Attic24

Dorset Spring 2012 :: days 5&6

:: DAY 5 ::

Weather report ~ warmish, but grey and overcast with frequent rain showers.

Day 5 was to be different to the other days in that we decided to split into Team Boy and Team Girl and go to different places. It was a plan made in heaven and sprinkled with happy dust as far as I was concerned.

Team Boy were destined for Bere (a small place just over the border in Devon), more specifically the delights of Pecorama which consists of a model railway exhibition plus excellent Boyish miniature steam train running through landscaped gardens.

Team Girl would be dropped off en route to Bere to carry out Girlish pursuits, more specifically the delights of Lyme Regis which consists of shops, galleries and cafés all with sea views and feel-good.

I wrote about my love affair with Lyme Regis a couple years ago, and my fondness has even grown since then I think. I really, really (like r-e-e-e-e-e-a-l-l-y) love Lyme Regis. A lot. A very lot. It pleases me on so many levels, ticks so many of my happy boxes, that it never ever fails to deliver huge dollops of pleasure. Simply pootling round the streets is heaven, they're so damn pretty and full of charm!

And the possibilities it holds for Retail Therapy is just wonderful. There are some truly unique and beautiful little shops and galleries, full to bursting with unique and beautiful objects. The Coombe Street Gallery was the very first shop we went into, and it was such a treat. Little Lady is a fantastic shopping companion I have to say, we had great fun looking at things together, chatting and exclaiming over so many delightful finds.

I love how gorgeous the shop fronts are in Lyme, it makes the whole town look incredible. So much style and colour everywhere you look.

This was the window display in one of my favourite shops, Ruby Rockcake. Wow, I really felt at home in here. It was full of an amazing selection of retro styled products, quite a bit more funky and colourful than your average vintage shop. I first read about Ruby Rockcake on a lovely blog called JellyJam, you can read the post here and see more beautiful pics of the shop's interior. Caroline...if you are reading this, I ADORED your shop, and will definitely be back again, most probably to try and move in.

After all this retail excitement and a lovely spot of coffee'n'cake, we headed up to the top of town to go find my good friend M. She was finishing up a spot of work in her beautiful studio (she's a knitwear designer), located down this really incredible, pretty little back street.

Isn't this just the most picturesque little street?

Pretty cottages and gorgeous gardens......

....and views out over the rooftops. It was all so yummy, a real feast for the eyes.

After a lovely, chatty lunch at a place called Pasty Presto (delicious), we wandered down to the seafront to rendezvous with Team Boy who had finished doing train things. By all accounts they had a fabulous time and were ready to join us in a bit of seaside pootling and icecream eating.

It was unusually quiet down at the beach, but then the weather was quite stormy with frequent short bursts of rain, so not exactly beachy weather really.

But it was as lovely as ever, and we enjoyed a leisurely stroll along the seafront and round the wall of the Cobb.

You can just see the end part of the old Cobb wall to the right there...go and have a peek at this beautiful aerial view and you'll get a great impression of how the cobb walls form the sheltered harbour.

More boaty loveliness, I can never get enough of Boaty Views.

It really was gorgeous on this afternoon. Not perfect weather (we kept getting wet) but still a beautiful day to be beside the sea.

Now after all that sublime coastal scenery, I'm going to leave day 5 with a heap of seaside plastic. What fun this shop display was! I was thrilled to see a huge giant version of my own backyard windmills, and I wish you could've heard Little B's excited exclamations over it too, so sweet.

:: DAY 6 ::

Weather report ~ warm and lovely, blue skies, fluffy clouds and sunshine.

Day 6, our last day. We weren't going to leave till 5pm or thereabouts so we had most of the day to say goodbye to everyone and everything. The day started early with Little B waking just after 5am, so I left him snuggling in bed with J and came downstairs for a little early morning quiet time. I love to crochet in the early mornings whilst on holiday, the light is golden and the sweet sound of bird song fills my ears. I sit in the old chair beside the patio doors with them open just a smidge..enough to let in the sound of the birds and the scent of still wet grass and earth.

I took the May issue of Country Living magazine with me to read whilst on hols, wowsers, what delight in those pages! I loved the decorating spread based on "Retro Revival, and it struck me how similar my current yarn selection is. The teal blue with the mustardy yellow, the slightly purplish grey tones with the orangey pink thrown in.

There was reference made to some Fired Earth paint colours (their mid-century collection), and yes, I can see that I have kind of fallen into this palette by accident. I am just missing a good deep burnt orange and a slightly mucky olivey green.

Actually, I went to pay a visit to Bridports new wool shop on day 6 (what a gorgeous experience that was! See some pics of it here, it's a slice of pure yarny heaven)...and picked up two extra colours of the Rico Merino to try and fill the orange/green gap. Not quite sure about them yet but we'll see (for reference, I added in orange colour 73, and khaki colour 46, although they won't be in my cushion)

After breakfast, we decided to go and have a short farewell trip to the sea and there followed a short, sharp debate over which bit of sea we should visit. Burton? Eype? West Bay? I'm happy to say that my choice won out, and back to West Bay we went. It was the most beeeeeeautiful morning, warm and sunny with the wind finally down to a mere light breeze.

It was only just after 9am when we arrived, we parked the car right on the promenade (my idea, as there is an amazing coffee place right there where I knew I could get me a carry-out to accompany my beach session). 

The Little People each had a spade and went off to the small patch of sand to dig, dig, dig (you can just see them in the above pic). I sat my bottom on the warm steps that lead down from the promenade to the beach and indulged all my senses. The taste of hot milky coffee, the feel of the smooth stones in my fingers, the sight of the blue-meets-blue horizon, the sound of seagulls and waves rolling into shore, the scent of fresh coffee intermingled with salty seaweed.

I looked up, down, and all around. All was beautiful and content in my world. Happiness washed over me.

I watched my Little Boy (see him above there?) toddling about with his blue spade, picking up pebbles, collecting things, throwing things, so happy in his own sweet world. And I thought for the umpteenth time...WOW. I have THREE children. Not two, but THrEe of these incredible little things. It appears I am still astounded by this fact, still amazed that we have become a family of five. I wonder, will this amazement ever evaporate?

I tell you, I so did not want to leave that beach, I felt like my very soul had taken root in the shingle. My feet did not want to walk away. But......we had packing to do, a family lunch to be present at, dear loved ones to bid farewell to. And then a long 300 mile journey to make home.

On Sunday morning back here in Yorkshire, the weather was bright and sunny and we set out early to go and walk along the riverside. I put on my fleece to keep the chill off, and when I put my hands in my pockets I pulled out a small handful of collected beach treasures. Souvenirs from a fabulous holiday beside the sea.

Not the only treasures to come home with me mind you, I wasn't just idling about window shopping in Lyme Regis, no no no! I had been saving up my pocket money specifically for this trip so I had a wee bit of spending money at my disposal. Would you like to see my New Sweet Things?

There you go....a collection of spoons and egg cups and mushrooms and postcards and cake sprinkles and wooden arty objects. Yum yum yum!

The teeny wooden mushrooms and the cute mushroom nightlight came from Ruby Rockcake.

The melamine spoons are Rice DK (similar here)

I bought the adorable little egg cups from Fuego, but you can buy them online here.

Ahhhh I LOVE these postcards! I spotted them at a newsagent in West Bay and couldn't resist them, they are illustrations by the talented Martin Wiscombe.

I bought this lovely, lovely little wooden boat from the Coombe Street Gallery in Lyme Regis, it nearly broke my heart with it's cuteness. It's a simple piece of automata and when you wind the little handle, the boat rocks up and down......isn't it lovely?!

When I went for lunch in Lyme, I got this sweet boat out to show M. But I found that all the while I was showing it, I was actually thinking and talking about a larger piece that I'd seen but hadn't been sure about buying at the time as it was a good chunk of my spending money. However, the more I thought about it, the more I just knew in my heart that I should go straight back to the gallery and buy it. I could already feel that I would totally regret not having it in the Attic, I was already longing for it, does that make sense?

And this is the piece I went back for. It really is beautiful, soooooo beautiful. It's another piece of automata ~ winding the handle makes the little painted metal seagulls fly up and down. It's so totally in the spirit of Lyme Regis (the rows of coloured painted houses, the ever present seagulls, the white fluffy clouds) that my heart soars when I look at it. I've written the date I bought it on the underside, and I shall treasure it and love it forever, I know I will.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Edit to add :: after some research I've found out that the sweet wooden automata are made by a British company called Shoeless Joe. They describe themselves as a "wholesale gift company" who design their products in the UK but have them made in other parts of the world. These wooden pieces have such a delightful handmade quality, and were very reasonably priced, but sadly they aren't available to buy online anywhere as they are wholesale only. Not sure if this is of any help whatsoever, but hey, you did ask!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dorset Spring 2012 :: days 3&4

:: DAY 3 ::

Weather report ~ blustery cold winds, sunshine and short April showers.

Much more promising Springtime weather arrived on Tuesday morning, and we were so ready for it. The most glorious blue skies and bright sunshine had us heading straight down to the sea, this time a little further along the coast at Burton Bradstock.

There was a strong, blustery wind which made for an impressive Big Sea. I really love it when it's like this, the sound of crashing waves is one of my all time favourite sounds on earth (along with childrens laughter, and the sound of a skylark calling). The air tasted of salt, it was all so refreshing and delicious.

We had an idea that we wanted to lay a picnic blanket down on the shingle and lounge about in the sun a bit. But despite the sun, the wind made it very chilly, not really very comfy lounging about temperatures. So out came our trusty old windbreak, and all five of us snuggled down together....

....to loaf about and eat chocolate. What a marvellous thing to do at 9.30am on a Tuesday morning, we all thoroughly enjoyed it.

The Little People don't really do lengthy loafing or lounging, especially at the coast. They sat and ate chocolate for about 47.5 seconds, then were up and off again, climbing and scrambling up and down these beautifully sculptural sandy banks. Little B however does not like windy conditions and was more than happy to spend his time snuggling behind the windbreak consuming chocolate.

After the chocolately rest, Little Lady and I took a walk together along the beach in search of treasure, which was disappointingly in short supply. I did find one lovely curly-wurly whelk shell, but sadly it still contained approximately one third of it's occupier and was therefore rather stinky. Ah well. It was still a lovely stroll, in which Little Lady described to me her perfect home that she is currently saving up for (I kid you not, she saves every single penny she gets in her own account, so that she can one day buy her own dream cottage. Thatched, and by the sea of course, she is definitely from my gene pool)

By the time we'd finished walking and talking dreamy real estate, we had come back to the boys and the cafe was open, hoorah! Cappuccino/juice at the Hive is always rather high on my list of Dorset must-do's. It did not disappoint, delish in every way.

After all the fun of the beach, we waved goodbye and headed inland to the gorgeous little pocket of countryside where my Mum lives. The sun was still shining, throwing gorgeous shadows through the little curly-latched windows. It always feels so still and timeless and soporific at my Mum's cottage (although the noise of the Little People at play does rather shatter the peace somewhat), and on arriving I always, always get an overwhelming urge to lay down and sleep. I find that I yawn a lot. I lounge idly on the sofa while my Mum provides me with cups of hot tea (in bone china mugs) and feeds me yummy food. It's all rather lovely actually.

Providing yummy food is my Mum's speciality, and she set out a truly scrumptious spread for lunch. It was devoured with gusto by us lot, the visiting hungry-folk. She made five different types of sandwiches on fresh granary bread. There were sweet little cherry tomatoes and bowls of hand cut crisps. Plates of spicy cured meats and homemade pickles. And there were Moores Easter Biscuits. Of course. No Easter would be complete without these, we all love them.

Every year my lovely Mum always creates a very special Easter Basket for the Little People which she started doing when Little Man was a small tot. Even now at 9 years old, Little Man asked me on the way over whether I thought Grandma would've done her Easter Basket, it's become a truly sweet tradition. The LP always very politely ask permission before taking anything out, and this year even Little B learnt to say a heart melting "peeeeeeeease" before running off with his chocolate of choice.

The weather threw down a few short, sharp April showers during the afternoon, but nothing that really stopped play. The soporific feeling continued, even the river flows slowly here, winding gently past the cottage on it's way down to the sea. Grandpa B gave the Little People a slice of bread each, for them to pull off little bits and feed to the resident trout. These fish love granary bread it seems, they rose to the surface and gobbled it up, much to the huge delight of the LP.

Isn't this pansy flower just soooo beautiful? Such vibrant, velvety beauty, I felt like I wanted to kiss it! I refrained, and photographed it instead. Mwah, sweet pansy-face, you are way too gorgeous.

Hmmm....trying to think now where we're at. Yes, that's it. Still on day 3, but much later on now, after dinner, 7pm or thereabouts. The early evening light makes it impossible to retire indoors, so we head instead up to the heights of Egardon Hill.

We parked the car at the roadside and walked out along the ancient ridges, such beauty in the light and landscape at this time of day.

The fields are wearing their gold and green Easter outfit with the crops of rapeseed just beginning to flower.

I love it up here, always have done ever since I was a small child and came up here to picnic with my grandparents. It's so unspoilt and so full of natural beauty, often with the most incredible play of light and shadows across the hillsides. Incidentally, I just googled Egardon Hill (it's an ancient iron age fort with oodles of history attached), and found a stunning aerial photograph of it, do go and take a peek)

Isn't this the sweetest looking road? Any road with grass growing down the middle of it tweaks at my heart strings, it just begs you to drive down it.

Ahhhh....the tail end of a most gorgeous, happy day. We all fell into bed early and slept deeply.

 :: DAY 4 ::

Weather report ~ Bright and sunny start, clouding over in the late afternoon.

J made the decision for Day 4, he declared it to be the day we make our pilgrimage to St C's. Do you remember me talking about our visit to St Catherines Chapel last year? Ahhh, sooo funny for me to read that now, to layer last years experience with this years!!!! We had an almost identical visit this year, excepting that Little B walked the Whole Way Up All By Himself. He huffed and puffed a bit, and it was slow going, but he did remarkably well for a 2yr old.

There were sheep in the field this year in place of cows and Little B adored them. He was a bit baffled that he couldn't get close enough to cuddle them, and he was rather worryingly fascinated by their poo, but it was all good fun.

We did our usual thing up here and laid out our picnic blanket, leaning our backs against the ancient sunwarmed chapel walls. We ate Easter eggs and admired the view. Well that's to say that J and I did the admiring and the viewing. The Little People did their usual thing and hared around. Boy, they do soo love to run, run, run up here! Round and round, in and out, it exhausted me trying to keep tabs on them, trying to shhhh them inside the chapel. In the end I gave up, gave up trying to shhhh them, gave up trying to get them to be respectful, and allowed them to just run riot. It actually felt rather brilliant to let go of the parenting for a bit, just allow Freedom to happen. I did feel slightly sorry for the other visitors that kept arriving though. Older folk with guide books and big expensive cameras, spouting historical facts to each other. It was not entirely peaceful up there with my brood.

Ahhh the view, the view.......stunning as ever, absolutely breathtakingly stunning.

The sea was the most incredible shade of turquoise blue, I just couldn't take my eyes off it.

I've never taken any pictures inside the chapel before, but this time I did take a few. There is nothing inside, just a sandy floor and a couple of little nooks where people leave a few coins and some rather heart-squeezing little handwritten notes to St Catherine (along the lines of "please will you keep my family safe and please find me Good Husband to love").......ahh see, good ol' Wikipedia!! I just discovered that St Catherine is the patron saint of Spinsters!!!! Hence the wishes for husbands. Makes sense now, thank you Wikipedia for being so informative and marvelous.

Did I mention how beautiful the view is from up here? Isn't it just?

Some time later, when the Little People had tired of all that Disturbing Of The Peace, we walked down from the chapel and made a visit to the local Recreation Ground. A beautifully designed play area, with super wooden entertainment for children of all ages. Can highly recommend it if you are in the area and wish your offspring to burn off energy in a safe, friendly environment.

Not much more to say here really, excepting that the Little People had a really great time. J and I did more sitting and viewing, with a flask of hot tea and more Easter eggs. Some occasional assisting to Little B, but nothing too taxing.

We ended the afternoon with a journey home via another High Place, with more stunning views and Scenery Appreciation. Little B snoozed, J and the Little People explored and ate ice cream and played ball, and I sat and did some high up, scenic hooking.

It was all rather blissful. A day of fresh air, views and al fresco eating. Gentle exercise, playtime and family time. Relaxed parenting, happy children. Just how a holiday should be.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

ps please do come back tomorrow for the final installment, I'm taking you shopping tomorrow! See you then x

 

 

 

 

Dorset Spring 2012 :: days 1&2

:: DAY 1 ::

Weather report ~ cold with a stormy grey sky, although miraculously no rain.

Very similar to our last visit in August 2011 the weather on the first day of our holidays looked a bit grim. The sky was ominously dark and grey and we felt sure we would be in for a downpour at any minute.

We journey to Dorset in the evening, arriving late in the dark, and always my very first thought upon waking on Day 1 is that we must get down to the sea. Quick smart, no matter what the weather, we must get to the sea. It's become something of a ritual for us, this first trip to the coast, it's less than 10 minutes drive to West Bay from where we stay at my Dad's house and I honestly cannot tell you how very much I look forward to it. It's my Day-1-sea-fix.

10am and there we were, striding/scootering/toddling out along the pier to breathe it all in. Brrrrrrrrr it was cold though! There was a damp feel to the air (very autumnal actually), and it really chilled through our clothes. But oh, the air smelt divine to me, that familiar fresh, salty tang that fills me with joy every-single-time. And the light was rather incredible, sort of dramatic and unpredictable. Cos although it looked incredibly stormy, there were some wonderful shafts of distant sunlight alighting on the landscape. And no rain came to us either. We could literally see it falling further round the bay, but it never made it as far as our patch. We were blessed I think.

If you've been reading my blog for any length of time, you will know these boaty scenes well by now. I never tire of this amble around the harbour, not ever. The sight of the boats bobbing gently on the water, the sweet familiarity of it, the fact that it remains so unchanged across the decades, I just love it all. It spells Childhood to me, takes me back to my own Little Years in an instant.

I am a bit lost for words all of a sudden. How beautifully boaty this picture is?! My heart is squeezing at the sight of it, I feel like I could still be there.

I have to tell you that Little B also loved the boats. It was great fun having him with us this holiday as he is a jolly good little walker now, and his speech is coming on a treat. He's still just using single words (he can say "boat" beautifully), and I just loved to hear him exclaim and point out everything he could see and name.

We are into the afternoon now, I put my camera away while we went to my favourite cafe on the beach for morning coffee, then off to a country pub for a delightful chatty, lengthy (rather boozy) family lunch.

My brother and his family were also visiting, so after the aforementioned lengthy lunch we found ourselves back down at the bay, pootling about with them.

My sister-in-law decided that it should be crabbing time, do you remember me telling you about this last summer? Such fun for the Little Peeps! Thirteen crabs were caught, admired, inspected, chatted to, then released back into their watery abode.

While the crabbing went on (and it was quite a long crabbing session), I wandered off by myself  for a little bit of salty me-time.

I took myself onto the rolling shingle of East beach, lay myself down on my back, arms and legs stretched wide and eyes closed. I took in the sound of the waves crashing in and the gulls screeching overhead, the faint sounds of shouting children and a barking dog. I probably looked very daft indeed, but I did not care. It was quite delightful.

:: DAY 2 ::

Weather report ~ wet, wet, wet. Blustery winds and pouring rain all day.

My brother was leaving that morning, so we had arranged an early 9.30 rendezvous back at the Watchhouse cafe for a family breakfast. We are a large party (8 adults and 5 children) and we took over two tables. The cafe was warm, fragrant and busy, the windows cosily steamed up with rivulets of rain coursing down the outside. Great coffee and super poached eggs on toast. Mmmmm.

With the weather preventing us from doing Outdoorsy things, we took the Little People to sample the delights of Indoorsy things. West bay is charmingly unspoilt, and there isn't much in the way of Amusements. But this dinky little place has been there forever, and it remains sweetly old fashioned and rather full of nostalgia.

The Little People were captivated by the Tuppenny Falls, so we gave them £1 each converted into 2p's (50 coins) and let them at it. Little Man kept his going for ages, feeding them strategically into the machine and waiting excitedly for them to finally tumble over the edge. Great whoops of joy when the machine spit out a handful of coins, which were then promptly fed back into the machine. All good fun.

The afternoon passed slowly. We spent the time at Lady B's, cosy and warm indoors while the rain continued to fall. Her garden always looks so lush and beautiful no matter what the weather.

In actual fact, a whole afternoon cosy indoors with Little People happily occupied was quite blissful. I settled myself at the table and immersed myself in circular hooky bliss while the LP discovered the joys of Monopoly. Little Lady, almost 8 years old now, was new to the game and it was really lovely listening in to Little Man's careful explanations of the rules and helpful guidance as she learnt the skill. It was a long game (2 hours), and they thoroughly enjoyed it, so much so that the very next day we went and bought one for ourselves. We are not a gaming family (I actually really cannot stand to play board games, never have done) but in recent times J has introduced Scrabble to the Little People, and now evening games of Monopoly have become a regular occurance. Little Man is quite a skilled Monopoliser it seems, not sure if that's a good thing or not?!

My holiday hooky has been quite wonderful, I'm so enjoying this yarn and these colours. The simplicity of this circular pattern (which you can find a tutorial for here) makes it a very relaxing pastime. I think I could quite happily crochet circles forever.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

ps more holiday tales to follow tomorrow with Days 3&4, thank you for indulging me ♥

 

 

Dorset :: a flying visit

Hello, hello my lovelies! Good to be back in the Attic after an unexpectedly long break, it's been half term week for us here which has meant my time has been taken up with the Littlies, oh and a home-from-work husband too. We've been quite lazy actually, staying close to home and using the time to recharge a little. We've all five of us had the same head cold, I'm the last one to get it so am just starting out but the others have been in full snot-mode all week.

But this post isn't about germs or staying home, it's about scooting up into the wide blue yonder and gazing at the clouds!

Yes, I've been away again, snook away by myself to spend a few days with my parents, much as I did in July. I booked my flight a few months ago so I've had the pleasure of looking forward to it as the weeks have passed and Summer has slipped into Autumn.

I absolutely love to travel by plane, it never fails to thrill me. The sky was beautifully clear when I flew last weekend, allowing me to spend the entire hour gazing out of the window watching the changing landscape unfolding below.

Travelling by myself is a real pleasure, it always feels like so much more than simply getting from A to B. I love the feeling of lightness and freedom it brings, stepping off the plane, walking to the nearby train station, knowing that ahead of me lies ninety minutes of pure Time Out. A time to sit quietly, sip a latté and gaze at the passing landscape. Maybe a weeny bit of hooky, or a chapter of a book. Or maybe just allowing time to drift in and out of thoughts and memories.

The train takes me to Dorchester, the "County Town" of Dorset where I indulge in some minor retail therapy and treat myself to a new necklace in the sale at a favourite shop. From Dorchester I ride by bus through the familiar patchwork of fields, waiting for the exact point when I can finally see the sea, just like I did as a child. What an enjoyable four-part journey :: car, plane, train and bus.

The following morning I wake to the sound of seagulls overhead. It's such a novel sensation to wake of ones own accord, I am so used to being pulled out of my dream-sleep by Little B calling me "Mama! Mama! Mama!" 

Mid morning and I set out walking, through Bridport town and out across the green fields to the coast. I'm headed for the harbour of course, the place I am always pulled to on any first-morning-in-Dorset. 

It's very windy at the coast, great gusts of wind whip around the small harbour, tossing the boats to and fro on the water. The sky is heavy and grey. But oh my, it is completely deeeeeeeeeeeelicious. It is wild and windy and salty and fresh and invigorating, the best Sunday morning tonic e-v-e-r. 

I am heading to my favourite cafe to meet with family, to chit and chat over coffee and a bite to eat. This is only the second time I've been to this cafe, but it has really crept into my heart and taken hold. I love love love it here. I love that the condiments are kept in bright plastic seaside buckets. I love the light and airy decor, the strings of fabric bunting, the sweet artwork on the walls, the bright splashes of vibrant colour. And I love that on this day there is an incredible bucket of fresh scarlet amaryllis sitting on the counter. It's just my kind of place, the cafe of my dreams.

We are a tad too late for the breakfast menu, so we order lunch :: I go for "griddled halloumi and roasted butternut squash skewers". I am with my family :: my Dad and his partner, my Mum and her partner, and they are quite stunned when I get out my camera and photograph my lunch before eating it. But, I say, just look at it! It's so good to look at!! The colours are stunning - golden orange and vibrant green against red and white checks! And besides, I really want to remember this delicious lunch and the best way I know of remembering is to take a photograph. I forget sometimes what an oddity it is to record life in this way. Oh, and in case you were wondering, lunch was deeeeeelicious.

After lunch we head out to take a wild and windy walk along the pier. My-my, it is AWeSoMe to experience the sea in high winds. It smashes and crashes onto the shingle beach, the very noise of it is loud and energetic and fantastic.

We venture to the very end of the pier and prepare to get a little wet as the waves splash up and over. The feel of salty sea spray on my face and the taste of it in the air is something I vividly remember from childhood. It fills me with joy, truly it does.

Evidence of the local fishing industry is piled high around the harbour.......

......and I love to see all this paraphanalia here, love to be reminded that West Bay is still an honest, working harbour at heart.

This is my Mum's cottage beside the river, and I had the pleasure of staying the night here last Sunday. When I'm down in Dorset with the rest of the family in tow it's not possible for us to sleep here as it's waaay too small. But on my own I was able to stay in the small single bedroom, and I really appreciated the quality time spent with my Mum. She is remarkably well and in good spirits these days, so hard to believe that we almost lost her in June.

Would you like to have a little peek around my Mum's place? It's an incredible little patch of rural England, I'm sure you'll love it.

See in the picture above, the painted door in the old stone wall there? Well that's actually the entrance to a secret little bit of the garden, let's go through.........

...........this is a weeny little secret garden with a small patch of grass  and a beautiful view over the river. To the left is the log store, and in front is Grandpa B's shed which he built himself entirely from recycled materials. 

To the back door now, this is where you come into the cottage.......

......you have to walk through this old lean-to before entering the cottage kitchen. I adore this working part of the cottage, love that Mum has all sorts of plants growing away in here including an olive tree and a climbing clematis which scrambles right up and across the roof.

This is a corner of the small sitting room, the walls of the cottage are very thick making for deep, cosy windowsills.

And this is the magnificent old Esse multi fuel stove. There's no central heating in the cottage, and being so close to the river makes it prone to feel cold so the stove is often lit, even in summer. It's the cosiest feeling to sit curled up on the sofa in front of the stove with a hot cuppa to hand. Add in a bit of hooky and it reaches high on my Pleasure-o-meter.

This is the little bedroom window looking out onto the field beside the river. Such a lush green view to wake up to, and I adore those curly-wurly old window latches.

I slept so soundly that night, cosied up in the little single bed with a hot water bottle in it's crocheted granny-square cover. Lovely memories.

I was away from the Attic for three nights, it was so very good of J to suggest that I take this wee break away to see my folks. He is a such a sweetheart. In some ways the time whizzed by, but in other ways it felt like I'd been away for ages. I alternated between revelling in my freedom and missing the children like mad.

When the time came, I enjoyed travelling home, I really did. J and the Little Peeps came to meet me from the airport, and I got the distinct feeling that I'd been desperately missed. I was bowled over with so many hugs and cuddles, it made me feel great!

Ahhhh I'm one Lucky Lady I'd say, such a great little family I have.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dorset :: August 2011

DAY 1 weather report :: heavy grey skies, chilly and blustery.

We awoke to very unsummery weather on the first day of our Dorset holiday. Nevertheless, we still made our customary first-morning-of-the-holiday visit to the sea.

We wrapped up warm and went for a bracing walk out along the pier. Well that's to say that J and I walked. The Little Peeps did speedy things on their scooters and Little B ran his little legs off.

We stood at the end of the pier and watched as a fishing boat sailed into harbour over the choppy grey sea with a cloud of seagulls following in it's wake. It felt quite exciting to witness real bonafide fisherman in action.

I must have walked around this little harbour a gazillion times in my lifetime, and it never, ever, ever fails to lift my spirits. As a child it was all about the taste of mint choc chip icecream. As an adult it's all about the colour of the boats. This little turquoise boat (my Ultimate Favorite Colour of All Time) with it's pinky orange buoys made me swoon.

DAY 2 weather report :: a brighter sky but still quite chilly and breezy.

We headed out to Stonebarrow Hill to view the views and eat a picnic lunch.

The Little People went off exploring nearby and came running back to tell us about the wonderful trees they had found to climb. We followed them into the woods and watched as they climbed and nested themselves proudly in the branches.

Through the woods and out the other side was a huge bramble patch with a narrow pathway running through it. The blackberries were just coming ripe and as they were growing near to the ground they were easily picked by small hands.

We filled a tin mug with glossy black fruits, a small but very delicious harvest.

I love coastal views so much, to me they are the best kind of views imaginable. The colours of sea-meeting-sky does wonderful things to my inner self. Kind of a schizophrenic mixture of complete calm coupled with crazy excitement. And then there is the smell of salty fresh air, the feeling that one's body is being filled to the brim with something intoxicating and wholesome and good.

DAY 3  weather report :: rain, rain and more rain. Buckets of it threw down from leaden skies in a torrential downpour.

Our planned beach picnic with family was cancelled. We set ourselves up for a day of indoor recreation.

My indoor activity of choice is pretty obvious. I sat in my jammies on the bed listening to the rain hammering against the window and lost myself in soothing sea-coloured ripples. The morning was not exactly peaceful (the Little People were at Full Volume for some reason) and there was a slight tense, cooped up kind of  stress-vibe hanging about the place but it wasn't too bad.

Miraculously, the weather made an incredible about turn by the end of the morning and we hastily re-scheduled our beachy picnic plans. It was still really windy mind you, but our trusty windbreak was pulled out of the car and pressed into service. We hunkered down behind it and enjoyed a really lovely outdoor lunch.

High Winds make High Seas, and the waves came crashing into shore.

We were here with my sister-in-law and two nephews who love the sea as much as we do. We sat for a long while as near to the water as we could get, enjoying the salty sea spray making our faces wet. Little B absolutely loved it. He kept laughing to himself every time a wave crashed in. He picked up handfuls of shingle and hurled it at the sea. It was a really lovely, simple, pleasurable way to spend an afternoon.

DAY 4 weather report :: heavy rain through the night, a day of unpredictable sunshine and showers.

The morning of day 4 was spent in Bridport. Visiting the toy shop in Bridport is now a holiday ritual of ours, the LP get very over excited with this particular bit of our Dorset holidays. This year was no exception. We also had Little B to contend with this year though, and to say he loved the toyshop would be a huge understatement. He went completely crazy over an extensive display of plastic ride-on vehicles, he absolutely couldn't believe his little eyes. Unfortunately when we had to remove him from the display it caused a humongous meltdown. It was impressive, the full works. It would've been quite stressy/embarrassing if it hadn't been so funny. His little body was so full of indignant rage at being physically removed from a source of pleasure, he was rigid with anger. Poor wee mite. How unfair to have such killjoy parents.

After a very lovely pub lunch with family, Little Lady and I skipped off together to visit Bridport Arts Centre to see a touring exhibition. As you can see, it was an exhibition of the Knitty Variety, and it was completely fabulous!! I took lots of pictures so will write about it in a separate post I think, it deserves it's own write-up.

Mid afternoon on day 4 and the weather was suddenly incredible. Warm, bright, sunny and perfectly summerish. We headed down to West Bay to meet with my sister-in-law and two nephews for a spot of crabbing.

Oddly enough we have never thought to try our hand at crabbing before, but my sis-in-law had it all in hand. She had The Kit. And she knew just where to go and what to do with it.

The kit consists of a crabbing net on a long line and some very stinky dead sealife to act as bait. You choose your spot and lower the net carefully over the harbour wall until it touches the sandy bottom and you wait. You wait until you think you'll burst with impatience. Then you haul the net up and hope for A Successful Catch.

A Successful Catch causes much squealing and cheering, it's surprisingly exciting to catch a crab. After The Catch you then have to transfer the crab from the net to a clear crabbing bucket. You then get to watch the crab Close Up. And you also get to show it off to many passers by who all want to share your Successful Catch with you.

You repeat this process as many times as you need to in order to satisfy four Little People who all want to have a go at hauling in a Successful Catch. Seven crabs were caught in all, seven crabs were admired, and seven crabs were released back into the harbour to enjoy the rest of their day.

After all the excitement of the crabbing experience we headed further round the harbour for icecream/cappuccino refreshments. You can see how stormy the sky still looks in the distance, I think we were really lucky with our patch of summer sunshine on this day.

DAY 5 weather report:: blue skies with sunshine, breezy winds and skuddy clouds.

In the morning we drove up to one of our much-loved high up places to take in the expansive skies and breathe in the fresh country air.

Driving down from the High Hill I spotted these gorgeous flowers. They were sitting in a jug on a table outside a picturesque thatched cottage so I yelled at J to swing the car in to the hedge, then leapt out to investigate. There were bags of green beans, plums and apples for sale, as well as these beautiful garden flowers. I was totally bowled over by them and bought all three bunches :: orange and pink dahlias and a bunch of sweet peas. I popped the required £2.40 into the jam jar by way of payment and skipped back to the car with a broad grin on my face. As we were on the way to visit my Mum, I gave the sweet peas to her and kept the dahlias for myself.

This is my Mum's cottage, a simple two-up-two-down with an abundant front garden. My poor Mum was complaining at the state of it, that due to her spell in hospital it had all gone "to wrack and ruin", but to me it looked absolutely beautiful.

The cottage sits in an idyllic spot beside a small river where trout jump. We like it here. A lot. We ate a lovely lunch of soup and crusty bread, followed by mugs of tea and Dorset shortbread. Have to say it was completely wonderful to find my Mum looking so well and in such good spirits. She's making a remarkable recovery and spending time with her this holiday was very positive, happy and heart-lifting. So different to the feelings that dogged me through the early summer when she was so dreadfully close to slipping away. Thank goodness. Thank goodness.

Later that afternoon we headed back to the coast to meet with my brother and his family at the campsite they were staying at. What a campsite it is, it's hhhhhhhhhhhhhuge. Mahooosive. Hundreds and hundreds of tents. Hoards of people, kids, dogs. It was ever so slightly mental in my opinion. The location though is unbeatable, it has access to a lovely unspoilt stretch of Chesil Beach. More big crashing waves and salty air to enjoy, followed by a dinner of chips at "The Jurassic Fun Centre". Mmmmmm.

DAY 6 weather report :: an amazing sunrise promising a fine summers day ahead.

Our last day, and we managed to rally a whole family get together. Eight adults and five children. 10.30am at The Watch House cafe on East Beach for coffee and cake.

Thanks to Joey who's lovely blog I recently discovered, I learnt that this once rather shabby and fairly rubbish cafe has now been taken over by the same folks who have The Hive at Burton which I adore. What a vast improvement! Fresh and delicious coffee, homemade cakes and an inspiring food menu. Not to mention the location (perfect for the LP to play in the shingle while the adults sit on the terrace).

The interior is simple, fresh and charming. Large unadorned windows, whitewashed walls with blue tongue and groove below, checked table cloths, wooden chairs, strings of colourful fabric bunting and some delightful artwork on the walls (Joey it looked wonderful!).

And the view from the terrace over the top of a frothy cappuccino??? Fabulous of course.

We decamped from the cafe to the pub (with a spot of crabbing in between) and enjoyed a wonderful family lunch. There's my lunch look :: a heap of crispy whitebait served with warm granary bread, homemade tartare sauce and a salad. A glass of chilled white wine to the side. It was deeeeeeeelish.

So that about sums up our time away....it looks and sounds delightful when I see the images and let the words flow. And mostly it was really good, yes it was.

There were a number of quite stressful times though, most of which revolved around Little B. At 20 months old it can be quite difficult to accommodate him easily in certain situations ie, lengthy cafe/pub sessions where he understandably gets bored. It was also hard work spending time at other peoples houses where they are not used to having small children about the place. Houses with a huge number of precious/breakable objects all at Little B's level. It was blooming hard work keeping a check on what he was up to in this sort of environment. He broke a few things, smashed a plate, ripped a book. You get the picture.

J found it all very trying and it led to a few heated discussions about the nature of our family holidays these days where there is no time to actually r-e-l-a-x. What can you say to that? He is quite right in many ways, taking three young children on holiday IS hard work. It's not relaxing. It's tiring and stressful at times. But maybe he's losing sight of the good things they bring to the proceedings. Their excitement, enthusiasm, zest for life, energy and discovery that is such a joy to be a part of. Maybe I'm just more used to the limitations and frustrations of daily life spent with Little Peeps. Maybe I'm just more accepting of the Way It Is. Who knows.

Ah well. I'm not wishing to sound down hearted about the holiday. It was lovely to spend time with my family, and that for me was the most important reason for being there. To reconnect with loved ones and to touch base with a place that holds my heart. I'm already looking forward to next time.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

 

 

 

Sea and Sky

We are away down to Dorset today to the gaze at the blues of sea and sky.

To say I'm looking forward to it is an almighty understatement, I've been feeling inexplicably homesick of late for this little corner of the world that holds my heart.

I absolutely cannot WAIT to breathe in these coastal colours, to reconnect with dearly familiar places and faces.

Sending you all lots of love wherever you are in the World, I hope you enjoy a fabulous week full of happiness, laughter and good times with those you love.

See you soon my lovelies ♥

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

 

Tales from Connievan :: Lakeland Coast

Do you remember us taking Connievan to stay at "Bunnyland" last year? After that wonderful holiday we became enchanted with this type of small, rural caravan site. Known as "Certificated Sites" they are limited to a maximum of five caravans, with a sprinkling of tents also allowed. They have to provide cold running water and waste water disposal facilities, and many also provide electricity, but that is usually the extent of the facilities on offer. The idea is that you experience a "get away from it all" feeling in a beautiful rural location.

There are more than 1200 CS sites in the UK, and choosing a Good One is tough work, it really is. The sites are listed in a comprehensive directory, in tiny print with no pictures. You have to basically have a rough idea of your destination/area, then spend some time scrutinising the listings to work out whether the place will suit. I delegate this job to J, place the directory firmly in his capable hands and instruct him to Choose a Good One. 

So at the end of May/beginning of June we had a weeks holiday from school/work and took a little jolly up country with Connievan. J selected this site for us (and blow me, it took him all of two minutes to do it) and we had high hopes for it. After all, it had a lot to live up to after the Bunnyland experience.

It took us about 90 minutes to get there with Connievan, the roads getting smaller and more countrified the closer we got. Finally we turned off down this narrow track leading to Templands Farm, to see where we would be living for the next five days.

It was absolutely delightful. A down to earth, unpretentious working farm surrounded by glorious open countryside, with a spacious field for the caravans and an old stone outbuilding which contained a toilet and a rather rustic shower room. But more than anything else there was fresh air, expansive green views and the intoxicating feeling of open space. So different from the built-up, hemmed in Victorian Terrace living that we experience day to day.

And being a working farm there were animals in residence, oh the joy!! The Little People absolutely loved all the animals around and about in the surrounding fields, but in particular they completely adored the free range chickens. Every morning we would wake early and open Connievan's curtains to find them pecking around outside, it caused Little B to shriek with excitement at the sight of them so close by.

Ahh caravan life is just sooo warm and cosy and sweet, I continue to love love love it. A comfy, cosy bed to sleep in, crochet blankets to snuggle in and a red enamel mug of steaming hot tea :: pure delight.

My stack of Rice tumblers make me smile every time I open this cupboard, well all of Connievan's enamel and melamine does. The tumblers are a recent purchase, but the assortment of melamine plates and bowls have been gathered over many years. I think I've always secretly dreamt of owning a caravan or campervan.

A jam jar of freshly picked hederow flowers, what could be prettier? Connievan wouldn't be complete without them, I pick some to have inside on every trip.

As you have probably sussed by now, I am still completely bowled over by Connievan, I love her to bits. These sweet little family holidays that she's providing us with are such a dream come true. I'm very slowly beginning to add some decorative bits and bobs and am slowly making changes to her interior (I'll show you the curtain progress soon)...like I said once before, this is sure to be an ongoing and enduring love affair. And just whilst I'm on the subject of caravans and love affairs, if you've got a spare minute or two, click on "this link" Go on, you'll be transported into a world of complete loveliness on two wheels!!

But of course, the week wasn't all about sitting inside a 14 x 7 foot box on wheels, as cute and cosy and lovely as it is. It was also about exploring the local area and enjoying the great outdoors. The nearest town to Templands Farm was five miles away :: Grange-over-Sands. And what a lovely, simple, quirky and pretty place it is. Walking down the main shopping street (above) makes you feel almost as if you've stepped back in time, it's very English and decidedly traditional and old fashioned, but I liked it very much.

It's a bit of an oddity though, in that although it's labelled as a seaside town, there isn't actually a seaside. There's no beach. And you can't actually get to the water either, even though you can see it.

There's a super-duper long esplanade designed for the old fashioned pleasure of promenading. It's one mile long.

One side of the esplanade is planted with an inspiring mixture of trees, shrubs and flowers, and is absolutely breathtakingly beautiful.

The other side of the esplanade looks out over the Sands to Morecombe Bay beyond. You can't actually go down and walk on the grass/sands as there are numerous signs with red writing in capital letters warning of dangerous quick sands and fast incoming tides. The Little People were hugely intrigued by this Potential Danger, they were fascinated by the idea of quick sand. Luckily we managed to divert their attention with this........

....a wonderful and imaginative play area (Little B adored this wooden train) with adjoining tea room serving local icecream. We were all suitably wowed by the thunder and lightening flavour, it was amazing. Described as "chocolate with an explosive cinder toffee crunch" trust me, it was a complete Taste Sensation.

On a couple of days we ventured further afield into the Lake District proper. Life at Templands Farm was so quiet and tranquil, it came as a bit of a shock to find ourselves suddenly amongst so many hoards of people. The car parks were jam packed, the cafe's and shops were heaving with tourists, I can't say it was very pleasant. On this particular day we had set out early to visit the home of Beatrix Potter, but on arriving at 10am (the house opens at 10.30am) we found the car park already full, with a possible four hour wait to tour the house. After getting over that disappointment, we decided to drive on a bit further and visit the village of Hawkshead instead. The cafe pictured above is in the centre of Hawkshead, and was a sweet spot in an altogether bonkers and over the top place. Walking around Hawkshead is like walking round an overcrowded, overrated, overpriced, twee, fake village. It wasn't our thing at all.

But this cafe was sweet.

 A bit over the top, but I liked it. J, on the other hand did not like it. He hated it. He balked at the £14 it cost for our drinks and cake, he said the chairs were uncomfy, he said it was cramped, he said his coffee was not nice. He was in a Bad Mood. He walked out.

We winded up eating our picnic lunch by the amazing church which is high on a hill overlooking Hawkshead, and thankfully the views and peaceful atmosphere did help ease the tensions of earlier. We decided there and then that it would suit us better if we stayed clear of the Popular Destinations of the Lake District, and head to the more untrodden places in future......

.....such as Ravenglass. Now what a gem this little place is. Much more our thing. We arrived here early one morning and I was immediately captivated by the quiet, sleepy and unpretentious atmosphere of the place.  The above picture shows the main street of Ravenglass, see how deserted it looks (hoorraaahh!)

You know how much I love little seasidey places, and this one really did make my heart skip. I just loved how there were boats parked up alongside the cars, isn't that something?

Many of the gardens were beautifully planted, such an abundance of colour spilling out over old stone walls.

Further on towards the end of the main street we passed this stack of lobster pots and realised the sea must be somewhere close by.....

....and sure enough the street suddenly ended and there we were on the beach. Kind of unusual to find grass and flowers growing right on the beach, it was lovely.

As you can see, the tide was way out when we arrived, the boats stranded and lopsided on the sand. We spent quite a long time just pootling about on the beach and in/near the water (aren't crocs great for just this sort of thing), breathing in the fresh salty sea air and enjoying the simple pleasure of hurling big fat pebbles into water with a satisfying plop.

As the morning moved on, the tide began to come in, lordy, it really does rip in at quite a pace here. Luckily we were safely off the beach and sat outside a wonderful little tea room having a spot of lunch with a sea view. Delicious homemade soup with generous hunks of homemade tomato bread. Just as well lunch was delicious as it made up for the huge barny J and I had earlier when we discovered we'd left the picnic behind. Correction....HE had left the picnic behind, although of course he swears that I never gave him the bag, that it was all my fault. But you and I know full well that of course I DID give him the picnic bag. That he took it from me and then absent mindedly put it down and left it behind. Nuff said.

Ravenglass is definitely somewhere I'd like to return to (with full picnic facilities next time, I love eating lunch on the beach). We'll be back one day I'm sure.

We drove away from the coast in the afternoon, J deciding that he'd like to take us up up up over this famously high piece of road called the Hardknott Pass. It's one of the steepest roads in the whole of England, with a gradient of 1 in 3. Not only that, the roads are narrow with some stomach-churning hairpin bends, this is not a road for the faint hearted or nervy driver. J is neither fainthearted or nervy, but cripes, I certainly am. I sat in the back seat and tried not to squeal with terror.

But the views from the top.....oh my. Breathtaking. Absolutely breathtaking and I admit that yes it was worth the nail-biting and breath-holding.

We stopped a while up here, it was unbelievably quiet and peaceful. Felt like the top of the world.

Back at Connievan HQ, life was for the most part peaceful and relaxed. We did have a few minor issues with Little B intent on running off across the field and down the lane in search of the chickens, but then that's where the Little People were marvelous assets. They would happily go running after their wee brother, grab his hand and persuade him to stop harassing the chickens and come back to the van.

There were some very hot afternoons during that week. It was wonderful to return from our excursions to the cool green grass of Templands Farm and enjoy the hot summer sunshine. Blankets and chairs for sitting/lounging upon, cold juice/beer/wine to hand, and nothing whatsoever to do excepting for a little bit of light cooking and a smidge of lazy childcare. It was amazing how long a bowl of water and two cups kept a certain someone entertained for. Joyful.

We cook very simply when we're in Connievan. We eat a lot of pasta with pesto and salad. Sometimes it's a simple do of crusty bread,salami, cheese, fruit, crisps, chocolate. And sometimes I do decide to actually rustle up a little something more substantial...in this case it was noodles, peppers and chicken in a chow mein sauce. We ate it out of bowls, sitting outside on the grass, slurping and nomnomming the noodles. It was such fun!! Little B was so, so happy eating this meal, he was a complete messy delight.

Most evenings after dinner was all done and dusted, we would walk the mile or so into the local village to visit this lovely little childrens playground. It was a sweet way to round off the days.

I really enjoyed walking back to Templands Farm and Connievan each evening after our playground trips, it felt like coming home. The light at this time of day (between 7 and 8pm) was warm and golden and it made the grass look extra green and the views extra beautiful.

We would settle down in Connievan for the evening with books/radio/crochet and wait for the ducks to arrive. Every evening they would waddle up the field to come and take a drink from the old stone trough. And every evening the Little People would wait patiently for them to arrive. It was lovely to observe how these little routines of Caravan Life formed according to what was happening in the landscape around us. Chickens in the morning. Ducks in the evening. Lovely, happy memories.

It's been a great experience for me putting this together, I've enjoyed it so much! It means a lot to me that I'm able to use this patch of cyberspace to record these precious times. I hope that one day the Little Peeps will enjoy this peek back into their childhood. Hope so. xxxxxxxx

Edit to add :: I've been writing this post over the course of two or three days and hadn't quite realised how long it had become until I read it through just now! I hope you're not yawning and falling asleep over your kepboard. Thanks as ever for dropping by to share and indulge me in my memory-preserving. Lots of love xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

 

 

 

Tales from Connievan :: York II

This is the river Ouse which flows through the city of York in the North of England. We love this city, it's a truly beautiful, vibrant and historic place about 40miles east of Attic-land. J and I moved to York from Down South in 1998 and lived there throughout our 30's. It holds many happy memories for us :: we bought our first house together there in 1999, we were married there in 2001, and the Little People (minus Little B) were born there in 2002 and 2004. And friends, oh lets not forget the many good friends we have still living in this lovely place, cos they make the memories. And that's the draw for us.....yes there is architecture and history and a plethora of maaaaarvelous eating, drinking and shopping possibilities, but it's the friends that call us to return time and time again.

This doesn't look much like a city centre road does it? It runs alongside the river a mere ten minutes walk from the very heart of the city, and is the road that we drove along with Connievan a few weeks ago.

If you've been visiting the Attic for a while, you'll know that we took Connievan to stay in York for a week last year. The idea for this jaunt last year was mine, and I think it was rather inspired actually. In a nutshell, this was the plan :: we would take Connievan to our old home place for a week, but J would in fact still be going off to work. So during the week days, J would trot off to be Important in his job, leaving the Little Peeps and I lots of time to spend with good friends doing the familiar Mummy-offspring stuff of old. J would then return to us at 4.30pm each evening to join in the jolly activities and would feel as if he were on holiday even though he had been at work all day.

We chose a different camp site this year, with the central location being the main deciding factor. Actually it wasn't so much a camp site as a caravan park. One hundred and five caravans to be precise. It was ever so slightly off putting in it's orderliness and it's greyness. There was an awful lot of grey concrete and grey stone chippings and very little greenery. And it was very, very, ever-so-very Caravanny, if you get that. Lots of plush, modern, sparkling white caravans with fancy awnings attached. Flat screen tv's. Microwaves. Furniture. Equipment. Neatness.

With three children in tow, we were placed in an out-of-the-way corner, and that suited us just fine. Ahhhh sweet little Connievan, two decades old and so cute and humble and uncomplicated! No awning! No microwave oven! And *gasp* no television!!! However will we manage?

Sit outside in the fresh air, surely not???? Play games?????? Make conversation???? Cook easy one-pan meals on the little caravan hob, why how quaint!! How terribly old fashioned and wholesome!!

But no matter what we thought of the camp caravan site, it's location was fantastic. Situated a short riverside walk from the city centre, it was also right next door to a beautiful park. A lovely lake, with large expanses of daisy-speckled green grass and a terrific play area for the children which we visited on a daily basis. It even had an ice cream van in residence. Super.

As was the case last year, much of our time in York was spent playing. The Little People had a great deal of fun swinging, sliding, climbing, spinning, rocking, jumping and balancing. For them it was a very, very active holiday, cos when we weren't out visiting various parks we were walking/scooting along the river or through the city streets, or running wild in friends back gardens. Back at base, there were plenty of other children at the caravan park to play with, so the activity went on from early in the morning until nightfall.

We were generally lucky with the weather last week, it was really hot and summery, but we did experience some incredible storms. There were a couple of torrential downpours with impressive thunder and forked lightening, even pea-sized hailstones at one point. The storms were short and sharp and left behind them some welcome fresh, clean-smelling air and some sizable puddles. If I tell you that the above puddle (Little Man wearing my crocs in the above picture) at one point contained eight soaking wet children, you can probably imagine the scene. Three of those children were mine, two of them fully clothed and soaked to the skin, the other one wearing baby-sized crocs and a soggy nappy and also soaked to the skin. Lots of screaming, splashing and laughter, it was a joy to watch. You've gotta LOVE the way that children seize the moment and find fun in the simplest of things, it made my heart sing with happiness to watch them enjoy this puddle to The Max.

This year I did manage to find time for a little quiet caravan hooky too. Once Little B was settled down for the night (the timing of which varied enormously) I would sit and work up a few stripy rows. Sitting on stripes whilst making more stripes is a pretty good way to spend an hour I think.

My camera came with me everywhere last week but I didn't end up taking that many photos. Somehow the days were quite jam packed with activity, and especially where the Littlest member of the family was concerned, I was kept very, very busy indeed, too busy to take pics. Looking after him and keeping him safe/happy/out of trouble when out and about is such an all consuming job.

But no doubt about it, York is one incredibly photogenic city. Some amazing buildings....

....lots of floral colour....

...and the cutest, quaintest little streets you ever did see.

One evening, I decided on the spur of the moment to take a walk around the city All By Myself. It's around 9pm in these pictures, would you like to come on a little evening walk with me, to see the sights and take in the evening ambiance???? Ok...here we go................

Doesn't it look picturesque?? It was. It is. A very picturesque kind of a place.

Atmospheric.

Drank a lot of coffee last week, ahh I do like me a good brew of fresh morning coffee I have to say. York is inundated with fabulous places to rest ones feet/wheels and refresh with a brew/smoothie and a slab of cake.

And refreshments aren't too bad at Connievan HQ either.

My holiday hooky project was this sweet little jacket for Connie's cafetiere, the pattern taken from Nicki Trench's wonderful book Cute and Easy Crochet. I confess the results are a little disappointing, as for some obscure reason it never occurred to me to actually measure my work against the cafetiere as I was going along. So the finished Ta-dah moment turned into rather a disappointing strop when the cover refused to fit. It just doesn't fit. It's not wide enough and is all stretched and sloping and the button isn't in the right place. No fault of the pattern I might add, just the fault of me, merrily working up the stripes without thinking about what I was doing. Of course it could also have been the fault of the tumbler(s) of vino which accompanied my evening hooky (yes, when in Connievan I always drink wine out of a tumbler, makes me very feel rather giddy and holidayish)......hmmmm......I Love the idea of a cafetiere cosy though, and fully intend to give this project another go. Maybe I should do it here in the Attic without the tumblers of vino to hand. Yes, that sounds like A Good Plan.

 x

 

 

 

July 2011

Ahh July, what a sweet month you are turning out to be!

Life has been very full and busy during July but my overall memory of the past three weeks contains much happiness. The weather's been a mixed bag but mostly I recall it's been pretty good around  here really. Warm and summery, sometimes quite humid and thundery, but beautifully warm yes, and plenty of sunshine. We've spent quite a lot of time outdoors taking it all in, appreciating all that these long summer days have to offer. Picnics and barbecues by the river. Impromptu trips to the park. Ice creams. Water fights. The sound of children playing out till well gone 9pm. Chilled white wine with friends. Lots of salad meals that involve No Cooking. Bare arms, flip flops and silver painted toe nails. The smell of high summer in the evening air. Delightful.

At the very beginning of July I went off on a little solo adventure. In an airplane no less. I tootled off to Manchester airport very early one Saturday morning, climbed on that there white metal bird with it's slightly scary propellers and flew down to Southampton, which took all of 45 minutes. It was an amazing flight with clear blue skies and the most fabulous views of the landscape below. At one point we flew right over a hot air balloon, I was quite beside myself with the beauty of it all. When I arrived in Southampton I hopped on a train and travelled a further 100 minutes west to arrive in Dorset by ten am. Wow. Yorkshire to Dorset by ten am! Never done that before!! It was a really great journey and I thoroughly enjoyed the whole business of being on the move. Just me by myself with a small rucksack on my back, making the journey to visit my dear Mum in hospital.

Later that same day after I'd spent all afternoon at the hospital, I got onto a local bus and travelled a further 40 minutes west to get to Bridport where I was staying the night. When I got off the bus, I had a sudden realisation that I had no door keys, and that the house where I was staying would be empty till midnight (everyone was off making merry at a wedding). It was a beautiful early summers evening, so I decided to while away an hour or two by travelling some more. I journeyed on foot this time, a mere 45 minutes tramping south across familiar fields until I reached the blue of the sea.

West Bay harbour was an absolute picture, the evening light was incredible, and at 6pm it was still very hot. I went to a bar with the above view and sat on the terrace drinking an ice cold beer in the sunshine.

Enjoyable as it was, I was still in a bit of a predicament re getting to my bed for the night. So I decided on one more jaunt on foot, this time an hours journey along the coast to a neighbouring village where the wedding reception was taking place and where my host and hostess would hopefully be found with The Keys to The Door. I walked up over West Cliff....

....and enjoyed some wonderful peaceful time being Me-by-myself on top of the cliffs, gazing out across the bluest of blue seas with the sun on my face and a spring in my step. I have some fabulous memories from this little snippet of time, it was such bliss finding myself quite unexpectedly on a familiar sunny clifftop beside the sea. All By Myself. Just Me. I can't tell you how good it felt, such a rare luxury at this stage in my parenting career to have time so completely to myself.

I did eventually end up at the wedding reception after a lot of huffing and puffing (hugely steep hills in that village don't you know). I felt a little conspicuous walking into the venue wearing my crop jeans and a sweaty teeshirt when everyone else was done up to the nines, but hey, I carried it off with a broad smile.

The next morning I joined a large post-wedding gathering for a spot of brunch in a rather splendid posh local place. An old coaching inn which has been transformed in recent years into a top notch hotel with fine dining and plenty of ambiance. 

Behind the rather grand facade of the hotel lies a rather beautiful rustic courtyard which totally captured my heart. Fabric bunting strung across, casual wooden furniture and lots of vibrant geraniums, it was a little slice of heaven I thought. Perfect for sitting with a mighty fine cappuccino and allowing my  divine "eggs benedict" to settle. I didn't want to leave.

That sweet little Sunday morning courtyard really stuck in my memory, I'm glad I had my camera with me to capture a little of it's atmosphere. It's exactly how I like to think my own small outdoor space should look. Kind of pretty and casual and rustic and homely.

This is a snap of my July back yard. I took the above picture by standing very precariously on my bedroom windowsill and holding the camera out of the top opening window. Since I took this photo a few weeks ago, the geraniums in my wall top pots have really started to flower their hearts out, it's quite lovely if I say so myself. I feel quite proud of it. And I love my windowsill too, I love that our house is made out of old, old stone.

I have a rather amazing hanging basket next to the kitchen door in my back yard, it's chocka block full of my favourite colours. It was given to me as a surprise gift actually, and my goodness, it totally delivers a bolt of pleasure on a daily basis.  I even remember to water it daily and religiously deadhead the flowers, it's very well treated I can tell you.

I wasn't actually around to take my usual first-day-of-the-month photo of the Attic view, but I took a few pics when I remembered on 12th July.

Yes, now I think about it we did have a bit of a cruddy cold, wet spell near the beginning of the month but like I said earlier, July has mostly been bright and beautiful I think.

Something else I did earlier this month was to participate in a fund raising event at a local school. I was asked if I could provide a few hand made items for the craft stall and I was happy to give it a go as I knew I'd be in very good company. One of the things I love  about where I live is the growing number of friendships I have which are connected by The Yarn Thing. Other people who lead a creative life and share similar passions and excitements to my own. Its marrrrrvelous to have those connections with friends, it really is. I like nothing better than a get together over a coffee/glass of vino (depending on the friend in question and the time of day) and a natter about arty-crafty-yarny-handmade type of things.

And if those particular friends happen to live just two streets away, well then, it's all very handy and supportive and creative and jolly! I watched some of the above knitted cupcakes take shape each week at the pub you know (yes, we frequent the local pub on a Monday night to do hooky and knitty things, my friends and I). Aren't they totally scrummy?

These beautiful appliqued and embroidered cushions are made by another friend....I adore them, and you may remember me bringing one home to number 24 last year? I'm the proud owner of a round birdy cushion with colourful felty triangles (scroll down this post and you'll see it second pic from the end...cor isn't it weeeeeird looking at frosty winter pics in high summer???!!!) Anyhow...yes, these cushions are a complete joy to behold, they really are.

The same clever-pants lady who knitted the cupcakes is also a hugely talented stitcher. Her work is un-be-leivable. She makes the most gorgeous patchwork and applique cushions with a homespun, folk-art feel to them. They are true works of art, just lookeee at this.................

...........yay, chickies have landed in the Attic! How could I resist??? I just had to have one of these beautiful cushions for my very own, just had to. The Wanties hit hard.

There's an insane amount of hand stitching going on here, such a labour or love. You can tell this is made by a lady who completely lurrrrrrrrrrves to sit and stitch can't you?! Gorgeous.

So my contribution to the abundant craft stall was rather thin on the ground I have to confess. I simply didn't have the available time to make all that I wanted to make as my daylight hours are mostly filled by a demanding Little B shaped object. I managed to make seven little crocheted and stuffed keyring fobs (pretty colours don't you think?).......

..........and three little rabbits. Ahhh I did LOVE making these rabbits! Two of them hopped off to find new homes, and one remains here in the Attic with me.

The pattern came from Kate's blog Greedy for Colour, of which I am an adoring fan. I love Kate's  work. I practically begged her on bended knees to write up her pattern for these bunnies when I saw her making them last year. And being the kind and obliging soul she is, she did just that. Isn't she a gem? You can find her Flora Rabbit tutorial here look.

Well now.........I think I need to finish up, it's quite late and I've just realised I'm sat alone in the dark whilst the other four-fifths of the family are tucked up in bed. We are in full school holiday mode this week, taking it leisurely day by day with no plans to speak of. Lots of mess, lots of time lounging in pj's, slap dash meals eaten as and when. Mid morning breakfasts. Lots of hooky time too as I'm getting a welcome amount of help entertaining Little B (free child labour, oh how I love school holidays). I've got a huge amount still to share with you and something wonderful and new on the hook already this week. More soon.

Toodle-oo for now!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Edited to add :: ahhhh fear-ye-not, Snakey-chops is still in residence here! He was on the craft stall purely to serve as colourful eyecandy, although I could have sold him I'm sure, he got loads of attention! Did you also spot my granny buting hanging on the front of the gazebo? Will have to show you that sometime as I realised just now that it never received it's Ta-dah moment. Thanks for all your lovely comments today! ♥

 

 

 

 

 

Connievan-ing

♥Hello!♥ I am so sorry for my continuing absence here in the Attic....I keep wanting to apologise for life keeping me away from my blog, even though I know there's no need for an appology.  But I do feel genuinely sorry that the days and weeks continue to slip by and there remains so very much I wish to write about, so many pictures stacking up, completed projects etc etc blah blah, well you've heard it all before eh. You know by now that when my Attic door stays closed it's generally because life is f-u-l-l. To the brim. But it's oh-so-good here in the Attic, ahh yes, my family life is full to bursting but very good right now. Lots of time spent with the ones i love, it can be nothing but good.

We are into one of my most favouritist holidays of the whole year, it's "May Spring Bank Week" here in the UK. You may remember that last year we took our beloved Connievan on a Jolly Holiday up to the north east coast (you can read about it here), such a terrific holiday, so many wonderful happy memories from that week. Marvelous.

We took Connievan out for one night last weekend, our first trip of the season. We stayed fairly local so that we could get my father in law to bob along and help us with a bit of fettling (the water heater/electrics needed fixing). Plus we kind of felt like we needed a short local trip to reacquaint with the business of accommodating five of us within a small space on wheels. It went OK, it was a huge learning curve dealing with Little B who was a Stationary Being last time we carravanned. Having him walking/climbing this year is a mixed blessing, cripes he kept us busy. But cripes did he LOVE our Connievan!

So the blankets have been installed in their summer residence, we miss them here at number 24 but it was lovely to see them snuggled in the 'van too.

Anyhooooo, tomorrow we're jaunting off up to the north west coast, to a rural/coastal place near the Lake District. We're booked into another very small campsite on a working farm, we are all very much looking forward to it and are keeping all available body parts crossed for good weather.

☼ Wish us luck! ☼

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx