Last year Ollie and I decided that we need to prioritise fresh air and family time more than ever before. We realised recently that Jacob is now a proper little boy these days and that his babyhood is a long distant memory and that not to far in the distant future Joshua would be too big to want to spend time with us and Jacob would follow suit so making memories is even more imperative!
Over the festive period Ollie had very little time off from work and so when he was granted New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day off we decided that drinking to oblivion was not our thing we just wanted to spend some time seeing out the old year and bringning in the new one with the kids and breathing in some family time.
We asked our friends to meet us at Sherwood Forest to walk off some cobwebs and burn off some energy for the kids! Our friends brought their super lovable Labrador, Benson with them and the boys were thrilled!
Benson is around 4 years old and is like a giant toddler. He loved giant sized sticks and running with them in his mouth almost knocking down anyone in his path and he liked digging tiny holes for enormous sticks much to Joshua and Jacobs amusement, causing historical laughter all round.
We walked in a giant circle from the new Visitors centre car park on Forest Corner (the cost is £4 per car) right round to The Major Oak, the supposed home of Robin Hood and then walked back down to the new Visitors centre which I was really looking forward too. However I was really underwhelmed with the expensive new centre.
Gone was the Robin Hood experience in the middle of the forest of old for an over sized glass box with not enough seating inside or out with over priced snacks and drinks.
The old visitors centre oozed charm and even dare I say it cheese, with its quaint little shops and experiences set out of an area all joined together with flat paths surrounding the old wooden structure of Robin Hood fighting on a bridge.
I have always loved visiting my home village and part of the forest was that complex but now I will be taking our own snacks in future and avoiding the visitors centre.
Thankfully good friends and laughter made our trip for us.
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