Friday 13 September 2013

DIY Garden Train

Poppet and Little are pretty lucky to have a grandad who is also a joiner - this means that they get cool wooden toys to play with! 

At the weekend we were at Grandad (and Nana's) holiday cottages, which were formally two derelict cottages and after a lot of hardwork from Grandad and Uncle Mike are now two pretty snazzy holiday cottages! They are in the middle of beautiful Perthshire farmland so great for the little ones to explore the outdoors. Take a peek at their website www.cambusmichaelcottages.co.uk, they have just started to rent them out (shameless plug over)!

Poppet and her Grandad

We introduced Grandad to geocaching while we were there (and got him hooked I think!) although I have my doubts as to whether he will ever figure out how to download an app on to his Iphone.

Anyway, back to the subject of this post, Grandad's latest creation! He had a whiskey barrel, and so did what any normal person would and turned it into a train at the bottom of the cottages' garden.


I think it is safe to say that it is popular with the girls (well more so Poppet than Little but give her a few months!).


It has a bell to ring, windows to stick your head out of, a coal cupboard (I'm sure this has a more technical name) to open and shut, and a ladder to go up and down so is perfect for hours of imaginative play outside! Grandad has plans to add in a bench and some levers and buttons so there will be even more to keep them entertained. C'mon grandad what about some working headlamps!



We were kept up to date with the train's progress while Grandad was making it with picture messages that I had to show to Poppet for creative input and approval. When Poppet saw the circular windows at the front she exclaimed 'It's got eyes!', then 'Where's eyebrows?', so Grandad dutifully obliged and the train gained some eyebrows and a mouth to boot. 

A friendly sort of fellow

You have no idea how long it took to coordinate this photo


Little figuring out the bell

I'm looking forward to giving the girls a picnic lunch onboard the train one day, hiding out in it during a rainy day, seeing them play on it in the snow - I think it will be getting a lot of use over the years!

Thanks Grandad!

Shoulder-carrying is obviously quite an important Grandad function as well

Poppet: 2yrs 8 mos
Little: 11 mos







16 comments:

  1. You know Farmer Nick is going to see this and try and build one too! It is just wonderful and will be perfect for the holiday guests at the cottages. What a clever Grandad and a perfect holiday retreat for you and your family too! Thank you for sharing your wonderfully clever train on Country Kids.

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    1. He is quite a clever grandad when he puts his mind to it! Can't wait for our first family holiday in the cottages next month just the 4 of us, lots more train play planned! x

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  2. Oh how brilliant is grandad, I love it. What a friendly, smiley wee train he is. I bet your girls will have years of fun playing with it :)

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    1. it was quite important to Poppet that it looked friendly! yes i think it will stand the test of time!

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  3. How perfect. I can see hours of playing time on this train. Lovely face on the front too. No wonder your girls are smiling. #CountryKids

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    1. if the girls are smiling, we are smiling! thankyou for commenting x

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  4. Can I borrow Grandad! How fantastic is this!

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    1. yes he just needs a steady supply of mince& tatties and strong tea. they are lucky girls!

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  5. A brilliant train! Looks like they really enjoyed it :) #CountryKids

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    1. they did, makes our garden at home seem really boring now!

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  6. oh my goodness that is fantastic!

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    1. haha my dad is going to love all these compliments! thankyou x

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  7. That is the most amazing creation ever.

    I want him to be my grandad

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    1. thankyou very much I will pass on your approval!

      But you can't have him he's ours ;)

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  8. How wonderful, clever grandad! Love it :) Hours of fun ahead in a smiley train! #CountryKids

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  9. Thankyou! yes hours of fun, the hard thing is getting the girls to come back inside the house!

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