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Daily May # 19

Day 19 :: Monday

Day nineteen of beautiful May and I wish the hours would stretch and slow everything down just a smidge. With only twelve days left of my favourite month this year, there is no time to waste and I want to breathe in and enjoy every moment. I think I do pretty well with my days on the whole as I'm very into mindfulness and being present in the moment, but still I feel the racing of time.

I was thinking about my calendars earlier on today, I have two artist calendars on the go that I absolutely love, and thought I'd share May's images with you. The one above was a gift to me from my lovely friend Emma, and it features twelve flower paintings by artist Vanessa Bowman who's work I have loved for a long time. I have this calendar hanging in my dining room and often find myself gazing at the flowers, her patterny style and use of colour really makes me happy.

I also have a slimline calendar hanging in the hallway which is my writing-on calendar where I attempt to keep a track of birthdays, appointments, holidays etc. I buy myself this one every year and it features paintings by artist Jo Grundy. Her work is very evocative of seasonal country living and her colours often seem to be in tune with my own monthly observations.

May = golden yellows and bright greens :: yes, absolutely.

Today has been a day where I got to 6pm and had absolutely nothing visually inspiring to share with you, other than my calendars. J and I spent the morning at a bathroom showroom place trying to get to grips with the phenomenal number of choices that need to be made when renovating this small, well used room in the house. We are excited to be thinking about a new bathroom as our current one is really not faring too well, but my goodness, the decision fatigue is major.

I did make a veeeeeery good family meal this evening though, and that has been the extent of today's creativity. It was a recipe I adapted and cobbled together from various ideas I found online (a chicken/rice bowl with a homemade satay sauce) and it was honestly the yummiest thing, I can't stop thinking about how good it was.

After dinner I felt the need to get out of the house and took myself down into the meadow for a stroll. The golden light was wonderful (as it has been for weeks now) and I enjoyed being out and about and emptying my mind as I walked. I needed to dislodge the thermostatic mixer taps and general bathroom overwhelm from my brain, empty it all out into the buttercup meadow so that I stand a half decent chance of getting some sleep tonight.

I walked a bit further than usual, heading into the wild part of the park where there is a long hedgerow of mature elder trees. As I was thinking about it being Day 19 earlier, it occurred to me that June will be here in twelve days, and June means elderflower cordial season will be upon us. As you can see above, the flower buds are looking great, which makes me excited for the floral froth to come.

I'm sorry today's dairy entry has been a bit dull, the whole bathroom thing has taken a lot of my mental energy today and hasn't left me much to play with.

Tomorrow I'm going to write up the Flowerpress mandala pattern to share with you which I hope you'll find inspiring. Ahhh, I need to remember where I put that piece of scribbly paper with the numbers written on it.....where can it be? And why am I like this? Why can't I use a notebook like a normal profesh designer type person? Ditsy is the word that springs to mind.

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Daily May # 18

Day 18 :: Sunday, a visit to the gardens at RHS Harlow Carr

An early out-the-door this morning so that we arrived at HC just before it opened. It gets very busy at the weekends, so we've learnt from experience that it's better to arrive in good time and beat the queues. We had two out of three Offspring with us today which is always a pleasure, and I continue to really appreciate that at ages 15* & 21 we are lucky parents to have their willing and engaging company on these simple outings.

*Yes, Little B is fifteen years old, and yes, I am constantly surprised by this fact.

Into Harlow Carr and straight to the cafe, uh-huh, we are that kind of family that is apparently fuelled by caffeine. Cappuccinos all round, along with some very good bacon breakfast rolls and then all was well and we could commence the business of full garden appreciation.

We started our walk through the woodland areas where the rhododendrons were in full bloom.

In the shady, dampish woodland borders we found the most beautiful candelabra primulas in flower too.

There are lots of different colour variations, and many of them are hybrids which have actually been created at Harlow Carr (I'm not much of a gardener, but I think being unique hybrids makes them rather special). I made sure to tell the Offspring to take a close look and appreciate their specialness.

In mid May, HC is a little bit between seasons, as most of the spring bulbs have finished flowering but the summer flowers haven't yet started. Many of the large floral borders are still in their greenery stage waiting for their turn in the summer when this garden really comes into its own.

However, the garden is large and divided into many different areas of interest, so there is loveliness to be found at all times of the year.

I loved the alliums which were blooming in the teaching gardens....

...and this long Mediterranean inspired border seems to always look good all year round.

The newly created alpine area is slowly being planted up (it's been in rocky creation for a good long while), and the huge variation of tiny colourful flowers was wonderful to see.

Now.....it will come as no surprise to you to hear that I had been keeping my fingers crossed for some Iris action, because of course it is the flower of the moment and I appear to be obsessed with these blooms as of one week ago.

And you will be delighted to hear that irises were indeed blooming at HC and ooohhhhhhh, they were STuNnINg!!!!

I LOVED this huge patch of naturalised irises growing in quite a wild and wonderful way in a meadow setting...

....but there were many borders throughout the garden where irises of different varieties were taking centre stage.

This big swathe of deep and dark blooms was only just beginning to flower, but oh-my, can you just imagine how stunning it'll look when it's going full throttle?

The fam were very patient with me as I dawdled and drooled over the intense beauty of these flowers, I think they are absolutely wonderful.

Haha, I created a little collage for you (and for me) so that we can really get some Iris Magic into our brains. Beautiful, aren't they?

I wanted to show you my dress, because I went through hell and back trying to iron the bloomin' thing this morning. It's an old one bought many years ago, heavily discounted in an end of year sale (it's from Cornish brand Seasalt). I love it very much, but it's an absolute 'mare to iron as it's cotton and lined and the lining is semi-stitched in and rumples terribly. Plus I don't actually own an ironing board which adds a whole new level of difficulty to the de-creasing challenge. But anyways, I wore it today and felt fancy and loved seeing the sweet floral bottom edge swaying around the flower borders as I walked. Also - background wisteria looking mighty fine and matching my cardi rather nicely.

When you've had enough wandering/bench sitting/flower admiring in HC and it's time to wend your way back to the car, the exit takes you right though the garden centre and gift shop. I have to tell you, the garden centre is magnificent; pricey, but magnificent. The plants for sale are absolutely stunning and of the highest calibre of planty health and vitality. I always see a gazillion plants that I would love to give a home to, and in today's jaunt it was the super pretty foxgloves....

....and the breathtaking lupins which stole my heart. The lupins were so utterly perfect they didn't look real.

I told myself I was not going to buy anything, but then spotted some pots of sweet pea seedlings at the perfect stage of readiness for planting out and I had to have them. I haven't really done any planting in my yarden for the past two years and it's looking very unkempt, but I really want to give it some tlc and plant up my pots with lots of floral colour for the upcoming sitting-out season. Sweet peas will be heavenly, I really can't wait.

If you ever pay a visit to HC, you know you absolutely have to pop into Betty's bakery and buy something to bring home, it's the law. Usually for us it's their famous Fat Rascals, two of them pictured above. They are deceptively large (bigger than my palm) and can be sliced up or cut into quarters then buttered (and jammed if you like) to have with a cup of tea or coffee. A little treat to remind you how good it is to spend the morning looking at flowers.

I also got tempted in the RHS gift shop because hello, favourite chocolate brand. This flavour is very summerish and tastes a little bit like turkish delight, it's really very delicious, well, all their chocolate is.

I so enjoyed our visit to Harlow Carr, I always get a long-lingering injection of inspiration and feel-good after being surrounded by so much natural beauty and colour.

Once more for the iris appreciation.....you're welcome!

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Daily May # 17

Day 17 :: Saturday

♥  a welcome slow start to my day with a coffee and some knitting in bed

♥ our usual weekend jaunt into the town to shop at the market, calling at the café on the way home to have coffee and breakfast

♥ I love unpacking my bags of produce when I get home from the market - this week I'm excited for British grown asparagus, beautiful peppers and a huge haul of cherry tomatoes on the vine (I bought four loooong strands of them!)

♥ walking along the canal on my way home from the shops

♥ I still find myself endlessly inspired by the canal boats that come and go

♥ look at the painted details on the front of this one, so jaunty and jolly!

♥ another gorgeous day here with bright blue skies and sunshine and I spent the whole afternoon sat outside with J. I bought a bottle of alcohol free sparkling rosé to try for the first time and it was absolutely scrumptious (it was the Kylie Minogue one)

♥ my hands reached the perfect knitting temperature (it was 21 degrees) and the stitches almost made themselves

♥ when the sun went down behind the rooftops I suddenly felt chilly - time to move indoors and cosy up with the kitty for a bit of early evening comfort. Look how huge she looks when she's in deep-sleep-dead-weight mode!

♥ 7:30 and I felt like getting out to really enjoy this glorious May evening. We drove up onto the moors and strolled along the track just to breathe it all in and drink in the views

♥ listening to the sound of the breeze and the moorland birds calling - curlews, a cuckoo and some grouse. What a wonderful way to spend an hour, so thankful for the simplicity of life when it looks and feels like this

♥ us ♥

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Daily May # 16

Day 16 :: Fri-yaaaay!!

Day sixteen and we've just clicked over the half way point in our Daily May Diaries. I'm really enjoying the gentle routine of sitting down each evening to take a look at the photos I've taken throughout the day, and thinking about how to tell you the story that goes with the images. Daily blogging is an incredibly mindful activity because it really does force me to stay present in the day and take notice of my surroundings in a creative way. So a view isn't just a view, it's colours and light and emotion that I want to share with you. I tend to see the world in a creative way (colour/light/perspective/texture) as this is how I'm wired, but there is definitely a gentle art to composing/framing a pleasing photograph worth sharing, and then finding the words to go alongside.

Anyhow, all that I meant to say was that I'm enjoying being here :) and thank you for your comments which I get so much pleasure from reading each day.

Today I woke up and felt immediately full of Fri-yay energy and it was lovely! I slept well (a solid eight hours) and it was good to feel a little of my natural energy buzzing back again. I don't know if you've been able to tell from my blogs but this week hasn't felt easy, I've been quite tired and very hormonal so my mood has been a bit on the low side. But today - today I feel like me again, hallelujah.

I was meeting good friends today for breakfast, coffee and all things chatty and yarny and it was such a feel-good morning. I have to tell you about my Flowerpress Mandala because I don't know why but my brain has found this pattern so bloomin' hard! It's simple maths and multiples, and yet I absolutely could not get it right yesterday. I frogged countless times and thought I'd finally cracked it, then when I got it out today and started working what I thought was the final round, I realised I'd got it completely wrong. One hundred is not divisible by three, no matter how much I wished it was so. Nope. More frogging, and a harrumph, and out came my knitting instead.

My friends were all creating the most beautiful things around the table today, so I asked them if I could show you....

....left over sock yarn being made into delicate little solid granny squares to add to a Battenberg blanket....

....a pair of socks in progress....

....a crochet baby blanket using a whole lovely mix of Stylecraft Special colours, worked in this mesmerising moss stitch chevron pattern....

....and some beautiful one inch Liberty hexagons being hand pieced and stitched.

Such an uplifting way to spend a few hours, good coffee, some great conversation, lots of laughs, and all the while the pleasure of gentle crafting. Happy, happy, happy Friday.

J always finishes work at 12.30 on a Friday but we don't tend to make advanced plans for the afternoons. It's very much a decision of the moment after we've eaten lunch - what's the weather like and what do we feel like doing for a few hours? Today we decided to stay local and walk our well trodden path up the hilly streets, along the track and into the top of the woods.

With a day of blue sky and full sunshine, the dappled woodland was absolutely stunning, with watery light-filled reflections to make me swoon.

Such an easy but beautiful stroll, bringing us out at the top of town where we could go and buy the food we needed to make dinner, and then time for a little Friday afternoon tipple.....

....outside in the sunny garden of the Woolly Sheep Inn. I have a small 125ml of sauv blanc and it's just enough to give me that relaxed ahhhhh feeling, and makes me feel like I'm on holiday. I think that if you can feel like you're on holiday during an ordinary weekday afternoon, then you're winning at life.

On Friday's I'm generally off the clock in the kitchen as the offspring take care of themselves, and sometimes J just does himself a ready made curry if that's what he feels like. Today we both felt like having a salad bowl, inspired by the meal we had when we ate at Swim in Lyme Regis last weekend (we both had the Japanese rice bowl which was incredibly good). We cheated a bit and bought a ready made salad/grain bowl from M&S to share, and then added extra ingredients to it. I roasted some tenderstem brocolli and asparagus, added in some extra edamame beans and wholegrain rice, then we topped it with flaked salmon and garlicky prawns. The grain bowl came with a little pot of yoghurt/tahini dressing which was really tasty, so I'm now on the hunt for some knockout salad dressing recipes, the sort you could toss through grains/rice/roasted veggies/mixed salad and love it to death. Any ideas on this front, do please share in the comments.

It was a treat to eat outside in the yarden, we don't have an outdoor table any more but we do have a very comfy sofa and chairs with squishy cushions (covered in crochet blankets of course). I don't mind eating on my lap, especially when it's bowl food and a fork, and honestly this meal was all kinds of yummmmmm.

I settled down to do some crochet this evening, and pulled the mandala out of my bag where it sat looking suitably naughty with it's one hundred stitches that don't divide neatly by three. I ended up adding in an additional increase round which actually worked beautifully because I used that delicious mustardy gold colour. So then I had one hundred and twenty stitches and that definitely does work for the final set of petals - hooray! It looks a bit raggedy in the above photo as it still needs ends darning in and then a gentle steam spa treatment, but I couldn't wait to show you. I'm going to write up the pattern so I can share it with you, the notes are scribbled on paper so all's in hand.

And now....now it's 9:30pm and I'm suddenly very ready to be horizontal. Friday is my clean sheets day, and I'm happy because I had the good sense to make my bed before sitting down to chat to you, I'm so grateful I did that. And joy of joys, it was air dried on the washing line and smells of sunshine, and I put a small posie of flowers on my bedside table too. Simple pleasures are so important in life, they bring joy to the everyday.

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Daily May # 15

Day 15 :: Thursday

Today I had a slow morning doing slow things. I walked slowly and sedately down to the doctors surgery to go and stand on one of those machine things that measures weight, height, heart rate and blood pressure all at once. Thankfully I can report that my inner workings are pretty good and the numbers read as they should. Phew, it's always something of a relief to step out of those situations with a good feeling, I'm very grateful for my general good health. Afterwards I really, really needed a coffee and time to just sit and be mindful and grateful, and to restore my equilibrium.

The rest of the morning was taken up with food shopping, laundry, emails and general idle faffery - I don't know how I seem to arrive at 1pm and not really know how the morning slipped past.

I spent the afternoon following on from yesterday and crocheting a larger Flowerpress mandala. Hooking, frogging, counting, re-counting, multiplication, scribbling pattern notes and losing myself in these super pretty cotton colours. I love what I've made (just one final round still to complete) and will be writing and sharing the pattern in case you too want some flowery mandala prettiness in your life. Ten out of ten recommend for a dose of feel good creativity.

I cooked a simple pasta meal for us this evening and felt a bit discombulated because J's not here and he's always here (he's out at a work do which extended to an evening meal at some fancy restaurant). As I missed my morning walk today I decided to potter out this evening instead, because these light, bright spring evenings are more than a little bit magical and deserve to be enjoyed.

I had Little Lady with me for company, a time for us to chat and catch up and for her to tell me about the things that are occupying her mind of late. She is a deep thinker, and like me she processes things in a very internal way. However, I find that every so often it really helps to bring things out in the open and walking in nature is a great way to kick start the offloading.

The wild garlic is over it's peek now and slowly starting to fade, but this also means that the scent is at its most intoxicating. I love it when it's like this, it makes the air almost taste edible.

May is such a beautiful time in the woodland, the greenery is next level fresh. We climbed up the steeply stepped pathway above the waterfall which is always good for getting the blood pumping and making me very aware of keeping up my general fitness. I weirdly really enjoy climbing steps and I've no idea why, but there you go, I'm adding it to my veeeeeeery long list of quirks.

We sat for a while on the wall at the top of the hill and looked out over the quiet town, taking in our house nestled in it's terraced row. In the quiet of the early mornings and evenings we can hear the sheep baaa-ing from this field as the sound carries out across the treetops to our street. It's a lovely reminder of our semi-rural location and makes me appreciate how lucky I am to live in a town surrounded by hills and trees (and sheeps).

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Daily May # 14

Day 14 :: Wednesday

Today has been a day for some gentle creativity and colour therapy, aaaallllll the colours. At the time I reached for my bag of cotton yarns I had no idea what I was going to make, only that I had the urge to play and wanted to tap into the joy of making something just for the pure pleasure of it.

I made a Flowerpress flower....

....then circled it and loved the way it looked.

I added a few more neat rounds of double crochet and loved it even more.

I've had a few questions about the blue mandala mat that currently sits on my table. This is a smaller version of my Yuletide Mandala pattern which is free ((here)) on my blog, and there is more information about the blue version ((here, scroll down to find it)). Doesn't the little Flowerpress mandala look cute alongside it??

I thought it would look very pretty underneath my little ink bottle flowers, and yes, I think I was right. I enjoyed my happy making very much, and now want to make a slightly bigger one with some different stitchy rounds....not right now though because after a bit of a scattered, ditsy day I finally feel relaxed and ready for zzzzzzzz. I'm adding Mandala Making to tomorrow's to-do list.

In other news, I found a really lovely simple glass vase in the supermarket today for the princely sum of two pounds (I'll take a better photo of it to show you tomorrow). The irises are obviously overjoyed with their new watery setting because they've started to open their petals, oh I do love them so. I'm invested pretty heavily in their welfare it seems, and can't wait to check in on them first thing in the morning. Sweet things.

After the little Flowerpress mandala was made, I couldn't stand the jumble of balls any longer and set about creating some order. Ahhh, that's better! What better way to feel good than to play around with colour, it's definitely my kind of therapy. The yarn is all Ricorumi DK which I really love for decorative projects, and as you can see, the variety of colours is wonderful (there are 80 to choose from).

The balls are dinky 25g minis which is appealing for all sorts of reasons, mostly because it means I can gather in a decent design palette without spending a small fortune. I wish we had access to this size of ball (in these great colours) in alternative fibres - small 25g balls of acrylic (or merino) would be fantastic, don't you think? Just imagine the design potential if I could put together a kit containing 48 colours! The mind boggles (in the best possible way).

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Daily May # 13

Day 13 :: Tuesday

I went on my morning walk alone today as J said he didn't feel like coming as he still felt tired from our Dorset walking and travelling. Instead of heading into the woodland I decided to go to the meadow because it's buttercup season and I know how intoxicating the golden colour is first thing in the morning. I was not disappointed, it was absolutely beautiful.

We're not yet at peak bloom here in the meadow (that belongs to June) and the buttercups are just warming up their display. But what an incredible way to start my day, seven o'clock was most definitely golden.

Buttercups and cow parsley are growing in abundance right now - I never pick any flowers in the meadow because it's a conservation area and protected, but I felt it was OK for me to take a few wild stems from the hedgerows and grass verges on my way home from the park.

I have collected a few old glass bottles over the years, buying them from the collectors centre when I spot them every so often for a pound or two. They make the perfect miniature vase for teeny-tiny posies and there is something enchanting about creating these very small floral displays which I enjoy very much. They never last long indoors but that doesn't matter really, because it's the fleeting enjoyment that makes them so special.

I had a few errands to run in town today so I went out quite early this morning before it got too hot. The weather forecast for this week looks exceptionally good with no rain, actual heat and lots of sunshine - it's spring but feels like early summer already, and I am so here for it.

I decided this morning that I really should be more consistent at supporting local, so I called in at the florist to buy flowers for my table this week, then went to a small indie coffee shop for my morning milky cup. It was so good, I sat in a sunny corner listening to the upbeat music and had a little ponder on how I wanted to spend the rest of my day.

Did you notice the flowers I bought? Six beautiful iris stems, I just can't seem to stop thinking about these flowers, they've completely taken over my brain for some unknown reason.

The colours are absolutely beautiful. The only thing is that they are super tall and I don't really have a suitable vase for them. In fact, I don't appear to own any vases as I always prefer my flowers displayed in jugs so I'm not sure what to do. I've popped them into a glass water jug for now, but tomorrow I'll put my mind to thinking about whether to chopity-chop the stems to jug length, or whether to look somewhere for a pretty slim/tall vase.

I made myself a late breakfast once I'd come home from town, a sweet cinnamon/maple omelette loaded with greek yoghurt and a whole heap of berries. I've got two new candles on my table today (a budget supermarket buy), heavily influenced by my trip to Dorset. One is Jasmine, the other is called Beach Walk - I thought that was pretty appropriate and weirdly aligned with what's been in my mind the past few days. Ooooo, I wonder if you can get an Iris scented candle? #obsessed.

Cow parsley and buttercups with my breakfast....so very May-ish and bringing me lots of happiness today.

This afternoon I tidied up a bit in the back yard, sorting out the furniture and blankets and creating a cosy corner underneath the dining room window for afternoon loafing. It was hot out there, twenty two degrees, and I sat gulping down glasses of iced water while trying/failing to knit a few rounds of sock. Just too hot for yarn in the hands, so in the end I simply sat and allowed the sunshine to warm my soul. It was pretty blissful.

It would have been my Dad's birthday today, so he was on my mind a lot. I hope he is resting well.

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Daily May # 12

Day 12 :: Monday :: Dorset & home again

Today has been mostly taken up with the long drive north, and the inevitable re-adjustment that's needed after a trip away. Even though we were only gone for three nights it felt like much longer, and it's a bit strange to be back home again and straight back into my parenting shoes (flip flops). We arrived back in the mid afternoon and I immediately had to think about what to cook for the family meal this evening, go and do a quick food shop, then help unpack the car and sort out the various bags of clothes, bedding/towels and food. However, it's a small price to pay for the luxury of having offspring who are now old enough to take care of themselves, and being free to escape the parenting job for a short while is fabulous. So I'm not complaining, but....I guess I just feel a bit on the weary side after long hours of travel and the aforementioned re-adjustment process. What a wonderful time away we had though, it really was extremely lovely on all fronts.

I've been looking back through my photos and I think out of everything I've shared, my most favourite part of it all was our accommodation. We don't own a caravan but it's easy enough to rent one, and staying at this small, rural site nestled into the quiet Dorset countryside above the beach was absolutely dreamy. This was our second time staying (our first holiday here was two years ago) and I know that there will be more times to come.

I loved the early mornings sat with a hot cup of tea and taking in the expansive views, cosy under a blanket listening to the birds and the sheep bleating in the next field....

....but most of all I loved the evenings when we would walk down through the lush fields to the sea. It was unbelievably dreamy for someone like me who has these vivid fantasies about living a quiet coastal life one day - this was my chance to live out my dream for a short while and it made me so happy!

My crochet blankets always came with us on these beach jaunts because even though the weather was sunny and warm during the day, it's still springtime and there was often a cool breeze whipping along the beach in the evenings. Also, I admit I get a major thrill out of seeing my blankets "in the wild" and admiring the colours sitting in such scenic surroundings.

It was usually around 8.30pm by the time we were ready to head slowly back up the hill to our holiday home on legs, and the golden evening light and long shadows made everywhere look beautiful.

If you look carefully at the above photo, you can just see the caravans up on the side of the hill there - they are sitting underneath the sign that points to Hive Beach 2 miles further down the coast. It's such a lovely spot, close to the coastal road which makes catching the bus possible, and the elevated position ensures that the views are expansive and incredibly scenic.

It's a very quiet rural area with lots of open countryside and small village communities. The locals are very friendly too :)

At this point in the year, the sun disappeared behind the hills at around 8.30pm, and the first stars appeared about an hour later just as the sky was beginning to darken. Every evening I would step outside with my blanket around my shoulders and stand for a while to breathe it all in before bedtime. I adore the scent of the evening air in this little patch of West Dorset - to me, it's the deeply familiar scent of my childhood and tells me that my heart is home. It's a country smell, the scent of damp grass with an undertone of farmyard, plus a slightly sweet, floral something combined with the salty tang of the sea. I could not love it more.

And now I'm back in the Attic again, in my adopted Yorkshire home and all is well. I found a shell in my pocket earlier, and remembered that J had found it on our walk and had given it to me, a sweet memento of our time in Dorset.

It will come as no surprise to you that I am pretty obsessed with all things coastal, and did plenty of visual colour-collecting while I was walking along Chesil beach. I'm beginning to think about the possibility of designing another coastal-inspired blanket, where the colours of the sea and beach merge with the hedgerows, fields and wild flowers. Can you imagine how dreamy it would be??? ♥

The flowers I saw on this recent trip have really stuck in my mind actually, especially the irises. There were a good many different varieties growing around the beautifully kept caravan site, as well is in the village gardens where we walked. I totally fell in love with them - the variety of colours is magnificent. I mean --> (( LOOK!! )) Wow. I have most definitely fallen in love.

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Daily May # 11

Day 11 :: Sunday :: Dorset

Today was a day for J and I to spend together and involved one of my most favourite pastimes - coastal walking. We absolutely LOVE this circular route that we can do directly from the caravan site where we're staying and we were really looking forward to it. I've been sleeping well here and we both woke up early, so we were out the door at 7.45 with a picnic lunch, ready to cover some miles.

The start of the walk is a steady climb right up to the top of the downs above Chesil beach. The Dorset countryside is looking absolutely stunning, it's so lush and green in May and and the crisp, clear sea air gives everything a fresh glow.

From the top of the ridge there are magnificent views right out over Chesil beach and all the way along to Portland Bill. It's beautiful walking up here - breezy and open with an almost 360 degree view.

Eventually the footpath starts to descend down towards the picturesque village of Abbotsbury. In the above photo you can see St Catherine's Chapel sitting squarely on its hill above the sea, it's such an enchanting part of the Dorset coastline and I love it deeply.

We arrived into Abbotsbury just after 10am, and being a Sunday morning it was very sleepy and quiet. We did find a sweet little café/bakery open and enjoyed a cappuccino sat at a little pavement table in the sunshine.

The walk took us out of the village, heading south toward the sea, and was a gentle stroll along tracks and through fields.

We came across this magnificent old tree with a huuuuuge trunk and an absolutely massive spread of branches, the giant scale of it was honestly staggering. I recognised it as a plane tree by it's distinctive leaves, and later on when I had access to the internet I did a little searching to try and find out more about it. According to the word on the web, this is an Oriental Plane tree planted by monks over 300 years ago, and the trunk is over 6 metres in circumference. SIX metres!

I asked J to take a photo to show you something of the scale, it blew my mind just a little bit I have to say. Isn't it wonderful?

We continued our walk gently downwards, all the way to the long stretch of the beach, and came across a fantastic little café down there. What a gem! The coffee was insanely good, and the food looked mouthwateringly tasty too, definitely somewhere to head for if you're in the area.

We had a picnic with us of course, so we took our coffee directly onto the shingle beach and settled down amongst all the wild coastal flowers to eat lunch with a sea view. I'd made us ham, goats cheese and salad sandwiches, with some salty crisps, a crunchy apple and some dark chocolate to finish. Simple food but absolutely yummmm.

The weather had been wonderful all morning, but by midday when we'd stopped to eat lunch, a sudden squall of rain came in from the sea and sprinkled us with heavy droplets for about ten minutes, then blew on out along the beach.

You can see the dramatic rainy skies as we walked along the coast path after lunch. It wasn't cold and we only got a little bit damp so all was well, and I loved that we could literally see the rain moving ahead of us as we walked.

It was a joy to see so many flowers in bloom along the beach, they grow directly in the shingle and it's lovely to walk amongst them. Lots of pink Thrift and white Sea Campion, and the photo above is Sea Kale in bloom.

I was crouching down taking the sea kale picture and attracted a little companion who stayed on my hand for ages. He was the exact shade of the shingle!

I first saw these wild gladioli growing along this part of the coast two years ago and they are absolutely stunning in real life. I feel like I've been really spoilt with floral colour today, so much natural beauty all along our walk....

...including the beautifully kept gardens in the village of West Bexington.

This iris stopped me in my tracks, it was huge and had the most beautiful collection of colours running through its petals. Did you know that irises have a scent? I had no idea until today, but they smell delicious, like sweet honey. Who knew?! In Abbotsbury I went through the village with my nose stuck into a good many flowers - lilac, climbing roses and jasmine all making the air smell incredible as we walked past the most idyllic looking thatched cottages. It's been a beautifully floral kind of a day.

We got back to the caravan at 2pm and I felt as if my emotional cup had been topped up to overflowing with feel-good. Such a beautiful walk for the heart and soul, so many expansive views, beautiful flowers and glorious colour. It felt good to spend time enjoying Dorset in a way that felt quite carefree for a change, and it reminded me of past years when holidaying here was all about pleasure seeking and relaxation, and nothing to do with the strain of ageing parents and the stress that I've been coping with for the past four years. What an absolutely blessed relief, I felt that deeply today.

This afternoon we went to collect Lady B and gathered in some supplies to cook a barbecue dinner here at the caravan. It was lovely to see her and spend time reminiscing and catching up, and to feel reassured that she's doing OK. I've promised her I'll be back in the summer, this will always be my home place that I return to regularly throughout the years, and I'm so grateful for it. It's a beautiful area of the country to come and spend time.

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Daily May #10

Day 1 :: Saturday

We slept in till gone 7am this morning which is rare for us and it felt delicious to wake up slowly to the sound of lambs bleating in the field across the way. By 9am we were out the door and walking up the lane to the bus stop : destination Lyme Regis.

If you've followed my blog over the years you will know about my love for this coastal town where I have a long history and lots of very happy memories. I worked three of my student summers in a tourist/icecream type shop owned by a family friend right down by the harbour, and I have old friends who live close by too so have socialised a lot in Lyme over the years.

Today we were gifted the most perfect May weather, a forecast of full sun all day and ohhh, the town looked so, so stunning with jaunty bunting flags strung across the high street and the most perfect sea view glittering down below.

J and I have a favourite coffee shop in Lyme Regis (of course we do) which has the sweetest little garden at the back. We called in to enjoy a mighty fine coffee and some toasted walnut bread with butter and raspberry preserve. In fact the coffee was SO good that we both immediately ordered a second cup as soon as the first was finished...mmmmmm....it really was delicious.

Late morning now, and we're taking a gentle stroll down through the beautiful gardens which overlook the beach and harbour.

The gardens are full of flowers and have a distinctly Mediterranean feel. We sat a while on a bench and just breathed in the expansive views and enjoyed the full heat of the sun as we approached midday.

We had a plan in place for today, and this involved taking ourselves down to the promenade to find a suitable spot to sit, have a drink and wait for some very dear friends to arrive.

It was super busy as it's the weekend and the weather had drawn in the beach loving crowds, but we were lucky to find a table outside the Harbour Inn where we could sit comfortably and wait. Our friends are staying further down the coast at Seaton and were walking the south west coast path to come and meet us for the afternoon. It was incredibly good to see them, we've been friends for thirty six years so as you can imagine we have the easy type of friendship where years go by and then you pick right back up as if it were only yesterday. We enjoyed a few beers in the sun, then moved on to have a late lunch in a beautiful eatery overlooking the sea. It was wonderful and I wish the afternoon could have gone on and on because it was that good, all of it, every single sunny second of it.

Travelling by bus meant that we had no option but to say goodbye to our friends and jump on the last ride back along the coast at 5.30pm - no late journeys here in rural west Dorset.

The Jurassic Coaster is a great bus service though, and there are terrific sea views almost the whole way. We sat on the top deck and enjoyed the passing scenery, and just over an hour later we arrived back to our home-from-home.

J suggested we walk down through the fields to the beach, and of course my little sea-loving heart was utterly delighted by this idea. It's about a half hour walk downhill to the sea (with a bit more oomph needed on the way back as the uphill is quite uppy)

It was so peaceful on the beach, just a few fishermen catching and reeling in glittering mackerel, and miles of open coastal space to feast my eyes on. I drank a little glass of wine and felt my heart expand with pure gratitude. This is the life I live, and I'm head over heels in love with it.

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ps a few of you have asked about my crochet beach blankets, I have two granny square blankies that always come on holiday with us and I love them to bits. They are both made from Stylecraft Special DK - left over stash busters made in simple join-as-you-go granny squares, nothing complicated at all, but it's the colours that really bring them to life. The one in yesterdays post is called "Colourwash Granny" and the one shown here I call "Patchwork Granny". Full details on colours etc are all here on my blog x