We almost went to the zoo on Monday morning. I say almost, because we got stuck in a huge traffic jam on the approach. We queued for a bit and then hung a left towards Dagnall and on to the Ashridge Estate. This is a big old National Trust estate that free to park at and has plenty of well maintained paths to walk through the woods. We took a picnic with us and ended up sitting on some sawn logs to eat our scoff.
It’s a great wooded estate to walk through, you just have to keep your eye out because it is popular with dog walkers and a lot of them don’t pick up after their mutts. Not the dogs fault of course but you’ll want to make sure your 3 year old doesn’t try to pick up what he thinks is a pine cone!
This is the sort of day out we absolutely love to do as a family. Ned and Fifi scooted around most of the route (I carried the scooters on the bits they couldn’t). Trees were climbed, logs balanced on, sticks were picked up and used to hit other sticks. It was good fun and it cost my favourite price: it was free!