Home Industrial: Dartmoor

I am happy, content, and smiling. We have had the most wonderful family day on Dartmoor. I feel so lucky to live so close to such a wonderful place. It truly is somewhere special. The changing landscape, the history and legends, the peacefulness, the uniqueness - I just adore it.

We didn't really know what the weather was going to do, but we didn't let that put us off. I can see that now Lee is working 'normal' hours, our weekends will be even more special. No longer will every day be the same. No longer will weekdays run into weekends without a flinch. It feels good, as if we have something to look forward to now. Does that make sense?

So we packed the car with food supplies, drinks, kites, and the dog (and the children), and headed for the hills - literally.

We drove around for a while, just admiring the breathtaking views. I always feel so relaxed on Dartmoor. I don't know why, but it has a really wonderful effect on me. I am totally at ease visiting most places there. If I could choose anywhere in the world to live, a village on the moors would be absolutely it. One day...one day...

The first place that we stopped was at the visitor centre in Princetown. We saw the nothing short of intimidating Dartmoor Prison. It's so dull, dark, dank, hostile in appearance, but somehow this makes it even more special. It adds that little something extra to the all the old legends and the history. It makes it seem so much more interesting. It really is a fascinating place, and one we are all keen to know more about. I can feel a visit to the prison museum coming on soon.

We bought a few books and booklets from the visitor centre. The staff there were very helpful, advising on everything - places to visit, things to do, and expected weather conditions. We jumped back into the car full of ideas, and started driving.

We stopped at Merrivale, and everyone stretched their legs.

We smiled...

Laughed...

Laughed some more...

Crossed 'bridges'...

Climbed...

Erm, danced?? ...

and generally enjoyed family time together. We ate a little, drank a little, and loaded ourselves back into the car to head elsewhere.

Our journey took us onto to Meldon Resevoir. A stunningly beautiful place.

The surrounding scenery was breathtaking, we walked up high to get a good view (phew!)...

Next time we visit, we shall be walking down here...

But this time we hiked up up and up, then needed to rest, rest, and rest...

Unless you were the dog - she didn't rest, not at all...

She is resting now though, sprawled out on the sofa snoring :)

We played hide and seek - although, not all that well it seems *grin*...

Playing hide and seek - not very well ...

and talked to gorgeous sheep that happily posed for a photo...

The day whizzed by far too quickly, but we enjoyed every moment of it. Each of the children thanked us for such a great day, which is unusual and meant a lot to me. Happy children means an exceptionally happy mum.

Once home, we all relaxed. The children went upstairs, to read and play on the Playstation. Then after dinner we set up the Scalectric and had some racing fun.

Hot Chocolates soon followed, then bed seemed to be calling :) Mutters from the children wanting to do a project on Dartmoor have echoed throughout the day, so I'm going to flick through the resources we bought today and do an internet search for ideas on what we could do. I love it when the children are inspired by something.

In other news, our caterpillars have arrived ready for our butterfly project. We have 5 little beasties looking like these 2 fellas today - Day one.

Progress reports will be added regularly.

Saturday:

Our Saturday started with a check on the experiment that we started on Friday night. The idea was to put a boiled egg into vinegar and leave for a day to see how the vinegar effected the shell. The children wanted to add more items to the vinegar - which we did, although it did make the experiment less scientific with the contamination issue. I'm guessing they will want to do it again "properly" to compare results. This time though, they added a piece of cheese, a coin, a malteser and a starburst sweet *grin*.

After 12 hours, it looked like this...

We left it so it could sit for the full 24 hours.

Chelsea made porridge (and wondered why I was taking a picture of her in her dressing gown).

After breakfast, I took Kira for a walk with Tiegan, then I had to nip out into town to pick up a new computer mouse and some stationary. The children did there own thing - namely making use of the laptops, reading, and listening to music.

Once home again, Chelsea read a chapter of one her library books aloud. She is reading The Spy from the Wreck by Alan MacDonald.

Soon it was lunchtime, and Callum asked if we could go to the park again. The weather was superb again, so it would have been a shame not to.

The park was really busy - and soon the children got talking to the others down there. It is always nice to see "the weird unsocialised home-ed kids" getting along with the "normal schoolies" *grin*. Made it difficult to take pictures though - you have to be so careful not to get other peoples children in the photos nowadays :o/

We came home so Joseph could listen to the football on the computer with his dad. Callum blew bubbles...

whilst watching Dora the Explorer (love the "gormless" expression).

Callum decided to do an Alphabet puzzle alongside his dad, and make a general mess on the floor :o)

The older two wrote their diaries...

Each of the children (and I do!) keep a diary of sorts. For Callum, it is made up of mainly pictures he draws and photographs, with a few sentences thrown in here and there. The other three record their days through handwritten or typed entries, with drawings and photographs. They include any leaflets or tickets, or other souvenirs from their day. I guess it's a scrapbook/diary combo. The children write down their thoughts and feelings, what made them angry or sad, what they enjoyed and what they disliked, plans for the future, etc etc. We keep the diaries in a ringbinder, so things can be added or taken out at will. I often add a little note or letter to the childrens diaries to congratulate them on doing something well, or telling them how proud I am of something they did or just to tell them how much I love them. They don't have to earn it, I just do it randomly 'cos I'm their mum *grin*. They do seem to like receiving something from me in writing though.

We all watched the X-factor auditions together, then checked on the vinegar experiment.

The egg looked like this...

The coin...

The Malteser...

The Starburst had disappeared.

Sunday:

We had a slow start to the morning, just lounging around doing not a lot. I took the dog for a walk with Tiegan with tow, then spent my time replying to emails and checking forums as the children played in the garden.

I decided the day was far too nice to waste, so we went to a car boot sale :o) This one started at a very reasonable 1pm - how nice not to have be up at the crack of dawn to get to it!

It was busy - but good. We picked up a couple of nature books, 2 new Enid Blytons for Tiegan, a football book for Joe, a set of Jacqueline Wilsons for Chelsea and this Dartmoor Board Game.

We bought ice-creams on the way back to the car, but none of us wanted to go home, so came up with the idea to have a picnic on Dartmoor for dinner :oD A quick stop off at the supermarket for supplies, then home to collect the dog, and we set off for the moors. We had the most perfect family day there.