Visit Norfolk 2: Even more Ouse Fest
And so Ouse Fest has finished for this year but not before we went two more local events: Mepal Outdoor Centre Family Fun Day and Denver Sluice Fun Day.
Mepal Fun Day
With oddly hot/cold weather the family fun day started for us with a picnic whilst looking at some crazy kids doing the high ropes. Our oldest was too young to have a go at this but did instead sign up for the Trust Trail which involved a hard hat, a blind fold and a trail of obstacles. Two dirty knees later and a trek through the woods, she had a sense of satisfaction having crawled through tiny spaces following a rope wire around the assault course.
For our youngest, who was too young for almost everything, the bouncy castle was his favourite activity and because it wasn't hugely busy when we got to it, he was able to spend a good while bouncing about. He did listen to some of the storytelling and watched the Morris Dancing but as an active young man he found it hard to keep still which meant he kept his Daddy on the go too! Later we completed the RSPB treasure hunt finding a long twig, a Bee going about his business and some birdsong - rather tricky on quite a noisy site! It was good fun hunting about and the children were rewarded with a Lapwing badge for completing it.
We tried almost all the indoor events starting with stroking a beautiful but petite Barn Owl (who knew they are so small under all those feathers?) and then dissecting an owl pellett (slightly wiffy). This was a firm favourite with our daughter who found plenty of animal bones and two skulls. To my horror, she asked for one to take home but at the time of writing, has forgotten about dissecting it - phew!
We spent some time creating mosaic coasters with Carolyn Ash who had some beautiful creations on show for inspiration, even I had a go at this and it inspired us to do more mosaics when we got home - photos coming soon!
These are the ones we produced on the day - mine sort of river/water inspired whilst my Daughter's is an owl face.
The entire event was free which meant we could try more activities than we might have done if we'd had to pay for each activity individually. There were also more things to see and do but we had run out of time and energy after a very busy afternoon.
Denver Sluice
Denver Sluice is about 5 minutes from where we live but I had not realised its importance until our visit. 'Sluice' doesn't really sound like a glamorous word, so I think you'd be forgiven if you've never given a sluice a second thought. But actually Denver Sluice is the reason that many parts of this area are not under water, so it does a very important job.
The highlight of the day was the speedboat trip along the river although with a wriggly little boy, we decided not to queue up and I left Daddy and daughter queuing for their ride. I am reliably informed that it was more than worth the wait and 'it went super fast and had really comfy seats'. The guys running the boat trips were hugely generous with their time - busy all day and running trips past 4pm until everyone who wanted one had had a go.
Again we spent some time finding out about the local countryside with more focus on the river, in particular the pests and problems that threaten our waterways - I for one will be eating more Crayfish! We learnt some information about birds with the Norfolk Wildlife Trust and I finally saw the Eel Installation which I had missed elsewhere.
Again it was a fun day out, with inspiration from the Environment Agency who appear to do a wide variety of different jobs. We only did a small fraction of the events on offer as part of Ouse Fest but enjoyed everything we went to and have a greater appreciation for the area we live in - thanks to everyone involved.
Mepal Fun Day
With oddly hot/cold weather the family fun day started for us with a picnic whilst looking at some crazy kids doing the high ropes. Our oldest was too young to have a go at this but did instead sign up for the Trust Trail which involved a hard hat, a blind fold and a trail of obstacles. Two dirty knees later and a trek through the woods, she had a sense of satisfaction having crawled through tiny spaces following a rope wire around the assault course.
For our youngest, who was too young for almost everything, the bouncy castle was his favourite activity and because it wasn't hugely busy when we got to it, he was able to spend a good while bouncing about. He did listen to some of the storytelling and watched the Morris Dancing but as an active young man he found it hard to keep still which meant he kept his Daddy on the go too! Later we completed the RSPB treasure hunt finding a long twig, a Bee going about his business and some birdsong - rather tricky on quite a noisy site! It was good fun hunting about and the children were rewarded with a Lapwing badge for completing it.
We tried almost all the indoor events starting with stroking a beautiful but petite Barn Owl (who knew they are so small under all those feathers?) and then dissecting an owl pellett (slightly wiffy). This was a firm favourite with our daughter who found plenty of animal bones and two skulls. To my horror, she asked for one to take home but at the time of writing, has forgotten about dissecting it - phew!
We spent some time creating mosaic coasters with Carolyn Ash who had some beautiful creations on show for inspiration, even I had a go at this and it inspired us to do more mosaics when we got home - photos coming soon!
These are the ones we produced on the day - mine sort of river/water inspired whilst my Daughter's is an owl face.
The entire event was free which meant we could try more activities than we might have done if we'd had to pay for each activity individually. There were also more things to see and do but we had run out of time and energy after a very busy afternoon.
Denver Sluice
Denver Sluice is about 5 minutes from where we live but I had not realised its importance until our visit. 'Sluice' doesn't really sound like a glamorous word, so I think you'd be forgiven if you've never given a sluice a second thought. But actually Denver Sluice is the reason that many parts of this area are not under water, so it does a very important job.
The highlight of the day was the speedboat trip along the river although with a wriggly little boy, we decided not to queue up and I left Daddy and daughter queuing for their ride. I am reliably informed that it was more than worth the wait and 'it went super fast and had really comfy seats'. The guys running the boat trips were hugely generous with their time - busy all day and running trips past 4pm until everyone who wanted one had had a go.
Again we spent some time finding out about the local countryside with more focus on the river, in particular the pests and problems that threaten our waterways - I for one will be eating more Crayfish! We learnt some information about birds with the Norfolk Wildlife Trust and I finally saw the Eel Installation which I had missed elsewhere.
Again it was a fun day out, with inspiration from the Environment Agency who appear to do a wide variety of different jobs. We only did a small fraction of the events on offer as part of Ouse Fest but enjoyed everything we went to and have a greater appreciation for the area we live in - thanks to everyone involved.
.JPG)
Comments
Post a Comment