Our day at Godstone Farm

Our day at Godstone Farm

I have been visiting Godstone farm since I was Georges age. Over the years it has just got better and better, whilst keeping hold of it orginal charm that makes me so nostalgic. So last week, I made the brave decision to take ALL my children for a visit. Even though we live on a farm, there is nothing like a day out at Godstone Farm.  We are so fortunate that it is just fifteen minutes from us. Considering it was the middle of the summer holidays, it was relatively quiet, which helped me stay sane. The farm is divided into areas that makes it easy to explore. They have all the animals you would hope to see on a farm.  Horses, donkeys, pigs, goats, llama and cows. They have a wonderful selection of birds and smaller animals. Chickens, turkeys, geese and ducks, rabbits, ferrets and guinea pigs aswell as a few reptiles. Activities are ran throughout the day such as animal talks and feedings. Have you ever watched Pig and feret racing?  The kids loved it! I had to giggle when the boys announced, on seeing the piglets… ‘Look mum, this pig has more babies than you!’ -yep, she looks in better shape to! Always a magical part of the day is the barn where you can hold the babies and small animals. They have baby chicks of different ages, rabbits and tortoises. Aswell as making sure no little darlings throw the chicks across the barn, Godstone farm employees are on hand to answer any questions the kids have. My kids loved this area, particularly George. Lets talk about the outdoor play area that gets even the adult visitors excited. The playground alone is worth the enterance fee. (How amazing is this swing!?) It has everything from zip wires and large slides for the older kids (and adults), to a sand pit, climbing frames and ride-ons for the younger ones. It is perfect to plot up and have a picnic, but, if like me you are not that organised, they have a sandwhich hut serving coffee, tea, cold drinks and ice cream. We spent about two hours here, and I still had to drag the kids away kicking and screaming! If the weather is bad, There are also two covered play areas. One is a huge soft play area set up in one of the large barns.  The other area is smaller with a climbing area and slide, set up for younger children After wearing George out in the play area we headed to the Dino Trail. Dotted around a path, and looking over the llamas, at the bottom of the farm are large model dinosaurs.  Each one is accompanied with facts on the animal. With a toddler and an eight year old obsessed with dinosaurs, this was a great suprise! Who knew that a baby T-Rex could have been born with feathers? We ended our day in the large sandpit for younger children with a portion of chips and an ice cream. I spent most of my time here wrestling George as he tried to take every tractor toy in the sandpit away from the other tots.  Always making time for a trip to the shop, the boys bought some water toys to play in the sun. Apart from all the activities, I was impressed with the general appearence of the farm. The landscaping is beautiful, the facilities were clean and there were plenty of hand washing points. We had a great day at Godstone Farm.  As always, it provided a fun and educational day outdoors, enjoying the great British summer. For more information, please visit http://godstonefarm.co.uk/ *I recieved free tickets in return for this review. However, as always, all my opinions are entirely honest and without biased.

Leeds Castle

Leeds Castle

Rosie and I took the kids (all eight of them!) to Leeds Castle in Kent during half term. It was our first proper visit (we went along one, cold evening four years ago to watch Frozen on the castle lawn).I absolutely love a mooch around a Castle or historical house and I love taking in the beautiful grounds. I always picture what It might have been like to live there during the various periods of history. Who owns it now? How do they keep it looking so beautiful? How many bottles of wine could you store in that wine celler!? (And Leeds Castle definatly has the BEST wine celler!)It was a stunning Autumn afternoon and we had such a fantastic day that words can not do it justice. I am going to let our photos explain……Leeds Castle has lots to do for the children, not least climbing trees and finding secret dens. It was Halloween when we visited and they had lots of spooky activities to enjoy. There is a wonderful playground area, maze and lots of activities from archery to dressing up as a knight. The children loved exploring the castle and filling in all the activity sheets they had been given. They have been learning about British History at school so they loved reading about how Leeds Castle related to Henry V111 and the Second World War. While they were reading about how King Henry VIII did a ‘changing rooms’ on the castle to impress and gift his wife Catherine of Aragon, I listened eagerly to the stewards who explained to me that in more recent years part of the castle was converted into a cinema and areas to entertain friends (jelous much!?).I have asked Mike to take me back for a romantic ‘date day’.  The strolls, the atmosphere and the stunning architecture would make a beautuful day out with a loved one (or first date?). I have never seen such beautiful gardens and the wildlife is everywhere. I am looking forward to visiting again in December and enjoying the Christmas  festivities with Mike and the children.Please share my post for anyone who might enjoy a beautiful day out at this Kent treasure. For more information on Leeds Castle and its wonderful, seasonal treats, take a look at their website https://www.leeds-castle.com

New Kitchen

New Kitchen

When we moved to the farm three years ago It was a wreck. Mike had just finished the refurbishment at our old home and just as we were starting to enjoy it he asked if we could go and view this ‘bit of land with a house’ he had seen. It was a complete dump! a tiny four bedroom house that the estate agents were describing  as ‘unliveable’. But, we could both see the potential and given that it could offer us a life we dreamed of (and the fact we both have a screw lose) we took the plunge. I will write a post about ‘surviving an extension / refurbishment’ but for now I’m just going to brag about my kitchen. I say ‘brag’ because after living with a tiny ‘unliveable’ kitchen for over two and a half years and then a building site for another three months I feel like I earned it. I can’t offer much advice on how to cope with having a new kitchen fitted because, quite frankly, I’m not sure I did cope! Our builders were great and made sure I always had a cooker and a sink (most of the time).   Although,  I won’t lie,  we became great friends with our local restaurants over that three months! I ll let you know how I got my perfect kitchen….  I knew I wanted a country kitchen that was in keeping with a home on a farm but anyone that knows me will tell you there is a bit of a Essex girl in me fighting to get out and that girl loves a bit of glitz and glamour. So I’m going to say the look I settled on was classic, country glamour. I Googled and looked through pintrest to get an idea of what i wanted. There were a few things I knew I needed to include before the planning started : -The Amtico flooring that I have throughout the rest of my downstairs was a must for the kitchen.   We love to entertain and the kitchen is always the hub of our house. With five kids, six dogs, a husband that loves shooting and given where we live we need a hard wearing floor that doesn’t show every speck of dirt. Our Amtico Tradional Oak Spacia is perfect for that.  It is so easy to keep clean and always looks smart.  I ordered this off the internet, if you go into your flooring shop and ask for a quote you are likely to go into cardiac arrest! -I love stone worktops.  Granite, marble, Composite, Quartz, I love them all!  I don’t love the price but I do think it adds something to a kitchen, and as long as you don’t pick black (a mistake I made in an old house) it is easy to keep clean and always looks lush. -I bought a rangemaster induction cooker when we moved into this house.  Given that is was only a couple of years old and we were on a budget  I had to keep it.  Once it had a professional clean looked fabulous. Induction for anyone that doesn’t know is an instant heat hob that is heated by a magnet.  Food doesn’t burn onto it so its really easy to clean and if you put your hand on the hob it doesn’t burn you (great for the kids and husband) . -My fridge/freezer is Fisher and Paykel.  They were the only manufacturers that had a fridge/freezer that had a water dispenser but didn’t loose the space inside the fridge to store the ice and water tank.  With a family of seven, soon to be eight we need as much room as possible.  The Ice drops straight into a drawer in the freezer section. So again, the kitchen had to be worked around that. found a local kitchen supplier (Cathedral Kitchens, Sanderstead) who did a great job at planning the kitchen.  I knew roughly how I wanted to lay it out but he suggested the curved units and building a unit around the fridge. I gave him a budget and a rough idea of what look I wanted and he showed me what he described as his ‘kitchen that never dates’.  He has been selling it for years, a Crown kitchen in the Heathfied range. I knew I wanted copper accessories and when I was shown the copper handles I knew they would be the perfect finish. The kitchen units and handles came in at a great price.  If you think that the local independent kitchen shop is going to be expensive, go and check it out, I think you might be surprised. I’m an online budget shopper so I had fun searching for a few bits… Our two worktops are solid wood which I ordered from Worktop Express online.  They were so much cheaper than any shop or local supplier and the quality is really good.  At the price I paid a few people questioned what they would actually look like but my builder said they are great quality. The three lights over my island I ordered off Ebay for £39.99 each and they are a talking point of the kitchen.  In the evening when we are all sitting around the Island having a drink, the lights (on a dimmer) really create an atmosphere. tractor stools were from Melody Maison online and cost £54.50 each.  They add that rustic farm feel to the kitchen. My two copper effect radiators were £100 each off an Ebay heating shop, a total bargain and a bit different from an average radiator. The focal point of the whole kitchen has to be the Island worktop.  I rang various people from online companies to local people and I was quoted anywhere from £5,000 – £8,000 for this. It was money we didn’t have but a part of the kitchen I wasn’t prepared to compromise on.  What made it even harder was that mike wanted an edging to the stone that nearly doubled the price. I called a local company to us who store their own stone in a huge warehouse.  I couldn’t believe my luck when they showed me an off-cut, big enough for my Island. The only problem was, because it was granite, a natural stone, it had some slight orange markings.  This meant it would be hard for them to sell, but with my copper finish I thought it would look great and  As it happens you could barely see it. managed to get my Island worktop, made and fitted for under £3000!  If you live in the South East and would like more details on this company feel free to email me. and a small wash sink in the island with a boiling water tap, a total necessity for any new kitchen (tea and coffee on tap…literally and no kettles taking up worktop space) my kitchen came together! Unfortunately, dispite having a fantastic decorator, by this stage money was tight and I decided to paint and paper myself.

I am a nightmare for wallpaper! I love it and every room in my house has at least one wall papered. Because the French doors all open up to our garden and fields I knew I wanted something which brought outdoors indoors.  A tree theme preferably in a green that would set off perfectly with the copper and cream. After browsing the net I found Sanderson Waterperry, Its not cheap at approx £44 a roll, but It was only for the one wall and I have Sanderson wallpaper in my lounge and the quality makes it worth it. One of the things I hadn’t thought about when we were doing our kitchen was how much it would bring us back together as a family.   Now instead of everyone going of into seperate rooms we all spend time together, playing,  cooking, eating or just chatting in the kitchen. If you want any more details on the kitchen or our fabulous builders,(S.W CONSTRUCTION 07956161721) who I can not rate highly enough please email me katethompson485@gmail.com.

Leeds Castle

Leeds Castle

Rosie and I took the kids (all eight of them!) to Leeds Castle in Kent during half term. It was our first proper visit (we went along one, cold evening four years ago to watch Frozen on the castle lawn). I absolutely love a mooch around a Castle or historical house and I love taking in the beautiful grounds. I always picture what It might have been like to live there during the various periods of history. Who owns it now? How do they keep it looking so beautiful? How many bottles of wine could you store in that wine celler!? (And Leeds Castle definatly has the BEST wine celler!) It was a stunning Autumn afternoon and we had such a fantastic day that words can not do it justice. I am going to let our photos explain…… Leeds Castle has lots to do for the children, not least climbing trees and finding secret dens. It was Halloween when we visited and they had lots of spooky activities to enjoy. There is a wonderful playground area, maze and lots of activities from archery to dressing up as a knight. The children loved exploring the castle and filling in all the activity sheets they had been given. They have been learning about British History at school so they loved reading about how Leeds Castle related to Henry V111 and the Second World War. While they were reading about how King Henry VIII did a ‘changing rooms’ on the castle to impress and gift his wife Catherine of Aragon, I listened eagerly to the stewards who explained to me that in more recent years part of the castle was converted into a cinema and areas to entertain friends (jelous much!?). I have asked Mike to take me back for a romantic ‘date day’.  The strolls, the atmosphere and the stunning architecture would make a beautuful day out with a loved one (or first date?). I have never seen such beautiful gardens and the wildlife is everywhere. I am looking forward to visiting again in December and enjoying the Christmas  festivities with Mike and the children. Please share my post for anyone who might enjoy a beautiful day out at this Kent treasure. For more information on Leeds Castle and its wonderful, seasonal treats, take a look at their website https://www.leeds-castle.com

Our day at Godstone Farm

Our day at Godstone Farm

I have been visiting Godstone farm since I was Georges age. Over the years it has just got better and better, whilst keeping hold of it orginal charm that makes me so nostalgic. So last week, I made the brave decision to take ALL my children for a visit. Even though we live on a farm, there is nothing like a day out at Godstone Farm.  We are so fortunate that it is just fifteen minutes from us. Considering it was the middle of the summer holidays, it was relatively quiet, which helped me stay sane. The farm is divided into areas that makes it easy to explore. They have all the animals you would hope to see on a farm.  Horses, donkeys, pigs, goats, llama and cows. They have a wonderful selection of birds and smaller animals. Chickens, turkeys, geese and ducks, rabbits, ferrets and guinea pigs aswell as a few reptiles. Activities are ran throughout the day such as animal talks and feedings. Have you ever watched Pig and feret racing?  The kids loved it! I had to giggle when the boys announced, on seeing the piglets… ‘Look mum, this pig has more babies than you!’ -yep, she looks in better shape to! Always a magical part of the day is the barn where you can hold the babies and small animals. They have baby chicks of different ages, rabbits and tortoises. Aswell as making sure no little darlings throw the chicks across the barn, Godstone farm employees are on hand to answer any questions the kids have. My kids loved this area, particularly George. Lets talk about the outdoor play area that gets even the adult visitors excited. The playground alone is worth the enterance fee.   (How amazing is this swing!?) It has everything from zip wires and large slides for the older kids (and adults), to a sand pit, climbing frames and ride-ons for the younger ones. It is perfect to plot up and have a picnic, but, if like me you are not that organised, they have a sandwhich hut serving coffee, tea, cold drinks and ice cream. We spent about two hours here, and I still had to drag the kids away kicking and screaming! If the weather is bad, There are also two covered play areas. One is a huge soft play area set up in one of the large barns.  The other area is smaller with a climbing area and slide, set up for younger children After wearing George out in the play area we headed to the Dino Trail. Dotted around a path, and looking over the llamas, at the bottom of the farm are large model dinosaurs.  Each one is accompanied with facts on the animal. With a toddler and an eight year old obsessed with dinosaurs, this was a great suprise! Who knew that a baby T-Rex could have been born with feathers? We ended our day in the large sandpit for younger children with a portion of chips and an ice cream. I spent most of my time here wrestling George as he tried to take every tractor toy in the sandpit away from the other tots.  Always making time for a trip to the shop, the boys bought some water toys to play in the sun. Apart from all the activities, I was impressed with the general appearence of the farm. The landscaping is beautiful, the facilities were clean and there were plenty of hand washing points. We had a great day at Godstone Farm.  As always, it provided a fun and educational day outdoors, enjoying the great British summer. For more information, please visit http://godstonefarm.co.uk/ *I recieved free tickets in return for this review. However, as always, all my opinions are entirely honest and without biased.

Our new Pigs 

Our New Pigs

​This weekend we brought nine beautiful oinkers home to the farm. It’s always fun when we have new animals arrive at the farm. Most of the fun is watching mike attempt to heard them to where they are suppose to be.  Mind you,  he is much more ‘adam Henson’ about it now. He used to have the mindset of crocodile Dundee but the capability and knowledge of laurel and Hardy. Being a fairly new smallholder we have been ‘ winging it ‘ since we arrived here. But the more animals we have,  the easier it seems to be. Our first pigs we got back in 2013 escaped on their first night,  we were all running around trying to catch them, like something out of a very on movie.

e even recruited the builders to help, one of whom ended up face down in a puddle of mud!  Ah the memories 😂 This time though it was all pretty straight forward,  now we are old hats at this!  🤔 So we have nine lovely kune kune pigs,  varying in ages. Not the most attractive of breeds but full of character and unusually tame on arrival.

Libby may disagree,  she was convinced mummy pig was going to charge at her and was escorted back to the car by her big brother. Mikey, harri and Charlie on the other hand for stuck straight in. Helping create barriers to get them into their stables and shooing them in the right direction. All this while Mikey serenaded us with his own version of baby got back ‘ he’s got big balls and you can not lie,  you other brothers can’t deny, when the pig arrives with his giant nuts and shoves them in your face….. ‘ Come on,  We were all ten once,  big animal balls are still funny at 34!! So one of the questions I keep getting asked is, will we eat them. It’s an answer I’m nervous of putting out there as it is so controversial but yes…. Eventually we will. Now, unless you are a vegetarian or vegan your argument against us doing that is lost on me. If you eat meat,  you have eaten a slaughtered animal. The packaging it comes in is irrelevant, it had been alive and it was killed…    For your consumption. The only difference is, I can tell you, when I am tucking into my pork belly, is that the animal had a good life. He ate well, he ate organic food, he lived in fresh air and had clean beds and fresh water. When it comes to the end I know it is done quickly and humainly with absolutly no suffering. Can you tell me the same??? So to my friends who scowl at me when they hear we are eating our animals eventually,  the only thing that pops in my head is…   Hypocrite! Usually the same friend that is tucking into my pork belly and telling me how nice it is one month later!

The children are not always happy about it at first,  it is hard to come to terms with the fact that the animal you have been looking after will no longer be with you and instead in the freezer.

However, they also understand that if they enjoy meat It is far better to know it has been nurtured by them that stuck in a tiny pen and overfed until they can’t stand up. I’m not a meat snob,  and I’m not preaching, I buy meat from the supermarket.  I’m just making my point about home reared food.

We also make it clear when an animal arrives, what its destany is…  whether it is a pet chicken who will only be for eggs, a dog that will stay with us forever, geese that will be for security and a cow that will be for the table. So if you want to try some really special meat, with a taste that doesn’t compare….. Give me a shout 😋

New Kitchen

New Kitchen

When we moved to the farm three years ago It was a wreck. Mike had just finished the refurbishment at our old home and just as we were starting to enjoy it he asked if we could go and view this ‘bit of land with a house’ he had seen. It was a complete dump! a tiny four bedroom house that the estate agents were describing  as ‘unliveable’. But, we could both see the potential and given that it could offer us a life we dreamed of (and the fact we both have a screw lose) we took the plunge. I will write a post about ‘surviving an extension / refurbishment’ but for now I’m just going to brag about my kitchen. I say ‘brag’ because after living with a tiny ‘unliveable’ kitchen for over two and a half years and then a building site for another three months I feel like I earned it. I can’t offer much advice on how to cope with having a new kitchen fitted because, quite frankly, I’m not sure I did cope! Our builders were great and made sure I always had a cooker and a sink (most of the time).   Although,  I won’t lie,  we became great friends with our local restaurants over that three months! I ll let you know how I got my perfect kitchen…. I knew I wanted a country kitchen that was in keeping with a home on a farm but anyone that knows me will tell you there is a bit of a Essex girl in me fighting to get out and that girl loves a bit of glitz and glamour. So I’m going to say the look I settled on was classic, country glamour. I Googled and looked through pintrest to get an idea of what i wanted. There were a few things I knew I needed to include before the planning started : -The Amtico flooring that I have throughout the rest of my downstairs was a must for the kitchen.   We love to entertain and the kitchen is always the hub of our house. With five kids, six dogs, a husband that loves shooting and given where we live we need a hard wearing floor that doesn’t show every speck of dirt. Our Amtico Tradional Oak Spacia is perfect for that.  It is so easy to keep clean and always looks smart.  I ordered this off the internet, if you go into your flooring shop and ask for a quote you are likely to go into cardiac arrest! -I love stone worktops.  Granite, marble, Composite, Quartz, I love them all!  I don’t love the price but I do think it adds something to a kitchen, and as long as you don’t pick black (a mistake I made in an old house) it is easy to keep clean and always looks lush. -I bought a rangemaster induction cooker when we moved into this house.  Given that is was only a couple of years old and we were on a budget  I had to keep it.  Once it had a professional clean looked fabulous. Induction for anyone that doesn’t know is an instant heat hob that is heated by a magnet.  Food doesn’t burn onto it so its really easy to clean and if you put your hand on the hob it doesn’t burn you (great for the kids and husband) . -My fridge/freezer is Fisher and Paykel.  They were the only manufacturers that had a fridge/freezer that had a water dispenser but didn’t loose the space inside the fridge to store the ice and water tank.  With a family of seven, soon to be eight we need as much room as possible.  The Ice drops straight into a drawer in the freezer section. So again, the kitchen had to be worked around that. I found a local kitchen supplier (Cathedral Kitchens, Sanderstead) who did a great job at planning the kitchen.  I knew roughly how I wanted to lay it out but he suggested the curved units and building a unit around the fridge. I gave him a budget and a rough idea of what look I wanted and he showed me what he described as his ‘kitchen that never dates’.  He has been selling it for years, a Crown kitchen in the Heathfied range. I knew I wanted copper accessories and when I was shown the copper handles I knew they would be the perfect finish. The kitchen units and handles came in at a great price.  If you think that the local independent kitchen shop is going to be expensive, go and check it out, I think you might be surprised. I’m an online budget shopper so I had fun searching for a few bits… Our two worktops are solid wood which I ordered from Worktop Express online.  They were so much cheaper than any shop or local supplier and the quality is really good.  At the price I paid a few people questioned what they would actually look like but my builder said they are great quality. The three lights over my island I ordered off Ebay for £39.99 each and they are a talking point of the kitchen.  In the evening when we are all sitting around the Island having a drink, the lights (on a dimmer) really create an atmosphere. My tractor stools were from Melody Maison online and cost £54.50 each.  They add that rustic farm feel to the kitchen. My two copper effect radiators were £100 each off an Ebay heating shop, a total bargain and a bit different from an average radiator. The focal point of the whole kitchen has to be the Island worktop.  I rang various people from online companies to local people and I was quoted anywhere from £5,000 – £8,000 for this. It was money we didn’t have but a part of the kitchen I wasn’t prepared to compromise on.  What made it even harder was that mike wanted an edging to the stone that nearly doubled the price. I called a local company to us who store their own stone in a huge warehouse.  I couldn’t believe my luck when they showed me an off-cut, big enough for my Island. The only problem was, because it was granite, a natural stone, it had some slight orange markings.  This meant it would be hard for them to sell, but with my copper finish I thought it would look great and  As it happens you could barely see it. I managed to get my Island worktop, made and fitted for under £3000!  If you live in the South East and would like more details on this company feel free to email me. Together with a couple of extras, my Belfast sink….. and a small wash sink in the island with a boiling water tap, a total necessity for any new kitchen (tea and coffee on tap…literally and no kettles taking up worktop space) my kitchen came together! Unfortunately, dispite having a fantastic decorator, by this stage money was tight and I decided to paint and paper myself. I am a nightmare for wallpaper! I love it and every room in my house has at least one wall papered. Because the French doors all open up to our garden and fields I knew I wanted something which brought outdoors indoors.  A tree theme preferably in a green that would set off perfectly with the copper and cream. After browsing the net I found Sanderson Waterperry, Its not cheap at approx £44 a roll, but It was only for the one wall and I have Sanderson wallpaper in my lounge and the quality makes it worth it. One of the things I hadn’t thought about when we were doing our kitchen was how much it would bring us back together as a family.   Now instead of everyone going of into seperate rooms we all spend time together, playing,  cooking, eating or just chatting in the kitchen. If you want any more details on the kitchen or our fabulous builders,(S.W CONSTRUCTION 07956161721) who I can not rate highly enough please email me katethompson485@gmail.com.