At Charlecote Park (a National Trust property about 4 miles east of Stratford Upon Avon), C, S, a woman whose name I couldn’t remember, and another woman who I didn’t think I’d met before were there. As I arrived, I saw 2 bobbly hats, and asked C if he wanted to do a tally of bobbles, and then remembered he hadn’t been in yesterday and explained myself (as me and the other staff and volunteers had been counting – and the total had been 258 bobbles by the end of the day). A mother and daughter (5->6 years ish) in bobbly hats came in and stuck their entrance stickers on their hats; I’d counted 10 bobbles by 10.25am – and lots and lots of them had been on toddlers, and the majority of people were wearing wellies. A woman with a child in a carrier was holding a handful of Monster Munch crisps, there were a couple of kids wearing headbands with ears on them in the next rush, I heard a toddler telling his sister that he was from Ravenclaw (one of the Hogwarts school houses in the Harry Potter books), another child had yellow wellies on, a girl was cuddling a pink cartoon seal toy; a toddler was miming punching his sister in the stomach, another 1 had gloves with reindeer on, a child was cuddling a sloth soft toy, a small girl came over and asked me where the toilets were, a small fluffy dog began yapping loudly at a larger fluffy dog – while the room was packed, and the ‘Broom parking only’ sign – amidst all the bright orangey Halloween-y stuff – dropped off the reception desk.
Toddlers continued entering, and by 12pm – the temperatures meant I was beginning to go numb in places (it was warmer outside than inside), a boy came in with a stick that he seemed to consider a sword, and another toddler had a Spiderman sock hat on.
I’d counted 68 bobbles by then, had 194 members on my scanner [National Trust members have their membership cards zapped when entering properties], and I explained my bobble counting to C – and the numbers stunned him. It felt freezing (and I felt like I should’ve worn my fur hat)[it came from a market in Norway], I saw a woman wheeling a childs scooter along, 1 boy had a Mr Men Halloween sticker activity book, and a man handed in a bunch of keys he’d found. A very nice pair of Norfolk Terriers came in with owners, and 1 was very enthusiastic when I stroked him or her – and licked my hand; there was a bloke with a massive camera lens; then out of a family of 4, there were 3 wearing earmuffs. I counted my 86th bobbly hat at 12.40pm, a little Jack Russell was next to a Labrador outside (with owners), a girl was wearing a ‘9 Today’ badge, Chris picked up some bits of gravel that had bounced in via a litter picker/grabbing implement, and I heard some wailing being done by a child in the pumpkin trail marquee.
Children were beginning to leave whilst clutching pumpkins at 12.55pm: I saw a couple of boys leaving who were trying to balance their pumpkins on their heads, a family (2 women and 5 children) were all wearing bobbly hats, a boy was wearing a hat with 3 bobbles on; then 2 girls (4->7 years ish) came in – 1 dressed in a witches costume and 1 dressed in a pink sparkly dress; and a couple of kids were struggling to carry their pumpkins – which were about half the size of them; 1 child – on their way out – was sucking a lollipop and holding a kangaroo soft toy by 1 leg; while children were continuing to leave – clutching their pumpkins, at 1.25pm they included 1 girl who had a black hat on that was supposed to look like a spider (and had 8 legs sticking out from it and a couple of eyes),
I heard S saying to someone outside that she loves doing a good rake; C began the process of signing a family up for membership; a toddler had 2 bobbles on her hat, a dog (small with black curly fur) got very excited by S doing some gravel raking outside and tried to pounce on the rake while squeaking (but was restrained by his lead), I saw a boy wearing a bobbly hat that had a picture of sunglasses on it, a small girl had a jumper that said ‘Gryffindor’ – with a coat of arms on, by which time Chris was talking to a couple with the surname Rainbow. A mother came in with a small girl and began desperately searching her purse for change while the girl looked very miserable, said that they were having an extension done, that she’d been sat on her own all morning and that she promised her they’d go out this afternoon, and just about found the cash; a family was equipped with a long and thin tube of bubble blowing substance, a girl had a long armed sloth soft toy velcro-ed round her neck, a small dog was squeaking like mad, I saw a child in a pram with a bobbly hat, a girl (10 years ish) was trying to speak with a pencil in her mouth, a toddler had a jumper on that said ‘Jed the footballing legend’ on the back; and I heard the thud of a pumpkin being dropped outside.
Mum appeared at 2.30pm and said she was going to do the tree walk, a girl had a beret with a bobble on (which I counted), S remarked on the pebbles that had been kicked in, a woman walked in with a terrier who had a poppy in his or her collar, and a man and woman came in looking for a lost teddy bear – which it turned out had been handed in at the restaurant. C began picking up the pebbles – using a litter grabber implement; by 3pm people were beginning to leave, and the woman called N left, I was stood by a tiny electric radiator next to the window because my hands had been going numb, a very floppy spaniel (with owner) was squeaking, several toddlers were getting very excited by the pumpkins, and a man with a ginormous camera lens asked when the park would be closed.
By 3.30pm, lost property handed in included a camera lens cap, a small soft toy that looked like a racoon (with a rather large tail) and a thin black part of a soft toy that looked like an antler. The house closed at 3.30pm (S estimated about 30 new members), Mum reappeared a couple of minutes later, and we said goodbye.
