• Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter

Family Days Tried And Tested

Adventuring through childhood... with love and dysfunction in tow

  • CategoriesLots to see!
  • About UsWho are we?
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
You are here: Home / Embrace Imagination / Dragon Hunting in The Woods

March 5, 2014 · Leave a Comment

Dragon Hunting in The Woods

20140305-112839.jpg

With the aid of a few duck eggs which i paid 40p each for and a handwritten sign we embarked on a dragon hunt…The bigger children (7&9) were in on the Dragon hunt set up today & did really well making believe for Mila (4), they were rewarded with a find of some ‘real’ eggs from something unknown 🙂

Our hunt started at Ogmore castle, we crossed the stepping stones and headed into the woods to the ruins of CANDLESTON CASTLE/MERTHYR MAWR & it’s surrounding sand dunes. (South Wales)

Here’s how we got on…

We started at Ogmore castle where we walked across the treacherous waters via the stepping stones..

20140305-113254.jpg

Once we had explored Ogmore castle (free to enter) we got back in the car and headed 5 minutes up the road to Merthyr Mawr…

Once there i placed a sign I had made discreetly on a tree…

20140305-113506.jpg

The kids discovered the sign..

20140305-113540.jpg

and our dragon hunt began….

20140305-113616.jpg

I hid some hatched eggs in the wood

20140305-113701.jpg

20140305-113719.jpg

we carried on through the woods heading for the castle ruins..

20140305-113801.jpg

20140305-113814.jpg

As the kids explored the ruins I discreetly placed our dragon eggs!
I’d used duck eggs which i drew on and spray with hairspray and a dusting of glitter…

20140305-113942.jpg

As we explored the castle…

20140305-114010.jpg

WE STUMBLED ON THE DRAGON EGGS!!!

20140305-114051.jpg

AND THEN SOME MORE AS WE HEADED BACK THROUGH THE WOODS!!

20140305-114226.jpg

20140305-114233.jpg

We then headed for the sand dunes to search for anymore signs…

Check out our over Magical Make Believe Ideas!

20140305-114313.jpg

And we found dragon footprints..

20140305-114349.jpg

and more eggs (real eggs this time!)

20140305-114454.jpg

We finished our day rolling down the dunes..

20140305-114532.jpg

We took our dragon eggs home and put them in the airing cupboard to keep warm, the next day we discovered one of the eggs had hatched and we now have a naughty dragon on the loose around the house….

20140305-114707.jpg

So rather than take any chances we returned to the woods with our other dragon egg and made a nest for it to sit in back within its natural environment…

20140305-114827.jpg

Out dragon hunt really was a magical adventure achieved with minimum effort for the price of a few duck eggs….

If you would like to follow more of our daily frugal, fun memory making activities and adventures during a childhood that’s fleeting you can find us on Facebook…

Facebook Comments

Related posts:

Emergencies, Ducks & Dragons Hunting for Shed Fairy Wings Rediscovering Sea Dragon Eggs Honey Bear’s Day In The Woods

Filed Under: Embrace Imagination, Outdoor Fun Tagged With: Adventure, childhood., dragons, exploring, magical, make believe, memories, outdoor, Wales

Family Days Tried and Tested provides inspiration and ideas for you to make lasting memories and achieve great family days of your own.

Our aim is to offer our own experiences of family outings and activities whatever the weather and with a young family. Read More…

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Liz Burton says

    March 5, 2014 at 12:56 pm

    I adore this activity! You are so inventive, best mum ever!

    Reply
  2. pinkoddy says

    March 28, 2014 at 1:02 pm

    What a great idea – I may utilise this for St George’s Day.

    Reply
    • familydaystriedandtested says

      March 28, 2014 at 1:16 pm

      That’s a great idea!

      Reply
  3. Kate says

    July 16, 2015 at 9:12 pm

    Oh how I wish I could trade places with you! My youngest son is named London because I love it over there so much (couldn’t really name him UK lol). I’m in Boulder Colorado so maybe we will try this out on the montians here. Ty!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter

Hello!

Family Days Tried and Tested provides inspiration to make everyday family life fun. It includes simple craft activities to do at home plus lots of reasons to play outside. Family Days Tried and Tested is all about frugal fun, honesty and lots of laughs.

Contact Us

TOTS100 - UK Parent Blogs
TOTS100
I'm a Netmums Influencer

familydaystriedandtested

Living life however it comes👌
Lovingly restoring a church ourselves 💒
Featured in The Times 📰
Family fun Multi award winners🏆
Adventurers🗺🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

Family Days Tried and Tested
🐍 So pleased to see the churchyard slow worms c 🐍 So pleased to see the churchyard slow worms coming out of hibernation over the past week. 
I found a few whilst re starting the mammoth task of working the churchyard over the summer months this week - the two large ones in the photos, we picked them up and moved them along whilst caring for the grass around the bottom of gravestones - it’s their favourite spots to hang out. 

You may also remember back in October when I stumbled over a mound which I was clearing of broken glass jars, slates etc - kind of a dump area which I initially assumed was a plot under the undergrowth. It turned out to be a rich home for slow worms and I found at least five baby slow worms cwtched up in the buried jars and under the slates (around two inches long), once I’d established it was such a rich habitat I stopped my clearance efforts, added some additional slates and left the area (apart from clearing the broken glass)..I’m sure it was a hibernation hive. 

Today I returned to that spot and lifted one of the five additional slates I’d placed and found around 10/15 slow worms snuggled up together, at least three big ones (7/8inches) and lots of smaller (3/4inches), it was a lovely suprise, I only lifted one slate as if there was anymore under the other slates I didn’t want to disturb them. 

I’d mowed around the area in the week as a fist cut of the churchyard, you can see in the photo how long the grass has become. 
I called the children over to take a look at the nest and we covered it back up before circling the site with rocks to prevent others from disturbing them, I’ve made a simple sign out of a wood slice (which was supposed to be for my pots and pans in the kitchen to stand on😂) and hopefully they’ll continue to thrive.

Slow worms are native to the U.K. and can live for around 20 - 30 years. (They’ve been known to live for 54 years in captivity!) They are often mistaken for snakes but are actually legless lizards. 🐍
The are a ‘priority’ and ‘protected’ species in the U.K. 

It fills us with joy that they continue to be so apparent and comfy in the churchyard. #slowworm #churchyard #protectedspecies
☀️ The glow of the morning rising sun looking ☀️ The glow of the morning rising sun looking gorgeous behind the altar window today.
🦋💐🧺🚗 Yesterday I got a reduced butterf 🦋💐🧺🚗
Yesterday I got a reduced butterfly birthday cake at the supermarket so I took it as an opportunity to have a car boot picnic with Boo.
It wasn’t anyone’s birthday and there is never an excuse needed to eat cake. 
We put the back seats down in the back of the car  and transformed it into a garden with fake flowers, a green sheet and butterflies we’d painted. I made a butterfly to decorate a bottle of squash and drew butterflies on some paper cups. 
We then drove to the ocean and spent an hour together eating cakes, drawing in the sand and jumping in the breaking waves on the shore. 
Simple fun that started with a reduced cake👌 and a lovely time had by the both of us 🥰 ...time and £1:80 well spent.
Friday night chilling on the sofa 🥰 It’s bee Friday night chilling on the sofa 🥰

It’s been a really fab week away from the church but it’s wonderful to be back. I think we needed the past week to regroup and prepare for whats coming.

Commence the pod...
💪 we’ve got this...

& if we haven’t then the beach is down the road.
Load More… Follow on Instagram

Family Days Tried and Tested Privacy Policy

  • ImaginationInspiration
    • Simple Play Ideas
    • Magical Adventures
    • Themed Days
    • Frozen
  • Indoor FunIncludes food!
    • Food
    • Themed Bath
  • Outdoor FunBack garden, beaches & more
    • Beach
    • Garden
    • Local Exploring
      • Chepstow
      • Forest of Dean
      • Somerset
  • SeasonalSomething for every time of year
    • Valentines
    • Spring
    • Easter
    • Summer
    • Halloween
    • Autumn
    • Remembrance Sunday
    • Winter
    • Christmas
  • About UsWho are we?
    • Mummy Musings
      • As They Grow
      • Parenting Realities
      • Awareness

Family Days Tried and Tested · Copyright © 2021