Bonkers Conkers!

It’s Autumn! Hooray…the weather is finally getting colder and the leaves have properly burst into red and orange flames! Yes I AM being a ponce but I do LOVE the brrrrrr of going for walks through the crisp, spicy-aired park on the weekends and toastiness of staying-in on blustery Autumn nights, snuggling under sofa rugs and drinking wine (Stoptober) de-caf coffee. And this weekend we wandered firstly around Sophia Gardens in Cardiff on a tip off from a mate because we were on a conker hunt….CONKERS!!!!! And after filling our boots (or rather, the bottom of the buggy) we then went over the foot bridge to the Castle grounds for an over-priced coffee as we wandered through the golden-brown trees. It was lovely.

Back to the most exciting part of the walk though…. CONKER HUNTING!!!!! Oh my goodness, the second I squeezed a conker from its spiky green shell, I was transported IMMEDIATELY to my Infant School Playground where loads of Horse Chesnut trees over-hang. I remember we would collect BAGS full of them, in search of the biggest, hardest, shiniest specimen. I was SO excited finding the ground of the park strewn with them! We picked up LOADS.

But of course it didn’t actually dawn on me until we got home that actually we would have to do something with the blighters. So trawling thru Pinterest racking my very creative and original imagination *cough* I came up with a plan to get my son to decorate them and stick them in a glass vase to show them off. Leaving a few to teach him how to have a proper conker bash-off OBVS. (um, I’m not sure “bash-off” is the correct term in this context….)

The end result, however, is actually a bit rubbish and not massively inspiring. The paint I mixed up wasn’t right for the very non-porous conkers and so mainly slid off. And the glitter just looked a bit garish and silly. The best results came from my new favourite thing….METALLIC SHARPIES! So if you wanted something a bit more tasteful then I would ignore your children’s cries, not let them anywhere near the creative input and do it yourself. I snuck out my favourite conkers and put them in a poncey jar with a candle and whilst being ridiculously twee, I am very happy with the result.

Of course, that’s not really in the spirit of things though and I actually had LOADS of fun doing this with my son. It managed to keep him entertained for a whole hour which for a 4 year old boy is bordering on a miracle. And I am being mean really because his conkers are fun and colourful.

I hope you are all enjoying the lovely crisp Autumness. Christmas soon….woohOoOOOO!!!!!