Every year one of the farms near my in-laws’ house holds its Apple Day – a fun family day with various stalls for local groups and charities, raising money for a local church. With hubby having a weekend off work (a rare occurrence at the moment!) and the weather being cloudy but dry, it seemed a good way to enjoy spending time outdoors as a family.
We parked at Grandma’s house and walked the short distance to the farm. The Punch and Judy show was in full swing when we arrived and the girls were transfixed. I have to confess that, although I loved watching Punch and Judy on the few occasions we saw one at the seaside in my own childhood, I wasn’t quite so keen on my own children watching it – I had forgotten quite how violent it all was! Still, it never did me any harm and I doubt it will have any ill-effect on my children either (that said, we have had a little more fighting between them this week but as it hasn’t been accompanied by shouts of “that’s the way to do it!”, I’ll assume that it’s probably more likely to be due to tiredness!)
Once the Punch and Judy had finished, a local band starting playing, much to Sophie’s delight. She quite enjoyed dancing away to the music.
There were plenty of stalls set up in the fields – food stalls selling a variety of hot food, stalls selling jams and chutneys, books, toys, a children’s activity area and other entertainments. Sophie quite enjoyed having a go at Splat the Rat and winning a little bag of sweets for taking part. Jessica made a beeline for the face painting and requested her usual Hello Kitty. Sophie wanted to have her face painted for the first time and had a little flower painted on her cheek.
We all wandered around quite happily for a while, enjoying some delicious apple and cinnamon crêpes, and buying some fudge and a few jars of jam and chutney. Whilst Mummy was browsing the vast selection of jams and chutneys on offer, Sophie discovered the bag of fudge underneath the buggy and started tucking into a whole bar of fudge. She wasn’t very impressed when Daddy took it away from her although the chocolate covered apples that we bought for each of the girls shortly afterwards soon helped to cheer her up again!
The girls’ favourite part of the day was visiting the petting farm – both of them loved holding the rabbits and guinea pigs and I was amazed by how gentle they were with them. Even Sophie sat down quietly and just gently stroked the rabbit that she was given to hold. Jessica was quite taken by the geese and followed them around, wanting to stroke them too. She was a lot braver than I was where the geese were concerned – I got quite unnerved by them each time they made a beeline for me although tried very hard to hide my nervousness from the girls.
After having cuddles with the rabbits and guinea pigs, we fed the sheep and goats. At one point, Sophie almost disappeared in amongst them as they surrounded her to get to the cup of food in her hands. She loved being in the middle and feeding them all!
Overall, we had a lovely day out and it was nice to feel part of the local community – we bumped into quite a few people we knew whilst wandering around. I loved watching the girls being so gentle with the animals and just having a day out and about, spending time together as a family.
So wonderful having a lovely day out – with very yummy treats- at a local event.
Sounds like it’s a really big apple day out. Apple days near us are literally just turn up with a bag of apples and they’ll use a press and turn it into juice for you to take away. Nothing more than that. I’m debating taking N this year to one.
Looks like a lovely day out. It made me laugh about Sophie taking advantage and nicking the fudge! The photos with the animals are gorgeous, but that guinea pig is HUGE!
What a lovely day out and sounds like s lovely place to live x
Aww. Your two are so sweet! The apple and cinnamon crêpes look divine 🙂 I can tell they enjoyed the petting farm! Sounds like you had a good day x #CountryKids
It looks like you all had a great time exploring the local apple day together, the girls in particular. It’s great that there was so much to see and do around the event with a little something for everyone, the girls are really tucking into those chocolate covered apples. It’s fab that there was some hands-on time with the animals as well, kids love being able to get up close and help feed them all. Thanks for linking up with me on Country Kids.
We don’t have much apple farms around here in North Cornwall, we do however have cider farms! Now if only their activities were like this and entered on kids (though some adults may shoot me down for this. Hahaha). Looks so much fun! 🙂 #countrkyds.
Looks like a lovely day out. Mine do love to see animals but get nervous about handling them – I think it down to us having a nervous cat! I love the fact that Sophie discovered the fudge 🙂
I used to be terrified of Punch and Judy….lol
What a lovely day out!
hahaha at Sophie pinching the fudge…That did make me chuckle.
What a super day. The girls looked super cute with their faces painted, my little man loves it too. The cinnamon crepes sound divine. My boys would have loved that petting zoo.
This looks like so much fun, and a great day for making memories with your family. I still remember going to fairs with my parents as a little girl, they were such a highlight! Love that you got to feel like part of the community, that’s my favourite part of local markets and fairs now, I just love getting amongst a crowd and watching all the people (plus the food is a pretty big draw card too!)
That guinea pig is huge 🙂 It sounds like a great day out, I used to love splat the rat when I was younger. Actually I probably still like it now, just haven’t seen it for a long time.