Author: Cat Hooper
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Empire Flag Day – Beamish Museum
The sky was blue and the sun was shining as we set off early to Beamish Museum last Sunday. It’s been a few years since we have been to the attraction and I have been watching with interest to their Facebook page updates including the development of the chemist shop, bakery, and photography shop at…
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Pikku Gosforth
On Thursday last week, I sacked off the housework (like I need an excuse?) and had a lovely morning unleashing my inner Vidal Sassoon at a hair plaiting and curling lesson at Pikku Gosforth. Pikku Gosforth Pikku spans two floors. The downstairs contains the children’s clothing boutique, which stocks cool Scandinavian and continental brands and upstairs you…
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On the Tesco Farm to Fork trail
As a Guide leader I am always looking for interesting activities for the girls to take part in and if it’s free and someone else organises it for me it that’s a huge bonus! The Tesco Farm to Fork trail has been mentioned quite a bit on various guiding Facebook pages and has been met…
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Discovery Museum – Newcastle upon Tyne
Sometimes the best laid plans are destined to go to pot and our planned Bank Holiday trip to the Lakes camping was just not meant to be! Thursday started off inconsequential. A sweaty 5k run around Great Park with my ‘This Girl can Run’ group followed by a visit from my friend and hairdresser Jacqueline…
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Broom House Farm-County Durham
Last December, we had the unusual situation of being child free with a tank of petrol that needed using up. Early the next day the scrap man was coming to take our trusty 10 year old Renault Scenic to car heaven. We decided to head south to County Durham through Stanley (stopping at the clearance…
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Stick Man trail – Hamsterley Forest – County Durham
After reading the fantastic review from ‘north east family fun‘ a while back, the Stick Man trail at Hamsterley Forest was high on our list of things to do with the girls. We love a good trail and nothing motivates the girls more than the sense of achievement from completing a worksheet! The girls are…
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The Banks of the Tyne – Treasure Trail
Mid-way through the school Easter holidays we welcomed our friends The Speeds (Chris, Jaime, Mollie and Emily) from their home in Great Yarmouth. Quite a few of our recent blog posts will feature them. Treasure Trails On their second full day, there was a break from the rain and we decided to go on…
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Wyevale Garden Centre – Spring Week – Enchanted Mini Garden
The Hoopers do love a run out to the garden centre and the Wyevale Gosforth centre is one we often pop to as its only a couple of miles away from our home. A trip here fills a couple of hours in on a rainy day and although we aren’t huge gardeners (our AstroTurf lawn…
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The Storyteller – Northern Stage
The Storyteller is a local guy called Chris Bostock. He is familiar to most of the children in the Newcastle area due to the fact he regularly performs in workshops for local schools and community groups. The girls and I had been to a storytelling workshop at our county Thinking Day event for Girl Guiding last February…
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Wallington Hall – Cadbury’s Easter Egg Hunt
On the first bank holiday of 2016, Good Friday, we loaded the car up with the picnic rug, a cobbled together picnic of miscellaneous items and clothing for every season. The weather forecast was good and the girls insisted I go through the drawers looking for last years sunglasses but in reality it was definitely…