09/18

Snowshill Manor - National Trust

Family with two boys and grandparents visiting Snowshill Manor & Gardens, Gloucestershire, wearing Bobo Choses and Bobux

Last Autumn, we visited Snowshill Manor & Gardens, on a collaboration with Little Green Radicals and looking back at the post is making me cry all the ugly tears. Both boys still hold their baby faces, the virgin hair we were so hesitant to cut, Jesse is barely walking and only a year on I love seeing how much they've both grown, how their relationship has solidified and how wonderful a gift two brothers can be to one another (though it looks as if we're still dead against haircuts).

Family with two boys and grandparents visiting Snowshill Manor & Gardens, Gloucestershire, wearing Bobo Choses and Bobux, viewing Charles Wade miniature village and soldier windmill collection

One of the main reasons I wanted to return to Snowshill in warmer weather was so we could visit Wolf’s Cove, the miniature village that Charles Wade designed; it's only on display during Summer and taken inside each Winter to prevent any damage. It was easily the highlight of our visit and so lovely that the National Trust are taking their time to restore it to it's former glory; the next phase will include a fully operational railway and canal system, which will be incredible to witness, especially for the little ones (ok, us big ones too - is anyone else a sucker for anything miniature?).

With Martin starting a new job, further away and with longer hours, and Archie beginning school all in the same month, things have been feeling pretty strange around here lately, like it's the end of one journey and the beginning of another. Jesse and I are slowly trying to figure out a new daily routine that doesn't include his brother, and I'm hoping I'll be able to work more (although Jesse is now going though that stage where he constantly needs someone to play with). I feel like days out with the National Trust, amongst others, are slowly becoming our extraordinary moments, the days where we're all together and able to put aside the rest of the mundanity of normal life; I honestly haven't regretted a second of our family membership.

It's also a beautiful coincidence that a year on, we'll be working with Little Green Radicals again to highlight their AW18 collection, Northern Lights, and sharing our thoughts in the first week of October. The entire collection is stunning and it's all out now if you want to pop over and have a look. You can just leave me here flicking back and forth between this Snowshill post and the last, questioning where on earth my babies have gone and writing a pros & cons list to having another (cons: no sleep, pros: I shall call them squishy and they shall be mine and they shall be my squishy ).