Family Day

Family Day

With the lockdown restrictions easing up a little and the weather taking a massive turn for the better we’ve decided to spend the day up at the hall and see how well the electrical system holds up to a full day (and evenings) use. The rules haven’t quite gone away so we still can’t stay overnight but we’re going to stay into the late evening and see how we get on. Adam and Emily have got their explorer kit ready and as soon as we arrive, they get stuck into finding just the right size of trees to set up their hammock and tarpaulin shelter before heading into the stream for some stone-skimming and a ‘flamingo-race’ (…think rubber-ducks, only pink). There are two which manage to get caught behind some rocks on the opposite bank so after Emily falls in trying to retrieve them, I volunteer to have a go, only to follow her into the water!

Once Rachel has stopped laughing, she reminds me I have some wellies in the car so eventually, we manage to get all of our flamingo’s back into one flock.

One of my legs is soaked but after wringing out my socks and a short break for a warming brew, Rachel and I are busily cleaning things over. It’s been the best part of a year since we’ve all been up here together and it’s weird to hear the kids’ surprised voices when they re-discover the place. There are always plenty of things which need some attention but fortunately we have food, snacks, drinks and enthusiasm so we should be ok.

Since the clocks changed, we’ve got plenty of daylight to work in so it isn’t until around 7pm when we start to use the lights and I seem to be obsessing with the Bluetooth app on my phone, checking and re-checking the condition of the battery bank. Throughout the day, the panels have managed to soak in over 1kw of sun and with everything turned on, we’re using around 60w so I’m quietly confident we should be ok for power. Heat is the real concern as the sun goes down though so the log burner is fired up and is soon pumping out some heat, drying the socks and providing a relaxing backdrop as we chat and play with the kids.

Teatime comes in the form of soups and hot chocolate but by around 9pm, we’re ready to call it a day and start to pack up the car for the journey home. All in all, we all feel like we’ve been able to get a little bit of respite from the same four walls and we’ve managed to make a few more decisions on what we want to get done next so it’s been a really good day. Hopefully, as restrictions ease further over the coming months, it’s the first of many.