Sycamore Gap

When I was younger, our annual holidays consisted of driving from the flatlands of Kansas to the mountain highs of Colorado. My Dad enjoyed hiking the Colorado Rockies and his passion led us to conquering many of the domineering Fourteeners (mountains over 14,000 feet in elevation). The landscape of the Kielder Forest reminded me of these hikes we enjoyed in Colorado. The sound of the wind rushing through the tall trees was akin (to me) of the sound of waves crashing upon the seashore, of which I am quite fond of!

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Therefore, it was a bit sad to leave the fresh, sweet smelling air as the sun warmed the forest our last morning of holiday. Nevertheless, the kids enjoyed feeding and petting the goats one last time as we met and chatted with our gracious hostess. We packed up and drove to our next adventure at Hadrian’s Wall Sycamore Gap. As we drove the long, single lane road our of the forest, we saw a Roe Deer and many a cow or sheep blocking the path.

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Why here, you may ask? Because this is the only tree located by Hadrian’s Wall on the six miles (of the 80 mile wall) owned by the National Trust. “Nowadays, the tree has become something of a star. Most notably as the scene-stealer in Robin Hood Prince of Thieves starring Kevin Costner, TV series Vera starring Brenda Blethyn and Robson Green’s More Tales from Northumberland.”

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Unbeknownst to my husband (whom is not fond of the sharp cliffs next to the stone pathways) this was quite a daring hike. (These sharp dips were a result of glacial ice many years prior.) In the high winds we strained to keep a solid footing on each stone as we climbed up and down the hills next to Hadrian’s Wall. Dodging the fresh cow pats, we strove forward until we arrived at Sycamore Gap. And the views were oh so rewarding! The beginning of the hike has a idyllic view of a lake just tucked behind this amazingly constructed stone Roman wall next to rock cliffs. And to think they constructed all this in 70 A.D.; this is before machinery, our 11-year-old son liked to point out! 😉

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Thankfully we had packed our lunch in and enjoyed eating it tucked into the valley just by Sycamore Gap. This lone sycamore tree is several hundred years old and once had many other trees accompanying it. Some think these other trees were removed over time to enhance game hunting sight lines. Yet this beautifully symmetrical lone tree towered over us as we took a photo and Sycamore Tree hardly has time to be lonely with many a visitor taking such photos!

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Such a blessing to hike here and stand where history continues to speak from long ago! We were even more blessed, much to my husband’s delight, to find a much flatter return path back to the car park. 😉 I was thankful too since I didn’t much fancy coming down the steep stone path (with nothing to hold on to) in the high winds. At the end we rewarded ourselves with ice cream from the National Trust Gift Shop as one of our few COVID-19 treats out. 😋

Hiking Holiday

It has been a dream of mine to take my family on a holiday similar to one which I had annually during high school and Uni. And this week’s holiday has been just that! Although it was chucking it down on our 18th Anniversary Monday, we had fun relaxing in the Bothy Cottage. I actually got to read TWO different books and I may have ended my Monopoly turn a bit early so I could read more. 😉 However, Ryan enjoyed teaching the kids about economics whilst they played!

Our children were very thoughtful and helped make us a lovely anniversary breakfast…complete with ambience. 🥰

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In between rain showers, the kids played games in the courtyard. There were many beautiful birds we enjoyed watching, such as a woodpecker. Later Monday we enjoyed a mildly rainy walk amongst the Kildere Forest logging roads.

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The following day was one of our more beautiful walks. We even discovered 17th century farm house ruins next to a beautiful outcropping of rocks.

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After our lovely walk, the cottage owner invited Cora and Titus to meet their goats!

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Such a blessing to share in the enjoyment of God’s creation as a family! 💕

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A Remote Cottage in the Woods

Our family has been very blessed to have a holiday amidst COVID-19! I was a bit uneasy to have a holiday seaside or in the city; we prayed about it and the Lord led us to Northumberland to a very remote cottage. On our drive into Haltwhistle (the closest village with groceries) we stopped for a respite at Hadrian’s Wall and the Roman Fort called Housestead.

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This was a lovely walk where we even paused at the English Heritage Gift Shop (donning masks of course). This is our children’s first visit to Hadrian’s Wall and I love to hear their daddy recount it’s history. After all, A.D. 70 is a LONG time ago! We discussed how the Roman soldiers must have felt standing guard to keep out the Celts in the brisk, raining July weather when they must have longed for the heat of their Italian homeland.

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Having not felt anxious, being out with the summer tourists, we contemplated driving to another destination our second day of holiday. However, we decided against this considering our exhaustion (hence the need for holiday) and the remoteness of our cottage.

[You maybe asking just HOW REMOTE is our cottage? Well, we are staying at a farmstead inside the Kielder Forest which is 30 minutes from the nearest village (Gilsland) and 10 miles drive down a one lane paved road. We had to drive so long on this road that we thought we had gone the wrong way (or perhaps that was the Royal Air Force warning signs alerting the driver to beware of low flyovers). However, after Sat Nav runs out of pavement and says you have arrived, we drove about another half a mile on a dirt/rock road before truly arriving at our holiday destination.]

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Therefore, today we walked from our cottage along the road to Butterburn and back. This was about a six mile walk, which is a bit more than we are used to. However, we enjoyed smelling the sweet and fresh air as we listened to the sound the wind made rustling through the evergreens. This is a quite different sound than our usual seaside holiday, but relaxing nonetheless.

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Titus was chuffed we discovered a deer antler on the road, which he quickly snapped up as a souvenir! 🤗We saw birds of prey flying overhead, sighted a colourful caterpillar as well as a water vole no longer living. At Butterburn we paused to talk with the gorgeous Ling cows as well as our closest neighbour (three miles away). 😉 All this in between the weather spitting rain on us as well as the clouds revealing the sun.

Shattered, we enjoyed a late lunch, nap, and playing cards at our lovely cottage. Not a bad beginning for this holiday!

Last Day of School 2020

Yesterday was the final day of school/home learning for Titus Y6 and Cora Y7!

This year has been a year of many firsts! Cora began her first year of high school. Titus finished his years at Primary School. Due to COVID-19 (and Titus’s hospital stay) neither of them returned to school after leaving end of March. However, we encouraged them to dress one last time this school year in their uniforms. We took our standard photos inside and outside our home before walking to our local diner.

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Going to our local diner was quite special because this was the FIRST time we had eaten out at a restaurant since the COVID-19 Pandemic dominated most of our lives.

We were pleased to give our local friends some business whilst still remaining outside, socially distanced. And we were extra grateful for the sunshine which has been few and far between! Our full English breakfasts were huge and delicious….none of us even needed lunch!

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Helping prepare BBQ!

For the most part we returned home, after a nice morning walk, for a normal day. In the afternoon the kids rode bikes around our crescent and Titus took a photo with a dear school friend. In the evening we celebrated with one of Daddy’s famous BBQs (complete with ribs and wings)! Yum! We ended our day by relaxing in front of the movie Back to the Future, which the kids had never seen but greatly enjoyed.

We are extremely thankful for our children, as they are each an extra special blessing from our Lord! They have overcome many obstacles this year through school challenges, navigating social life, and home learning through COVID-19! We pray this gives each of them confidence as Titus begins high school this September and Cora returns for Y8.

Rainbow at the end of yesterday! Lovely reminder of God’s promises!

Ryan and I were also greatly blessed this week to receive thank yous for volunteering with Friends at Beecroft (our Parent Teacher Association) at primary school! This may be the end of our primary school era but our future looks promising as our children go to high school!

Titus is 11!

We celebrated Titus’s 11th birthday with his input on how his day should go. He nicely requested Overnight French Toast for breakfast and he had his semi-annual half cup of black coffee (we’re converting him slowly). 😉 Since we encouraged him to attend a half day of home school, he only opened a few presents in the morning. He was surprised to unwrap a cookie cutter in the shape of a polar bear, which we later used to decorate his cake. Friends got him some funny books, which may just revive his interest in reading! 😉🙏🏻

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For lunch Titus requested homemade mac and cheese with turkey dinosaurs. He made quick work of this and then tore into the rest of his presents. 🥳

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Cora made Titus this lovely birthday card…complete with polar bears!

We blessed Titus with some of his Lego requests and he quickly spent a few hours of his birthday afternoon enjoying putting it all together. This particular Lego set comes alive through an interactive game he plays on his mobile. This is one of the few games he plays and it adds to his creative storying. 😀

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Mid-afternoon we enjoyed eating homemade salted caramel cake with cream cheese frosting and popcorn snow mounds…yum! 😋 Almost sickening sweet, but pleased how it turned out looking like tundra for polar bears. 🤗🥳

Later afternoon Titus and Cora hosted a Zoom call with his closest mates. They had such fun as Cora directed them in games and Titus showed them his Lego creations. It was great to hear them laugh and play together even though they could not all be in the same room!

Afterwards, the kids went on a bike ride around our Crescent before coming in for tea (dinner). Titus had a good attitude, and didn’t let it ruin his day, when the three pizza restaurants we rang/viewed online were closed either because it was Monday or due to COVID-19. Therefore, we promised him pizza later in the week. 🙏🏻

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Titus decided to spend his remaining birthday money to watch the newly updated movie Doctor Doolittle. This movie was funny and creative, although I felt the graphics and storyline a bit cheesy at times. 😉 However, Titus loved it and, of course, there was a polar bear in the movie which continued the theme of his birthday. 😍

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Titus said he had the BEST BIRTHDAY EVER! And that’s saying something considering the current pandemic restrictions!

We are very blessed the Lord surprised us with Titus! We had infertility issues, the stillbirth of our first child, and complications whilst I was pregnant with Cora. Therefore, I marvel at how the Lord has a sense of humour and uses Titus to break me out of my comfort zone regularly and into new life adventures. We thank God for you, Titus, and are blessed to have you a part of our lives!

We thank the Lord for how you have positively navigated many challenges this year such as: finishing your final year of primary school, adapting to online and home school during COVID-19, overcoming the painful treatment of your infected stitches, and much more! I am proud of you, son, and I love you to the moon and back! 💕

Temple Newsam COVID-19 Edition

For our family’s first “break” in four months of lockdown, last Friday, we had a morning out in the Temple Newsam gardens. I have written other blogs about the ornate, historic manor home of Temple Newsam which we geeky enjoy. However, this was our first time actually walking the grounds. Due to lockdown the manor home was not open, but despite the rain and clouds we enjoyed just being outside and allowing the kids to run free!

We were pleasantly surprised at the great expanse of these gardens; with many rhododendron under which the kids could enjoy walking!

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There was a quaint beautiful lake.

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We even discovered a baby frog; many of them were jumping along the footpaths! This was the smallest frog we had ever seen!

There was a walled garden, which we did not know was there! I love the beauty of these treasured plants. We even learned that the brick walls of the walled garden were made hollow to allow steam to warm the garden without smoke. This allowed them to grow non-native plants such as pineapples!

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I have come to understand the importance, through this lockdown, of walking outside and enjoying the sights, sounds, and smells. Our children enjoyed climbing trees for the first time in months! The British culture often goes outdoors, no matter the rain…after all, if we didn’t then we may never get out! 😉

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After enjoyably tiring from our hour and a half walk it was lunchtime. Thankful for the reprieve in the rain, we retrieved our picnic and blanket to sit on the amphitheater and eat together. We are so very thankful for this day, one month after Titus was in hospital for his infected stitches, to see him jump around, run, and climb trees with his sister!

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