The enchanted forest

A few weeks back we visited Groombridge Place, also know as the Enchanted Forest. What a magical day we had!

It is such an amazing place to visit, especially with kids, both mine loved running around and discovering what new surprises were lurking around every corner. We started off by visiting the beautifull gardens where we admired all the pretty flowers and plants. The kids had loads of fun hiding behind big hedges and then jumping out to scare us, we did pretend they managed to do so of course, even with all the "warning" giggles coming from behind every hedge.

We also found the secret garden where we looked for fairies, but sadly we found none. Nevertheless it was a very pretty place.

As we continued walking the gardens we came across a giant chess board where we stopped to have a little game. The was definitely a lot of fun. Dylan even asked if we can have one of these in our garden! Hmm, maybe a miniature version...

After we explored the remaining gardens we got on a canal boat which took us to the other part of the forest. It was so much fun and really relaxing, even if Emily had a bit of a freak out because of a spider being too near to her seat! 

Once we got off the boat the kids ran straight to the play park where we let them play for a bit, but not too long because we had much more exploring to do. Everything was really mystical on our walk around the forest and there were so many interesting things to see.

At one point we stumbled into a teepee village where both my kids quickly got a makeover. Dylan turned into an Indian warrior and Emily into an Indian princess.

My absolutely favourite part of the whole day were the giant tree swings and we spend so much time there, trying out all of them, each swing taking us higher into the treetops. The feeling was magical! Simon, Dylan and I couldn't get enough, Emily on the other hand wasn't too sure, she was much more at ease at the kiddy swings further down the path. In her defence, these swings did go up quite high as the trees were on a slope, so when you were up, you really were UP!

It really was an amazing day and I can't wait to go back. I'm thinking autumn might be the perfect time for another visit.