Pick your own...

When we arrived at Primrose Vale this morning, it wasn't looking good for strawberries. The weather over the last few days meant that the crop had taken a battering. Thankfully we managed to find enough survivors to fill a punnet, but they're now taking a little break to replenish their stocks. Don't worry though, as raspberries, loganberries, blackberries and more were all available in abundance and there's a blackboard on the front of the building letting you know what's available, along with prices and picking tips.

The picking areas are vast and really well organised. They are all labelled and there are plenty of staff members on hand to answer any questions you may have.

There is free parking on site and enough to keep you occupied for a couple of hours in my opinion. Honey absolutely loved the new play area, especially the clamber stack at the end of the wooden trim trail, but she was also pleased to see that her old favourites (the vintage tractor and the drainpipe slide) were still there!

There's plenty of space for you to bring your own picnics to eat on site, or alternatively there are plenty of delicious goodies available to buy in the farm shop. The ice cream menu looked amazing too, so we will definitely be heading back to sample it soon!

Honey wears... Pink shorts from Tu at Sainsbury's 

A Squash and a Squeeze...

The summer holidays are officially in full swing here. We have a list of summer ideas as long as your arm, some home based, some local adventures and some days out. Most are free, some will only cost us the petrol it takes to get there and lots will help us 'use up' activity and craft packs Honey has collected over the years.

This morning we went to the cinema to watch Toy Story 4 (which was awesome, but definitely was not free) and this afternoon we made our own play dough. I found a recipe online which promised I'd only need things from my store cupboard, and excited to find out how to make play dough from a tub of out of date Angel Delight and some ice cream cones from last summer, we began.

Obviously, the Angel Delight and ice cream cones are still in the cupboard, but using plain flour, salt, vegetable oil and water, we were able to make ourselves some cloudy soft lumps of dough, adding food colouring to create different colours.

The recipe (credit to BBC Good Food)

8 tbsp plain flour

2 tbsp table salt

60ml warm water

Food colouring

1 tbsp vegetable oil

There is a detailed explanation on the BBC Good Food web page, but we basically combined everything then kneaded it on a flour covered chopping board until smooth.

Honey did all the measuring and mixing, then Ace got involved when the time came for kneading. They both enjoyed the making process, but definitely loved playing with it even more! We all loved the vibrant colours, although unsurprisingly they aren't quite as vibrant now they've been slightly mushed together to make triple scoop ice creams and monster trucks! I've reused some bags that Honey's school uniform came in to create airtight packages, so hopefully we will get a few more play sessions out of this lot.

Honey wears... Apron by Emma Bridgewater

Ace wears... Apron by Daphne and Margot