I’ve said it before on my blog many times – but I love how many green spaces there are near where I live. I know it’s not quite the same as heading out into the proper countryside, but I adore exploring all the parks and woodlands of London and making sure my urban children get their fair share of mud!
We ended our half term with a day at the beautiful Morden Hall Park, our nearest National Trust site. A former deer park, it is a little oasis in South London with a collection of beautiful old mill buildings along the River Wandle.
After a delicious lunch in the cafe there, we headed into the park guided by the children who were in charge of our route. Alex immediately spotted the signs to the natural play area and headed there for some climbing!
Sophie enjoyed jumping along the stepping stones.
Both of them loved all the mud, which like all our recent excursions was pretty deep!
Here’s Alex escaping the mud on the swings.
And looking ridiculously grown up!
We managed to escape the worst of the mud on the large meadow where we had an impromptu game of football! The children loved being chased around by Jo, our friend and lodger who joined us for the trip!
Football is becoming a bit of an obsession in our house – much to my horror! Alex’s school friends all play, so he’s showing more and more interest in the game!
The kids had such a good time, playing for ages together.
We’d promised the children a bit game of pooh sticks on the river so we spent some time collecting the best sticks we could find.
Jo was the designated stick guardian, so Alex and Sophie spent a few minutes running back and forth, loading her up with twigs and big sticks ready for the game!
As we headed back to the entrance, we stopped on the beautiful bridge for the game! I love Jo’s reaction here as she won the first round!
We ended our trip having a look at some of the restored buildings – the highlight of which was the gorgeous rocking chairs in the courtyard!
It was a chilly, but wonderfully refreshing day – I know we’ll be back again soon, maybe for the annual Easter egg hunt!
Diary of a Herne Hill mum 
This looks such a lovely place to visit and I feel ashamed that I hadn’t even heard of it. And it sounds like you had a great day (wonderful pics) – that natural play area looks particularly fab. #countrykids
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What a lovely day! My children and I are particularly fond of mud and puddles too! Those rocking chairs look divine! Looks like a lovely day was had by all. #CountryKids
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Sounds like one of those days that turned out even better than expected. Looks like the children loved the space and play equipment at Morden Hall and Jo sounds a real hit with the kids joining in their football and pooh sticks. l’m afraid the football thing is pretty inevitable, next you’ll be taking them all over London for weekend matches. We now have football and Rugby matches coinciding which is proving very tricky. Those rocking chairs look beautifully restored and rather comfy! Thank you for sharing with me on #CountryKids
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