Off-Roading Fun on Minchinhampton Common

For Christmas, Gabriel unwrapped a brand-new off-road remote control car, a present that was practically begging for a real adventure. So, as soon as we ere able, we took it out to Minchinhampton Common in Gloucestershire—an ideal playground for testing its wheels on the bumps, ridges, and rocky outcrops.

As soon as we set it down, Gabriel was all focus, maneuvering it over the lumpy ground, steering carefully at first and then testing its limits, guiding it over hillocks and along the rugged tracks. The car jolted and bounced but kept moving over every dip and rise, and Gabriel was delighted each time it tackled a new obstacle. We’d been lucky that the common’s resident cows were elsewhere, so the car had full run of the place.

We spent a good couple of hours there, with Gabriel learning to push the car’s boundaries, making it spin out a bit and then bringing it back under control, laughing each time he hit a new tricky spot. There’s something brilliant about watching a child work with their own focus and imagination, and this car really brought that out in him.

Finally, with the car battery running low and our hands a bit chilly, we packed it up and headed home. A simple trip, but definitely one of the Christmas highlights—Gabriel and his car against the landscape, taking on the wild of the common!