A Day out at Cefn Mably, Cardiff

Somewhere I've wanted to go for a long time is Cefn Mably farm park - it's not far from where we live, it's not too big and by all accounts it's very popular.  Now that Squidge can look around at things and take things in, I thought it would be the perfect time to take him there - he's already obsessed with looking at our cat, so he clearly likes looking at cute animals :)

It cost us £6 each for 2 adults, and Squidge (in a pram) was admitted for free.  You first walk into a big canteen area, with an indoor play area for kids, and a couple of sofas.  We headed straight for the animals.  It's also worth noting we went on Easter Sunday at opening time (10am), by 11:30 am it was packed - there was a constant stream of people queuing to get in.

The first animals to greet us when we went in were 2 reindeer's, they looked very young and were very cute.  Just beyond them were 2 sheep, each with a cute little lamb. 

Here's one of the gorgeous little lambs - my second favourite animal after cats <3

This guy was awesome, he was really intrigued with Squidge and followed us as we walked around the cage :)  I think this is a red parakeet?

There were also some little chicks under a lamp - by the time I took this picture they'd all gathered in a corner to sleep, how adorable!

They also had a range of rabbits.  This was actually pretty sad as they were all unwanted pets and were looking to re-home them.  So sad that they were unwanted :(

More lambs with their mummies, these looked much younger than the other ones (literally days old)

He was so happy looking at the animals - he kept smiling at them :)  This was him smiling at goats.

They also had little kids there, OMG these were SO cute!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

JUST LOOK AT THE CUTENESS!

Squidge smiling at guinea pigs - he really really loved looking at these, and they had quite a lot of them

Ignore the fact it's not in focus, I love how he was reaching out to them and the rabbit was reaching to him, so, so cute

I think they were as interested in us as we were in them :)

Outside away from the indoor shelter were pony's and horses - part of their play paddock had a 'crashed' plane in it :)

This is the horse from the picture above - he's missing his left eye :(  He had an infection in it which got out of control so he had to have it removed - his name was David :)  He was really friendly, both Squidge and I gave him some smooths on the nose :)

There was also a combine harvester in a small enclosure that chickens and cockerels were flocking to - I managed to get this picture of a cockerel mid-song :)

Squidge and Daddy looking at the pigs

The pigs were lounging around - there were so many squiggly tails!

I love this photo of them - Daddy having his hand nommed, and it was seconds after one of the Donkey's on the right did a massive and very loud eee-oooorrr!

Fluffy Donkey ears :)

After wandering around the place, the little man needed a feed, so we headed back to the cafe, ordered some food for ourselves and set up for Squidge to have a bottle and some solids. The had a big stack of (IKEA?) high chairs to pick from, all were nice and clean.

He fitted in the chair pretty well considering he's still a bit small for them.  We gave him cod, mashed potato, carrot and broccoli and he LOVED it!  Our food was really good - fresh, what seemed like home made, the chips certainly were - and wasn't too expensive (I think we paid around £6 a meal).

On the way back we saw some awesome views so we just had to stop and take a picture!

After a fun-filled couple of hours, Squidge was wiped out

10 mins later he was awake and happy to be spending some quality time with Daddy

We had a really lovely time at Cefn Mably, I'd definitely take him back there when he's a little older as he got so much out of seeing the animals.  Maybe when he's learned not to grab, and to smooth, that'd be a better time to take him back :)  The staff were really friendly, the facilities were clean and the change room well thought out and prepared.  Next stop, Folly Farm :)

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The Weir, Hereford

I'm back with another National Trust adventure! As you may recall from previous posts, we bought full memberships back last summer when we were on our babymoon in Cornwall, and in the past few months we've really tried to make the most of our membership and go somewhere regularly, although this past couple of months life and the weather has really got in the way.

A couple weeks ago we went to visit a friends new baby, and about an hour from them in Hereford is a place called The Weir, so we thought we'd go and take a peek.  The Weir is probably one of the smaller National Trust places we've been to, but also one of the ones we've enjoyed the most.

When we got there, we tried to take a family selfie in the sun, but it only made Squidge and Chris squint, and me smile/squint - either way, I thought it made for a funny pic so I added that here for good measure :)

It's pretty cheap to get in to if you're not a member, £6.75 for adults and £3.30 for children, however there isn't a great deal to do there so if you're on a budget, you might prefer to spend a little more money and go somewhere like Tredegar House instead as there's more to look at and do (£8 adults, £4 children).  That being said, with a 5 month old we had a great time.  

The suggested path is in a bit of a narrow V, starting on the higher part of it, and going a little uphill. The views (which is really why you'd come here) are fantastic, both looking down at the lower path you'll walk back along, and at the hills in the distance over the river.  The above pic was taken just at the beginning of the path.

Here's some of the views you'll be greeted with along the higher path - there were lots of daffodils and snow drops cropping up and the paths were lined with trees.  I'd really like to come back here in the summer when the trees have leaves on and there's a new assortment of flowers that will have grown.

If you wanted a shorter walk, there was this path down to the lower path - or if you simply wanted to explore without having to do the whole walk (although it isn't that long).

Not too far down the path there was this lovely little hut, I couldn't get a great picture of the outside of it, but this is the inside - it had a really funky handmade bench and pattern on the floor - everything looked reclaimed and used from fallen wood etc, but really creatively made.

We were heading straight to the tea tent as we hadn't had lunch - we picked up some cakey treats from the admissions hut to have when we got there, and on the top path was this house. Unfortunately when the whole place sold (house and land) the National Trust didn't buy the house either, which is a shame as it would have been fab to have a look around it.

A view through a break in the hedges just beyond the house - spectacular!

This was the recently added tea tent.  There was 3/4 picnic tables, each with some fresh flowers on (lovely touch), and a table by an outdoor tap with a kettle, fridge and some tea bags.  That brick wall on the left was the back of the loo's - don't worry you couldn't hear anything or smell anything!  It's worth mentioning that the loo's were made up of 1 room which accommodated men, women, disabled people, and had a baby changing table on it, which we used.

There's a trust box there to pay and you serve yourself, I was very disappointed to see though, that we were the only people who actually paid for our tea - there were 2-3 other older couples there, and a young couple, all who drank their tea and left without contributing.

After the tea tend we walked to the pinnicle of the path (the peak in the V) and started our walk back. On the walk back there was this gorgeous tree which had spread out in a really unusual way, so of course I had to stop and take a picture!

My second favourite photo of the day, the hubby with Squidge on the walk back along the river.

At the end of the path there was this roman octagonal cistern (water shrine) - me, I though it was an old fire pit, but just goes to show what I know!  Apparently it was first discovered in 1891 - this wasn't it's original place, it was dug up, and after they realised how significant this find was, they placed it back, but not correctly.

Other than places with houses to explore, this was probably one of our favourite National Trust places we've been to.  It helped that it was a lovely fresh Spring day and that the staff there were so lovely.  If you have kids that need to be kept entertained this may not be the best place to bring them to as there's not much to do - but for a short-ish walk and a bit of hill it's great - if we didn't have our memberships though, I'd have said this was a little expensive for what it is and admission should really be cheaper.

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The Kymin, Wye Valley

Back in the Summer the hubby and I bought a years' membership to the National Trust, we figured it give us 'free' places to go once Squidge was born.  The membership is only for one year, but if we manage to get lots of use out of it and we have enough money at the time, we might well renew.  The hubby and I have decided we are going to try and go to a National Trust place every weekend (with the exception of being ill, or his OU degree commitments etc, and I thought I'd share with you each place we visit, and hopefully it'll build a bit of an 'exploring Wales' guide. 

So far I've talked about Tredegar house which is where we went last weekend, at some point I'll talk about one of our favs, Dyffryn Gardens as we've been there a few times too.  Well, yesterday we travelled to my favourite place in Wales, Wye Valley, it's the most beautiful & breathtaking place I've ever been, and where I'd love to live.  It's about a half hour drive out of Cardiff into Monmouth and close to the border.

This time I'd tasked the hubby with finding somewhere to go, he headed onto the National Trust website, had a look at places that are in a driveable distance, and picked The Kymin.  It's an 18th century roundhouse and naval temple.  The roundhouse is closed until March 2015, but it's worth going just for the views, if nothing else. It's free to go and walk around the grounds and only costs £3 to enter the roundhouse (where I think they serve tea and coffee).  It's a great place for a picnic (when it's warmer!) with views of the Brecon Beacons in the distance, the views really are amazing from The Kymin.

The hubby trying out our sling for the first time, Squidge seemed to like it, and as per usual, slept through the visit, lol

This was at the Naval temple, I love the QR code linking to Wikipedia :)

This was at the top of the Naval temple

The views from the back of the roundhouse, this was on a cold misty day.

A bit of history

The view through the trees at the front of the roundhouse, there was a couple taking some pictures

The ramparts at the top of the roundhouse, you can see it was a beautiful day, albeit cold

A view leading back to the car park, there were lots of walks you could take around the grounds, but with Squidge we were a bit concious about how cold he'd get since it was about 0 degrees out (frost was all over the grass)

A close up of some beautiful nature :)

The naval temple from a distance, the car park is just beyond this

Another view from the back of the roundhouse, a lovely bench looking over some breath taking views, with speckles of sheep in the distance

A horse looking over Wye Valley

As you can see it really is a beautiful place.  We'll definitely be coming back here when the round house is open and it's generally warmer, maybe we'll have a picnic here with Squidge in the Summer :)

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