Tunstall forest

Last week the weather was glorious, so after playgroup we wolfed down our lunch and headed south on the back roads for Tunstall forest, about 45 minutes away. The boys have never been together in a large forest before and they were positively buzzing from it. They loved it. You could almost see their imaginations opening up and unlocking as they picked up sticks and pinecones, discarded them for branches, marvelled at mushrooms and burrowed in the soft ground beneath the pine needles. They didn't stop. The terrain was also ideal for Alastair, who's to be on uneven surfaces wherever possible. Next stop, the Hundertwasser house in Vienna.

Into hunter-gatherer mode fairly swiftly. Gregor made a beeline for the blackberries.

Alastair set about making some spears.

Then a short lesson in how to stay alive with mushrooms,

and how to be very, very sick. I think something from our distant ancestors must remain since Gregor had no desire to pick this one, the fly agaric, though he couldn't resist touching it.

Then a horse went by. Friend or foe. No-one was quite sure, least of all the horse who was a little jumpy on its way past.

Time for some light relief and entertainment at the fallen tree rescue station after a hard day in the forest.

Then quiet contemplation in the heather.