We ended our rather quiet half term with an afternoon wander around Streatham Common.  Even though I must’ve driven past it hundreds of time during my years living in London, I’ve never been – and always assumed it was just the big, flat expanse of grass you can see from the road.  How wrong I was!

What you can’t see from the road is the lovely little woodland.  It was small enough that Alex and Sophie could easily explore independently, but big enough that you felt like you were away from all the roads and noise of London.  Alex immediately found some slightly older children and set about den-building with them, Sophie hot on his heels trying to carry big sticks and logs on her own!

She soon gave up, and focused her attention on some slug and insect spotting!

Just beyond the woodland, we found a complete surprise – a gorgeous walled formal garden called the Rookery.  There were loads of little paths and steps for the children to run around, and it was quiet enough that we had it to ourselves!

I loved the little sun dial, well and water features – as well as the beginnings of what will clearly be some beautiful Spring flowers.  We’ll have to come back in a couple of months and see it in bloom!

I love these pics of Sophie and her daddy walking together – he’s so tall he makes her look even more mini!

Our excursion gave me a great opportunity to get the camera out and snap my siblings together.  They’ve had a great month. This year Sophie is becoming so much more conversational and chatty, which has meant their playing has become much more engaging and imaginative.  It’s such fun listening to them together – Sophie comes out with the craziest ideas, they are sounding more like Charlie and Lola by the day! (Although I’m not sure Alex is as sensible as Charlie yet…)

Here they are running and playing football.

And sitting in the beautiful White Garden section of the Rookery:

I asked them to sit together so I could try and take some photos – but didn’t expect them to snuggle up.  Love these pictures so much!

When snuggling got too much, they did a bit of cloud spotting!