Meadows and pretty girls #countrykids

I have driven past this meadow field so many times, its in one of those awkward places where its difficult to stop and there is never enough time and im not really sure whats there and whether its just going to be dog poo all over the place and…and..and..

loads of reason where i have avoided it but every time i drive past it, i think how pretty is it and how lovely pictures would be amongst this meadowy grasses.

This morning i grabbed the girls, the dog and a couple of bits of snackage and headed off to the field for a bit of a play to see if actually it was worth that visit that i wanted to do for so long.

So see what you think…


Family Farm Holidays Cornwall

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On yer bike #CountryKids

I have a feeling that throughout the summer there is going to be a lot of my Country Kids that feature bike rides. We have really discovered what fun it is to ride as a family lately and i think a lot of that is down to the fact that the older kids love the independence. The younger ones get to come along without us worrying if they are going to moan and whine about getting tired. So everyone can keep up. I got a fabulous birthday present from a friend of mine of a funky on the front basket for my bike which makes carrying the essentials, juice, wipes, biscuits…that bit easier!!

It is also ticks the green and cheap day out for kids box which is SO important to us at the moment. Saving the pennies is high on our agenda and once you are set up with bikes and a packed lunch you can set off for the day and it not cost more than maybe an ice-cream. Little note..i know its not PC but the golden arches are SUCH good value for ice-creams. We can get the whole family an ice-cream for less than a fiver. You wont get that from an ice cream van!

The other week we went  for an impulsive  trip to New Brighton promenade. It was getting towards the end of the afternoon so the sun was quite low but the wind was up so it was a little on the cool side as well. I really love ‘proms’ when it comes to cycling with the kids. It is so flat and easy going for them that they can literally cycle for miles without realising it. We set our sights on getting to the lighthouse and off we went.

The only down side to being beside the sea was that occasionally we came across areas of sand and i suddenly discovered how hard it is to ride a bike (and stay up) when riding on sand!! Also it can be pretty windy by the sea and one of my girls did struggle a bit as we were cycling into the wind. Made for a fast ride back though!!

 

Family Farm Holidays Cornwall

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Chirk Castle #CountryKids #Nationaltrust

A few weeks ago we went to Chirk Castle. It was a beautiful sunny day and we had heard really good things about the castle. It is a National Trust property and so we knew that we would be able to spend a lovely time in the gardens with the kids, especially as it was such a hot day.

It is a little over and hour away and we we drove into Wales, the landscape really does become ‘this green and pleasant land’  Which when you mostly spend all your time in a large urban area it is lovely to see the space just opening up before you and galloping off into the distance.

Chirk is a 700 year old castle that is apparently one of the only ones in Wales that is still lived in today. We didn’t see any of the residents..im not sure who they are, but i do wonder how they don’t get lost in that huge building and the 3 mile driveway must make popping out for a pint of milk a bit of a pain in the ar** 😉

You get a real impression of its bustling castle courtyard where there was a very enthusiastic member of the Chirk Castle team getting the kids into teams and having a go at being at attacking the enemy the way they would have done so many centuries ago. He was really very good and had us and the kids laughing and smiling. Even my 4 year old got involved, though i think she preferred to smile at me a lot than do lots of charging and yelling that he was asking them to do. The kids got to try on some armoury, man that is heavy stuff and then ventured inside to the deep dark dungeon. If you have a little one that loves all things medieval then this is the place for a visit.

It has a lovely little cafe and play are where they were toasting marshmallows on an open fire for the kids and then acres and acres and acres of land to explore. We went for a long walk through the woods and found a little spot for some lunch amongst the bluebells.

You can visit the castle but we didnt go in this time, instead choosing to explore the beautifully manicured gardens which also afforded themselves well to some rolling down the hillside activity! The gardens also had some little ponds that the kids spent lots of time playing around and seeing of their various toys would float. Not all of them did  *oops*

We finished off our time there by walking through the prettiest wild flower fields that overlooked the cheshire countryside. There just isnt much to not like about this national trust property. It is a perfect balance of space, things to do and a little bit of shopping and playtime.

We will be going back.

🙂

 

Country Kids from Coombe Mill Family Farm Holidays Cornwall

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Lens love challenge #mamarazzi #photography101#CountryKids

I am very very lucky to have a few lenses which i really really love but i don’t use that often. I have my work horses that pretty much do just that, they are functional, do the job and i have three lenses which are never far from my camera bag. They are the 50mm 1.4 ( this is the mid-range) 24-105 f4.0 ( my go to studio lens and its pretty good for days out as it has a bit of a zoom) and the daddy 70-200mm F2.8 ( this is a killer lens in both quality and size) Out of the three it is the one i use least for personal use but when im shooting for a client..it is pretty much the front runner. every.single.time.

I know there will be people out there thinking ‘well why dont you use it for personal use if its that good?’

One reason…

well five..actually 😉

It is a very heavy and valuable lens and when we are on days out and have all the kids, their stuff, the packed lunch, the dog, uncle tom cobbly and all along with me..adding the stress of a large lens bouncing around on my hip and threatening to give a small toddler a head injury..its just not going to happen. You have to be sensible about lenses when you are talking capturing your own family memories. A large, monster of a lens that might be fabulous but gives you chronic back pain is going to be left at home in favour of your iphone.

Go..on..you know im right. 😉

Getting something that works for you is the key.

Anyway there is a point somewhere.

So one of my lenses that i am lucky enough to have on a borrow from my dad is the 15mm Fisheye.

It is beautiful even down to its perfectly styled non-plastic camera cap. Really..its metal. I dropped it on the floor at the Olympic games (the cap not the lens!!) and the lady in front thought id drop a flask or a mug of coffee!  Its small but mighty and i love it. One of the things that i regularly do with the lenses that i dont use that often is challenge myself to only shoot with that lens for a day, a week or a couple of days…some time..so that i get used to using the lens and also a new way of looking at my composition and imagery.

This is SO worth doing. It really stretches you and takes you out of your comfort zone, you might even find that you fall in love with a new type of lens and way of shooting your subject. I know its more money and camera equipment is super expensive as it is BUT it will give you experience of getting an idea of just how different these lenses are and what they can do to an image. I get asked all the time..’So what is actually the difference between these lenses then?’ I went a bit more in depth about that here 

Here is your chance to find out!

I know not everyone has access to more than one lens BUT there are companies that hire out these lenses for a few days and they are not that scary prices either. I would totally recommend shopping around and grabbing something that maybe you are toying with the idea of owning or maybe even you just want to see what they would be like for the hell of it.

Its playtime 🙂

Some companies worth thinking about are: lensesforhire lenspimp lensfettish

Thats just a few, there are loads out there!

So.. here is what i got up to. It was an awful day today and it rained…a lot..so we went for a quick bike ride and fed the ducks. The thing about the rain is it makes the greens take on an luminosity that is so attractive..which is probably the only good thing about rain…well you know apart from that we need water to live ‘n all 😉

This post is linking up with the Country Kids too…so welcome all linky followers!

Family Farm Holidays Cornwall

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A trip to the circus…#CountryKids #springcarnival

During the half term there is a small circus that visits a local park to us. The kids always ask us to go. We have to limit it to one visit as when you have 5 riders to pay for it can turn into a very expensive affair!!

The older kids can now be given their cash and sent off to find rides that they want to go on. So we found some toddler appropriate rides but the older kids couldnt resist getting in on the act as well. I always wonder how these little travelling circus groups keep going. It was late in the day and starting to rain a little but it was very very quiet and a couple of the rides were more than adequately attended by one worker as they were so quiet.

As it is such a close park to us we walked back and on the way back we had shall we say a ‘discussion’ with our 7 year old about how she couldn’t walk back home a different way to us because she fancied a bit of independence. We love that she is fiesty but there are limits when you have to cross some very busy roads!

As she was being quite grumpy I kept telling her that I was going to take a picture of her every time she moaned and whined at us…and determined not to be captured on film having a bit of a wobbly she did a manic smile every single time i pointed the camera at her!

In the end she was genuinely giggling!

Spring Carnival

Family Farm Holidays Cornwall
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