There were three reasons for launching this blog. To document family life, discover the delights of Surrey and showcase some photos. It’s laughable I’ve lived in Surrey since 2010 and seen very little of it. I guess that’s what happens when you have a baby and damage your coccyx so badly you can’t drive. Only to break your wrist when your independence returns.
However, having re-gained mobility and addressed the work/life balance, now it’s the perfect time to explore what’s on our doorstep as a family. Whether it be Surrey Hills, the waterways, homes, gardens, animal attractions or theme parks. It’s amazing being back in the country after twenty years in London.
We’ve already fallen in love with Bocketts Farm and RHS Wisley. Visiting the latter for the first time last month, we vowed to return so POD could see the butterflies at the Glasshouse. A welcome change from the “girrels”, “backbirds” and “peegins” she sees in the garden.
We arrived at RHS Wisley on a beautifully sunny day. There was a queue at the Glasshouse but we joined it unperturbed, initially occupying POD with excitable butterfly speak. We were relieved to arrive at the entrance half an hour later. None more so than The POD Father who spent our wait chasing after a bored
toddler. To then be told “it’s an hour’s wait from here” was a stark reminder that we’d got our timings completely wrong. But it was midday on a Saturday so an epic fail on our part. We had no option but to cut our losses and leave. Butterflies were replaced with playground adventures, jumping in muddy puddles and chatting to ducks so a good time was still had by all.
A few days later we were back. Just shy of the 10am opening time, we hoped for a more leisurely visit. It was a another gorgeous day and RHS Wisley looked stunning. No dilly dallying around though, it was straight to the Glasshouse for us. The ten minute wait saw POD entertain herself by sitting on the floor and returning the butterfly guide we’d just purchased.
What a glorious sight met our eyes when we entered, it was like walking into a tropical paradise. A delicious feast for the eyeballs and a photographer’s dream. There were exotic butterflies everywhere. People stared with their mouths agog whilst simultaneously attempting to de-steam their cameras. It quickly became apparent attempting to take any photos before the camera had aclimatised was a fruitless task. I gave up trying.
POD wandered around pointing saying “buttfly” as if she couldn’t quite believe her eyes. It truly was a spectacular sight.
When the camera returned to life, there was no stopping my quest for the perfect butterfly shot. Their sheer speed made this a huge challenge. And just when you thought you had it, a fellow visitor would appear in the viewfinder. I was keen to get a picture of a huge Blue Morpho but it was too busy enjoying its own airborn party. And whilst I did see a red-bodied Big Billy, it was also too speedy for me.
But I took the most incredible photo of two Owl butterflies. If you’ve not seen it in the slideshow for this post, have a look. It’s stunning.
Once we’d left the hot confines of the Glasshouse, we basked in glorious sunshine, drank hot chocolate and ate cake. POD escaped at one point, sunglasses on head, to have a chat with some nearby ducks. Then we went for a leisurely wander around the gardens taking in everything RHS Wisley had to offer. It really is a wonderful place.
Butterflies at the Glasshouse is on at RHS Wisley until 24 February 2013 – open daily from 10am to 4pm.
It was those #secretthing tweets that got tongues wagging across the blogging community. We didn’t know what was going on but we were promised something epic.
And wasn’t it just! Annie from Mammasaurus, Tanya from Mummy Barrow and Penny from Alexander Residence were only going to Ghana for Comic Relief!!! I’ve no idea how Team Honk managed to keep such a monumental #secretthing secret. I can only presume they had their fingers sellotaped at regular intervals to minimise temptation.
Last Sunday the excited trio set off for Ghana with none other than TV legends Davina McCall and Jonathan Ross. As if flying out to Ghana with Comic Relief wasn’t surreal enough!
The purpose of their trip was to visit projects, live blog, tweet and share the #goodwork Comic Relief has done with some of the £600 million raised since Red Nose Day started in 1988. They visited four projects; a women’s bakery (that recently featured in the Great British Bake Off), a school in a slum area, a vaccination clinic and a mental health project. They did an incredible job in circumstances that must have been so surreal not to mention emotional.
I received this photo from Team Honk today. It was taken at the vaccine clinic where babies and children were receiving the rotavirus inoculation. Here you see the women and children in the weighing area, where the babies and children are weighed and measured before the nurse records it in their child health record books.
This is a digital postcard sent from TeamHonk (www.mammasaurus.co.uk; www.
For the past 25 years the money raised through Red Nose Day has been changing the lives of the poorest and most disadvantaged people in the UK and Africa. Let’s Keep Up the Good Work. Find out how at rednoseday.com
For other digital postcards please do check out the linky on www.teamhonk.org.
There’s nothing like a wake up call that involves having your toothbrush shoved in your mouth followed up with a book in the eye socket. Or a request to touch the ceiling. Or have a “doggert”.
This week POD learnt seagulls don’t frequent Surrey, if you blow a “backbirrrd” from inside the house nothing happens and not all birds are “peegins”. She now knows what tissues are for after responding “in my mouth” when asked where bogeys go. Also “tellytape” is useful sticky stuff that reconstructed a Little Library of Peppa books after it was used as a shoe.
We have a new game. Daddy pretends to be a “bitgarey” by making scary noises and POD runs to Mummy as fast as her little legs will carry her. POD finds this funnier than eating with her fingers, pouring milk on the table or hiding under the bed at bathtime. Even better though is having a “gagganegg” (dragon egg) in the house with a real “gaggan” living in it. This is a failed attempt at stopping POD run off with a breakable stone egg. It’s escalated out of control.
At “dory” time questioning has reached a whole new level:
“Whatsatt?” Igglepiggle’s eye
“Whatsatt?” Igglepiggle’s nose
“Whatsatt?” Igglepiggle’s mouth
Pause…
“Whatsatt?” Igglepiggle’s eyelid
So in a room where POD’s dollies are lined up, stripped and thrown like headed javelins, I am totally being laughed at.
Illustrators I thank you for drawing an animal in the background of a book that could pass as a dog, a goat or a pig. And ladybirds that woof, what were you thinking? You’re not helping me here. Especially when a few pages later you refer to said ladybird as a ‘sheep ladybird’. How on earth am I supposed to explain that one?
POD continues to say “hello man” to everyone regardless of their sex. If you’re lucky enough to be at our house for three hours, the greeting will continue the entire time. Perhaps ‘Mr BT Man’ you should have introduced yourself by name like the vacuum cleaner repair chap did. At least POD then alternated between saying “hello man” and “hello floor”. His name was Phil.
To be fair Phil was thankful for his life after POD turned the vacuum cleaner on when he was mid-way through dismantling it. Never have I seen two adults and one toddler move so fast. Mind you who leaves an appliance plugged in? Oh yes I do. Nothing like blending blueberries and forgetting to put the lid on the blender. The result? Blueberry goo splattered across two walls and the ceiling just after it had been painted.
POD’s other new phrases this week include “I be sad”, “I be naughty” and “too boring” – the latter seemingly about the “bugby”. And the best new phrase of the week?
“Whosiss?”
This post is for “Wot So Funee?”. Head over to Actually Mummy to join in too.
Falling pregnant is a funny old process. For some it happens in no time. For others it doesn’t. We were the latter. The day I discovered I was pregnant I felt really strange. Maybe I knew subconsciously. Something made me buy a pregnancy test in the chemist that Saturday. It’s not the same as grabbing a Diet Coke and a Twirl is it?
The Thursday prior I’d been on one of the biggest benders of my life. It was a marketing industry shindig but with people I, for the most part, knew very well. I have a vague recollection of discussing pant styles. I drank champagne, I drank wine, I drank shots. Lots of them. The following day I vowed never to drink alcohol again.
On the Saturday morning, after discounting the possibility of a two-day hangover, I bumbled off to the chemist to buy I can’t remember what. It wasn’t a pregnancy test but somehow it seemed right to buy one. We were trying after all. I didn’t tell The POD Father I’d got one as I didn’t want to build up his excitement only to crush the dream a few minutes later. So I peed on the stick and left it do its stuff by myself in the confines of the bathroom. I expected the result to be negative so when I saw it was positive my immediate reaction was to swear. A lot. Aside from that I was completely speechless. So much so when I passed the stick to The POD Father I couldn’t speak. I also forgot I hadn’t actually told him I’d bought a pregnancy test. Never did a look speak a thousand words.
We had a tennis court booked so we decided we’d still go and have a game. What followed was the most appalling game of tennis you’ve ever seen. To be fair it wasn’t even a game. Neither of us could hit the ball and we giggled like a couple of teenagers. We’d been having lessons locally and our coach, playing nearby, thought we’d completely lost our marbles. We didn’t mind we were very happy bunnies.
That feeling of total and utter joy was replaced with extreme worry two days later. In hospital the words ‘miscarriage’ and ‘eptopic’ were bandied around. It wasn’t looking good. I was also nearly forty and therefore classified as an ‘mature mother’.
We had our first scan at five weeks and saw the amniotic sac. At eight weeks there was a fetal pole (two of The POD Father’s favourite words ever) and amazingly a heartbeat. It was an incredible moment even though what we saw was so tiny.
At twelve weeks we saw POD looking like a baby for the first time. She was nicknamed ‘baby Jesus’ because of her Christmas Day due date and I was convinced she was a boy. We declined the downs test as it was invasive and there was a risk of miscarriage. We’d had enough scares. During the twenty week scan, I was so nervous I thought I might vomit. Even presenting to 100 people, I’d never experienced that level of nervousness before. It was off the scale.
The nerves were due to an underlying fear of pregnancy. I was diagnosed with epilepsy in 1983. Whilst I’ve been fit free since 1996, it’s widely documented anti-epileptic drugs (AED’s) can cause a multitude of complications in pregnancy. These can include facial deformities, spina bifida and heart defects. For this reason, I was prescribed with horse-like quantities of folic acid which I started taking several months before falling pregnant.
We had scans on a regular basis throughout my pregnancy. Whilst all parents have that indescribable bond with their offspring, I feel blessed that this journey began before POD even had a heartbeat. She made her appearance on Christmas Day 2010 after a 47 hour labour. And with all her bits and bobs.
Nothing comes close to the bond I have with POD and equally the bond The POD Father has with her.
The theme for The Gallery this week is “Bond”. To find out more, please visit Sticky Fingers.
What is it about watching piggies race? Whatever the weather the prospect of witnessing them hurtle round competing against each other always generates a smile. Coupled with hearing POD shout “piiiiiigs” at the top of her two-year-old lungs.
Welcome to Bocketts Farm, the home of pig racing.
We discovered it initially when I was on maternity leave in 2011. Located near Leatherhead in Surrey it’s a working farm that enables you to get up close and personal with the animals. Having taken the obligatory antihistamines to ensure I didn’t feel like 84 cats had rampaged my nose, POD and I arrived at Bocketts Farm. Unusually there were just a few cars in the car park. POD looked at me as if she’d been sent to Iceland (the country not the supermarket). She quickly became accustomed to the freezing conditions by refusing to wear her monkey gloves or hat.
I’d brought POD here because some piglets had been born a couple of days earlier. POD hadn’t seen piglets before so I was looking forward to her face brimming with excitement when she saw them. She’d be thrilled.
POD shouted “I see ducks” (they were geese) near the entrance so she spent a few minutes saying “hello” and waving at them. Her knowledge of how to forge relationships with geese is somewhat limited. As is mine.
At the entrance we loaded ourselves up with some animal fodder. POD had previously been too afraid to feed the animals but she came close when we visited last time. Worse case scenario she could just watch them slobber all over mummy.
First we hit ‘Little Hoppington’ which is a small animal village and home to goat milking. It’s also where various rabbits and guinea pigs are located. Each has its own house so it’s reminiscent of an animal Monopoly board. This is where I re-live my childhood dream of wanting a lop eared rabbit.
The rabbit request came after the Wombles scaring. The lady that lived in the house my parents bought told me the Wombles lived in an oak tree in the garden. There was a huge hole at the bottom of the tree and I spent much time poking a stick in it calling for Orinoco. I was only five. I didn’t know Wombles weren’t real.
POD thought the “babbits” were amazing until they hopped at which point she kept her distance. Little Hoppington was also home to a number of other small animals like chickens and mice amongst others. We also saw some budgies. Utterly amazed, POD spent a few minutes shouting “chicken” and “bird” before staring at another unidentified animal racing around its cage.
It was a promising start. POD was out of her buggy and raring to go. Until she saw a horse which scared the living daylights out of her. We quickly scurried to The Big Animal Barn spotting more geese (ducks) on the way in. Here we were totally spoilt. There were sheep, lambs, donkeys, goats, kids (as in baby goats), cows, calves and alpacas. Not forgetting a huge mummy pig and all her gorgeous little piglets.
The conditions were close to arctic at this point. We had made progress, POD did have her hat on even if the monkey gloves weren’t getting a look in. Having not warmed to the animals initially, POD loved watching the alpacas, goats and sheep eat from mummy’s hand. She came close to giving the goats some food herself, just getting a bit spooked when she held out her hand. Having shown POD the cows and the donkeys as well we headed over to see the piggies.
Just as we were about to see the mummy pig and her piglets, the sheep starting bleeting. POD’s not heard sheep bleet before so the noise took her by surprise. Once over the shock, we spent some time looking at the mummy pig and the piglets that were all huddled together. After patiently waiting, one of the piglets finally left the group in the hunt for milk. It took a few minutes to find a teat he could get a grip on but when he did there was no stopping him. There was then this amazing scene like a piggy free for all whereby all the piglets were clambering over each other trying to get to a teat. Lots of peeing followed accompanied by POD’s commentary “pig boob” and “pig go wee wee”.
Aside from the wobble, POD had a great time in The Big Animal Barn despite it being incredibly chilly. It wasn’t the day for revisiting the play areas and adventure trails. We did get so see the pigs race albeit from a distance and POD greeted the all the ponies with “hello horse”.
Before we left we paid a visit to the Old Barn Tearooms where we had some lunch and checked we still had all our toes. We had to make a move when POD started rocking back and forth in her highchair. The area is great in the summer as there’s a large outdoor space and wooden play area. Anywhere that allows POD to be free and show off her climbing skills gets our vote. Bocketts Farm is a truly wonderful place though whatever the weather. More information about what’s on there can be found here.
Bocketts Farm Park Young Street Fetcham Leatherhead Surrey KT22 9BS 01372 363764 info@bockettsfarm.co.uk www.bockettsfarm.co.uk
Colourful star stickers lie dormant in the bathroom cupboard. Located there since POD uttered the words “wee wee”, they are to be given out as a reward for using the potty. Only one has been issued so far. For not severing a finger in the nail cutting process.
Despite calling Granddad Dove “Ga Gam”, POD’s vocabulary is coming on leaps and bounds. As has her understanding of what certain words mean. We’ve established Mummy, Daddy and POD have elbows, backs and belly buttons. On some days we also have eyebrows and foreheads. There is some confusion however surrounding the little hip mole that POD and Mummy share but Daddy doesn’t.
Aside from the obligatory “no”, POD’s most favoured words are “Bellyolly” (Ben and Holly), “weetch” (Room on the Broom) and “barnya” (banana). POD loves bananas even more than “soomas” (satsumas).
Other classics include calling her muzza (muslin) “Noony” and repeatedly saying “Mummy boooob”. Seemingly I just have the one. If you’re in a shop, she likes to yell “Hello man” at the top of her voice. It’s particularly effective in gaining unwanted attention on the “I look like a yeti” days.
If you ask her, POD knows where her bottom is although its exact whereabouts appear vague. She knows Sudocrem doesn’t go on your bottom when you’re still clothed.
POD has realised saying “I need wee wee”(or even better “I need poo”) is the most effective way to achieve freedom super-fast. It’s the best game going. The landing then becomes a speedway for our naked bottom warrior. Once confined to the bathroom playground, on offer is modelling the potty as a hat, filling it with bath creatures or using it as a ship. Sometimes it will be used as a step. Handy when unraveling toilet roll and tearing it up into little pieces. A superb game when Mummy is in the shower with shampoo on her head.
POD asks “Whatsatt?” and points at every available opportunity. A light switch, the stair gate and a radiator dryer all got the pointy finger treatment earlier. As did the poople on the bathroom floor the day before. Hers not mine. We also hear “what’s happening” when something is not quite right. Like the duck that fills itself with water and capsizes in the bath. I ask myself the same question. Ducks are supposed to float aren’t they?
This is our toddler POD. She’s two. She shares her birthday with Jesus.
If you want to get involved with Wot So Funee?, you can read all about it at Actually Mummy.
When I was asked ‘”Do you know Alice Holt?” I honestly thought she was a person. An elegant middle class lady who lived on a farm and was into pottery.
Or a more likely scenario, it was someone I’d met in a baby massage group. POD loved those sessions. Quite possibly because taking her nappy off created an instant wee fountain and subsequently much hilarity.
I would remember anyone called Alice. This being the name my parents were going to give me until they realised Miss A Cornes (yes acorns) really didn’t work. Charlotte was a much better option. The name proved especially popular in the eighties thanks to an Iron Maiden song featuring the name in its title.
Does anyone remember ‘Charlotte the Harlot’!?
Well as it turns out Alice Holt is not a person but a forest. A huge ancient forest that used to supply timber to the navy. It’s a beautiful woodland setting and a great place for outdoor activities. POD made a beeline for a wooden play area when we arrived.
At this juncture, it’s worth pointing out she’s a climber and she has No Fear. She’d dive head first off a table given the opportunity. Add to this a coat better suited to a child double her age (bought in the sale), some over-sized wellies and hey presto we’re onto a winner.
POD bounded off in a way only a two-year-old can. Clambering up giant steps, she was off while I desperately clung to her hand. Except it wasn’t her hand. Or her arm. It was an empty sleeve. Then we lost a welly. Then we slid on some ice. We were on the cusp of disaster so we left the play area to see what else Alice Holt had in store.
I’d recently promised POD she could jump in puddles if she had wellies on. Only to discover when we were in a muddy wood that they were too small. Cue massive tantrum and buggy style back arching. Today was different. POD had new wellies and there were puddles. Little puddles and great big muddy bogs. I’m not sure what possessed me to put POD in a dress that day. A cream dress and puddles. Gold star to mummy.
We were so keen to get going when we arrived at Alice Holt, we just started walking rather than planning a specific route or picking up a map. To be honest that’s how we like it. The POD Father in particular is not one to
ask for directions.
POD herself likes to follow her own path. After all we spent 9 months thinking she was a boy and with her due date being Christmas Day, were equally as surprised as the midwife as it happens, that “baby Jesus” turned out to be a beautiful baby girl.
Everyone at Alice Holt had a dog. We all love dogs. One day we will crumble and buy one especially now we’re 
working from home. POD adores dogs from afar. Get close and the confident toddler clings to you like a little monkey. Throughout our stay at Alice Holt, every time POD saw a dog she pointed and shouted ‘Dog’ at the top of her voice. Dogs are far more exciting to POD than ‘Cats’ or ‘Babits’.
We stayed at Alice Holt less than two hours as it was so cold but it was simply stunning. There is an incredible amount to do there whether it be walking, exploring and cycling if like me you didn’t batter your coccyx in labour. There are also play areas, a popular Habitat Trail, Go Ape and nordic walking.
For children Alice Holt boasts a wide range of children’s holiday activities such as den building, pond dipping 
and woodland craft sessions. Sessions for mums and toddlers are also available during term time.
New is seeing Poppy every day.
New is founding a business. And launching a blog.
New is achieving a better work/life balance.
