Took the kids mudlarking on the shores of the Thames, just under the Millenium Bridge. Found old clay pipes and oyster shells. Very thrilling.
This is the just launched second book in our Adventure Walks series. Writing this, we pounded the streets of London to gather together as many secret places and diverting things for families to do in London. We unearthed what the Romans did for London, ate buns with Paddington in Portobello, chopped off Heads with the Tudors and chased Oliver Twist round murky alleyways and walked in the footsteps of Kings and Queens.
We all trooped up to Coram's Fields on one of the hottest Saturdays so far this year, to enjoy an old-fashioned street party, complete with over 400 cup cakes, 200 cups of tea, oodles of wobbly jelly and scores of children. Thanks to all our lovely friends and family who came along to join it. We played hopscotch, French elastic and a grand tug of war.
In this wet and blustery weather we are missing the Indian summer that was all too fleeting. We managed to squeeze in a few walks with the children this autumn. Particularly good ones for blackberrries and hip gathering are Chapter 9, Flopsy, Mopsy, Cottontail and Peter - aka the Beatrix Potter walk, just up the A1(M) in Her tfordshire. For a sheltered walk as the weather gets rough, head for the woods in Christmas Common, Oxfordshire or, nearer to London, pop over to Epping Forest and explore the iron age fort under the shelter of ancient beech forest.
WALK OF THE MONTH
Inspire your children to be amateur biologists and pick up a copy of Adventure Walks for Families www.adventurewalksforfamilies.co.uk. Look at Chapter 19, Survival of the Fittest, where we have a ramble in the Kent countryside thorough the fields where Darwin created some of the first experiments on Natural Selection. The house is stuffed with birds, shells, bones and insects. It is an Natural History wonderland. Darwin's love of nature was infectious and he involved his children with his love of nature whenever he could.
When in London, head off to the exciting new Darwin exhibition at the Natural History Museum http://www.nhm.ac.uk/visit-us/whats-on/darwin/.
ADVENTURE WALKS FOR FAMILIES EVENTS
We've been busy running workshops and events at the Wimbledon Children's Book Festival and Borders Islington.
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Journalist Becky Jones and Clare Lewis have created a series of imaginative story-led walks in the countryside driven by an urge to get their six children (between them) out walking in the wild.
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