The first weekend of October was a scorcher and we were lucky enough to be invited out by the extended family to a lovely part of the New Forest called Putties Bridge, which is accessible off Rhinefield Ornamental Drive, for a lunchtime picnic and afternoon stroll.

After weaving through the country lanes and the many cyclists we found our way to Putties Bridge. On arrival the park looked busy and the best spots had already been cherry picked by other families with the same idea (it was a bit like sunbeds around the pool on holiday!). We sent Uncle off for a picnic area reccy, and he soon reappeared and led the way to a beautiful part shady, part sunny spot.

This is where it gets interesting. Little I sees the bridge and heads for it, where she spots people her size playing in the sun-drenched water, and of course she want to go and join in. The stream was very shallow, warm and clean. Great for kids being supervised.

Unfortunately we were totally unprepared: Little I had no:

• Swimming costume
• Wellington boots
• Fishing net
• Inflatable toy
• Ball
• Parents with wellies or a change of clothes

As you can imagine she didn’t back down easily, and soon we were all dipping our toes in!

Other highlights of the day were the family of New Forest ponies who came towards the steam for a drink and to cool down; the rope swing that looked like it had seen better days, but kept a number of kids (and myself) amused all day; a game of pooh sticks and a treasure hunt where we had to find items beginning with each of the letters spelling LEAF.

As you can see from the photo Little I gave it a thumbs up. In summary if it’s hot and you are going anywhere near a stream, think about what your little one might need to enjoy it to the max!