When my son got back from his school residential last week it was clear that he was absolutely shattered. We were meant to be joining a photo walk at Stowe on the Saturday morning, but I took one look at him on the Friday afternoon, and just knew that that wasn’t a good idea. He needed a chill out day, recharging his batteries at home and that’s exactly what we did. Come Sunday though and we all needed a change of scenery and my son decided to take some added entertainment with him. So that’s how we ended up at Stowe getting some fresh air and a word search book joined us for our adventure.
We visit Stowe regularly, as you all know, it’s our happy place, somewhere we can just let off steam, walk, run, pick up sticks and just marvel at the beauty of the place. My son hadn’t actually been too keen to leave the house on this particular afternoon, but his father and I were insistent that we needed to get outdoors, if only for a short walk. So one rather unimpressed nine-year old was frogmarched to the car, along with his word search book. You see, even an outdoors child has his off days. Although to be frank, he may protest at the idea of leaving home, but within seconds of getting out of the car he’s a totally different child and his moaning is soon forgotten. This afternoon, was just the same, although I was interested to see how he was going to complete a word search whilst walking.
He advised us that he’d be stopping at every bench to find a new word. There are a lot of benches at Stowe and we suggested that he might need to revise his idea or our walk could take a lot longer than we’d planned.
He was soon finding different ideas for places to stop and I was enjoying the idea of getting fresh air and a word search challenge thrown in for good measure.
With a reluctant reader, I’ll take any opportunity to get him reading, and his word search bug seems to be back again.
We know Stowe so well that my son always decides on a route and looks at his favourite points of interest as we walk. There’s always something new to talk about, and visiting the same place through the seasons, we get to see how the landscape changes.
It was lovely to see my son run from one resting place to the next.
Finding the next word in his puzzle before heading off again.
There’s always time to stop on his favourite bridge for a bit of troll spotting, damn elusive these trolls you know. We’ve not seen one in all the years we’ve walked over that bridge.
As well as a favourite bridge, my son has a favourite tree at Stowe. On most visits we stop and take a photo of him in this tree, I’ve got a few of them in my living room as canvas prints. It’s the one place I’m almost always guaranteed to have a willing subject for my camera. He looks so grown up in this shot.
Fresh air and a word search whilst enjoying the scenery at Stowe was the perfect way to end a busy week for my son. Someone he knows well and can just relax in.
Whilst we all got to enjoy the views we love. It might look really sunny, but trust me, the wind was rather chilly.
There was time for one final stop to complete his word search before we headed home.
We’d all got the fresh air we’d needed and my son enjoyed an activity that he doesn’t associate as reading. It was a win win scenario!
Do your children like word search puzzles too?
Looks like a lovely day out, and yes, my two love word searches! x
It’s our favourite local spot for sure.
What a good idea and a lovely place to be so familiar with. I feel a bit bad that I lived in Stoney Stratford for 4 years I think I only visited Stowe once! #countrykids
I’ve lived in this area for a very long time and had never been to Stowe until about 11 years ago, made up for it since though!
Sounds like a perfect day. My eldest is also 9 and enjoys a good wordsearch. This is a great little activity! #countrykids
It was lovely, thank you
I love how your son managed to combine doing his wordsearch with a day outdoors. Stowe is such a beautiful place to visit and it’s lovely to visit the same place throughout the year and see how it changes. We always like troll spotting when crossing a bridge too. I love how your son has a favourite tree at Stowe as well as a favourite bridge. Thank you for sharing with #CountryKids.
It’s a very special place
My older two (now 12 and 10) love word searches, but they’ve never taken them outdoors on a walk! Stowe does look lovely, and it’s so cool that your son feels at home there, because he knows it so well.
#CountryKids
It was a new one on me too to be honest!