With the Bank Holiday weekend on us we have so many options, so many things happening in and around Oxford.
We did plan to go camping on the New Forest, but decided to stay home instead and do a big spring clean. Over the week fliers and emails have been tempting us with what’s on locally:
On Saturday Oxfordshire Art Weeks starts- artist open up their homes and studios to visitors. It’s a fantastic way to get to know local artist living in the community. There are some fun things happening in Central Headington to kick the event off. Although Max has baby signing and Angelina and Hugo have Dutch school we still might be able to catch some of it, but will definitely visit a couple of places along the artist trail.
At Blenheim Palace there’s jousting over the long weekend. Hugo would absolutely love this! He’s very much into his knights and Dragons at the moment.
Yesterday I suggested that he help my cousin with mowing the lawn (Hugo usually takes his big tractor and transports the grass cuttings to the chickens).
He informed me that wouldn’t be possible:
“I’m way to tired. I’ve been working very hard today already.““With what?“, I asked surprised, as he usually loves this task.
“I’ve been working all morning, I’ve been making a flying dragon ALL morning and it’s still not finished!“
The Cotswold Wildlife Park has a Flying Falconry event running all weekend and there’s a baby monkey, zebra and cabybaras. These would be a hit with the whole family, but especially Max and Angelina. It’s been ages since we’ve been and the kids have been asking for a while.
On the Farmoor reservoir the Oxford sailing club has an open event, which our friends absolutely loved last year. It’s an opportunity to try a boat for all ages and abilities. As we are not getting much closer to owning a seafaring boat, we have thought of getting a dinghy and going sailing locally to introduce the kids to one of my favourite sports…this could be the best opportunity get us started.
On the other hand, especially with some warm weather, the garden is beckoning. Our three small beds and greenhouse await the activity of children getting messy, learning about how our food grows. They love foraging on the chives and other herbs we already have. Last year they got bored of gardening in the spring, but planted some pumpkin seeds in September themselves, which they actually tended to well. Is this the year to ignite their passion for home-grown? We’ll be late of the starting block, but it might be to our advantage with warmer weather now.
It’s actually forecast to be quite lovely weather, so I reckon it’s probably time to clean off the BBQ and have some friends over for this year’s first proper outdoor feast- cooked and consumed. Gin and tonics, maybe some Pimms on the ready.
So many choices, so little time!