Tag: history

Children, Families, Family Life, Flowers, Food, Gardens, Kent, Kids Days Out, Learning, Memories, Outdoor Play, Photography, Picnics, Reviews, Summer, travel

Not A Holiday Without A Trip To Hever Castle

by thejoyoffiveLeave a Comment on Not A Holiday Without A Trip To Hever Castle

I actually can’t remember when we last had a hoilday without a trip to Hever Castle. Our love for it never falters and I would find it hard to tell you what season there I love the most…well actually that’s a little lie as it has to be Christmas. With that said though whatever time of year you visit you are in for a treat and for us the other day was no different.

As I’m sure you have noticed the weather this summer hasn’t exactly been the best, but there is always something to see and do at Hever. We headed straight for the playground as this is always one of the boys favourite areas. Frankie is reaching the age where is sometimes gets a little bored of playgrounds now, but we spent a huge amount of time in here with the boys playing chase and making new friends in a huge game of hide and seek.

Next up we plotted up by the water to feed the ducks and have something delicious from the BBQ. Hever is perfect for picnicing and we normally do a mixtutre of both. Taking snacks and drinks to keep us going and then treating ourselves to something nice – which always includes an ice-cream!

We didn’t go inside the castle on this visit as the children were keen to stay outside, but it is definetly a must if you are planning a visit. Instead we ignored the weather and went straight to the water maze. For me this is such a pretty feature to the already stunning grounds, and something I have never seen anywhere else quite like it.

There are still covid restrictions on this attraction, but the queue was short and we still had a heap of fun.

We sadly missed the times for the falconary exebitions that run twice a day, but we spent the rest of the day enjoying all the little hidden walks around the grounds whilst the boys tried to spot as many naked statues as they could – something else they never seem to get bored off and mananged to meet one of the birds of prey on our way round.

We had yet another fantastic day and can’t wait until our next trip.

Children, Families, Family Life, History, Kids Days Out, Large Families, Learning, Reviews, School, Uncategorized

The Mary Rose Museum:1545 Immersive Experience When Their World Ended

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[PRESS EVENT] In 1982 the world watched on as the infamous Mary Rose was bought back to the surface after the devastating sinking of the ship back in 1545 which is still one of the biggest mysteries in nautical history. It stands to this day to be the biggest historical excavation of its kind with over 19 thousand artefacts recovered from the wreckage.

One of the most devestating facts about the sinking of the Mary Rose is that 500 men lost thier lives that day and the new immersive experience, 1545-When Their World Ended at The Mary Rose Museum has been added to the museum to celebrte those lives lost.

I was lucky enough to be be invited along to the lauch of this new instillation and from the minute I set foot on the port I was completly taken with the grandeur and wonder it held. We took the short walk along to the museum, passing HMS Victory and were finally greeted by Henry V111 himself.

The first port of call – pardon the pun, was the new experience itself. We had a short introduction and then we were lead into a darkened room where KIng Henry V111 told us tales of the times before we boarded the Mary Rose and got to re-live those final moments whilst the the screen in front of us filled with water and capsised the boat.

This was a great introduction to the musum itslef, where we took in the magic of all the artefacts that have been found from tiny, intricate dice to the full skeleton of a dog that had been on board and the many, many wepons from cannons to cross bows that must hold so many stories.

On thing that excited me most about my visit was the love and passion the flowed from each and every memeber of staff I spoke to. They were more than happy to answer questions, no matter how silly and the knowledge that held was absolutely dumbfounding.

Ive saved the best until last and that really has to be the Mary Rose herself, and to be honest no picture or video can do her justice, she really does have to be seen to be belived – so what are you waiting for!

Children, Families, Family Life, Grandchildren, Grandparents, History, Learning, Memories, Parents

Taking A Look At Where We Came From

by thejoyoffive2 Comments on Taking A Look At Where We Came From

Parenting comes with a long list of questions on a daily basis. From “where do babies come from” to “why is the sky blue”. It sometimes seems pretty relentless but how else are they going to learn about the world and everything else that goes on around them.

One thing that all have mine have got in a bit of a muddle with is family and who comes from where. I know that it wasn’t that long ago that my youngest was astounded that his Nanny was in fact my Mum!

As they grow so do their inquisitive natures and this is actually something I really love and try to encourage as much as I can.

Izzy came home the other day full of excitement that Ellen DeGeneres and Kate Middleton are in fact 15th cousins! I don’t know how much truth there is to that but it certainly got her thinking about the possibly there might be royal blood running through our veins and she was extremely excited by this prospect.

Over the holidays I have decided that we are going to do a little digging around and take a look at our family tree with some of the ideas I have left below:

Digging Out The Albums – We have piles an piles of photos packed away that sadly never see the light of day and going back through old albums is the perfect was to show the children faces of days gone by that they may of meet and forgotten about or never meet at all.

Stories – There is nothing better than getting stories from days gone by from other members of the family. Is lovely to let the children hear about what family and friends got up to all those years ago and also lovely for the family to relive these very special moments.

Ancestry Sites – Unlike when I was at school and the only real way to find out your family tree was by looking into records and censuses thee are now some fantastic ancestry sites that you can sign up to that collate all kinds of information and even delve as far as taking DNA samples to get a real in-depth look into your family history. Head over to get the Ancestry.co.uk discount which is on at the moment and will make your search even better!

There is so much to look into and it looks set to keep us pretty busy this summer so keep an eye out as who knows I could be revealing the secret I am in fact the distant cousin of Prince Harry!

Children, Diet, Families, Family Life, Food, London, Memories, Parents

Sweets Galore For Barratt’s 170th Birthday

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My hands firmly clasped around a small, white ruffled paper bag full of my favourite sweets that had taken so much time and deliberation to choose is one of my fondest memories of our family holidays to Devon as a child.

My sister and I would be taken to the local sweet shop to pick our goodies for the long journey ahead where we would enjoy singing along in car whilst sucking on sour sherbet lemons, winding lengths of liqurique round our fingers and more often then not get in trouble for covering ourselves and the car in sherbet from our favourite Sherbet Fountains.

To so many people sweets are a huge part of their childhood memories and one taste can see them transported back to a special time and place that creates such a warm feeling of nostalgia.

I know this is very true to me and something my own parents have talked about over the years, fondly recalling sweets that are no longer available and the stories that come along with them.

The other week I was lucky enough to attend a golden ticket event hosted by Barratt – the brand behind so many of our much loved and fondly remembered sweets. Barratt have been out of the lime light for the past few years but have made a very welcome return with their patented classics such as Black Jacks and Fruit Salads and some great new products that I’m sure will have the power to conger up those same memories in my own children.

After a sweet themed cocktail…or two! we were given the opportunity to make our very own Dolly Mixtures with the help of a expert in this field who was probably shuddering at our feeble attempts.

With the help of the gorgeous Rosie from Mummy and Boo we managed to create a pretty good raspberry flavoured Dolly Mixture with a lovely pretty marbled effect; and for someone who isn’t a big fan of Dolly Mixtures I have to say our efforts weren’t to bad at all.

After all our hard work we settled down to a talk from the very knowledgeable food historian – Seren Charrington-hollins. I was astounded at how long ago the love affair with all things sweet started and was very surprised to how that chewing gum was intact founded in Greece, I would definitely have had my money on America for that one.

Below I have left some more information of the fascinating history of sweets and I hope this has all got you thinking about your childhood favourites as I would love to hear your stories.

*collaborated post

Children, Education, Families, History, Learning, Memories, Reigate, Surrey

An Adventure In Reigate Caves

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As a family we spend a lot of time in Reigate and the surrounding area as it just has so much to offer.

A stunning park, a mass of fabulous shops and eating establishments, beautiful walks with breathtaking views and as I’m finding out it is also steeped in history.

For a long time I have wanted to visit the caves that are housed in Tunnel Road in the centre of town.

They are only open to the public five times a year and I always miss out.  Luckily I was looking for the opening dates and got lucky as this weekend it was being opened by Wealden Cave And Mine Society.

   
 We arrived and were greeted by our extremely friendly tour guide.  I was a little worried as the tour was just under an hour and as we only had the two little ones I was not sure if they would last that long!

To my surprise they were very well behaved and were quite taken back by the sight once we were inside.

   
   

The talk was very informative and it was fascinating to find that the caves were in fact old sand quarries that were mined over several centuries and were also used as air raid shelters during World War II.

  
   
 

At points it was like a massive underground sandpit that the boys enjoyed playing with whist we listened to the wonderful stories that were being told.

It was a great trip for all ages but I do think that older children would get more out of the experience.  It would be a perfect trip for children that are studying World War II.  I also think it would make a fab Santas Grotto!!

Our next visit will be to the caves the Baron’s Cave in the castle grounds where we will take the others as they were a bit put out that we had been exploring without then today!