Wooden Pendants

More goodies on offer means more creativity - check out these lovely pendants made this week at Cobleland Campsite.

From left: Pendants made by Kirstie, Angus, Angela, Isla and Leah.  Are you missing The Wee Bleather Tea Room Angus, Isla and Leah yet? We went today because you made us hungry! Best breakfasts in Britain :-)

Kirstie found even more gems to decorate her already delightfully coloured pendant!

Ranger Tent

The ranger tent is ever evolving, the latest additions are some blackboards where the timetable 'doesn't' wash off in the rain, some comfy chairs and some excellent kids prizes for the raft race. Will has been playing again making up rafts to inspire the design making - any excuse!

Join us for an activity to find out what's in the treasure chest........

Wacky Forth Races

Well it goes to one extreme to another, one minute the river has lost all of it's wack, the next it is seriously wacktastick! However, after all the rain the weekend, it was a bit too wacky so Jamie and Michael, our wet weather raft builders, had to test them on a long piece of string.

Michaels raft 'Cod' incorporating old storage jars and our old hooter for the race and Jamie's 'Pirate Fury' sports decking, skull and cross bones, a lolly stick walk the plank and the other end of the hooter for a mast. Both were amazingly fast on the river :-)

Magickal Wands & Sylphs

Lovely day Saturday before the rain came at tea time, but it thankfully wasn't too bad for the bat walk.  In fact we had loads of hungry bats during the walk, loads of toads and one lady even saw an otter after nearly being pulled into the water by her dog!  I'm a tad jealous after five years in the area without seeing one, but it will make it all the more special when I do :-)



 

Jamie's Elder wand, Michael's Hazel and Angus's Willow - who jetted off for a magickal battle with Nicholas and Oliver in the forest.

Leah's Elder wand, Holly's Holly (of course) and Isla's Silver Birch - excellent effort seen as our second glue gun in two weeks burnt out just before the end! We will have to give up on the rechargeable battery versions :-(

 

Getting a bit more face painting practise in on my arm with some magickal Theban script writing. This is a sylph or air elemental/faery, it was a shame to wash her off at the end of the day!  The kids chose a Frankenstein face and various cheeky chaps for their cheeks from killer whales and dolphins to racing cars and spiders. Isla opted for the sylph tatoo as well :-) I will try and get a bit more speedy though!

Twig World Comes out to Play at the David Marshall Lodge

The fabulous science film making guys from Twig World came to Aberfoyle today to sample some of what the area offers.  Most braved the Go Ape zip wire assault course and Dee and Lucy joined myself and Will on a guided forest walk. We managed to escape from the thunder storms in the trees being protected by the might oaks and lightening conducting holly, but unfortunately the other guys didn't get to complete the entire Go Ape course due to the weather. Hopefully see you again soon for a retry!

Dee, Lucy and Will sampling the juicy bilberries whilst learning about some medicinal properties too - piles anyone :-)?? The most impressive Little Fawn Waterfall is always worth a visit at the David Marshall Lodge, Aberfoyle

 



Forest Hills Arts & Rafts

Our first craft session at the lovely Forest Hills resort on Loch Ard went really well and the kids made wands and mini rafts next to the pond. Thanks to everyone that joined in!

From left; Mia's lacey Willow wand, Sam's Holly and Tamzin's Ash wand.

Talking of ash, don't forget to put the leaves of ash under your pillow for psychic dreams to help you see into the future!

 I forgot to say that holly leaves under your pillow can help those who's hearts need healing (or make men irresistible to women if carried along with a berry ;-) and you can make a wish with a willow tree - ask permission from the tree, snap off a bendy shoot and make a wish as you tie the knot. Look after it and when your wish comes true take it back to a willow tree with a gift, untie the knot and say thank you :-)

Beth's lovely red sailed raft was named 'Star' and Finlay's Titanic stayed afloat excellently, although there were no icebergs, just dunking ducks :-)

Wacky Forth Races

OK, so this lovely weather is just fabulous.  Only downside is that the river has lost it's wack, it was probably the slowest race ever, even Will had to help the rafts down the river but the kids kept it as exciting as ever!

From left; Congratulation to 'CDC' winners behind the design were Charlie, Cristina & Daniella, Freya's 'Nikki' (good name) came in at 3rd place.

Archie & Libby's 'Poppy' crossed the line in 5th place despite their cunning plan to 'pop' the other bottles with cocktail sticks - cunning :-) 'The Rainbow' came in 3rd place by Cerys with our first ever crows nest on the top of the mast!

Cameron was back again this week with 'Water' and despite taking on heaps of 'water' on the luxury fluffy carpet it crossed the line in 2nd place! Jack's impressively designed 'The Mousey Rocket' finished in 6th place.

Last but not least was 'Taps' lovingly designed by Sorcha, Iona and Sophie - it got stuck on a rock as the water was so low ;-( everyone got prizes this week though as they needed a helping hand along the river :-)

Magic Wands & Wooden Pendants

Lovely wands and pendants again, despite the glue gun breaking, aaagh!

From left; Freya's Holly wand, Libby's Elder, Daniella's Rowan, Charlie's Oak, Grace's Holly and Archie's Elder

Robert's and his sister Grace's secret Viking messages

 It was Mum's birthday sisters Brooke, Ella and Farren made pendants to celebrate with a Viking message. Are you still missing Will ;-)

 



Tigh Mor Rafts & Crafts

Glorious weather and funky rafts this weekend made by Luke, Owen and Luke (otherwise known as Robin - batman mad :-)

Lovely spot to be creative - even Will was creating his new chairs!

Here is Luke's (Robin :-) 'Batboat'! There was a Viking sailor complete with fluffy jacket and a secret Viking runic message in a bottle.

Owen's 'The Boat'.

Owen's big brother Luke's 'Jet Ride'. Don't lose your crocs lads :-)

Wacky Forth Races

It was a hot one this weekend :-) Thanks to everyone that joined us at Cobleland this weekend.  We introduced a new face painting activity and there were 11 new magic makers going off with their new wands that they made. Lovely pendants on Monday too by Zoe, Miya and Charlie - forgot to take a snap - snort, sorry!
We managed a 'Wacky Forth Race' despite the water being low - there were 11 rafts and 17 raft makers this weekend.  Actually there were 11 painted faces this weekend too, there is an 11 theme developing!

From left; Jamie and Callum's 'Turbo Tastic, Gordon and Cameron's 'The Gondola', Josh, Thomas and Grace's 'The Devil'

From left again: Danni's 'Small Boat', Charlie's 'HMS Bottle', Zoe and Miya's 'My Perfect Boat'

From left: Isla and Cristina's ' IC Ferry', Chloe's 'The Pirates Buckaneer and Jessica's 'Emily'

 From Left; Ben's 'BBGG' and Amelie's 'Spring Cream'

 

The final line-up ready for the off!

A bit of a traumatic finish in that the two race leaders got stuck in the trees - sorry Charlie and Chloe :-( Therefore first to cross was Jessica's 'Emily', followed by Jamie and Callum's 'Turbo Tastic', then Amelie's 'Spring Cream'. 4th place was Gordon sna Cameron's 'The Gondola', 5th Ben's 'BBGG', 6th Zoe and Miya's 'My Perfect Boat', 7th Danni's 'Small Boat', 8th Isla and Cristina's 'IC Ferry' and 9th was 'The Devil' made by Josh, Thomas and Grace.

Pendant Making

Excellent pendants at Cobleland again :-)

Charity Raising at Cobleland Campsite

Here at Cobleland we love our local charities :-) Lesley's latest idea is to make these gorgeous little keepsake stones to raise pennies for Hessilhead Wildlife Centre which is near Beith in North Ayrshire.

Lesley has also made up some seedbombs to raise money for them too.  These are designed to be deployed wherever there is a need for a burst of colour as there are lots of native wild flower seeds within each bomb which will brighten up any waste ground or garden lacking in colour to encourage lots of lovely insects out to play :)

Wacky Forth Races

A tad more rain has meant that the Forth is starting to get a little bit wackier so the race went ahead without any going backwards for too long! 

Congratulations to Ellie with her raft 'Katie Mary', I think the stone weight worked well for her :-)  2nd place went to Sophie's 'Rosie', followed by Lara's 'Sail', Andrew's 'Jack Ferry', Jenny's 'Fairy' and Kirsty's 'Katie Sailboat'.

From left to right rafts made by - Ellie, Kirsty, Sophie, Andrew, Jenny and Lara

 

Magic Wands & Wooden Pendants

Great wands everyone!  Elder is extremely popular, maybe something to do with Voldermort! Willow, hazel and oak wands chose their new owners too and were lovingly sanded and decorated with magic symbols and trinkets.  Happy spell making and remember only good spells or they will backfire threefold!
Interestingly Lewis was determined to do something mischievous but then Will accidently snapped it while helping to fix on some ribbon!  Sorry Lewis, luckily Will fixed it so it now has character both and a lesson behind it. Remember Lewis, Ron Weasley's wand broke but still worked after it was fixed :-)

We had another craft session now that the holidays have started, this time pendants made from silver birch discs and elder beads, before decorating further. I helped some out with their designs using my pyrography set to burn into the wood too.

Megan, we found a headless angel, she must have fell off :-z If you come back we can see if we can fix her :-)

Cobleland's Nature Ladder

Take a look at what you can see at Cobleland Campsite below.  Here you can see how one of the seasonal campers, Bruno has managed to capture some amazing wildlife and even managed to catch the rarest of wild mammals - a wild cat on film!  That one, Bruno's most recent film, is being published soon via the Camping and Caravanning Campsite's website, so keep an eye out there at on the site!

I have just heard news today that the baby red squirrels are out and about and some great spotted woodpecker chicks too - so cute!!