Thetford Forest Day 3 Bewilderwood

Day 3 saw us return to the fabulous Bewilderwood in Norwich. We loved Bewilderwood so much when we went last year and have been getting so excited about going back there. Brandon and Joshua woke pretty early for the day ahead. Joshua had got into a routine of having his shower and wash, then heading into Nicky's tent to go and jump all over Amy and wake her up!

Joshua having his morning wake up snuggle with Amy.

Brandon woke a little later and sported this new trendy look of welly boots and pull up pants as he headed over for his shower.

After a 50 min drive down some really lousy Norfolk country roads and a scenic tour of Norwich town centre (courtesy of our Sat Nav!) we eventually arrived at Bewdilerwood. The weather was perfect for running around in trees and surprisingly the woodland was not that boggy given the amount of rain we have had previously.

First port of call was a boat ride across the scary lake in order to get to Bewilderwood. Me and Brandon took the yellow boat and the rest of the family followed behind in the purple boat.

The purple boat.

Under the bridge and then into scary lake.

Some miniature boats which are used by the boggles.

The scary lake and in the distance the entrance to Bewilderwood.

Before getting to the entrance you must get past the friendly crockobot called Mildred.

Mildred squirts out some water and makes everyone on the purple boat jump.

The family all arrive on the purple boat as me and Brandon watch on whilst soaking up some sun.

Me and Brandon skipped the "pointless path" and headed straight for the high stuff. Its amazing what difference a year makes as last year I found myself carrying Brandon up most of the high stuff and the cargo nets. However this year there was no stopping him and I think he pretty much did everything on his own. 

The broken bridge........

Brandon loved running and jumping on the broken bridge to make it wobble around.

Little B climbing one of the cargo nets which only last year I had to help him up.

One of the highlights of Bewilderwood are the zip wires. They have some big ones for the adults, medium ones for the kids and then little swing type ones for the little ones. Joshua started in the little swing one, but this didn't last long once he saw us going down the bigger one. 

Joshua trying out the baby zip wire first.

Brandon enjoys the baby zip wire as he was too small to go onto the bigger wires. But he had fun racing me up and down the zip wire whilst I was on foot.

The pictures do not do this slide justice as it is seriously steep, however Joshua just fearlessly went up there on his own and loved it.

Me, Brandon and Joshua on one of the wider but not so steep slides.

After a very energetic morning of climbing, swimming and running it was time for a picnic. 

The boys tucking into their packed lunches.

How about this for the ultimate picnic table.

Joshua heading up to the secret tunnels.

Brandon making his way to the tunnels.

Brandon and Joshua sliding through a tunnel.

This is an unusual picture, me laying down in a claustrophobic tunnel with Joshua behind me and Nicky's arm coming through little peep holes trying to grab us.

Outstanding balance shown by Little B.

After the secret tunnels we went to probably my favourite part of the day - den building. It started with a team effort to collate as much wood as possible and this meant destroying lots of other peoples dens in the process. Then we started on the mother of all woodland dens. Joshua and Brandon were singing a song from Ben and Holy (or something) which got a little repetitive to say the least. Basically it went, "Lift hold, lift and hold, lift, lift, lift, lift, lift" and then repeated, and then repeated and then repeated and just when you thought he was finished, it repeated some more. 

Lift and hold.....

Our pile of logs starts to grow.

And grow........

Even Brandon was helping collect branches and logs.

Whilst the others collected wood, be and Uncle Paul started the construction of our den.

Oh and did I tell you about the "lift and hold" song.

Me lifting one of the bigger logs to show the boys how it is done.

And the finished masterpiece, including 5 seats.

Look closely and check out the tree in this picture, its a Daddy Tree.

The finishing touch, a chimney. This was so heavy that it took me and Paul to lift it on the roof. In fact it was so heavy we were slightly concerned it might collapse the den!

Finished den with the chimney, how cool.

We all know how much Brandon loves his swings, check out this swing chair.

Plenty of trees to climb in Bewilderwood.

The pictures really don't show just how great Bewilderood is. In addition to all of this we had a story/show time, got lost in the maze and generally had an absolute blast running around the woods like big kids. Its a place where the adults can have as much fun as the children. I only wish they had places like this when I was a little boy. Its environmentally friendly, outdoors in the fresh air, good exercise....what more could you want for a perfect day out.

Brandon measuring up against a "Twiggle". Will Little B ever break the 1m barrier, currently he is 98cm!

Joshua towering above the "boggle" and the "twiggle".

Day 4 sees us head down to Hunstanton.