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How a flooded park turned into the perfect day out

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Last week we went to visit one of our favourite parks. It's a national trust park, but free and open every day, so there is always lot's to do. There is a river, streams, open spaces of grass, a natural playground, wetland areas... it's fab. We always love walking around and going to the natural play area before we go home. The natural play area is awesome, there's trees that have been turned into rock climbing walls, a stream, a zip wire, tyre swings, a mini forest in the middle and a space with loads of branches and twigs to make dens.
Snuff mill
Daddy and Jakob... learning about snuff mills
As we walked into the park we noticed that the river was higher than usual and flowing really fast! And as we walked further in I realised most of the grass was drenched in water. The boys loved jumping in the puddles and kept following the puddles as they got deeper and deeper. Before we knew it we were at the play area. Although it didn't really look more like a play area anymore, completely submerged in water it looked more like a lake!
Flooded park puddles
Surrounded by flooded grass at all sides, we were the only ones there all day, although loads of people walked past on the path running through the park, many kids stopped to stare at us playing in the water and the boys couldn't understand why no one else wanted to play in the water with us!

Kids playing in flooded park

Luckily the water wasn't a problem for us. As the boys are so used to water, they knew they had to be safe or we would leave. Water is the most amazing fun and we never miss an opportunity paddling in a stream or playing in a river (I wouldn't let them go in the river this time though as it was flowing so fast).

They know how to be safe in water, Jakob especially. When we first got there we walked around the whole of the flooded area stepping slowly and carefully. There were some big drops and we fell over a few times, but once they had done that they knew roughly where the drops where and they were careful around those areas.
outdoor water play - kids need to take risks
I stuck pretty close to Joshua because although he is safe he is less balanced and coordinated than Jakob. He is also more adventurous, and loved climbing onto the tyre swings and up the climbing nets!

After a long morning splashing and paddling the boys became hungry, we had packed a picnic but didn't bank on the park being flooded! As we decided to eat it started raining, so we headed over the the den building area, full of twigs and branches. Luckily someone had already started making a den so we added to it, and just as we were getting underneath the rain stopped and the sun came out.

Kids den building and river paddling

We decided to make the most of the brief moment of sun and went on top of the kids climbing/lookout tower instead. It was soaked but luckily I had brought a waterproof table cloth to put under our waterproof picnic blanket as i thought it would be wet!

kids muddy picnic

We sat up there eating, chatting and looking out across the flooded grass - utter bliss. It looked so pretty with the sun reflecting on it. As we were sitting a little robin came to visit us.

robin and river south west london

We barely managed to finish lunch before the boys ran off to get back down to the serious business of playing. They discovered that when they jumped from the platform into the water their feet stuck in the mud so deep that I had to pull them out!

kids river jumping outdoor play
They both loved walking over the stepping stone tree stumps, and the water gave it a much more exciting dimension than usual!

kids river stepping stones

They also loved walking through the forest area in the middle, walking between the different trees and emerging the other side.

outdoor play flooded forest park

We ended up staying there so long that the sun began to set. Me and Ian sat watching the boys playing in the golden glow of dusk, and it was the most peaceful feeling.

london parks outdoor play

kids playing in flooded park

It was just one of those perfect days. A complete accident - we had no idea the park was flooded, and we were just going for a quick walk to get some fresh air. Instead we got to spend the whole day together, really enjoying our day out and connecting as a family.

morden hall park flooded

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