Fairy Hunting at Biddulph Grange Garden

"Up  the airy mountain,
        Down the rushy glen,
    We daren't go a-hunting
        For fear of little men;
    Wee folk, good folk,
        Trooping all together;
    Green jacket, red cap,
        And a white owl's feather!"

 ~ From 'The Fairies' by William Allingham 

My mother-in-law rang us this morning to tell us that she had seen that Biddulph Grange Garden was having a fairy hunting weekend and would we like to go. Well I have two little girls who love fairies and dressing up and the opportunity for them to wear a fairy costume in  public and hunt fairies in a beautiful garden was too good to pass up. We all had a lovely time when we went to the garden a few weeks ago and we knew Tom wouldn't mind the fairy theme. With two sisters he's learnt to ignore things that don't interest him!

It wasn't the warmest of days and we did have to shelter from a rain shower at one point, but we had a really lovely afternoon. Lily and Emma looked so sweet running around in their fairy costumes, though Emma had the sense to wear a coat over hers. I've come to the conclusion that Lily is immune to the cold as she will remove all outer layers in any but the coldest conditions. They had fun hunting for fairies and even Tom got quite interested in finding them.

The Podlings each got to pick a lollipop for finding the fairies (Lily had the prettiest lollipop I have ever seen. It was pink and white with a pink heart in the middle and a circle of  roses around it...I would have said it was too pretty to eat, but Lily obviously didn't!). We finished off a lovely afternoon with fish and chips for tea, so I didn't even have to cook today. It was a wonderful afternoon and we all had a lovely time.

Fairy Lily watching the fish 

Nanna, Grandad and Emma watching the adorable Moorhen chicks that were walking on the water lilies 

Emma pointing out the chicks to Grandad 

Lily the tree fairy 

I love this photo of Tom. He is growing up so fast!

Lily finds a fairy in the garden 

 

The Podlings find a fairy in the woods 

Lily helping Emma over the stepping 'stones' in the wood 

 After an afternoon of running around, Emma finally started to tire at the end of our visit and wanted to be carried. She started to get a little tetchy at this point.

Trying to persuade Emma to cheer up, little did I realise that the perfect solution lay just at the end of this path... 

Just like her mummy, Emma thinks there is nothing like a new book to lift your mood! There was a small room that had been set up as a second-hand book shop with bookshelves and an honesty box. The children's books were only 50p, and we were able to pick up four lovely titles for our home library. In addition to the book that Emma is holding (she read it all the way home!), I also picked up two lovely bible story books and (my favourite find) a really charming children's book of Saints that I'm sure will be read and loved for many years to come. Not bad for a total of £2! A beautiful garden, time with my family and new books...pretty much a perfect afternoon I would say!

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