Wintery Days Out

Girl's Polartec® Aircore® 200 Zip-Front Hoodie

This post was written in partnership with Land's End who provided me with inspiration and reward for this post.

One of my new year's resolutions was to get out with the girls once a week to get some fresh air and explore the local area.  While I will admit that we did skip a week or two, I think we have done pretty well so far and we have braved the cold weather (and on occasion, snow) to go exploring most weekends.

Getting out and about as a family is great fun, despite the amount of packing we seem to need to do, even for a simple walk.  The incredibly cold weather recently has meant that our car boot has been full to the brim with hats, scarves, gloves, snowsuits, jackets, coats, spare jumpers, extra socks and fleeces as well as waterproof jackets, waterproof overalls and welly boots!!!  This in addition to the baby carrier in which we carry Holly.

Keeping both girls warm has been a challenge.  Girls clothing at this time of the year usually means layers.  Lots of them. For Lara, layers can work pretty well but the more layers she is wearing, the less mobile she becomes.  For Holly, layers means bulk.  I often worry about Holly getting cold while we are out exploring because, until she is confidently walking unaided, she is considerably less active than the rest of us; unfortunately, if I dress her in enough layers to keep her warm, she looks REALLY huge and her arms stick out of the baby carrier as if she can't move!!!

Girls' Chevron Down Coat

With every day that goes past, Holly becomes more and more able to walk unaided.  I know that within the next couple of months Holly will be able to join us on our family walks.  I'm really looking forward to some family strolls in the spring sunshine and making the most of our National Trust membership.  We are lucky to an unbounded list of gorgeous family-friendly places to explore within an hour of our house in Berkshire.

So far our explorations have taken us to a National Trust site in Finchampstead, Frimley Lodge Park in surrey, the back-roads of Arborfield and... the excitement of the local park!!! I am sure that as the weather gets a touch warmer our travels will become more adventurous.

I'm enjoying getting out every weekend; not just for the basic exercise that it provides us all.  An invigorating wintery walk seems to help Lara's behaviour (it helps having an opportunity to run off some of her energy) and the fresh air certainly seems to aid both girls when it comes to sleep in the evenings.  The other hidden benefit is that a weekly family walk helps us work up an appetite for a warming roast dinner every sunday evening.