Attic24

Transition

HEL♥LO my lovelies, I am back in the Attic again, opening my window and giving you a wave. Hello! Home again. Home from a most wonderful, simple, sloooooow and relaxing week in Dorset with my family. I had a restful time, a complete break from cooking (yay!) the internet (hmm, kind of good), and even (unintentionally) from crochet. I rested body, mind and soul, and I feel great for having done so. My heart is still rooted beside the waves (oh how much I love being by the sea, I miss it very very much) and consequently I'm struggling a little being home. But only a little.

We are now in that transition phase, the bit where the summer holidays are coming to a gentle close, but there are still a few days left before school routines start up again. It's a period of change and adjustment, of making the very most of these final drifting days of summer before we need to snap back into schedule. It's kind of a slow time but also a frantic time with last minute school uniform shopping today, and the dreaded label sewing-in thing tomorrow.

Yesterday I baked a cake, and Little Man got to indulge his sweet tooth and decorate the whole shebang with sweeties. Well, it was his Birthday after all. Eleven. Can you believe it? Eleven years old, holy-moly, I kind of had a little bit of an internal, personal freak-out yesterday over that. But at the same time, I thought about how AMAZING this period of my life is turning out to be, and how incredible it is to celebrate eleven full years of Motherhood.

The cake was pretty damn good. I made a simple 2-egg Victoria Sponge sandwiched together with homemade strawberry jam and butter cream icing. It was a little on the flat side, but oh the taste was divine and the moist, light, fluffy texture was wonderful. Eleven. Cripes.

Today has been a day of gentle at-home pootling mixed in with visiting friends and running errands. The sky was a beautiful shade of blue this morning, but by mid afternoon a wind had blown in and for the first time in ages I felt slightly chilly. But it is still firmly summer in my book, and I took some time to re-paint my toenails today to prove it (a beautiful shade of purple). My flip-flops are still my foot wear of choice until such times as my toes begin to turn purple with cold, which will hopefully be in October some time.

The house is a mess. No, it really is, like really a mess. Some of it is the inevitable post holiday mess (dumped bags and footwear and beach gear and endless dirty laundry), but much of it is accumulated mess, a gathering of untidiness that has built up steadily over the summer months. It's quite shocking in places, I daren't show you really. But trust me, much needs to be done around here. Not now though, I can't face tackling it now, I have too much other stuff to do (only 28 sleeps until Yarndale!!). So I do the bare minimum, drink lots of coffee and head outdoors to escape the chaos within the four walls.........

....I like it out in my back yard. I have perfected the art of visually zoning out re the pots of weeds and general air of neglect, and can happily focus in on my one and only pot of flowers out here. It is my little corner of pleasure.

This morning I found time to get stuck into this incredible book, to truly devour the words and eat up the beautiful visuals. Page after page of inspiring and happy feel good. I'll be writing more about Vantastic very soon as I have promised to do A Review. Which I am more than happy about.

I interspersed my book reading with blue-sky-gazing, coffee-slurping, geranium-loving and end-darning. Tut-tut, those ends, naughty Lucy! I always tick my friends off for not dealing methodically with their ends as they go along (it's the best way!), and here I am not doing it myself.

I finished crocheting my lampshade cover last night in bed, the last final little rows of neat dc and mmmmmm it is a thing of beauty my friends. The colours are quirky and bright and extremely scummy. Cannot wait to pull it all together now and see it complete, but first just let me show you these..............

.....weeny balls of course! I have this perfectly clear visual of how the finished shade should look, my Minds Eye has already shown me in precise detail. I ruled out pom-poms (my first idea) and glass beads, and have gone with Weeny Balls. They will be dingle-dangling from some sort of fine crochet edging (I can visualise it, but need to sample it yet). Oh pffff these weeny things are soooooooo adorable to make, so quick, they come off the hook in mere minutes.

A quick pattern for you then, should you wish to fill a tiny corner of your life with weeny balls >>>>

Make a slip knot leaving a 20cm tail end (to use as stuffing). Work in a continuous round in arigurumi style, counting stitches carefully as you go.
Ch 2, work 6dc into 2nd ch from hook [6 sts]
(2dc in next st, dc in next st) 3 times [9 sts]
dc in each of next 9 sts [9 sts]
Use the end of hook to help stuff the tail end up inside the little ball.
(sk 1 st, dc in next st) 4 times, until hole closes.
Fasten off, then use a needle to thread tail end down through the weeny ball, pull gently to neaten the round shape, then darn back up again. Snip off yarn end.

I would like to share my Dorset holiday with you, if you would care to see/read along with me during the next few days? I've been trying to think if I can squeeze it all into one post, but the conclusion has been nah, not do-able. Too many pictures for that, and as you know I am also a notoriously wordy so-and-so. Can't seem to do quick captions or summaries.

Come back soon then, for sea breezes and coastal tales.

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Getting ready

So Friday has rolled around yet again and here we are at the end of our three week stay-at-home phase of the summer holidays. Today is the day I run around like a blue arsed fly and get the whole family packed and ready for our summer trip to Dorset. I am pretty good at last minute prepping for a week away and it doesn't really phase me at all. A few loads of laundry, a clean guinea pig cage, a quick tidy round downstairs. Steadily throughout the day I gather various components of Family Holiday Kit into large shopping bags in the hallway. Empty the fridge of perishables, Pay the milkman and cancel next weeks milk , empty the bins, load the dishwasher, give back door key to neighbour. And in between all that, I also do a food shop, a pet food shop, a market shop and an amaaaazing, impulsive dash into the collectors centre (more about that in a bit). Oh, and I also managed to squeeze in a quick visit to my weekly knit n natter at the café. Of course....how could I miss that?! I was only there for about 40 mins this morning, but it was long enough to have a chat, drink a stunningly good latté and work the penultimate round on my lampshade cover.



Whilst I was there, I nipped upstairs to the studio to make up a yarn bomb kit for Liz who is helping to crochet some bits n bobs for Yarndale. I LOVE that my Stylecraft is  now wound into these neat little balls which I'm storing in a pink tub trug at the moment. Oh it made my heart sing when I looked at it!



I took a few quick photographs of the yarn bombing that is beginning to pile, isn't it fabulous? These are lamp post and railing wraps, all made in Stylecraft acrylic.

Oooooooooooooooooooohhhh! DEeeeeeelicious! Each one is like a mini work of art, I love them very much indeed. Thank you ladies, you are such wonderful hooky friends x

So that nip into the collectors centre I mentioned? I had the WeIrDeSt experience, I have to tell you. I was rushing on my way to the pet shop when I had a sudden and very insistent voice inside my head telling me to go into the antique shop. I have two favourite sellers there and although I hadn't been there for months and months, something was telling me to go there urgently today, right there and then. I just knew instinctively that there was something waiting there for me. And look what I found, isn't it a beauty?!!! A vintage enamel milk pan from Yugoslavia, oh I am just head over heels in love with it...a real treasured find for Connievan. And you know what? Only £4.50. Meant to be mine, for certain.

Something else strange happened, about half an hour later. A white feather was laying in my path. It was in the town centre, laid on the ground in the little cobbled ginnel that I always walk down on my way home. I picked it up and knew it was for me. Something is telling me to slow down a bit and take it steady, I can feel myself needing to apply the brakes now for a bit. Sloooooooow. Yes, I hear it.

I twiddled the feather in between my fingers as I walked home, thinking about my family and feeling very glad that we are all going to be together next week. At home, I popped the feather into my feather mug on the mantel, to join the growing collection. I just cannot resist picking them up when I am out and about, they are such lovely reminders of walks and holidays.

Ahhhh, Dorset.......so beautiful and so much a part of my heart and soul. I cannot wait to be there.

I shall be back in a weeks time with coastal tales to tell....see you then

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Cheese Scones

I experienced a real craving this morning, a super strong urge to bake. I felt like I really had to be in the kitchen with my apron on, creating something warm, fragrant and tasty or else the day would not feel right. Usually when a craving hits hard it's for something sweet and naughty, but today the craving was different and it had to be savoury. Mmmmmmmmmm, warm cheesy scones I thought.

I sent a message to my friend who had produced the most marvellous cheesy scones at a picnic in the park early last week. When she emailed me the recipe (it was from Paul Hollywood's Bread book), my heart sank a little as it required Strong White Flour and I didn't have any of that in. And I couldn't possibly wait you see, I needed to bake right there and then. So I looked in my baking drawer and thought I would try using wholemeal self raising flour instead. Yeah...wholesome, good for savoury things. It'll work out, right?

I made up my dough. Flour, a wee bit of sugar and baking powder, milk and eggs. I put butter in the  microwave for 10 seconds to soften. Mixed it all messily in a big bowl with the hands. Sticky. Not particularly pleasant, but keep going, it's gonna be good. Savoury! Warm and fragrant! Stick with it!

Got the dough out on the work top, dusted with flour, attempted to knead for the required four minutes, but nope, it was not working out. This was not kneadable dough. So I pondered for a moment, and then thought arrrrgggghhhhbloodyhell I forgot to add the bloomin' cheese! Quick! Wap some grated cheese on top of the unkneadable dough and try to work it in. Push it in with fingers, pokey pokey, work the dough around a bit, flatten it out roughly with palm of my hand, bang, bang. I feel I am being a bit brutal, aren't you sposed to be light and airy with scones?

But anyhow, joy of joys, I got to use my most excellent and colourful round cookie cutters with the fluted edge, yaaayyy! I managed to cut out 12 scones, roughly 1.5inches tall, some considerably flatter than others. Onto a baking tray and into a hot oven, set timer for 15 mins.

I needed coffee then, fresh hot coffee. So I poured milk into a mug, opened the microwave door to pop it in to heat, and there sits a blob of butter in a dish. Eh? Butter? What the heck? Ah. Yes. Butter. The butter that should have gone into the scones. Pfffffff.

After fifteen anxious minutes of pacing and slurping coffee, I opened the oven door to take a nervous peek. I expected flattened cookie-shaped scone-biscuit hybrids. Fat-less ones. But LOOK!!!! The scones worked! They actually worked! Despite the wrong flour and the lack of kneading and the weird fingerpoky method of cheese incorporation, and the distinct Lack Of Butter, they rose up and looked remarkably edible!

Oh happy day!

I immediately went into lunch mode and prepped a scone for testing. Slice in half whilst still warm and butter liberally. Add some thin slices of strong cheddar, sliced cherry tomatoes, lots of seasoning and some snips of fresh chives....

.....oh yeah, look at that! It looks pretty darn good for a failure.

Mmmm. Mm-mmmm. Not bad. Not bad at all.

Taste wise, not cheesy enough. Texture wise...I think I would use the word "substantial". They weren't heavy as such, but wholemeal flour is pretty well, wholemeal isn't it? I would try half wholemeal/half white flour next time. And definitely more cheese added in at the correct moment.

The funny thing was that afterwards, I tried to search for the original Paul Hollywood recipe online, but could only find this one :: "wholemeal cheesy scones". Which happens to be almost identical to the fat-free recipe I inadvertently created in my kitchen this morning. And yup, just as I thought, he uses a wholemeal/white flour mix, and double the amount of cheese in this recipe. Plus he adds parmesan (good idea Paul!) Will need to give that a go then and improve on my scone making skills.

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PS.....thank you to Carole from Rossendale who reminded me to go look in my trusty little never-fail Be-Ro recipe booklet! Of course! This will be my very next baking adventure...simple, cheese scone triangles...genious!

 

 

Today's Happy Bits

#1 :: fluffy puffy white clouds. I am so loving this summer we are having, blue sky makes me very happy indeed.

#2 :: my Attic view. Looking mighty lovely in all it's green summer finery.

#3 :: a walk. Going to the shops along the canal and thinking for the gazillionth time how much I LOVE living in this sweet, picturesque little town.



#4 :: my new plant. Watering my new bathroom greenery which I really love but which drives J mad as it is always tickling his head he says.

#5 :: my lunch. Trying to practice mindfulness with regards to my eating as I had become a bit grab-and-stuff lately. This is my current fave thing to eat for lunch :: roughly chopped avocado and cherry tomatoes, mixed with a dash of olive oil, squeeze of lime juice, chopped corriander and liberal seasoning. I have it piled onto crackers/crispbreads/melba toasts and it is seriously mmmmmm.

#6 :: summer berries. Unbelievably sweet and juicy raspberries bought very cheaply from the market, eaten with a generous dollop of vanilla ice cream.

#7 :: my wrist. I taught my neighbours six year old how to finger crochet a few days ago, and she has gone into production with my Little Lady producing woolly friendship bracelets. Makes me smile every time I glance down and see them.

#8 :: Little B's building. He made this Duplo tower all by himself this morning, it was accompanied by the sweetest chatter as he talked his way through the entire process.

#9 :: glorious yarn. After doing so much work with Stylecraft acrylic yarn recently, I have to confess that I am really, really enjoying the feel of soft merino running through my fingers again.

#10 :: the morning light. Wow. The light was soooo incredibly beautiful this morning, streaming in through our bay window in a long golden shaft. I'm working on yarn bombing my old lamp to dress the Knit n Natter Lounge at Yarndale. It's crazy-good fun.

#11 :: my Little Painters. I had company at the table this morning when both Little B and Little Lady came to do some painting. Little B is very particular about how he uses his colours, I really enjoyed watching whilst I sat and crocheted at the table.

#12 :: sitting. Something of a little ritual of mine this holiday, I sit on the front doorstep with a coffee and enjoy a bit of hooky time whilst keeping an eye on Little B. It's not very comfy on the top step (I need a step cushion!) but it is elevated (9 steps up) and I like observing the comings and goings of our little terraced street as I work.

#13 :: flutter-butterflies. Loving all the fluttery butterfly activity on my budleia bush, makes me so happy to see them visit. I tried to photograph a huuuuge Red Admiral this morning but it fluttered away before I could get close enough.

#14 :: summer flowers. I picked this dinky little posy this afternoon from the front garden and it's giving me such a lot of pleasure seeing it sitting sweetly on the table. I have been feeling liberated by the lack of need in my back yard this year, but oh, I do so miss my little posies.

♥

I hope you've found some bits and pieces in your day to make you happy xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

 

 

 

 

Summer Sunday Stroll

We enjoyed a really lovely stroll around the reservoir this afternoon, it was bright and breezy and just what we all needed I think. Fresh air, gentle exercise, fun family time.

We stopped half way round to sit on a wooden bench near the water, to drink fresh coffee and eat chocolate and the sweetest ripe strawberries (our usual walking/outing fodder). The Little People busied themselves spotting caterpillars (very striking stripy Cinnabar moth caterpillars), and trying to catch grasshoppers (they were remarkably successful at this actually, they caught and showed me at least three different varieties)

I was delighted to see so many butterflies a-fluttering around the place, especially a gorgeous Small Copper that I spotted. Obviously I had no idea at the time that it was called a Small Copper (it was just a HEY-look at this gorgeous little orangey-red one!), but by the power of the internet I now have that knowledge. Lovely butterfly website which has reminded me how much I adore butterflies. I just ordered us this identity chart. Hugely, childishly excited to plan butterfly spotting expeditions when that arrives.

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ps just now realised that we were three days early for this walk (see here and here), we should have waited till Wednesday ;o)x

 

 

 

 

 

Ladybird Love

Today I had a day that didn't happen to contain my constant sidekick Little B, so I took advantage and decided to make a tutorial. Like you do. I set myself up in the Big Chair with Little Lady and we made ladybirds. Me hooking and photographing, her providing the constant stream of chitter chatter. We laughed a lot and there were some tickles too.



Yeah, it was good fun, kind of like the Old Days of my life before I became so busy with Yarndale. I enjoyed it a lot :o)

I uploaded the photos for the tutorial this evening whilst simultaneously opening up forty parcels of bunting with the help of Little Man. He was opening and counting, I was bagging and recording. And uploading pictures on the laptop at the same time. And now I've just finished the writing part and am suddenly ready to go crawl into the comfort of my bed..........

Enjoy making yourself some spotty little critters....the pattern can be found HERE ♥

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Half Way

We are now half way through our summer holidays with only three weeks left before school starts up again in September. Golly gosh, how these sweet summer weeks are speeding by, I can hardly keep up! The days feel long and short all at the same time, and it feels busy and lazy all at the same time too. Each day I perform my juggling act :: sixteen hours of being wife/mum/friend/yarnoholic. Housework (haha not so much), parenting (extremely relaxed), socialising (as much as I can manage) and crocheting (working flat out for Yarndale).

Whilst I have all three Little Peeps at home I am understandably not able to get to my studio, well not in the daytime anyhow. When I've felt up to it, I've been heading down in the evenings to work a few hours, which has mainly involved processing the mountain of mail that continues to flood in containing bunting triangles. During the daytime I have still needed to work, so have been fitting it in around family life at home. One of the jobs I have most enjoyed doing is creating these lovely little yarn cakes out of my Stylecraft yarn. My yarn winder is an old one which I bought second hand last year, but they don't appear to have changed much over the years and are still available to buy new (yarn winder on Amazon ). They are, quite simply, BRilLiaNt.

I've been taking the large 100g balls and winding them into smaller 25g balls. The reason? Partly for the sheer happy visual fun of it, but also for practical reasons...these balls are neater and easier to work with, and it is easier to squeeze multiple colours into my bag. Plus, it has allowed me to make up some "yarn bomb packs" to pass out to my hooky friends who are working hard behind the scenes creating for Yarndale. As you can imagine, I loved  filling my table with plates of colourful yarn cakes, they looked good enough to eat.

Talking of plates of cakes, I haven't baked much lately actually. For one reason I am really trying hard to shed some excess weight, and for another it has been a weeny bit too warm for it. Last week I found myself craving the taste of lemon drizzle cake, so that is precisely what I ended up baking early one morning. Apron on over my pj's, back door open wide open, dancing around to the radio, Little B assisting in his sweet way (he loves to suck out the lemon skins, weird child). I use an old, no-fail recipe (in my archives here) and the results, as always, were lush.

By the way, do you like my new multi-tasking plates? Equally good for yarn and cakes, they have been making me very happy of late.

These beautiful plates are part of the new season Rice melamine, which is all rather gorgeous and desirable. They were sent to me as a gift from the super-lovely peeps at Fig1, a gift that I accepted with a big smile and a certain amount of excited jiggety-jigging.

There were some bowls too, oh the bowls! These new Rice Japanese bird print bowls are beeaa-uuuu-tiful. I haven't had chance to photograph them very well as they are currently full of yarn cakes (they make excellent crochet accessories), but you can see some super pictures of them on the Fig1 website. As well as the gorgeous little print around the top edge, they have cute little bird prints sitting inside the bowl. Yummy.

In the above picture, I am multi-tasking you know. I am sitting at the top of my front steps, keeping a watchful eye on Little B as he whizzes up and down the pavement on his scooter, whilst simultaneously crocheting a patch of blue water. Uh-huh, w-a-t-e-r. Five colours of blue Stylecraft to make a puddle of water for my ducklings to swim in......

Yes, ducklings. I had this idea that the yarn bombing around the canal should relate to the immediate environment, so ducks and water it had to be. I have never crocheted a duck, and I didn't have even the faintest flicker of a design for one, so I went trotting off to search on Pinterest. Pinterest is such an amazing resource when you want to look for visual ideas, I can highly recommend it.

I found a couple of lovely free patterns....one by Annaboo's House called Wubberducky (love that!) and another one by Itsy Bitsy Spider crochet called Lil' Duckie, which is the one I am attempting above. The pattern is beautifully written and easy enough for a simpleton like me who has a bit of a brain freeze reaction to crochet patterns.

Awwwwwwwwww, lil' duckie, you are rather cute!

I need to make some companions for lil' duckie as he looks rather lonesome swimming on his tod in his blue crochet pool.

During these past few weeks, I've had to become rather good at multi-tasking. My number one job is to look after my three Little People, and I have been trying to create a good balance between leaving them pretty much to their own devices at home (which is the preference of the older two), and taking them out and about to do things. They are very undemanding children on the whole, and have been happy making short trips to get ice creams from the ice cream boat on the canal, or to a café in town for smoothies, or for a play in the local park. But actually, I do have a huge amount of work to do at the moment for Yarndale, and I have been squishing and squeezing it in to my days where ever possible. I take my crochet with me everywhere, and work up a few rows when ever I can.

Here I am, back on my front step one afternoon, drinking tea and crocheting up some rainbow granny stripes while Little B pootled about in the garden below.

My roses are blooming beautifully this year after I performed a bit of amateur pruning on them in the autumn. There are more flowers than there have ever been in previous years and I am delighted. They make me so happy.

Those granny stripes worked up really quickly and were a pleasure to do. Such happy, feel-good work!

Do you like my little crochet ladybird? I made her on a complete whim one afternoon when I suddenly needed a break from the stripes. There was no pattern, just an idea in my head of how to make it happen. She turned out a little bigger than I had anticipated, so I tweaked the pattern and made some smaller versions too...........

....aww, they are quite cute don't you think? Very, very quick and easy to make, I will write the pattern up soon if you fancy making some spotty little critters for yourselves. I think they would make lovely little pin brooches.

In between all the juggling at home, the mothering, the shopping, the cooking and the laundry, the play dates, the sleep overs, the school uniform buying and the haircuts, we have also had some fabulous little snippets of away time. This last weekend was especially lovely, a very special time spent camping with friends. You might remember that for the past three summers we have taken Connievan across the hills to spend a week in York. We lived there for eight years and have some wonderful friends there, and since we moved to Atticland we've always managed to spend time with them in the summer holidays. However, since we now have our lovely Connievan sat in a perfect spot amidst the green hills of the Yorkshire Dales, we decided to stay put this year and invite our friends across to join us instead. We are four families :: 8 adults and 9 children in total, and this weekend it was exactly ten years since our first borns were crawling little tots and we all first went camping together.
There is something special about this type of friendship, where the close bond between the ladies naturally extends outwards to include the children and husbands. Our Little People are no longer crawling babies, but they have grown up together and are instantly happy in each others company. Our husbands only get together during these annual summer meetings, but the laughter and banter is easy and relaxed. And as for us ladies, well we simply pick up where we left off.

On Saturday we all set out to walk the mile and a half across the fields to the nearby village of Arncliffe.

The annual village fete was in full swing when we arrived, with the sound of music and the scent of barbecue filling the air. It was absolutely glorious :: a really traditional village affair, with stalls and games and music and food and a running programme of events on the village green. It was quite competitive. There was a strong man/woman competition, hill racing competitions, three-legged races, a dog show and tug-o-war. Our friends dog won first prize, much to the shrieking delight of all our children.

And of course, there was the village pub where we had the most divine cheesy chips (a tray of chips covered in sour cream, fresh chives, bacon and grated cheese) and hot roast pork and apple sauce rolls for lunch. As the bar inside is so tiny (like two square metres tiny), there was a barrel of beer set up on an old pine table outside where you could get plastic cups of the famous Timothy Taylors Best Bitter. I do like to drink bitter every so often, and this one is especially good when drunk al fresco on a warm summers day in the company of friends.

The walk back to the campsite in the late afternoon was jolly and filled with sunshine, chatter and laughter.

We stayed for two nights and two days, and the weekend seemed to last forever. It is cooler now we are heading towards the end of summer, and I was very glad of Connievan's multiple blankets. Our  caravan bed is unbelievably cosy and I find it very, very hard to get out of it in the mornings. Sometimes I can persuade J to take Little B out for a while so that I can indulge in some cosy bed comfort.....a mug of fresh coffee, a little bit of crochet and some amazing pages to browse through. Bliss!

Evenings at the campsite were especially wonderful. We did what we usually do when we camp as a group and cooked together (we last camped together five years ago, do you remember?). Two barbecues were lit up and the men cooked up a feast of burgers and sausages. I took care of the bread products, someone else did salad, there were hot barbecued corn on the cobs and chargrilled peppers and melty cheeses, and it all worked out amazingly well. Seventeen of us fed and happy. We kept one of the barbecues going, stoked up with more coals and a constant supply of dry twigs that the Little People kept delivering. Marshmallows were skewered and toasted, and we all gathered around the campfire to keep warm and wait for the stars to come out.

The night sky was amazing on Friday night at the campsite, and we decided to let all the children stay up late to see it. By about 11pm when it was completely dark, we were all sat round the fire wrapped in blankets staring upwards, taking it all in. It was incredible...so many shooting stars! It was the first time the Little People had seen shooting stars, and I was so happy that they got to experience it. Even Little B stayed up to see it, he was so cute snuggled up on my lap chatting non stop about the satelites he could see moving slowly in the sky and the shooting stars as they streaked across. We found out afterwards about the perseid meteor shower and realised that probably explains the large number of "celestial fireworks" we saw. Isn't the natural world just wonderful?

Well I've been writing this post across two days now, fitting it in here and there, trying to catch up with my thoughts and memories. Sorry it's so long. Life is good. The sun is shining, and we are really enjoying the summer very much. I just wish it would slow down a bit.

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Summer at Arnside :: part 2

One of the things we have always wanted to do is to travel from Arnside on the train across the viaduct. For various reasons it has never worked out in the past (bad weather, lack of time, the viaduct being closed for repairs), but we were determined this holiday that we would do it.

Luckily for us, we awoke to a lovely summers morning on Tuesday, and after another great breakfast we checked out of the hostel and went to catch the 9.19 train. The journey is short (only six minutes) but spectacular. We all sat with our noses pressed against the window, drinking in the changing view as our train rather miraculously felt like it was flying across the water.

The huge expanse of sand gradually became grassed over, and to our surprise there were sheep grazing! It was such an unexpected sight, one minute beach and sand and literally the very next minute grassy pasture.

The train was heading all the way to Barrow-in-Furness, but we were getting off after our exciting six minute journey at Grange-over-Sands. Like many small stations in the North of England (my own town included), the little station at Grange is very quaint and pretty I think.

I especially loved the view out of the station windows and couldn't wait to get out and be amongst it.

We have been to Grange-over-Sands before, a few years ago when we brought Connievan here, do you remember? So we knew how lovely this promenade is, and also how perfectly suited to wheels it is. All three Little People had brought their scooters on the train and as soon as we were out of the station, they were off......

....zooming down the prom at energetic speed.

It was as lovely as I had remembered it in my mind. The planting all along the right hand side is so beautifully done....

....and there were some surprises to be found too, carved out of the old tree stumps.

After about twenty minutes of promenading, we came to the first of the "recreational facilities". The scooters were abandoned and climbing and sliding commenced. I know I've said it before (many times I suspect) but I just absolutely love to watch my Little People play in this sort of environment. I love that Little Man (almost 11 years old now) can still throw himself back into the simple childhood business of imaginative physical play with his little sister and brother.

When the playground games came to a convenient pause, we ushered the LP out and along a little bit further, to the next Recreational Facility. Which conveniently happened to be a very delightful café. I wish now that I had taken some photos of the café itself, it was run by two very charismatic ladies and was very cute and homely with plenty of outdoor tables and chairs. It was an absolute pleasure to sit outside on this hot summer's morning and watch the fluffy clouds whilst sipping a mug of fresh coffee and eating the most divine hunk of homemade lemon cake.

The Little People all had ice creams and went off to explore the third Recreational Facility which was just next door to the café :: the Outdoor Gymnasium. Oh my, such fun! I never thought I'd actually say that huffing and puffing away on a cross trainer would be classified as fun, but it seriously was! I probably looked a complete eejit doing it, but I did enjoy myself and the view was amazing. And I was (of course) doing it purely for Little Lady's benefit as she had begged me to join her (two people face each other on it and she wouldn't do it on her own).

The third and final Recreation Facility was especially good for our Little Man :: a skate park full of sweeping ramps, jumps and all manner of heart-lurching things to do with a set of wheels. He is very, very good on his scooter and took it all in his stride, zooming and jumping and quite honestly making me want to puke up my lemon cake with nerves. I found I couldn't actually watch him in the end, so I took Little B on his sweet little three-wheeled Lightening McQueen scooter and went off to do some slow scootering on a level that I could cope with. There was a super sweet moment when he went chasing after a sugar stealer, caught it in his grubby little hands, scrunched up his eyes (and his whole sweet face) and wished very, very hard. He immediately told me his wish, which was "for a Spiderman Bike of mine very own, with pedals and brakes that really work". I guess that the rusty old second hand balance bike that we inherited from my neighbour (with no pedals and a broken brake) just isn't cutting the mustard any more. A new set of wheels is required for our growing Little One.

The stroll/scoot back along the promenade gave us a second go on the outdoor gym (I tried the leg press this time!) and the playground, before we finally arrived back at the train station. It had been a lovely, lovely morning, a very simple outing really, but something good in it for everyone.

I wished the train journey was longer (I do love train journeys with gorgeous views attached)....

....but all too soon we were trundling over the viaduct and back into Arnside.

It was lunch time when we arrived, and on the the way back from the station we found ourselves completely seduced by the smell of fish and chips being served in a nearby café. We were powerless to resist, but instead of eating them inside the café we had them wrapped up in paper and we took them out to picnic on the grass with a splendid view  to accompany them.

It's an age since I had fish and chips (with loads of salt and vinegar) eaten out of paper in the open air, and they tasted absolutely, completely divine.

After that rather naughty lunch, we rounded it off with another naughty paper bag on the pier (treacle tart this time). I just couldn't get enough of the fresh salty air and the wide sweeping views. I really love Arnside and hope it won't be too long before we return. I can imagine wrapping up in warm woolly layers and taking brisk walks in the chill autumn air, then cosying up in the café for mugs of hot chocolate......

....but back to the heat of a summer's afternoon, and one last adventure before heading home :o)

After lunch, I suggested a little trip to the nearby town of Silverdale further round the coast. We have been there briefly once before to visit the Wolfhouse Gallery, but this time I wanted to see if we could get to the coast at Silverdale, which is known to be pretty spectacular. We parked the car near the gallery, then on foot we started walking down this small, quiet, leafy lane, following the signs marked "Jenny Browns Point".

We walked past some really beautiful houses and farms down this lane, with enticing views of the estuary appearing every now and then. About half way down the lane, we came to a green painted wrought iron gate leading into a meadow. It was signposted with a National Trust sign marked "Jack Scout" and it seemed like a good idea to go explore.

We walked down a rough track through the grassy meadow dotted with gorse bushes, until suddenly,  we saw this..............

.....oh! It's the coast!

Just look at all that sand! And all that sky! I honestly just stood and gawped with my mouth open at the sheer beauty of it all. The light was very bright and intense, and I loved the way that the cloud shadows constantly moved across the sands.

The Little People did not stand still for an instant and immediately began the gentle scramble down the rocky path to the shore.

It was a wonderful place to explore, and  deserted as you can see. During the afternoon there, we saw a couple of other people walking along the shore, but mostly we had the whole place to ourselves.

The Little People loved scrambling around on these rocks, climbing up to explore the small cave, and (much to my delight) heading straight into beachcomber mode.

They began to present me with an array of pebbles, sea glass, feathers and bits of dead crab, the latter of which I had mixed feelings about to be honest.

When you are pootling around this part of the coast, you do have to be very mindful of the tides and very aware of what stage they are at as the sea does move at quite an alarming rate. It was just after 3pm when we arrived at this little beach and the tide was right out with miles and miles of exposed sands.

 

But we knew the incoming tide would be imminent. So after we had finished exploring the rocky shore, we retreated back to a point of safety to make a little camp and eat a punnet of fresh strawberries and some chocolate that I had brought with us.

The boys set up a target practice game (something they always do at the beach), and I did what I always do and lay down to gaze at the clouds.

Little Lady and Little B continued to play on the sand. They marked out a line with stones to use as a marker for the rising tide.....

.....and sure enough, about an hour after we had arrived, it was like a tap had been switched on. The sea literally comes rushing in as if from nowhere, swirling and pooling it's way across the beach,  eating up the sand at a staggering rate. It is quite something to watch.

You can see how far back we chose to sit and make camp, we weren't taking any chances!

Within twenty minutes, most of the open sand had been covered by water, and all of a sudden it seemed like the right time to say goodbye to the coast and head back.

It was a really magical day, the sort that lodges itself deep in the memory banks.

Such a wonderful, relaxing, happy summer holiday.....we were only away for 2 nights and days, yet it felt as if we had been away for much longer. I came back feeling more energised and refreshed than I have felt in ages, and ready for some concentrated stay-at-home time now. Bring it on.

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Summer at Arnside :: part 1

When we were pondering on our Summer holiday plans a month or so ago, we decided for various reasons to keep it simple this year. We'll be going down to spend time with my folks in Dorset at the end of the holidays, and we wanted something short and sweet (and local-ish) for the beginning of the holidays. We have been fans of Youth Hostelling since the Little People were small, it's a fun and economical way for a family to take a holiday. Well perhaps not quite as cheap as a tent in a field, but certainly more affordable than a cottage, guest house or hotel. If you've been bobbing into the Attic since the early days, you might even remember our first ever YH experience five years ago at this very same hostel (golly gosh, the Little People were only 4 and 5 years old then, and Little B wasn't even a twinkle). This is the hostel at Arnside, a real gem of a place on the Cumbria coast, close to the Lancashire border. If you follow this link, there is a map which pin points the location, it's not a very well know area really, kind of overshadowed as it is by the popularity and fame of the Lake District. But oh, we love it for that!

I had been so, so looking forward to being here, as although this is not strictly speaking a seaside place (it is river estuary), it does still have a very coastal, beachy feel. And as I have found myself craving the sea just lately, I figured this was a pretty good stand-in until I get to Dorset at the end of the month.

This scenery is tidal estuary, the shores of the (rather ginormous) River Kent which eventually leads out into the wide expanse of Morecambe Bay. It is like nothing I have ever experienced anywhere else. Sort of beach and seaside and river bank and woodland all rolled into one. There are rocks and sand, tidal waters and rock pools, waterfalls and riverlets, all backed by shady green woodland. It makes for an interesting afternoon stroll, and the Little People had lots of fun finding fossils, paddling in the pools, rock climbing, drawing in the sand and making dens in the trees.

After a while we turned around and meandered back along the shore, then took a stroll along the promenade. It's very tranquil in Arnside, slow and sleepy with a very sedate and rather quaint feel to the place. I like it very much. It makes me feel dreamy, relaxed and a tad drowsy, but that's no bad thing really when all one has to do is stroll and admire the views.

In the above picture, you can see the Kent Viaduct which carries the railway line across the estuary. It was rather oddly fascinating watching the little red and blue train chug backwards and forwards at regular intervals, it was a bit like watching a page from a story book come to life.

Arnside has a small row of shops along the promenade, several of which sell a mouthwatering selection of baked goods. It has become a little ritual of ours to buy something sweet and naughty in a paper bag and take it out to the very end of the small stone pier and scoff. I had the honour of making the purchase and The Little People approved of my choice (hunks of caramel shortbread). We enjoyed a lovely time taking in the extensive views with mouths full of crumbly sweetness.

The Youth Hostel at Arnside doesn't open it's doors for new arrivals until 5.30, so we decided to move from the pier to the pub. We have been to Arnside several times before (this was our third stay), so we know this pub and know that it is rather pleasant to while away an hour or two on the elevated, sunny terrace while the Little Peeps play on the climbing frame there. It turned out that we were all rather hungry by 5pm, so we ordered up some food. It was surprisingly good, well I have this theory that all food tastes better when eaten al fresco in the late afternoon sunshine.

The Youth Hostel at Arnside is a rather special place. The building is old and beautiful, and inside it has a shabby but welcoming feel. It feels homely and cosy for such a large building, and the old corridors and staircases hum with history. The views from the windows at the back of the building are stunning (the above view is from the upstairs lounge), but this time our bedroom was downstairs. We were sleeping in The Headmistresses Study, which made us laugh, and also made us realise that the building must at one time have been a school.

If you look back at the first picture I posted here, you will see the view at the back of the hostel. It is rather lovely, with a beautiful terraced garden set out for guests to sit and enjoy the views. The Little People loved this grassy area, and much rowdy play went on here throughout the evening. I took lots of photographs of them playing, and pretty much every one of them is blurred as they were on the move the whole time.

J and I decided to splash out and order a bottle of wine to share (how fabulous that the hostel is licensed, and that the reception desk also does duty as a bar!). It was all rather jolly, relaxed and holidayish, and I have to confess that very soon a second bottle of wine was purchased and the LP were treated to a fizzy drink of their choice and some chocolate.

And so the evening slip-slided into a warm, fuzzy blur of laughter, high jinx and happiness, as the LP ran riot in the garden and J and I sat and chatted and performed some extremely lazy parenting. There were badminton competitions, jumping competitions, racing competitions and cartwheel demonstrations. I'm not sure what the above picture is about to tell the truth (it is J and Little man playing some game and it's all a bit hazy in my memory), but I do recall lots and lots of laughing. We finally left the garden and fell into bed as it was starting to get dark, sometime after 10pm.

The next morning, we woke early to the sound of torrential rain pouring down, bouncing noisily off the windows and flowing in small rivers around the youth hostel. I also woke with a slightly sore head (!) and a sinking feeling that the day was going to be a dismal wet washout. We went and had breakfast in the dining room (which was stunning good value and very delicious), and tried to decide what to do with the day. Luckily, by the time we were ready to set out the rain had stopped, and although it was still very grey and overcast, it didn't look too bad. So we decided to head up to the Southern Lakes, to pootle around the shore of Lake Windermere.

Pootling around the lake very soon morphed into an idea to pootle on the lake, much to Little B's delight. I don't think he could quite believe that we were actually going to ride on a real boat, and his excitement was sweetly infectious. We booked tickets to take a short circular cruise, and there was just enough time to grab a quick take out cappuccino from a nearby cafe before climbing on board.

This was the sweet little cruise boat that was to take us out on the lake, and we chose to risk the weather and sit on the open deck.

It was lovely. Peaceful and serene, with just enough commentary to be interesting without getting on your nerves. My, Lake Windermere is BIG! I could not get my bearings at all (and my head was still thumping), but we did a kind of a loop around some of the central islands, ooohing and aaaaahing over some very grand houses built on the shores, and marvelling at the sheer number of boats everywhere.

After the cruise, we made an attempt to drive into the nearby town of Bowness, to visit the Beatrix Potter Attraction. We have been here once before when the Little Peeps were small, and they were keen to revisit and show Little B. However, as has often been the case for us here in the Lake District, we simply could not park the car. So many people, so many vehicles, so little space. J has an extremely short fuse in situations like this, and after two laps of the car park, he simply declared it a no-go and drove out. Up and out of crowded Bowness, up high above the lake where we came across a lovely viewing point to stop and eat our picnic lunch. It was one of those happy accidents, an unplanned, unknown place which delivered just what we needed at just the right time. With the added bonus of an ice cream van in situ, so smiles all round :o)

Now, when I go away on holiday, I leave the internet firmly behind at home. I take my mobile phone (which is just a phone) and my trusty little beloved point-and-shoot camera. J, however, takes the internet with him where ever he goes. A lot of the time this honestly annoys the hell out of me, and I am frequently asking him to disengage from it and come back to the real world (you know what I mean, right?). But occasionally, I have to admit, it is veeeery handy to have information at our fingertips. Train times, for example. And maps. We were trying to find a way of driving around Lake Windermere to find a place where we could simply park the car and walk along the shore for a bit. A simple pleasure, but surprisingly hard to find around this busy lakeside. It was  then that J discovered a National Trust property not far from our lunch spot, and being faithful NT members, we went off in search of this..............

....Wray Castle. Extremely impressive to look at from the outside, but a real oddity inside. This is not in fact a real castle at all, but a mock gothic retirement house built in 1840 by a wealthy couple from Liverpool. Odd, yes. Inside, the rooms are shabby and empty of furniture, save for a bit of Ikea stuff. Yes, very odd indeed. But what the rooms do contain is loads of stuff for children. Activities of every sort in every room. Giant building blocks in one room, huge board games in another. A drawing room and a dressing up room. It was pretty ok, and not bad for us as it was free, but truthfully I found the rooms claustrophobic and slightly depressing (it really is pretty run down) and I couldn't wait to get back outside.

The very, very best thing about Wray Castle is that the NT grounds extend right down to the lake side, oh thank goodness!!!

At last, we were able to simply sit and take in the peacefulness of the lake. It was lovely. The weather was also very kind, and despite looking like rain was imminent for much of the day, by late afternoon the sun was shining and it was remarkably warm and balmy.

We returned to the youth hostel just before tea time and booked our evening meal, which was simple but delicious. It had turned into a glorious, golden evening and so after much cajoling, I managed to talk everyone into coming with me for an evening stroll.

From the youth hostel, it is only a very short walk down a steep, tree-lined path to the shore. We turned left and walked along, just as we had done when we first arrived the day before.

The evening light was magical (it was about 8.30pm), with long shadows and a golden glow to everything.

The tide was low and we walked and talked and walked and talked and Little B ran and ran and climbed and jumped and ran some more. That child has soooooo much energy, he is a joy to watch in an open space.

This is such a lovely, unspoilt part of the west coast and has been declared an AONB (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty). If there had been more time, we could have walked all the way past those trees and around the corner to Silverdale (would love to do this one day), but as it was so late in the day, we stopped for a while to sit on the rocks, have a cold drink and eat some chocolate before slowly heading back.

Our days are slowly beginning to shorten again as we head through our late summer.

We watched the sun slowly descend to the horizon (around 9 pm here), leaving behind it the cool, grey light of evening time.

Just as we were walking back towards the village, we spotted a pair of herons wading in the shallow water. It was such a beautiful, still, calm scene, it was like stepping into a painting.

Ahhhhh, such a lovely, happy family time for us. Part 2 tomorrow, in which we partake in a fair bit more coastal meandering on wheels and on foot. See you then xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

 

 

Rainbow Hooky Happiness

I am enjoying a truly happy week here with my family, everything feels relaxed, glorious and golden. The weather continues to behave itself beautifully and despite a few heavy rain showers, our days have been long, warm and full of sunshine. I am love love loving it. I love summer. I love it right through to the very middle of my being when the sun shines from dawn to dusk and the air feels warm and we spend so much of our waking hours outside.

The above picture was taken on Monday night at around 8.30pm, a post-dinner stroll along the shore at Arnside on the West coast. We took a short family holiday (just two nights and three days) staying at the youth hostel there, and it was nothing short of magical. It was one of those holidays where everything just went right. We came home late on Tuesday and are still pretty much in holiday mode, especially as J is also off work this week. I took a shed load of pictures during the days we were away, so will share some of them with you tomorrow. It is a stunningly picturesque place I can tell you.

The house is in complete chaos as I've not felt in any way inclined to step out of holiday mode and into housewifery mode. I've been dealing with it mainly by escaping outside into the back yard and closing the door softly behind me, hiding myself away for as long as possible from the mess and dirt. I've been relaxing in my own little outdoor world, and it has felt really rather excellently good. Above picture is one of the delicious spreads in the Sept issue of Country Homes & Interiors mag, it is a really great issue. And to the right of it is my second mug of fresh coffee, well actually, I think the mug is empty and the coffee was already on the inside when I took that picture.

This was my third cup of coffee, served up in my new Rice melamine cup. Rice DK, I adore you so much! The new season stock is filtering through into the UK shops now, and this little cup (a generous gift from the wonderful folks at Fig1) has made me ridiculously happy today.

But there was something else happening in the back yard this morning, besides magazine appreciation and coffee consumption. Something WONDERFUL was taking place. Something relaxing and creative and totally absorbing and joyful.......

......yes, I was hooking! Well, nothing surprising about that, but look, see, my fingers in the above picture are looking good don't you think? They are looking mighty fine! My finger is better!!!!!!!!! After two frustrating, horrid, sad months where I have hardly been able to crochet a thing, I am so so so so so HAPPY to finally be back in the hooky saddle again, whipping up my rows at warp speed in the way that I know, using my fingers in the way I have always done. It feels miraculous. I am SO happy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For those of you who missed this snippet of sadness, I have been suffering with a Sore Pointy Finger, which I think was due to some sort of tendon strain. I also discovered on Sunday that I had a ganglion cyst (which is tendon related?) on my wrist joint and then, very weirdly, almost as soon as I actually noticed the ganglion (it was a smallish lump), the next day it had miraculously and spontaneously disappeared. Later that day I had an urge to crochet so I picked up the rows I'd been slowly, frustratingly trying to work on with my newly adopted pain-free hold and tentatively tried out my "old" hold. I was nervous, as every time I had tried this in the past few months it had been painful. Yet this time......this time no pain! This time I could do it!!! You have no idea what JOY that was, honestly, it was just the best.

And so I hooked up a joy-filled rainbow, to celebrate my return to hooky health. The two red rows were made pre-finger-mend in slow, awkward fashion, but from the orange upwards, that was me at full speed :o)

Yipppppppppppppeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy happy happy rainbow hooky!!!!

Well I am going to try not to get too giddy and will rest my hands for a day or two now so I don't make it all go wonky again. But I am just so relieved to be back in action.

By the way, the rainbow is part of my Yarn Bomb Masterplan for Yarndale.

For now, I've popped it into this new, rather gorgeous, beautiful colander, and the whole ensemble has made me feel a bit weak at the knees. The colander is another new Rice product from Fig1, you can find it here, along with a delicious pink version.

Can you feel my happiness? I've been smiling all day!



H♥A♥P♥P♥Y!!

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