A little imagination combined with a walk in the woods can turn a day out into a fairytale adventure for my girls. An evening at one of their favourite places, with the promise of getting to see real fairies and magical creatures is irresistible. The Enchanted Museum event at Chiltern Open Air Museum was one of the highlights for the girls last year. They both remembered seeing the fairy princess riding her unicorn and discovering fairies in the woods and were very excited at the thought of going back again!
The weather wasn’t as nice as last year. My little fairies had their puddle suits on with their fairy wings instead of the princess dresses they had worn last year. Even fairies like to be prepared for rain and the opportunity to splash in muddy puddles!
We started off by heading into the Fairy Grotto to make some magical tree faces. Jessica and Sophie enjoyed squashing the clay against the tree trunk and then adding sticks and leaves to make a face.
As we made our way towards the village green, we spotted the unicorn with a fairy princess on its back. The girls loved seeing a fairy up close! The unicorn wasn’t quite so interesting for them but I loved it! We also spotted a dragon on the village green. Last year, seeing the dragon had been a highlight for Sophie. This year she was a little afraid of it and wouldn’t go too near.
The girls made a beeline for the face painting. There was a bit of a queue but fortunately we didn’t have to wait too long. The girls were quite happy waiting and chatting with another little girl who seemed to a similar age. I do love seeing the way children just happily start chatting and interacting with each other.  It made the wait a little easier too!
The woodland walk isn’t buggy friendly. We left Jessica’s buggy with my friend, who is a volunteer at the Museum, before heading into the Enchanted Forest to see what magical creatures we would find there. There was plenty to see along the way – including fairy tea parties, fairy houses and a faun.
We stopped to listen to a story in the Arborfield Barn. This was the perfect opportunity for Jessica to get her breath back after our walk in the woods. I thought she would want to head back to the village green to retrieve her buggy. However, she was keen to continue exploring on foot and eager to go to the playground.
As always, the main attraction at the playground was the rope swing. It was just as well hubby was with us – I can never push the swing high enough to satisfy Jessica but hubby is much better at it!
Sophie couldn’t quite resist the muddy puddles along the way. I love seeing how happy she is jumping up and down in them. One of the simple joys of childhood!
We finished off our day with a visit to the Amersham Prefab. This is one of their favourite places in the museum and they will sit there for ages happily playing with the old-fashioned toys.
The girls were quite tired by the time we headed back to pick up Jessica’s buggy. Jessica was quite sad that we had to go home and say goodbye to the fairies for another year. Hopefully next year we’ll be back to see them once again.
This looks incredible, I love the fairy and unicorn, my girls would adore something like that too. Their face paints are brilliant!
Nat.x
Thank you Nat. It was an amazing afternoon 🙂
That fairy on a unicorn looks quite magical and what a beautiful pure white horse. He must have been very good natured to have him with all the children. Isn’t it strange how children change in a year, for Sophie to love the dragon one year and be scared this year shows her changing perception on the world. At least puddle jumping is still good to do. I’m rather taken with that rope swing, that looks a lovely variation on the classic swings and who doesn’t like a little face paint, even my gown up girls had face paint at our local festival!
All in a lovely day even if it was a little damp.
Thank you for sharing with me on #CountryKids
He certainly seemed to be a very calm placid horse and the girls loved seeing him. The rope swing is brilliant – Jessica makes a beeline for it every time we are at the museum 🙂
Oh wow! I love the look of this….. that unicorn!! I love any events to do with fairies and anything magical. Lovely photos. Sarah #CountryKids
Thank you Sarah. It is an amazing event 🙂
Oh my goodness how amazing, the fairy on the unicorn made me gasp, let alone a child! I had to google where this location is but it’s a 2 hour drive from me so a bit of a distance #CountryKids
It’s a brilliant event – it’s a shame it’s only on once a year though!
Oh wow this looks great! The horse is beautiful and fairy looks so wonderful too. I do love the effort they put in for children now 🙂
It’s amazing – easily my favourite event at the museum 🙂
I wish I am there! I could use some magic in my life haha! Lovely place and event to attend with kids =)
#countrykids
Thanks Merlinda, it’s a lovely event 🙂
I love the tree faces. We did these at Camp Bestival one year. It was so much fun.
The girls loved doing them. Glad you had fun making some too 🙂
Chiltern Open Air museum always seems to do so many good themed days. I’d have been excited about the unicorn too! #countrykids
I love all their themed days but this is my favourite one 🙂
I absolutely love the imagination and creativity that has gone into making those costumes. It sure sounds like a great day out. #CountryKids
It is an amazing day out – we all had a wonderful time 🙂
Looks and sounds like such a magical day. What a great way to get outside. I love making the clay art on the tree too. #countrykids
Thank you – it was an amazing event 🙂
This is fantastic I would love one of those unicorns for the garden at home. Really pretty face painting and thats very high on the rope swing. Theres no way I could get Monkey that high! #CountryKids
I can’t push the swing anywhere near that high either – that’s what hubby is for! 🙂
I saw some of these photos on facebook and your day looks wonderful
What an amazing event and so much detail in every area. I think the fact that Jessica didn’t want to head back but continue shows just how engaged she was with it all – so much detail has been put into every aspect of making it magical and exciting for the children.
Your last photo of the princess on the Unicorn is a.m.a.z.i.n.g. – and if you’re little this is a memory you’ll keep forever!
#CountryKids
The princess on the unicorn was amazing – definitely the highlight of the day! x