Harlow Carr

We visited the RHS gardens at Harlow Carr for the first time yesterday, and they were absolutely gorgeous - huge swathes of trees with gold, yellow and orange leaves; beautiful red, feathery acers; and lovely swirling grasses.

So of course I took a picture of something made of metal:

What surprised me most was the fun you could have if you weren't that fussed about the plants. We had a go at the very good kids autumn I-Spy booklet, chasing down mushrooms, acorns and the Log Ness Monster, and spent a while tramping around the log maze.

It's got a lot in common with the rather more manicured Alnwick Garden - they're both places you can take kids to get them interested/excited about nature/plants/trees/the outdoors in general, in a way that doesn't ram it down their throats. Top marks.

Also scoring highly this weekend was Fountains Abbey's adventure playground, whose swing reduced all of us to feeling queasy within seconds.