Westonbirt Arboretum on a weekend with nothing to do

The weather has been dismal recently. I have had a cough for what seems like months. And although this has been a short term, half term can’t come soon enough. We had one of those rare weekends with absolutely nothing planned and nothing needing to be done. What was even better was then seeing that the forecast for the weekend looked good. With the prospect of a dry day we decided to make a picnic lunch and head to Westonbirt Arboretum.

It was a chilly Saturday, but the sun shone brightly in an almost cloudless sky. It felt wonderful to be outside, being together as a family and enjoying some fresh air. There was a noticeable change in our mood. The girls seemed happier – especially after they had wolfed down their sandwiches.

We all seemed to perk up having spent some time out in the fresh air. Out of the sun it was still quite chilly, but when you are wrapped up nice and warm it didn’t really matter. The girls enjoyed running around amongst the trees, attempting to climb them and playing on the natural play areas within the arboretum.

Emily made a beeline for every muddy puddle she saw. Freyja wasn’t far behind in her matching wellies. However, both seemed aware of the chill in the air so stayed relatively sensible with their splashing around.

Their held-back behaviour was only reserved for the puddles. Before long, they had found themselves some sticks. Then it was only a matter of time before the sticks were used for lightsaber fights. My two small children were joined by my man-sized child for this. I’m not sure who was having more fun. After the three-way stick fighting, the girls found a more relaxing activity. They now used their sticks for “fishing” for leaves and smaller bits of stick and bark.

I enjoyed seeing the first signs of Spring as we wondered through the arboretum. The most noticeable of these had to be snowdrops. The first flowers of the year can’t help but put a smile on your face. On closer inspection, even the seemingly bare trees were showing signs of life as leaf buds were appearing.

By the time we had returned home, although we were tired, we did feel energised and excited about the prospect of more days out like these over the next few months.