Tag Archives: Hyde Park

London leaves

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I love where I live, but as autumn encircles the UK I’ve felt a little envious of people further North. We’ve had hints of orange in our leaves, and they’re beginning to desert their branches for the ground, but all in all it’s a pretty poor show in comparison to the explosions of colour I’ve seen in photos from elsewhere.

I remember last year still being surrounded by green whilst rust coloured leaves fluttered across my Facebook feed, and we did get our turn eventually – fiery foliage hanging on long after other trees had turned to winter skeletons.

So I know that autumn will embrace Torbay eventually, but in the meantime I figured I should take advantage of our week in London to show Arthur what all the fuss is about.

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It was this tree that caught my eye first, defiantly resplendent in yellow, despite being flanked in green. Arthur ran smiling across the mottled grass, picking up leaves to examine more closely along the way.

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At one point he declared he wanted to climb a tree – I think he was inspired by the squirrels. I was impressed by his determination as he tried to work out how he could get purchase on the trunk, but actually in the end a hug seemed much more appropriate.

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We continued on across the park, entranced by the increasingly rich pallet of colours surrounding us.

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They are beautiful, those lovely London leaves. And an injection of colour was just what my autumn needed.
Country Kids from Coombe Mill Family Farm Holidays Cornwall

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Off the beaten track

We had a couple of hours to kill between catching up with friends in our last days in London this week, and decided to let Arthur lead the way in exploring Hyde Park.

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Predictably, he had no interest at all in sticking to the paths, and as soon as we let him go he toddled off across the grass.

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Arthur was however very interested in the dandelions and daisies that were scattered through the green, and his explorations were punctuated by cries of ‘rose’ – the word he has adopted as a generic term for flowers. When I picked him a dandelion he was intrigued at first, but left me feeling a bit guilty when his next instinct was to try to reattach it to the stalk… He also naturally tried to taste it, though I don’t think he was too impressed.

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He really enjoyed being set free to choose where to wander, with barely a backward glance to check we were following him. I think he knew we were close behind though, and he soon let us know when he was done with exploring. He relinquished his independence with outstretched arms and cries of ‘duddle’ ready to come back into the sling and continue our journey together across the park.

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Country Kids from Coombe Mill Family Farm Holidays Cornwall

 

A Secret Playground

I seem to be developing a bit of a talent for leaving Devon just when the weather picks up and the thought of being by the sea holds particular allure. However we haven’t done a bad job of making the most of the weather here in London, and over the weekend we discovered an awesome little playground in Hyde Park where Arthur had a brilliant time hanging out with his cousins.

The playground they introduced us to was crafted in oak by sculptor Dan Cordell. It is beautiful to look at, hidden away by some tennis courts near the Albert Memorial. More importantly though it has been built in the perfect scale for little people to explore independently. Arthur loved the little slides with their wide, rounded steps, and though Leigh and I hovered over him we were impressed at how confident he was at navigating them all by himself.

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Most of all though it was great for Arthur to be able to hang out with his cousins. They were so excited to see him, and even though Arthur was still struggling with his teeth and a bit of a bug they did a very impressive job of distracting him for a while at least. At the groups we go to back home he’s started to become quite fascinated with the older kids, though the feeling is rarely reciprocated. It was lovely to watch him play with older children who were just as interested in him as he was in them, and to watch the beginnings of what will hopefully be lifelong friendships with his London cousins.

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