Home Industrial: And the good times keep on rolling...

The past two days have been truly lovely.

On Monday, we were invited to visit friends in their new home. Luckily for us they have moved closer, now living just 15 minutes or so drive away. I hope that this will mean seeing them lots more - not just at their home (I am not in the habit of self-inviting ourselves!), but that we can meet up together around and about the local area.

Whilst husband and I went off choosing lino for our bathroom floor, the children stayed at home and baked chocolate cakes. The house smelt truly delicious when we returned from our successful shopping trip. It was so hard to resist having a piece of cake, it was almost cruel to have us just sat there with this delicious smell wafting right under our noses. After lunch we jumped into the car armed with flowers and a card, and soon found ourselves waving to our friends (10 minutes or so late after many red traffic light stops and sitting in queuing traffic along the seafront).

After having a tour of their wowzer of a house (stunning, amazing, and fantastic just isn't close!), we sat down to enjoy the longed for Choccie cake, which was served together with a delicious blackberry sorbet. Yummmmmmmm! We sat and had a natter whilst perusing the surrounding blue skies, and it was decided we would head off for a wander around the woods.

I'm not sure that there is much that I enjoy more than a good ol' stroll with friends. The fresh air, the feeling of exercise, the lively chatterings of happy children, the relaxed and comfortable natterings amongst friends. I find the whole thing rather blissful (and it's cheap/free!)

Then on to today.

One of our local group members (Teignbridge and Torbay Home-Education Group) suggested we visit a nearby organic farm. Now this farm is less than 15 minutes away, and I'm ashamed to say we've visited less than a handful of times, and even then we haven't explored all it has to offer. We have been to the shop and admired the produce it offers - that's it. I'm not sure what that says about us - that we are food-a-holics? Maybe :)

So today's visit was an adventure into the unknown somewhat. We arrived early, with one other family ready and waiting for us. The first thing we noticed (after greeting our friends) was that there was a play area. The children hot-footed it up the stairs and onto the equipment, whilst the adults chatted a little and talked about the plan for the day. One by one more and more families arrived. In all we had 11 families join in the meeting, consisting of 16 adults and 23 children. It was busy, but a lot of fun :) Lots of chattering and laughter could be heard, and many smiles could be seen.

Once everyone had arrived, we gathered up our things and headed off to follow one of the woodland walking trails. The trail took us past these very handsome and fearless chaps...

We walked past the duck pond, and soon found ourselves amongst the trees. We followed winding paths...

And we let our imagination run wild. Little girlie voices could be overheard, excitedly speaking of the possibility of fairies and elves living amongst the old trees and greenery. Squirrels were spotted roaming from tree to tree, nesting boxes were noticed and discussed, photographs were taken, and the breathtaking views admired.

After the walking came the feasting. We returned back the playground for our picnic feasts, and once again the children played and the adults either joined in or exchanged chatter with like-minded people. The atmosphere was very relaxed and happy.