International Blog Swap Day 2014

Good Morning

Today I would like to introduce you to Mary.  Mary is my partner for International Blog Swap Day 2014 and she is from Oxfordshire in England.  Mary loves to get out and about discovering new places and wonderful things with her husband & gorgeous son.  She has had some wonderful adventures and met some lovely people.  Without giving too much away, I'll hand you over to her and she can fill you in.. 

I'm Mary, an older Mum of a 4 year old Monkey son and I blog over at  Over 40 and a Mum to One about our adventures.  We love nature and getting out and about, visiting family in Spain and reviewing anything from books to bug hotels for the garden.  I started my blog last February and am loving every minute of it. We've been given some great opportunities and have met some wonderful people. Monkey's highlight was probably meeting Postman Pat earlier this year, but I think mine was getting to meet a great group of blogging friends for the first time last year.

We love exploring new places and seeing my son's reaction to different things. Living in Oxfordshire we are well placed in England, to explore a number of counties within a few hours drive. 

I thought I'd share our recent trip to Snowshill Manor we made in April.  We've recently rejoined the National Trust, which gives us access to some wonderful old properties and gardens across the country.  Snowshill Manor is a lovely old Manor House set in the Gloucestershire countryside.  The house itself is crammed full of the previous owner's eclectic collections.  You can't use flash photography and most of the rooms were quite dark, so I didn't get to take many photographs inside.  The grounds though were a different thing all together.  Lots to keep a snappy photographer happy!

What I love about the National Trust these days is that they involve the children so much more than when I was a kid.  I remember being dragged around countless properties as a child with my brother.  Bored, bored, bored.  But nowadays everything is so much more interactive.  Snowshill Manor had a Paws and Poo trail for the children with a fact sheet.  You can imagine how much a 4 year old Monkey enjoyed looking for poo (not real I hasten to add)!!  But it kept him entertained.  There was lots to discuss; we talked about which animal had which paw mark and the difference in sizes of paws and poo relative to the size of the animal.  Where did the animals live? What did they eat?  It was actually very educational.

We marveled at the Dovecote and it's many residents.  Although we all agree that we wouldn't fancy the job of cleaning the inside out!  The gardens were brimming with flowers and Monkey and his Dad really enjoyed looking at the great wooden Soldiers Windmill.

We spent a lovely, sunny Sunday afternoon at Snowshill Manor, if you ever plan a visit to the UK, it's well worth checking out the National Trust website as there are some stunning places to visit.

You will also find Mary here:

Blogging at   www.over40andamumtoone.com
(formerly www.over40andamumtoone.wordpress.com)

Tweeting at   @minnowmep
Google+       Over 40 and a Mum to One
Facebook     over40andamumtoonePinterest      http://pinterest.com/minnowmep
Instagram     over40andamumtoone

#IBSD14