Dorset Jollies :: day 2

Oh that sky, those clouds, aren't they the very stuff that summer holidays are made of? In England we are so ruled by the weather aren't we? Yes we have variety, and yes I know our beautiful green countryside is only green because of the rain we get, but oh my, its just so very very wonderful when we actually get  traditional, proper, fully-fledged summer weather in summer. These photos of course were all taken last Thursday (today in Yorkshire it's absolutely pouring with rain) and I feel we were blessed weather-wise, and for that I am so very grateful. Incidentally, before I go jollying off and start rambling at you with Day Two, can I just say how nice it was to be back blogging in the Attic yesterday, and a heartfelt thank you for the welcome-home, I did really love that you were all still there.

So...Thursday 24th July, day two of the hols and my car was sick. It was no surprise, it had been sounding like a jet engine for a while and after the long journey down the exhaust was just too far gone to ignore. So at 8.30am, into the garage it went, which meant we were car-less for the day.
So it was decided we would relax and potter, see where the day took us. And to start any sort of relaxing/pottering day you have to eat the right kind of breakfast. Nothing too robust. Museli? No, too healthy. Eggs? No, too faffy. Ok, how about a  little jaunt to the local shop for chocolate croissants and strawberries? Yes now thats more like it, lets make some fresh coffee and eat outside in the garden. Oh the Little People could not beleive their luck, you should have seen the chocolately mess on hands and faces, it was a delight.

We were eating breakfast in B's garden, which is a hop and a skip from the town's  high street. So I left J and the Little People sitting in the sunhine and took a hop and a skip off to the shops. Well one particular shop actually, the shop that always calls me in :: take a peek and see how impossibly charming and captivating it is, how hard to walk on by.

This is the Girls Own Store in Bridport, a shop I am utterly in love with. You may remember me telling you about it when I visited in April? It really is a delight, in every way.

When I first arrived at the shop all eager and excited on this bright sunny morning, fueled by strawberries, chocolate and coffee, I found it was closed. But no matter, it allowed me to take some photographs of the gorgeous shop window display without feeling too conspicuous.

Oh, such lovliness! The crochet, the enamelware, the Greengate, the polkadots, the baskets!

I am pressing my face right to the window here to see in, to see if it has altered since I was last here. Ah no, it's not changed much, still as lovely. Still a great danger to my credit card. I wander round town and eventually come back when it's open. I browse slowly, taking in every detail and when I've been around the whole shop inch by inch, I start gathering my purchases.

I buy a paper lampshade with roses on, some pretty paper lanterns. Some paper napkins, an old vintage biscuit tin. Some Greengate tea towels and picnic plates. I chat to Sara (the owner) about my love for Greengate products and the crochet blankets she has in the shop. I feel like I would like to pull up a chair and have a cup of tea and stay there all day.

But eventually I leave and skip back to B's gorgeous walled garden where all is peaceful and sunny. Cosmo her canary is singing his little heart out in his cage which has been hung just outside the back door. J and my Dad are both engrossed in reading the paper, Little Man is playing with his lego and Little Lady is playing with the water in the birdbath. And me, what do I do? I spend a while going through all my purchases and then settle down for a bit of quiet rippling.

I love that my ripple blanket is there, that I can add some Dorset holiday memories into the final stripes. That I can sit peacefully in the morning sun and be totally immersed in the rhythm of the ripples. Such a pleasure this blanket of mine, every stripe has been a joy to create.

Later on in the morning, J and I go off to the shops and go Croc-hunting. The Little People have had crocs since the start of the summer and we decide we would like to join the fun, especially as they are so useful for paddling in the sea/rivers. I choose sky blue and J goes for manly khaki green. I force the family to line up for a photo shoot, I'm mean like that.

Later on after lunch we go on a woodland walk, giving our crocs a trial run out. Its cool and shady with dappled sunlight.

And later on again, around 5pm, we pack a simple picnic and walk the two miles down to the beach.

We walk through playing fields, past the local brewery, under the noisy by-pass and then on through fields of wheat and pasture, following the meandering river down to the sea.

The day has cooled down now, the sky has clouded and a light breeze has arrived but it's still warm and summery. We spread rugs on the shingle beach and settle down to eat.

Cold sausages, hard boiled eggs, crisps and cherry tomatoes. Green and Blacks Chocolate. OJ for the Little People and Chardonnay for the Large People. I love picnic food, the simpler the better. And beach picnics do have a certain special somthing.
Oh, it's been a lovely, lazy, relaxing, pottering, meandering sort of a day.

Comments

[Steph]

What bliss. We're not able to go on away this summer but reading this lovely post felt like a break for my brain all the same! Thanks so much.
Stephx - who is a huge Girl's Own Store fan too but sadly only online. One of the gorgeous crochet berets the owner makes is my prized posession! The shop looks divine.

[Sarah]

oh how lovely your day sounds! Funnily I have just been in your North Yorkshire at our cottage for a week, enjoy sun, see fret, picnics and pretty things, very much like yourself! I was able to blog from the cottage for the first time using my iphone too, heaven! The Girl's Own Store looks just my sort of place. in fact if they just tagged a tearoom onto it you'd never get me away if I were bridport way!

[Chris]

Day 2 sounds just as wonderful! That "Girls own store" looks really dangerous to the wallet!

[Lisa]

What wonderful photos! I would love to visit that sweet shop.

[tracyt]

eeekkkk...
you are the queen of crochet and you take really beautiful pictures.
lovely, lovely, lovely visiting with you :)
t x

[Natalie]

Lovely day 2 photos - Can't wait to see day 3 tomorrow! - Natalie x p.s - Where did you get the pattern for the ripple blanket please?

[Liz]

You obviously had a great time in Dorset. Your photos are lovely...so glad you have shared them.

[Anna]

Thanks for the link to the shop- have just bought a long searched for pale green coat hook for the cafe! Perfect, thankyou!
Your picnic sounds fabulous, I love picnic food!so easy and no washing up involved. Food always tastes so much better eaten outside as well, doesn't it? especially byt he sea.x

[Rachel L]

What a lovely post! Gorgeous photos - I am very jealous, it sounds like an absolutely perfect summer day. And I love the look of that shop, what a treasure trove!

[Catherine/My Garden Travels]

It looks like you had the most wonderful day. I just returned from a vacation in Vermont, and the folks up there are having the same type of weather for the past two months. Fortunatley I had four sunny days out of seven. Thank goodness for our crafts on days like these. Your ripple blanket is just lovely.

[Patricia]

Can't help but wonder, on top of your ripple blanket is some other crochet which does not look part of the ripple. It looks like a top of the bag you have just crocheted. Please what is it? I can see the ripple through it. It looks like another crocheted circle. Another lovely post.

[kathy]

Hi Lucy, Good to have you back and wow, you were so lucky with the weather. Yesterday was gorgeous here in East Devon but today, very grey, raining and rather windy. Lovely! I too love the Girls Own store and always pop in when I go to Bridport (that at Waterstones and Pam's den for junk china!). Kathy PS. Your blanket looks wonderful, gorgeous colours.

[simone]

You tell of simple pleasures so wonderfully. I love the fluffy white clouds and the woodland walk. I wish I had a 'Girls Own Store' near me. I am sure I would go around the shop 'inch by inch' too. I am glad that you managed to intertwine some Dorset memories into your ripple blanket. I find your words and pictures so inspirational I think you should bring out your blog in book form. I could then browse through on a whim absorbing all the loveliness that you show and talk about.