Furzey Gardens is exactly what it claims to be; “a haven of peace and tranquillity in the heart of the New Forest”. Not only it is beautiful gardens with meandering walks, it is a fairy land with lots of hidden doors, fairy ferries, and lovely touches like miniature wellies outside a fairy’s home waiting to be put on. The trees are gnarled and interesting for the children, and there are also very intriguing and curious places and spaces to play.
We set off on a walk down towards the lake, searching out fairy homes as we went. Dotted all around the gardens are various interesting buildings the children can play in, thatched mini roundhouses with ladders going up to a little upstairs, a long tunnel to crawl through, a boat called Tiggywinkles to play in, and much much more. All blending in so nicely with the surrounding area. We arrived at the play area in time to stop for lunch, and the children enjoyed going off and eating in the various den like places. It really is such a wonderful place where children’s imagination can run wild with their play. Another beauty of the den like structures, is they are made so it is virtually impossible for adults to gain access, therefore giving the children a sense of it being secretive and hidden away from grown up eyes.
We did have one aim to achieve though in the day. I knew the gardens had a good supply of conker trees, and wanting to tick off “play conkers” from the National trust list, we went out collecting some to bring home. That’s a job for another day, but at least we have the supplies now! Beautiful, big, shiny, conkers.
We had such a lovely, relaxing day in the outdoors. A huge amount of imaginative play was done by the little people, and the grown ups, although tired and a bit under the weather, had a laid back, chilled out, restorative calming day 🙂 Not a lot of packing was achieved today, but we are still riding high from the fact our home was let on its first viewing yesterday, and today Dadda made us fully fledged Swedes by purchasing the family car (so he can fetch us from the airport), a Volvo!!!!!
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