Sunday is a day of rest!

Another day, another Christmas trip. This time I was off to Whitehouse Farm near Morpeth (www.whitehousefarmcentre.co.uk) with the Division Brownies for their Christmas outing. I have taken Rainbows here before so knew that I was in for a good but cold day and I was not disappointed. Three layers on top, two on the bottom, thick coat, hat and gloves, I was determined not to be cold. It was a lot less stressful for me as I was helping a Brownie unit but didn't have any of the added responsibility of organising anything. I just had to turn up and herd them all around.

The Brownies started by writing letters to Santa and going to see Santa and the Good Fairy then it was off to Elf School and before you knew it, time for dinner. 

The day was not without its challenges

1. Going to the toilet with 3 layers of clothes on

2. Trying to drink my coffee at lunchtime before it all leaked out of the crack in the bottom. 

3. Trying to take a selfie to show I was there without the sun blinding me. As you can see from the photo it was very sunny but that photo is deceptive, it was a biting cold wind.

Despite these personal challenges there was still time for the Brownies to see real reindeers, feed some of the animals in the barns and very quickly walk past the rather smelly pigs. We also saw a rather large bird but couldn't decide if it was an emu or an ostrich, whatever it was it was big. The Brownies decided to ride the toy tractors as if they were Formula 1 cars before going to the Animal Barn. This seemed to cause more excitement than seeing Santa when the Brownies had the chance to hold, pet or squeeze animals, wear a very large snake round their shoulders or a tarantula on their head. I supervised from a distance. The day ended with a ride on the real farm tractor and the warmth of the soft play (this won over going to watch an owl display in the very open, cold, windy field I cannot understand why) Then, after getting a reply to the letter that was written at the beginning of the day, it was back home.

Another 7.5 hours on the Service element of the Voyage award.