Out and About at Christmas

Opening presents and eating all the food in sight is good fun but it only takes up a small proportion of Christmas week, and I'm not one for spending all day watching TV, so we've been out and about too.

To Swan Lake, Ilkeston on a damp Boxing Day

To Rushcliffe Country Park

Back to Chatsworth for my third visit of this Christmas

And, on a gloriously sunny day, a walk round Biddulph Grange gardens

Rushcliffe Country Park

 I've been off out to another fairly local, yet new-to-me, place for a baby and buggy ramble - Rushcliffe Country Park, just south of Nottingham.

Ladybird on the Ladybird trail

It has all the usual things you'd expect at a country park - a lake with waterfowl, easy paths, a playpark with swings and stuff to climb, skate boarding, a running route for those who like to dash past the scenery - but also some pleasant 'extras' like a dog activity trail (I wish we'd had Dylan the dog along), interesting bits of art here and there, a heritage train ride almost on-site, and a sensory play area with hands-on puzzle solving and music making (I loved that bit!)

I think it's somewhere we'll be back to visit again, particularly as our grandson gets older.

Great Central Railway sidings

Bang for music! great fun for children
and adults in the sensory area