The Boy Wonder is staying with R and me for the next couple of days, and we met up with him and his mother at Croome this morning to effect the handover. While we were snacking and chatting in the café, an overcast morning with a hint of rain gave way to a pleasant afternoon, so the Boy decided to go to the playground, where on our previous visit the metal equipment was too hot to be usable, but where today everything was fine. As a small child B was inclined to be physically timid, but that’s been changing quite noticeably since he acquired a brother who seems not to know the meaning of the word ‘fear’, and this holiday he’s been steadily pushing himself through one mental barrier after another, and acquiring a number of new skills. Today he threw himself at climbs, slides and balance equipment with great enthusiasm, but I think it’s fair to say that his preference is still for quieter and more thoughtful activities.
This rather strange metal and glass installation sits in the woodland play area at Croome. It was constructed around the turn of the decade, by an artist who worked with some children from a special school to create a 3-D representation of some of the things Croome meant to them. I’ve tried to find some more information about it, but I haven’t managed to turn up anything on line – though I believe that the staff refer to it as PUP. The thing that interested the Boy most about it was its potential as a percussion instrument, with various surfaces producing different tones as he played them, but all resonating nicely under the metal and glass roof. He roped in Granddad to swell the percussion section, and at this point he was explaining exactly what he wanted R to do.
After we’d exhausted the potential of the woodland and then refreshed ourselves with ice cream, we went to take a look at the old ice house in the shrubbery, which the Boy found in equal parts incomprehensible (no fridges??!!) and interesting. We were then offered a lift down to the house on a passing estate buggy, which had not been on R’s or my plan for the afternoon, but somehow we found ourselves dragooned by the Musical Director into climbing aboard, and rattling at what felt like quite high speed down the hill. We then played a few games inside and outside the house, and enjoyed a shady sit-down with cold drinks, before catching a return buggy ride back to reception, and the car park.
Back at home we were chasing bugs around the garden with a net and a magnifying pot, when our next-door neighbour called over the fence and invited B to go round and play with two of her grandsons in their garden. “Will you come too?” said the Boy, which meant that I was able to film him and C (who is four) driving a couple of battery-powered play trucks around the garden at breakneck speed. At one point I had to leap out of the way so as not to be run over, and when I posted the videos to the family WhatsApp group, Uncle H was highly amused, and predicted a future career for the Boy as a stunt driver.
R: L2, C11, D4.
