The S’Lowdown on: Kids Off Grid

If you’ve not been to stay with us before, here’s the S’Lowdown…

We call all our visiting youngsters – Kids Off Grid, because your holiday is going to be quite unlike any you’ve had before!

First of all you won’t find a tv or a games console anywhere. And we know that some of you find this a BIG SHOCK when you arrive!

And then, just when you’ve got over that surprise, you might discover that you’ll be staying in cabin that doesn’t even have electricity which means you’ll be lighting your cabin by lantern at night. We think lantern light is THE BEST for story telling at bedtime.

If you’re really going off grid – you might even be in a cabin that has an outside compost loo and an outside shower – they take a bit of getting used to because they don’t work in the same way as your loo and shower does at home, but they are part of the adventure! 

But perhaps the most exciting thing is that you might cook some (or all!) of your meals on a campfire, and maybe get to toast some marshmallows on the fire too – yum! 

All of these things means that your holiday is extra kind to the planet! We give you the chance to show us how much you know about caring for the environment with our quiz – and if you get the answers right we’ll give you a Green Guardian sticker. If this is your first visit you can earn a Green sticker but if you’ve been before, the questions get harder each time you return and you get the chance to earn a bronze, silver or gold sticker!

We’ve lots of ideas of things to do outside while you’re here:

You could visit our woods and build your own den

You could pick up a spotter sheet from the shop and challenge yourself to find everything on it while you walk around our acres

You could follow up our conservation trail around the farm and discover more about the things we do to encourage all sorts of trees, plants, birds, insects      and mammals to thrive

You could grab this week’s activity sheet from the shop and complete the challenge we set you!

And if you’ve done all of those things then how about…

hiring an outdoor game to play – like giant jenga, or quoits

hiring a pond dipping kit and see what you can find in our ponds

hiring a mini beast hunting kit and see how many little critters you can find an identify

hiring a campfire skills kit and learn how to make a campfire safely

order a campfire-cook-up box and cook yourself and your family a snack or a treat on your campfire

And if it’s a rainy day – we’ve plenty of board games you can borrow for some cosy fun inside your cabin or cottage. Or just put your wellies and your waterproofs on and go outside and have fun anyway!! 

We give all our Kids Off Grid a postcard with a stamp on it, so you can send a message to a friend or someone in  your family to tell them about your adventures. Once you’ve written or drawn on it you can come and post it in the special Swallowtail hill post box in our shop.

We look forward to meeting you on your visit and welcoming you to the Kids Off Grid club! 

We promise you it’s going to be the best fun!