Persephone and Polly on tour...

And so the Rooke company took their production on tour in their very own yellow tour bus. It was a very middle class affair. First up was a comedy of errors at a lovely little eco-friendly campsite in-between Forfar and Arbroath. It’s the second time Persephone and Polly had been to a campsite suited better to Jamie Oliver’s kids than themselves but hey…if you can’t beat them, join them. The comedy and error came when Daddy realised he’d forgotten half the tent and had to make a four hour round trip back home to collect it. (Note to self - the tent is in two bags, not one). The girls didn’t mind as there was a world of ponds, fields and forests to explore. Mummy however was a little ragged by the time Daddy triumphantly returned with tent in hand. A few burgers and sausages later and everyone was much cheerier, with enough energy to stay up far, far, too late running round a field. Who’d have thought it could be that much fun?

Next day was a quick trip to Arbroath and a walk along the cliffs looking for nesting seabirds. Here the issue with our mission quickly became apparent, as due to a late night of running round a field, Persephone and Polly were a little out of sorts. Couple this with a distinct lack of nesting seabirds to keep the interest up, and it was no surprise that we didn’t tally long before heading back to middle class camping land for a spot more running round fields and pond fishing. A campfire added a spark of enthusiasm into the evening, along with the obligatory melting marshmallows and chocolate bananas. Really, we like to make sure we keep on the script in our bourgeois productions.

 Polly was very excited about the tour

 Teamwork unpacking the tour bus

 Polly realises Daddy forgot the tent

 Polly and Persephone working in harmony

 Persephone being just so

 The girls were really impressed by Daddy's fire

 Polly followed Persephone around a lot

 Polly being just so 

Mummy and Polly being just so

And then it was onto a midsummers night’s dream in Banchory. A little early perhaps, but who’s counting. En route we stopped off at Steptoe’s Yard outside Montrose, which if you’re ever passing is well worth a visit. It consists of about 5 acres of the largest stash of every kind of bric-a-brac I have ever seen in my life - a hoarders dream, a minimalists nightmare - much ado about nothing. Persephone and Polly were by now very excited at the prospect of things being just as they like it at Nana and Baba’s house which helped keep everyone amused on the journey – well that and Niomi being sick four times. Then passed five blissful days of sun, castles, gardens, hills, food, horses and the great outdoors. The girls even got a sneaky softplay in, and Mummy and Daddy got a sneak munro bagging. All was good and a standing ovation should be given to Nana and Baba for their hosting of the tour.

 Persephone loves ice cream

 The girls loved getting their hands dirty at the allotment

 Daddy and Polly

 The girls really loved climbing hills

 Polly wondering where the voices were coming from

 Persephone was the star of the show

 For once it was Persephone chasing Polly

 Mummy and Persephone being just so

Persephone

 Posing

 Playing

Everyone loved sliding

Final stop was really all’s well that ends well. We hit our first family festie at the Mhor Festival. With the sun splitting the sky and set in one of the most picturesque of festival locations, this offering to our theatrical tour really hit home and was a resounding success. Most festivals are built round adults with things for the kids added on. The Mhor Festival seemed to be the other way round. And after 2 days of hula workshops, bubble making, bushcraft, disco yoga, fairy teaparties, sliding, dancing and great food. We returned home exhausted.

Persephone and Polly on tour might have been as middle class as it could get, but it was certainly a top class holiday in all our books - we all loved it 😄

Fairy Persephone

 Flying Persephone

 Chillaxing Polly

Videoclip: Mhor Festival

Best Festie view ever???

Sunshine faces...

Sunshine face 1

Everyone has a sunshine face. Just like plants, when the sun is shining we turn our faces to the sun, relax our muscles and soak up the warmth and goodness from the sun’s rays. It's then we feel ready to unfurl our sunshine faces. 

And, after what’s felt like a very very long winter, a few days of constant sun over the bank holiday really brought out the sunshine faces in the Rooke family. For 3 days we lived, played, ate, dug, planted, watered, ran, danced and sung in the garden. We smiled and laughed as we enjoyed the sunshine life. We’d waited far too long in 2018 for Spring to spring, but then it came. And we really made sure we got the most of a marvellous May garden break…

 Sunshine garden 1

Sunshine garden 2

 Sunshine face 2

Sunshine face 3

Warblers, wobblers and wholesome living...

Spring, spring where are you? Does anyone else feel like spring has barely happened this year. It’s really been a long winter and I’m only barely noticing that spring is upon us. That said the world keeps turning and the garden’s coming back to life. The bulbs are flowering and plants are sprouting, even if the sun's not shining to match. An addition to spring this year is Tanya’s new squirrel proof bird feeder (it's rock 'n' roll round here). Filling that with sunflower hearts (top tip for bird attraction) has given us a veritable virtual aviary outside our backdoor. There’s been goldfinches, chaffinches, bullfinches, greenfinches, blue tits, coal tits, thrushes, siskins and collared doves (plus the usual crew you'd expect). It’s been the talking point at every meal as we sit and watch the avian feeding frenzy. And talk about education? Both the kids are now better than us at working out who’s who at the dinner table.

 Glamourous greenfinches

Gorgeous goldfinches

And on from warblers comes wobblers. We’ve had a few of them. Emily is desperate for a wobbly tooth and despite a few false starts is still waiting. It’s not really the tooth wobbling though I suspect, more the tooth fairy visiting that she's waiting for. Niomi’s also had her fair share of wobblers. Of a different variety that is. Threenagers can be tricky, and she’s no exception. We regularly go from moaning, to crying, to pushing her luck, to laughing, to ignoring everyone, all within the space of an hour. It can be really very trying at times. But maybe like spring’s changeable weather, Niomi’s wobblers will just pass. At least we hope so. The final wobbler is more of a wonky-one. We’ve discovered Emily has a wonky thumb and we’ve no idea why. Ever since she discovered ‘thumbs up’ we thought she just wasn’t doing it properly but it turns out her thumb has a cute little kink in it. Baffled the doctors it did, so let’s see what turns up.

Wonky thumb

And then onto wholesome living. Spring is always a time when you feel like you want to come out of hibernation and get on with all those things you’ve been meaning to do for a while and start to feel good about it all again. So we thought it about time to actually fill up the veggie beds I built last year with soil, and get some vegetables on the go. And everyone joined in. Over two days we moved three tons of soil. All the girls did more than their fair share of shovelling, barrowing, raking and labouring; and I was dead proud of them all. So with job done, watch this space for growing updates, and if you plan a visit near our harvest time then we’ll try to share the garden's bounty.

Videoclip: The arrival of soil

Job done

Barrow love