 14 Century, has been kept as a ‘folly’ and … More Penguin goes to… Scotney Castle!
Yesterday, we made meringue snowmen, just like they make for Father Christmas in an episode of ‘Big Cook, Little Cook’. This was our first attempt at these, and we may not have payed perfect attention to how much sugar that actually went in, which I suspect is why these fellows turned out slightly more tanned than they … More Meringue Snowmen a la ‘Big Cook, Little Cook’!
As I mentioned at the end of yesterday’s post, about making gingerbread, we went on to decorate some of our cookies with icing the following day. And we made a little gingerbread house, too! The house was a very simple one, just two rectangles leaning on each other (making a tent shape) and triangular end … More Icing on our gingerbread cookies, and a house!
Sensational Learning with Penguin 