Highway Rat Activity Trail at Fineshade Wood

Highway Rat Activity Trail at Fineshade Wood

Finn loves a story before bed and The Highway Rat by Julia Donaldson is a firm favourite in our house. In fact, I’m sure that he pretty much knows it by heart!

I’ve spent a lot of time indoors this week, trying frantically to clear my desk before baby arrives, so we were all in need of an outdoor adventure. I’d seen that there was a Highway Rat trail at Fineshade Wood near Corby, so we set off for a family day out and some fresh air.

Finn was eager to get into the spirit of things on the Highway Rat trail

The activity set cost us £3, which contained a highway rat mask (as modelled above!) a booklet, a piece of string to make our ‘journey stick’, a pencil and crayon to do the rubbings. We also picked up some extra printouts with activities to do at home. This combined with the £4 parking fee, was a reasonably cheap way to spend a few hours.

There were a number of tasks to do along the route

We followed the marked route, which was about a mile long, finding the 10 boards along the way that had tasks to do and information about the woods around us.

The activities were suitable for younger children, I’d say from around 3-6 years old. Finn certainly enjoyed looking for the boards and was able to follow the arrows. He needed a little help with the rubbings, but he soon got the hang of it.

There were a few rubbings to do along the way

Finn demonstrating his bunny hop technique

There were also characters from The Highway Rat to find along the trail and tick off in the booklet.

We all had great fun ticking off the characters as we followed the Highway Rat Trail

It was a really enjoyable way to spend a couple of hours outdoors as a family. There was enough to do to keep Finn occupied and engaged with his surroundings-it’s one of the few times I can remember not having to cajole and bribe him to get him to walk a reasonable distance! He loved looking for treasure to tie to his journey stick and ended the walk with a good collection of sticks, stones and leaves. I shall be looking out for other trails near us in the future.

Have you done a Highway Rat Trail?

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Comments

  • Emma Hip2trek Emma Hip2trek July 18, at 11:22

    Aw bless him, love the bunny hops picture! My kids are too old for this book but both loved the Gruffalo story. These trails are such a great idea to keep them entertained. #AdventureCalling

    Reply
  • Lauren Lauren July 21, at 09:35

    I love that mask!
    We’ve not done the Highway Rat Trail, but we’ve been round a gruffalo trail a few times. Looks like you had a well earned break and lots of fun.
    #AdventureCalling

    Reply
  • Clare M Clare M July 28, at 22:32

    These are great trails, we have one near us in Devon.

    Reply
  • David - Potty Adventures David - Potty Adventures August 01, at 09:01

    It’s great how authors and publishers have coordinated with outdoor environments to place these great trails. It really does encourage families to get outside. Finn certainly looked like he had a great time. #adventurecalling

    Reply
  • Madonna Grill Madonna Grill August 08, at 12:55

    This sounds like a great way to get out and about after chilling out. Even though it’s cold, I love a good walk.

    Reply

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