Summer Highlights 2010

Nok On Wood Stall

Well another summer on tour with Nok On Wood has nearly come to a close and we will soon be drawing in and preparing for Christmas.  Looking back I remember going into the school summer holidays feeling stressed and overworked (juggling the demands of assisting in Kindergarten with the increase of events with Nok On Wood).  By the time I returned to school a couple of weeks ago I felt rested and restored.  There is nothing more wonderful than getting out into the highlands of Scotland and with our wee caravan, events become a pleasure that is hard to top.

What more could we wish for…  beautiful Scottish scenery, catching up with gossip from other stallholders, making new friends and sharing our wooden toys with people of all ages.

Selling wooden toys is a delight and also a challenge.  There is no doubt that the people who visit our stall love what we have to offer, but regrettably there is a lot of competition from cheap plastic throw away toys and often children don’t realize that those items will only last them a few days whereas what we offer aims to provide years of fun and then be passed on for the next generation of children to enjoy.   However, we keep striving to keep quality and beauty alive in our products.

Favourites with the boys this season have been our wooden dagger and balsa wood planes and gliders; as well as the all-time favourite wooden crossbow which is still enjoyed as a summer attraction with our Crossbow Alley.  The diabolo has increased in popularity and as we keep a sample on the stall my husband and son are getting to grips with it beautifully.  Our school provides a selection of diabolos and juggling toys for the children to play with at break times and I felt very proud to see how well my son is developing his skills.  Paul (my husband) can now manage a few tricks.  This is a great toy for developing co-ordination and encouraging perseverance (a skill often lacking in children today).  I am delighted to notice an increase in sales of our Chinese Jump Rope.  This is a game I played at school and games like this appear to have declined in the school playgrounds over the years.  Hopefully we will see a continued increase.

In addition to the toys I have been busy making cloth bags for some of our wooden games.  These provide a unique addition and have attracted a lot of attention at our events.  The Grandmaster Su Doku is now available on our stall in a gift package including the cloth bag and a book of 350 puzzles to keep the enthusiast busy for months – if not years.  This wooden board version creates a much more tactile experience than the traditional paper and pen option.

Nok On Wood BBQ

The events we visit are always wonderful and as we are now well established we are more able to pick and choose our favourites.  So this year has been particularly fun.  Taking our toys out on the road provides us with a summer holiday that is self funding.  We usually arrive the night before the event and as we are now using our caravan awning as a stall we are able to set this up as soon as we arrive and start a BBQ then just sit back and enjoy the view and chat to fellow stallholders.  This also gives us a gentle start in the morning and makes the 2 hour set-up a comfortable affair.  Sometimes if we have time we also have our evening meal before we leave.  This also gives Keelan (our son) the opportunity to meet other children and to just simply play.

Blair Drummond Safari Park

This year we even managed to sandwich in a few days leisure between Inveraray Highland Games and Lochearnhead Highland Games.  This included staying on a very friendly campsite close to Blair Drummond Safari Park (which made a great day out) and taking a trip down to Stirling Castle which currently has a tapestry project going on that is well worth taking a look at.   We have not spent much time in that area so we thoroughly enjoyed taking in the beauty of the area and were amazed at the contrast between Scotland’s highlands and lowlands.  There is nowhere better than Stirling Castle to witness this.

We attend so many Highland Games events throughout the summer that anyone would expect that we would become bored with them.  However this is far from the truth.  Each event has its own qualities and we have our personal favourites for atmosphere.  Our top three this year were Newtonmore where we always get a very warm welcome, Abernethy which is new to us but felt very special and Forres not only because it is our local town and so many friends turn up to visit us but also witnessing the massed pipe bands in such a spendid setting is breathtaking.

Carve Carrbridge

Last week we were back at Carve Carrbridge Chainsaw Championship.  This has to be our all time favourite event of the year due to the sheer wonder of the carvings that emerge from such unwieldy tools!  Many thanks to Katrina and the organisers who saved such a wonderful stance space where we were able to enjoy the event to its fullest.  My favourite carving ‘Balanced Pride’ (the lion) came third and my son’s favourite was ‘Bear Necessities’ by local carver Iain Chalmers.

We are now well and truly back in the flow of school which always provides a challenge in juggling our available hours between the different hats we wear.  But it does keep us in touch with how important it is to preserve childhood.  On the road we often hear comments from adults attending our stall along the lines of  ‘I love these toys but my children are all to grown up for them now’ and then so many children who fall into the stated age range come along and buy them!  I believe that if we work harder at keeping computer games and media out of children’s lives for longer we give them a much better start in life.  We spend so much time ‘grown up’ why rush to get there?

Learning Through Play

Evidence from experts in child health and well being are calling out for us to give our children a better chance to grow up slowly with plenty of opportunities to discover through play.  There are so many vital things to learn while we are young and computer games is not one of them!  Working in a school where we encourage children to develop at more natural pace I am made aware of how important this is and how much the children gain from free play both in the classroom and outdoors in the woods that make up our playground and surrounding area.

For more information on the topics of this blog visit:-

Nok On Wood – Wooden Toys & Games for all the family:  http://www.nokonwood.co.uk

Alba Games – listings of Scotlands Highland Games events:  http://www.albagames.co.uk

Carve Carrbridge – Open Chainsaw Championship:  http://www.carvecarrbridge.com

Iain Chalmers – Chainsaw Creations:  http://www.chainsawcreations.co.uk

Blair Drummond Safari Park:  http://www.blairdrummond.com

Stirling Castle:  http://www.stirlingcastle.gov.uk

Moray Steiner School:  http://www.moraysteinerschool.org

Steiner Waldorf Schools Fellowship:  http://www.steinerwaldorf.org.uk

Sue Palmer – Author of Toxic Childhood:  http://www.suepalmer.co.uk

BA Vintage Working Weekend

What an amazing event!  We came along to this with no expectations and were impressed with what was on offer for visitors.  The event is set in acres of farmland which had been set to purpose to include working vintage tractors, shire horses, panning for gold, tattie picking, craft and gift stalls and a delightful children’s play area set inside a genuine stone circle.  Hidden delights included the stunning views, surprisingly clement weather, walking the labyrinth and the very warm welcome from everyone involved in the day.

There is so much to do and see at this event that we and other stallholders reported low takings, however we were all in agreement that we enjoyed being there so much we were happy to take the losses!  I would be happy to personally guarantee this event as an ideal day out for all the family.

Being able to get up close to watch Clydesdale horses ploughing the field gave us a real sense of the necessary union the farmer had with his horses.  Watching these powerful creatures put all their strength into getting the plough moving gave us an inkling into how much farmers must have valued their horses and how important the communication between them was.  There were a lot of verbal instructions given to the horses to guide them in the right direction and compared to modern day farming the process was slow and laborious for all concerned.

Moving on to the vintage tractors, it is easy to see how much of a welcome relief these were to farmers.  Today they hold a nostalgia for us, but it really isn’t that long ago that they were the latest new thing in farming.  There were lots of these giving ploughing demonstrations and the people who were driving them were interviewed throughout the day so that visitors could enjoy hearing first hand how farming has developed.  In addition to the tractors there was an impressive display of stationary engines and miniatures in the Model Tent and for people with low mobility there were little trains taking visitors from one area to another (these were also very popular with the children).

As well as all the machinery the local Rotary Club had put on an impressive array of activities at different locations around the site.  The panning for gold area was a favourite with many of the children and included a mock mining display which had been set up for the weekend.  Close to this were the remote control boats that had been set afloat in a purposely dug out lake.   Whilst more centrally located at the top of the site was an activity area set within a genuine stone circle.  Here you could take up metal detectors to go in search of buried treasure, vent any pent up frustrations by breaking china in the Crazy Kitchen, or climb into a mini digger and have a go at moving some earth yourself.  As these were just a few of the many activities on offer – it is no surprise then that parents did not have the need to buy our toys to keep their children happy!

Having said this, the items on offer from the stallholders were a feast for shoppers, I picked up a few special things to take home with me whilst I was there and as most of the stalls were positioned close to the kiddies play area making it easy enough to let the children play while you browsed.

As a stallholder at these events we get an added perspective on the day and we often meet the same people when we travel around the highlands with our toy stall.  One of the aspects we love after shutting up shop for the day is to chat with other stallholders and take a look around the site whilst it is quiet.  On this occasion we discovered from another stallholder that the land had been given to the current owner with the proviso that the Stone Circle be reinstated.  We discovered that there are other festivals held in this area which is a prominent point for crossing leylines.  We also discovered a labyrinth that had been sculpted into the ground close to the stone circle and took the time to walk this before going to bed.  The area is steeped in history and holds a very special magical energy that still pervades.

All in all this was a very memorable weekend for us and even though it was a quiet day for Nok On Wood we would be happy to return just to soak up the wonderful atmosphere of the event.

LINK:  http://www.bavintageweekend.co.uk

More photos of this event on our Facebook Page:

Durness Highland Games

It is with the greatest regret that we were unable to stay for this event.  But it is worth noting purely because of it’s exquisite setting.

Having had our holiday in Skye (precurser to Lochcarron Highland Games) cut short due to illness we were determined we would get a couple of days in Durness before preparing our stall for the games there.  However, as several web orders came in just as we were about to leave, once again we were delayed in setting out on our three hour journey across the Highlands.  Eventually we had to accept defeat and set off first thing the following morning instead.  This meant we only had half a day in Durness but we made the most of it.

We parked our little caravan in the car park next to the tourist office in Durness, and set off along the short road down to Balnakeil to visit the Craft Village.  This is an intriguing conversion of army barracks into studios and accommodation for an eclectic mix of artists.  Here you can browse through the studios, chat to the artists who are present and choose from a handful of cafes to eat.  We chose the bookshop because of its cosy atmosphere but when we strolled over to the Mountain Coffee Shop which looked oddly cosmopolitan for the Highlands we found ourselves salivating over the scrummy looking chocolates (next time!)

As we didn’t have much time and we had promised our son a beach, we took the advise of one of the artists and continued along the Balnakeil road where, after negotiating a funeral party departing from the picturesque and historic graveyard, we discovered an exquisite panoramic view along the extensive and extraordinarily white sandy beach.  Perfect for a long stroll, digging sandcastles and getting lost amongst the sand dunes or climbing amongst the rocks (every 7 year old’s paradise!).  The tide was out so we were able to stroll for quite a considerable way and discovered some delightful caves (not the more famous Smoo Cave in Durness that we are yet to explore).  As the weather was fair and the breezes warm it was the perfect way to spend our afternoon and Paul began to relax after his stressful journey along single track roads.

We picked our caravan up and drove into the site for the Games to discover that although it was a beautiful setting it was very tight for space and the only remaining place where we could pitch our caravan was along the far side of the site on edge of a high cliff overlooking the sea.  Spectacular to say the least.  With high spirits and looking forward to the following day we set up the caravan and took the bold decision to set up our Gazebo (normally set up on the morning of the games).  We enjoyed dinner followed by a stroll and an exploration of the adjacent camp site (for future reference it looks really well equipped – worth a visit), and then to bed.

I awoke at about 5am to the sound of wind and rain and glanced out of the caravan window to discover rain sitting in our camping chairs that we had left in the Gazebo.  Not a good sign but I decided not to disturb anyone by investigating further.  When Paul and I awoke at 7am we discovered large puddles and it became that the waterproofing we had applied to the Gazebo had been penetrated and everything was now completely soaked.  It was also quite gusty so we crossed our fingers that the weather would improve while we had breakfast.

Unfortunately as it was still pouring down at 10am we had to admit defeat and realised there was no way we were going to be able to set up stall in our soaking wet Gazebo.  The reluctant decision was to ‘abandon ship’ and head over to Halkirk where we were to have a stall at the Games there the following day.  But hopefully we will make it back to Durness again next year and maybe even with a little more time to explore.

I can honestly say that if you are looking to explore the Highlands you couldn’t pick a better final destination than this delightful corner of Scotland.