Bank Holdiay Monday

We took the children down to Muncaster Castle for the day today. The weather was lovely, and we were almost organised, so we got out of the house just before noon. Once we got there, Chrissy checked out an electric buggy to save her legs, and we started off with a picnic lunch on the lawns, then decided that we would head up to the bluebell woods, come back via the wildflower meadow then finish with the owl center.
The bluebell woods were gorgeous - if there was another plant there other than the bluebells and the trees it was completely hidden. I always thought it was a cliche, but the wood was genuinly carpetted with bluebells. The children liked it too, and Chrissy got a bonus adventure out of driving the electric buggy back along a path that was definately not disabled-accessible!


After that, we did the Meadowvole Maze, then headed back for the owls. By this time, I was pretty exhausted, so we stopped at the stableyard for a short break. Chrissy and the children went round the shops while I had a rest (and a slice of cake) to restore my flagging energy.


After that, I took the children around the owls while Chrissy took a look at the garden center, a division of labour that made everyone happy. David was very enthusiastic - "look Daddy, another owl!" especially after we ran into one of the staff who was going round with a bucket of mice and a bucket of chicks, loading up the feeding areas in each cage. After I had told David what was going at each cage for a while ("The man is putting food in the aviaries for the owls."), David went up to him at the next cage and said "Man, what are you doing?"
For the most part, the owls don't feed immediatly, prefering to wait until they are unobserved, but in the hawk owl aviary, the two adults have just raised six chicks and none of them were willing to wait, so the children got a wonderful view of the two adults divvying up the chicks, and in one case, dismembering it and feeding it to one of the fledgling.

All in all, it was a great family day out.