The Spoonie Mummy

On Tuesday we headed north from Derby up the M1 to visit Thoresby Park. I had seen on Facebook that they were holding a ‘Trail of Wizardry, Witchcraft, Sorcery and Spells‘ event for Halloween.

We arrived and headed for the main courtyard which was beautiful. They had set up pumpkin displays and also had some military items on display. The boys loved the tank!

We had arrived at lunchtime so decided to have something to eat before we set off on the trail. The cafe was quite busy and was quite pricey – I think if we go again I would be inclined to take a picnic with us!

We then headed to the visitor centre and picked up our trail maps and pencils. The boys were told when they had completed the trail and bought the pencils back, they would receive a treat. Each map was £2 and I purchased one each for the boys so they had their own. We also took the opportunity to use the toilets before we disappeared into the woods. They were clean and the disabled one was a good size with good access.

We all really enjoyed the trail. The instructions on the sheet were well written so the boys were able to follow them and meant we got to have a decent walk around the beautiful park. The activities to do along the way like being sorted into a house and creating a magic potion were good and the boys had fun doing them. We decided to do the longer trail but both are easily do-able with children of all ages. The ground was pretty flat and not hard to navigate at all.

The boys were excited to hand in their pencils at the end and the lady at the visitor centre desk spoke to them about things they had seen and done along the way which was lovely. They then got their treat – some Halloween sweets which obviously they were impressed with! We then headed over to the the park and let them have a run around and play for twenty minutes before we headed home. The boys really enjoyed this and the wooden equipment was a nice touch as it was in the forest. On the way back to the car we collected some Autumn leaves and were able to talk about the different trees they came from etc.

Overall we had a really lovely afternoon here and would definitely come back if hey host other events like this in the future. The Halloween trail is on every day from 10am – 4pm until Sunday November 3rd. They are also offering a prize for the best fancy dress if you choose to dress up for it. Find out more information on their Facebook page.