As many of you who read this blog regularly will know, the Rocknrollerbabies are on the move to Norfolk. I personally have been in London for nearly a decade, Jonny longer than that and both children were born here so it’s a big wrench for us to leave even if technically we are ‘going home’! Jonny and I were both born in and grew up in Norwich so a move back to the land of flat is not totally alien to us and for the children, who visit grandparents there often, it also already feels like a second home.

We made the decision to go because house prices are astronomical in London and living in a 2 bed flat without a garden has completely exhausted us now. We want to add to our family, it would be impossible to stay in the capital and do that and frankly, Norfolk is such a beautiful place while still being close enough to London for a day trip that we just had to jump ship (we were pushed if I’m totally honest but it IS the right decision)!

Worries about the move have me awake at night. All the people we will miss, the school which is wonderful and all the absolutely fantastic days out for the family which are on our doorstep and usually low cost or free. London has so over compensated for children living in the inner city on fun things to do that it actually can’t really be rivalled in many areas. We have city farms (free), museums galore (free) and the parks are stunning in central London but… It’s not enough to keep us here I’m afraid. I do worry about how busy my children are here and how quiet life might seem to them in Norwich. Because of this we have decided to buy a few annual passes to places we love in the area so that we can visit often as inexpensively as possible. We are used to being out and about and we don’t really want that to stop! We’ll of course still visit London but we need some places on our new doorstep too and because we’ve always loved BeWILDerwood it’s definitely high on our list.

We’ve been going for years and while it’s a great place to visit in Norfolk, it’s really just a great place to visit wherever you are and well worth a long drive if you have to in order to get there. The whole park is an outdoor adventure play area for children based on books written by local author Tom Blofeld. He writes about Boggles, Twiggles, a crocklebog, a witch called Hazel and all manner of magical creatures and characters who live in the trees around the boggy marshes. We particularly love the Thornycold Spider who comes into her own at this time of year for the BeWILDerwood Halloween finale to their season. This half term we simply HAD to visit!

Our trip to a Hallweeny fun filled BeWILDerwood last week!

We know BeWILDerwood so well but we never get bored and find magic and fun on every trip. Whether we are building a den, climbing the tree top walk ways, whizzing down enormous slides, listening to stories, Twiggle Twirling, having our face painted (included in entry price) or sailing through the forest in zip wires created for every age (including babies), we have the best of days out. We have the sort of day out that makes me so happy to be moving back home, back to where we can visit every day just for a quick play after school if we feel like it!

BeWILDerwood closes at the end of Halloween Half term and doesn’t open again until next year in February so for our visit last week we got to join in their end of year festivities which, for us, are the highlight of the season. Halloween is just one of the things BeWILDerwood do well but I think it has to be the best. As well as all the activities on offer daily they offer everyone the chance to make a lantern during the day time. You are given everything you need to create a masterpiece (including a glow stick) and at 5pm, when the forest is dark, you get to leave on a guided lantern parade. It IS stunning! BeWILDerwood really do go ALL out for Halloween and everythign is so thoughtfully done, we love it!

Now we’ve been before so we knew the drill and knew that the boat trip, which we usually take last thing would have to be done first and this year, we didn’t miss a single thing! It rained and it was cold, the ground was muddy and we had to look very hard for a dry seat to enjoy our picnic but we enjoyed the day without reservation because, well, it’s BeWILDERwood and it can’t be made or broken by the weather. BeWILDerwood has Toddlewood Hill for the tinies so children of ALL ages can enjoy it here and I am so pleased we got to go before the end of the season 2015!

We say GO TO BEWILDERWOOD no matter how old you are – you WILL enjoy it! Under 92CM are free, under 105cm are £40, under 205cm are £50 and over 60’s are £35 for an annual pass. We reckon that’s pretty darn good value!

Next time we visit we shall have moved. Next time we visit it will be 2016. Next time we visit we’re picking up annual passes!

These are some of my favourite photos from our Halloween half term visit last week!

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