Attic24

Coastal Walking :: Ravenscar

We were lucky with the weather last week for the most part, with two out of the four days giving us blue skies and sunshine. It was a blessing, and I was so glad that we were able to enjoy two days of coastal walking amidst the two damp, grey days of pootling and pottering and trying to hide from the wind.

For this five mile circular walk, we started out from the quiet coastal village of Ravenscar which sits high above sea level with sweeping views and beautiful skies.

It's a very, very quiet place with a small population, we found the local residents to be curious and friendly.....

....and quite up-close-and-personal! Mooooooooooooooo!!

The weather was bright and breezy with a touch of the c-word - the sunlight was very beautiful and the scudding clouds were racing across the large expanse of sky, but it was c-c-c-c-c-cold up here on the cliff. We were all wrapped up warm and didn't mind the stiff wind too much. It was refreshing and invigorating in a gusty sort of a way, filling our lungs with great gulps of air as we walked.

And the light on the sea, oh my, all those multiple shades of sunlit blue filled my brain and made me very happy, I am easily pleased as you well know. It doesn't take much.

I stopped here a while, resting on a wooden bench while the rest of the family strode across a field to explore an old radar station, a relic from World War II. I chose to stay on the cliff side and have my back to the Historically Important Relics, preferring instead to feast my eyes on the endless blue of the horizon.

All too soon, our walk began to veer inland and away from the cliff edge, eventually bringing us to this old disused railway line.

The railway used to run for 20 miles along the coast here between Scarborough and Whitby, but closed in 1965 due to "increasing road competition and a consequent drop in passenger usage outside of the peak summer seasons". These days it's a popular trail for bike riders and also provides a bit of easy, sheltered sauntering for pedestrians. It was actually quite warm along here as we suddenly had bit of a respite from the cold wind. I even took my coat off at one point, holy moly!!

This gorgeous, stunning view was mine all mine as I ate my lunch that day. It's exactly what I saw from my seat in the car, wowsers, it was a pretty great backdrop for a cosy car picnic. I love picnicking, did I say that already? Someone asked me yesterday about our picnics, what we had and how we carried it all, (I loved those questions!). Well we don't eat anything adventurous, but it's satisfying and yummy all the same. I made filled wholemeal rolls stuffed with ham, cheese, cucumber, sweet cherry tomatoes, a slathering of cream cheese and a squidge of mayo. We had crisps to go with it, then there were some little red apples and chocolate-coated cereal bars for afters (these ones which we all love).

A while back we bought some super-cheap rainbow plastic plates from Ikea (these ones) - 90p for six! They are wonderful to pack in the rucksack with the picnic and a great design with the little rim that runs all the way round. It means that crisps and grapes and the such like don't go sliding off the plate when your offspring insist on eating their lunch whilst continuing to do other things. And after lunch, you can turn them upside down and they double up as neat frisbees, that's an Attic24 Top Tip for ya!! I carry all our lunch in one of these which I bought recently, it's a good size to pop in the rucksack and remarkably I can manage to fit lunch-for-five in it. Just. We all drink water to make life easy, then the idea is that after lunch we are free to go in search of a guilt-free coffee/milkshake/beer with possible cake/ice cream/baked goods as well. It works for us.

Anyhooooooooooow, lunch was done and dusted and we needed somewhere suitable for an afternoon pootle, somewhere to provide the aforementioned beverage and sweet treats. And what better place to choose than one of my all time favourite destinations :: Robin Hoods Bay.

Robin Hood's Bay is just a little further up the coast from Ravenscar so it wasn't far to drive at all. Our first stop was the pub! Yes, priorities and all that, well Little B desperately needed a wee and there is this lovely pub right at the top of the hill with a beautiful garden overlooking the bay, so it was the obvious choice.

We started out in the beer garden, but with a chilly wind gusting off the sea we decided to move inside and perch on some bar stools with our bevvies. This is a very relaxed, family-friendly pub and children are made welcome here which is always something of a relief when you have three Little People to accommodate and have your taste buds set on a pint of good local ale.

 

After some top notch refreshment, we took a wander down the steep pathway...

....emerging at the bottom of the street where the village feels as if it is literally tumbling into the sea.

The tide was high when we were there which reduces the beach to a teensy strip of sand, but as you can see from the above photo the tide had turned and the sea was already starting to recede. Once the tide is fully out, there are rock pools galore to explore here....

....these families obviously couldn't wait and were strung out in a comical line as the first of the rocks were revealed.

There has been an ice cream van down on this beach for as long as I can remember, which must be going back a good 20 years since I began coming here with J.

The Little People couldn't believe their luck when they were offered an ice cream hot on the heels of lemonade and crisps at the pub - double treats on this sunny day!

We strolled along the beach, admiring the view and the ever changing sunshine and shadows playing out over the blue of the sea. My heart was full on this afternoon.

Robin Hoods Bay is such a quirky little place, I don't think you could find anywhere more charming. The tumble of old buildings is just wonderful, with gorgeous little views and vistas around every twist and turn.

The streets are steep and narrow....

....but every so often they level out as you wind your way around the quiet little residential pathways.

Every single cottage here in the old part of the village oozes charm by the bucket load. The majority are used as holiday rentals, so there is an ever-so-slightly unreal feel about the whole place, but that certainly doesn't make it any less appealing. It really is a delightful place, and I always feel like my heart and soul is happy when I'm here. It's my happy place.

My mind (and heart) was filled with rather a large number of residential fantasies as we strolled through the village, along the lines of "...I wonder what it would be like to live there....ooo look at those cute windows, I would love to look inside.....", I do this rather a lot I've noticed, I wonder if you do to?

As we huffed and puffed back up the steep hill and away out of the village, we paused for frequent looks back over our shoulders at the coastline we were leaving behind. I don't mind leaving Robin Hoods Bay too much as I know I will always be back. It's just that kind of a place.

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ps, just for fun - these are the words of mine that the spell checker couldn't handle....

pootling, mooooooooooooooo, wowsers, squidge, mayo, slathering, frisbees, anyhooooooooooow, bevvies.

Laughing to myself at that little lot! Right, I'm off, back soon with a crochet pattern for you, just in time for the weekend.........get your 4mm hooks and odds and ends of DK yarn at the ready......

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Coastal Walking :: Whitby

I have been walking for pleasure all of my adult life, striding out through the Dorset countryside and along the southern coastline in my teenage years, then hiking through the northern hills of the Peak District and Yorkshire Dales through my twenties, thirties and forties. Scenic walking and picnicking is very high on my list of Absoulutely Wonderful Things To Do, it has given me untold amounts of pleasure over the years, that's for sure.

Becoming a parent scuppers walking activity slightly - when they were babes we still managed to walk by stuffing them into backpacks, bribing them with snacks and carrying them about on our backs. But any sort of pleasurable walking grinds to a halt once you are in possession of a toddler or two. Now that we are firmly out of toddlerdom, walking is right back on our leisure agenda and I can't tell you how good that feels. Little B (5), Little Lady (11) and Little Man (12) are turning out to be pretty great walkers and last week we managed two modest, five mile circular walks. I read somewhere that when walking with young children you can pretty much equate their age with the number of miles you can expect them to walk, and we have found this to be pretty true. Five miles for a five year old is  spot on, providing you are armed with copious amounts of sweets/chocolates/snacks.

The first walk we did last week started and finished in Whitby, which is a favourite place of ours. We were last there two years ago spending a very cold, wintry time freezing our butts off on the deserted beach. May is thankfully a very different prospect to February, and the day we made our walk it was bright and sunny with a brisk breeze blowing off the sea.

The English countryside in May is absolutely stunning, I think it's probably my most favourite time of the entire year to be out and about breathing it all in.

The first part of our walk was inland, up and away from Whitby town and out across open farmland.

I really love to see these fields of Rapeseed (grown as an oil producing crop) in full bloom, the colour is magnificent in a very in-your-face type of way. Usually viewed from a distance as we journey about in the car, it was breathtaking to be walking a path right alongside the plants.

The colour of the flowers is so vibrant it almost hurts to gaze at it for too long. I was surprised by how tall the plants were too - I took some amazing photos of my two big Little People standing amongst the flowers, with only their eyes and the tops of their heads visible above the mass of yellow.

A little part of the walk was along this quiet road, giving us some beautiful views of the ancient Abbey that is a famous landmark along this coastline.

I was walking with Little B, we were the slow portion of the family party. We lingered behind the others, me taking photos and him poking about in the undergrowth looking for things of interest. This furry caterpillar was examined at close quarters before being given a new home amidst a bed of buttercups.

After a couple miles we arrived at the cliff edge, with the return part of the walk following the Cleveland Way coastal path back into Whitby.

The views were incredibly beautiful on this bright sunny day, the shades of sky, sea and cliff merged to create a very fresh, uplifting palette of feel-good colour.

In the interests of honesty, I need to confess to you that around about now we had a bit of a bust up, and a rather vocal family argument ensued. It was midday, and the Little Peeps were hungry and wanted to stop. I had told them about this secluded little beach that J and I had once picnicked on and they had their hearts set on it for lunch. It's a bit of a trek to get down (a flight of wooden steps down from the cliff top) and even more of a trek to get back up again (same wooden steps but double the effort), but they wanted to do it and I agreed it would be a lovely place to stop. J however had other ideas. He didn't want to do the steps, in fact he didn't want to be down at sea level at all. He likes to be high up you see, he is a man who likes viewing views. So he said we should walk on and stop when we got near the abbey (with views across Whitby harbour). We argued. I might even have raised my voice a little, but he was adamant his way was the only way and refused to go down the steps. So what was I to do? In the end after much huffing and puffing, I gave in and we all carried on walking.

Anyhow - despite having to walk an extra half an hour with a very whingey, grumbly, hungry Little B, we did eventually find a very nice place to eat lunch (with spectacular coastal views) and I tried to get over my sulking. Family time can sometimes be like this can't it, differences of opinion, different likes and needs. Mostly we all get along really really well, but when I look at these photos, I can still remember how cross I felt when we didn't get to go to that little beach! Sigh, I really must let it go!

 

Whitby was as bustling as ever, with swathes of tourists milling about and a continuous stream of boats coming in and out of the busy harbour.

It's a lovely old town and despite the crowds and rather touristy feel it still retains a lot of it's charm.

Descending from the abbey on the cliff top to the harbour side is via 199 stone steps, and the Little People loved this part of the walk. They positively flew down, it was fun to watch them.

We took a walk out long the right hand stone pier......

....right to the lighthouse tower at the end. And then we made a unanimous family decision to head into the old town to visit one of our favourite cafés for some much needed refreshment. No arguments there, no sulking either. Pheww.

This is the lovely Sanders Yard, tucked away behind the main street in Whitby old town. It can be hard to find if you don't know of it, there is a small sign directing you down a narrow alley way, which opens up into this lovely little courtyard.

It was warm enough for us to sit outside to enjoy our well earned afternoon treat, and what a lovely treat it was too. J and I had delicious mugs of cappuccino with a shared slab of mouth watering coffee and walnut cake. The Little Peeps chose the most decadent drinks on the menu - milkshakes served with a huge blob of ice cream floating on the top. Oh you should have seen their faces, it was utter delight to watch them guzzle these down. I can highly recommend them for any Little Peeps requiring a combined pleasure hit/energy boost.

All that walking and fresh air last week was great for mind, body and soul, I've come home feeling refreshed and energised and very happy with my lot. I've got one more walk to share, I hope you don't mind tagging along? There will be some lovely views, see you then.....

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Tales From Connievan :: Golden Hill Farm

Last Monday we packed up some clothes and a whole lot of outdoor clobber, hitched up our beloved caravan and drove North East for just under two hours.

It was an uneventful journey (if you overlook the puking-into-a-cake-tin episode), taking us up over the beautiful moorlands of North Yorkshire....

....to the rural village of Liverton. We had come to spend five days at Golden Hill Farm, a lovely little family run campsite that had already established itself firmly in our hearts and memories. Those of you who remember back to the beginning of our Connievan Tales may well remember our first holiday spent here in 2010.

It has changed owners since we were last here five years ago and new life has been breathed into the place. But the camp site still retains it's peaceful, rural charm and the friendly owners made us feel very welcome.

I was absolutely entranced by these beautiful gypsy caravans which are kept on site and available to rent. In fact I was lucky enough to be shown inside the small one at the front there which is actually for sale at the moment. If you fancy a nosey you can find it on eBay where there are some stunning pictures of it's painted interior, go take a peek {here}>> isn't it fabulous?

Not quite so picture-book-perfect but with just as much retro charm, our Connievan is still going good and is very much loved and adored (mainly by me, but the rest of the family have a soft spot for her I know). She's almost 30 years old, and this is our sixth summer holidaying with her.

It was sooooo nice to jolly out and about again with her, to enjoy some relaxed days with lots of time spent outdoors.

I spent quite a bit of leisure and pleasure time engaged with hook and yarn last week. Sometimes I would be outside wrapped in blankets (it was cold and windy much of the time, even when the sun was shining)...

...and sometimes I would be snuggled up indoors. Connievan is incredibly cosy, with that particular enveloping warmth that caravans generate after a day sat in the sun. I forgot to pick up my Granny Stripe blanket from the studio before we left so I pressed my Granny Patchwork blanket into work as Colourful Throw To Hide Retro Beige Soft Furnishings.

I absolutely love the combination of caravan + crochet, the two are completely meant to go together in my honest opinion. In case you were wondering, the blanket on the left there is my Sweet Flower Granny blanket, made especially for Connievan. It was a bit of a mare to make (oh those fiddlesome flowers, I can still remember the faff of them!), so please don't ask me for the pattern as there isn't one and I can't face ever doing those squares again. I do love the blanket though, it's a bit quirky with some rather suspect colour combos going on, but yes, it is rather cute.

I sometimes feel a bit bashful about sharing pictures of my (our) bed with the world at large, beds are quite private places after all. But I love love love my caravan bed very much (it's so pretty!) and even during the cold, wet, windy nights we had last week we were all very cosy and slept remarkably well. Our secret with the Little Peeps is to completely run them ragged during daylight hours. Encourage as much outdoor play as possible from the minute they wake up, then plan some fairly lengthy coastal walks to occupy the days. Then it's pretty much guaranteed that by 10pm we will all be simultaneously in the Land of Nod within minutes of heads hitting pillows.

The weather last week was mixed, and we did have to weather some rain some of the time. I had secretly worried about the dynamics of having five of us cooped up in a 14ftx7ft metal box for hours at a time, but funnily enough these times proved to be the most fun and most memorable. There were card games (this one in action is called "Go Fish", which even Little B managed to play), and there was electronic gaming too (this kept all three of mine engrossed all week)

We weren't able to eat many meals outside as it was just too cold and windy, but J and I managed a few al fresco breakfasts in the early morning sunshine. We self catered all our own meals last week, eating breakfast and a simple evening meal in the caravan (pasta featured heavily on our 'van menu, so versatile! So easy!), and taking a picnic lunch out with us each day. It was great actually and very economical, allowing us to indulge in a guilt free daily café/pub treat supplemented by ice creams/naughty sweet things from the bakers. Still can't believe how good that iced finger was, I almost inhaled it with sheer delight.

Saltburn-by-the-Sea was the nearest coastal place to the camp site, it's a quaint and old fashioned little seaside town which I don't suppose has changed all that much over the past hundred years. We took a chilly stroll through the Valley Gardens, emerging high up above sea level where the town is located.

We made a visit to the local bakers to purchase the aforementioned sweet treats, before settling ourselves down on the chilly, windy cliff to eat our picnic lunch. It was bracing, and that's putting it mildly. But still, I love to eat outdoors and the view was pretty lovely. Afterwards we paid the small fee and took a ride down in the rather fabulous "water balanced Cliff Lift"....

....it's such a short ride (less than a minute), but weirdly exciting to be a passenger in something that has such history behind it.

Oh look, yarny stuff!!!! We took a promenade along the old Victorian pier and I went a little bit crazy with excitement when I came across this wonderful yarn bombing.

It turns out that this is something of an annual occurrence, with a new theme being chosen each year. The Yarn Bombers of Saltburn remain anonymous, installing their creations under cover of darkness in true yarn bomber guerrilla style.

This year, the theme celebrated 150 years since the publication of Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland".

Every piece was beautifully knitted and we were lucky to see it only a few days after it had been installed so it was all in fine fettle. Very inspiring and heart warming.

I had to include this photo of my (very, very, very good) latté that I enjoyed in a small café on the seafront. It was mid afternoon and we were all very cold, so it was declared that hot chocolate/coffee was in order. I was just about to take my first sip when J stopped me and asked me very matter of factly whether I should be taking a photograph of it before drinking it - made me laugh out loud! He sure is used to my weird blogging ways after seven years :)

Last week was full to the brim of many of my most favourite holidayish things. Caravan time, crochet time, family time, al fresco eating, cafés and pubs, coastal walking and lots and lots of seaside stuff.

Every day we went out and about along the coast of Yorkshire, revisiting much loved favourite places and discovering some delightful new ones. I was in an almost permanent state of bliss, drinking in the coastal views and breathing in the salty sea air.

This is Runswick Bay, a new discovery for us and a really delightful little place indeed. As with many of the coastal villages along this coast, you arrive and park the car quite a way above sea level, then make the final steep descent on foot.

We walked along the shoreline then sat for a while on the sand while the Little People did beachy things (digging and building in the sand mainly, plus skimming stones for Little Man). It was peaceful and er - rather cold actually. I wish it had been sunny and warm, I wish I could have laid down a blanket and lazed about all afternoon with the sounds of the sea filling my ears. But still, we enjoyed our brief time there and I know we will come back to this lovely little place one day.

One of the really great things we did last week was to walk some of the Cleveland Way coastal path. I absolutely love coastal walking with a passion and it was wonderful to plan some circular walks that we knew the Little People would manage fairly easily. At five years old, Little B is a strong, energetic child and he loved the walks that we did.  The views took my breath away, all that glorious blue, and those sweeping coastal landscapes.....wonderful stuff for the likes of me.

I'll take you walking tomorrow, see you then..........

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My Granny Stripe Blanket

Do you know, it's almost five years since I made my Granny Stripe blanket, inspired by the purchase of our beloved caravan on 1st May 2010. By the end of that same month, I was beginning this colourful blanket journey using 17 shades of Stylecraft Special DK which I bought from my local yarn shop. I remember it all so clearly, the joy of these bright, jolly colours and this easy pattern, mixed up with a huge dose of caravan induced excitement. Happy times indeed.

I have so many memories wrapped up in the making of this blanket, memories of a wonderful seaside holiday when the Little People were still oh-so-little (Little Man and Little Lady were 7 and 6, and Little B, awwww Little B was a weeny 5 month old baby!) Oh the emotion of it!! Just look at Little B's fingers and toes in this post!! 

Crochet blankets are such terrific guardians of memories, which is one of the reasons I love making them so much. Of course, the memories which attach themselves to the making of a blanket are really only the beginning, because blankets are made to be used. This happy stripy blanket has now given us five years of layered holiday memories, oh I treasure our caravan holidays so much, they are an incredibly precious part of our family archives.

 

It's funny looking back at the history of this particular blanket now - at the time I made it I had absolutely NO idea that these seventeen colours (chosen in less than 10 minutes in a rather badly lit corner of my local yarn shop) would become so well loved by so many people around the world. To me, they are my "happy colours". They are colours which remind me of sunshine and camping and seaside jollies, of picnics and happy little children playing, of star-gazing and dewy early morning grass, of the joys associated with simple outdoor summer living. The fact that this collection has become known as "The Attic24 Colour Pack" really pleases me enormously, and I honestly love seeing these colours together as much today as I did five years ago. Simply put - they make my heart happy ♥

Over the years since I shared my blanket I've been meaning to write up a proper tutorial for it. I wrote out the basic pattern for working the Granny Stripe (find it here), but never got round to making a proper blanket-making tutorial. I'd really like to find time to do this during the next few months if possible, I'll keep you posted on that. In the meantime, in response to frequent requests I thought it would be helpful to share my colour order for those of you who are wishing to make your own Happy Blanket. I used 17 colours of Stylecraft Special DK, and worked up sixty stripes in total (two rows for each stripe).

♥

1. Pomegranate        21. Shrimp                  41. Lipstick

2. Plum                      22. Lavender               42. Aspen

3. Fondant                23. Turquoise              43. Meadow Green

4. Lavender              24. Magenta                44. Lavender

5. Aspen                    25. Lipstick                 45. Magenta

6. Spring Green       26. Meadow                46. Plum

7. Aster                     27. Aspen                     47. Cloud Blue

8. Turquoise             28. Spring Green        48. Spring Green

9. Lipstick                 29. Saffron                  49. Turquoise

10. Shrimp                30. Cloud Blue            50. Clematis

11. Saffron                31. Wisteria                 51. Pomegranate

12. Meadow              32. Plum                       52. Shrimp

13. Magenta             33. Aster                      53. Saffron

14. Clematis             34. Pomegranate         54. Sherbet

15. Sherbet              35. Turquoise              55. Fondant

16. Spring Green     36. Sherbet                 56. Lipstick

17. Wisteria              37. Clematis                57. Aster

18. Aster                   38. Shrimp                  58. Meadow

19. Pomegranate      39. Fondant                59. Plum

20. Fondant              40. Saffron                  60. Pomegranate

The border was made in six rounds as follows ::

1. Lavender :: granny clusters

2. Aster :: treble crochet

3. Aspen :: treble crochet

4. Clematis :: double crochet

5. Sherbet (two rows) :: double crochet + soft wave edging*

* The edging pattern is written up in the Ta-dah post here.

EDIT TO ADD :: A few of you have written to say you've lost your yarn labels and can't remember what the colours are called. So here is a colour-map for the stripes. I've split it into five sections - remember to read each image from the bottom up to the top!

Above photo shows the beginning of the blanket. 1st stripe is Pomegranate, 15th stripe is Sherbet.

Above photo shows part 2 of the blanket. 16th stripe is Spring Green, 27th stripe is Aspen.

Above photo shows part 3 of the blanket. 28th stripe is Spring Green, 39th stripe is Fondant.

Above photo shows part 4 of the blanket. 40th stripe is Saffron, 52nd stripe is Shrimp.

Above photo shows the final part of the blanket. 53rd stripe is Saffron, 60th stripe is Pomegranate.

At the end of last Summer, we took Connievan up to the coast of Northumberland. We had a terrific week away and I realised just now whilst searching in my archives that I never shared that holiday on my blog. How very slack of me!! I'll try and find time to show you some "postcards" from that holiday, I'm quite fancying a bit of a virtual seaside pootle.

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USEFUL LINKS ::

Granny Stripe Pattern

Granny Stripe Ta-dah (includes pattern for the edging)

Attic24 Yarn Pack

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Caravan Love Affair

If you've been visiting me here in the Attic for any length of time, you will no doubt be familiar with my Caravan Love Affair. It's almost four years since Connievan became part of our family, and gosh what a huge amount of pleasure she has given us in those years. I can still so clearly remember the tremendous excitement of discovering her, viewing her, then very quickly agreeing there and then on the spot to welcome her into our family. That very first trip away in her, oh the sheer joy of it! Yes, I remember it all so well.

Four years on, and my love affair feels like it is stronger than ever. The older the Little People become, the more important it feels to make the most of family time spent all together. Little Man will turn 12 this summer, and I see his true childhood beginning to slowly ebb away now. He is maturing and changing so rapidly, I look at him these days, as tall as me, and get a glimpse of the very fine young man he is becoming. I don't know how much longer he will wish to squish into a caravan and share a bed with his little brother, how much longer we can hope for such simple harmonious holidays to fit with our growing family. But I am clinging to the thought that it is still possible, for this year at least. Owning a caravan makes it possible for the five of us to pack a few bags and head off to the coast to spend time together, and I love it so, so much for that.

Last year, towards the very end of the summer I was sent this book to read and review. Vantastic was released in Australia at the start of their Spring, but of course that was the start of our Autumn here in the UK. I was feeling a little melancholy with our 'vanning season almost at an end for another year and it didn't feel quite right to chat about planning caravan adventures back then. But now....well now Spring is here and once again I can feel the uprising of excitement as we begin to plan where Connievan will take us this year.

Putting it mildly, this book is Utterly Divine. It is written by Kate Ulman, author of the wonderful blog Fox's Lane. Kate and her young family took six months away from their organic farm in Australia to go on a travelling adventure in a vintage caravan. Kate blogged all about their amazing trip and the book then followed. You can see some photographs of their caravan here, Kate did such an amazing job making it beautiful.

Vantastic is a mixture of travelogue, practical advice, recipes and crafting projects accompanied by a delicious selection of photographs and friendly, engaging writing.

The styling of the book is just wonderful, it feels as if you are holding a precious gift in your hands and every page turn is a pleasure.

Kate crochet's and sews, crafts with her children and crafts to fulfill her own creative needs. Her passion for all things handmade shines out of the pages and every time I dip into this book I feel inspired to get busy making and creating.

Although Vantastic is essentially a book about caravanning, it is also very much more. It is about enjoying the simple pleasures in life, making sure to value time spent with family, relishing the freedom of living, eating, playing and exploring the great outdoors, making memories and having fun times. It encourages you to cook well, be creative, live life to the full, enjoy nature and spend time with loved ones. For all those reasons it has touched my heart and is a book that I have read and re-read many times already. You can find Vantastic on UK Amazon and Amazon US , it is a lovely, inspiring book for sure. 

Now while we are merrily on the subject of all things Caravan, I would love to share something else with you. Exactly two years ago (yes exactly, to the very day, my life is so freakily rhythmic it scares me a little)...two years ago I shared the story of the above artwork, made by my very talented friend Caroline Rose, do you remember it? You can read all about it in my post from 26th March 2012, it is a sweet little story of like minds (and hearts) meeting and creating something rather gorgeous. Well Caroline did the creating of course with her very clever fingers, but I feel as if my heart is definitely entwined in that picture.

Well look now, there is a new cutesome little caravan on the block, a dinky little red number this time, isn't it lovely? Let me tell you, this isn't just a box with a pretty sticker on it. No, no. We have to look inside the box to see what treat is in store.......................

.....it's a most beautiful, shiny, colourful mug! Swoon!!!!!!!!!!!

Caroline has been working on some really beautiful new mug designs during the past few months, and my heart truly skipped a beat when I caught sight of this work in progress. First there were flowers, then there were stripes, and then a caravan? Really? A red caravan?

I couldn't wait to see it finished, I felt genuinely excited as I waited along with Caroline and many of her fans to see how this mug idea would turn out.

As it happens, it turned out really pretty great indeed, and all four mugs are just beautiful don't you think?

The image for each of the mugs is long and thin and wraps itself nicely around the mug. It is just such a nifty idea and as with everything that Caroline does, very beautifully executed and presented. She has also made fine art prints for each design so that you can see it all laid out, oh I just love that little caravan so much! I bought myself the caravan mug as soon as it landed in Caroline's shop, and I have been very happily slurping my morning coffee out of it ever since. I absolutely love it.

You can find these beautiful mugs and prints for sale in Caroline's Etsy shop, should you wish to treat yourself to some colourful handmade goodness.

I still have unfulfilled prettifying plans for Connievan, and I still regularly drool and sigh my way through Pinterest images of vintage 'vans and trailers when I feel the need for a little inspiration. You can have a little look at my Caravan Dreams board if you like, there is lots to love in the world of pretty caravans (above image source here)

I am a little ashamed to say that I still have one pair of curtains left to make for Connievan. I had some trouble with my old Bernina sewing machine which scuppered my sewing plans two summers ago you see. She began to protest and stitch badly, and then refused to do any more bobbin winding, so after the cushions were made, I ended up packing her away and no more sewing got done.

 

Today, after spending rather a lot of time daydreaming about caravans and feeling rather elated to be heading into Springtime, I took the plunge and arranged for my beloved Bernina to go away to a specialist repair place. She is forty-five years old you see, and needs a clever bod who knows how to tinker carefully with her old mechanisms. I am ridiculously excited about doing stitchy fabricky things again after an unexpectedly long two year break. I'm going to finish stitching my curtains! And I'm going to make patchwork curtain pelmets to hang above my curtains!!

Yippeeeeee for creative caravanning!!!

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edit to add :: just wanted to mention that this is not a Sponsored Post. I would always say if I was being paid in any way to review products or give links to products.

I was sent the book Vantastic by the publishers on Kate's request, but offered to write about it voluntarily as I was already a huge fan of Fox's Lane blog and had followed both Kate's caravan and book writing journey. Caroline Rose has become a good online friend in the years since I first discovered her work, and I have bought several pictures from her that I love, the mug too.

I wanted to share Kate's lovely book and Carolines amazing work with you just cos I love them both very much and thought it would be nice to bring some lovely creative caravanny-colour to my blog today! However, I am a participant in the Amazon Associates programme and do earn a small commission if you follow my links and make any purchases via Amazon. I think I should write this into my sidebar so that it's clear what I am doing? Yes, I will do that :)

♥...more Connievan snippets from the Attic...♥

Tales from Connievan :: a New Chapter

Tales from Connievan :: Late Summer

Tales from Connievan :: Blackpool

Tales from Connievan :: Summer Loving

Caravan Stuff (again)

Caravan Dreams

Tales from Connievan :: Late Summer

School started back a week ago here in Atticland, which meant that Monday last week was the final day of the holidays. On the spur of the moment we decided mid afternoon to head up to see Connievan, so that we could spend the very last bit of our holidays surrounded by green countryside. Oh dear, poor Connie, she is in desperate need of a wash down, she's looking a bit green!

Despite being warm and sunny in town, it was very odd weather when we arrived up the dale. The sun was still there, but there was also a lot of low grey cloud and almost as soon as we arrived, a persistent wet drizzle set in. It was too wet for the Little Peeps to go and play so we were faced with an afternoon of uncertainty. It's been a while since we are all in the caravan together for anything other than sleeping.

I went into weeny ball production, off in a colourful world of my own as I counted stitches in my head and churned out ball after cutesome ball.

Having all five of us suddenly confined to the caravan came as a little bit of a shock. We've had such a fantastic summer that this is the first rain we have had to contend with at the campsite, and at first we thought it was going to be a disaster. The Little People were at a loose end and didn't know what to do with themselves. But very quickly things did settle down and everyone managed to find something to do. J and Little Man had a few speedy games of snakes and ladders, followed by a few pages in an ancient crossword book (both these things were found under the seats in Connie when we bought her)

I asked Little Lady if she wouldn't mind reading to Little B, so they made a blankety nest at the back of the 'van and set to it. She is a great reader, and managed to make different voices for the different characters in this Power Rangers story. Little B was suitably impressed and sat mesmerised listening to her and looking at the pages for ages. It was lovely.

About 45 minutes later, the rain eased up enough for the Little People to go out to play so that J and I could enjoy some time before the business of food needed to be attended to.

I love pottering about doing little jobs in Connievan, it makes me feel all kind of warm and fuzzy and full of domestic contentment.

J got the barbecue going nicely in the shelter of the dry stone wall behind Connievan, and cooked up some scrummy pork and apple burgers (made by our local butcher)....

....which I piled into wholegrain ciabatta rolls with thick slices of creamy mozzarella and big sweet tomatoes. Oh mmmm, they were soooo good!

The burgers were devoured pretty quickly, and we moved straight onto the second course while the barbecue coals were still hot.

The Little People toasted marshmallows, then sandwiched them between two McVities chocolate digestive biscuits. In other words, an attempt to make English S'mores.......

....oh get a load of all that sweet melty goodness!!! They were wickedly sweet and sticky (and messy!) and the Little Peeps thoroughly approved. It was a resounding success and I think it's safe to say we will most certainly be making them again.

It felt pretty wonderful to be out of town on that day, surrounded by beautiful countryside and cooking and eating our dinner outside. Being a Monday, the campsite was very quiet and peaceful and the Little People spent much of the time after dinner racing around on scooters, expertly shattering the peace.

The weather that afternoon was extraordinary, and I found myself fascinated by the changing light and colour in the sky. We could clearly see the heavy rainclouds moving away down the valley....

....and chinks of blue sky slowly appearing as the sky above us cleared.

And then there was the most amazing rainbow!!! WOW, it was just beautiful.

Spanning out across the hillside, I just couldn't take my eyes off it. Aren't rainbows magical?

Family life spent at Connievan is just so special, it's hard to put all of my feelings into words. Being there kind of intensifies everything a little for me I think, so that much of the time I feel like I want to dance a happy jig even when I'm doing something very ordinary like boiling a pan of water to make a cup of tea, or slicing up a ripe juicy tomato.

We have enjoyed a really gorgeous summer season with her in her new home, but I'm also really looking forward to the Autumn time too. I strung up some fairy lights last week and the added cosy-factor was pretty great. Lots of jiggy-jigging (and some clapping) took place with the first Switch On. The campsite stays open through till the end of November, so I'm hopful for some cosy Autumn weekend campouts. Mugs of hot chocolate, lots of snuggly blankets, and evenings sat around the fire (we recently purchased one of these, pretty excited about getting it on the go next time we are there)

I just love love love caravan life so very very much, but then I think you all know that by now. By the way, I'm going to be chatting to you about this amazing book very soon, oh my boat is well and truly floated by the pages inside this cover! Vantastic indeed.

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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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Tales from Connievan :: Summer Loving

You may remember me chatting about Connievan at the beginning of June, telling you about how we moved her to a new home in the country? I've not written much about it since then, but in the six weeks that she has been there, we have managed to visit almost every week, sometimes twice a week. I don't always take photographs there to be honest. Something about being with Connievan makes me want to forget about technology and immerse myself completely in the simplicity of camping life. Weirdly I don't even seem to be able to crochet or read there either. I always take a project and a magazine with me but it rarely gets a look in. We tend to hang out as a family there, and the time passes easily without the need to look for diversions.

Here in North Yorkshire, like much of the UK, we are experiencing a really spectacular start to our Summer. We have had day after day of seasonal weather perfection, with blue skies and hot sunshine lasting well into the evening time. It has honestly been glorious, and life at the campsite in this weather is completely wonderful. There are many families at the campsite, and a really lovely gang of camping children for my brood to hang out with. It is sooooo wonderful to watch them at play, to watch the simple games they come up with, their joy in running, jumping, hiding, and (recently for the girls) learning to do cartwheels.

There is a sweet little play area at the campsite which Little B is very fond of, and often in the evenings after we have finished eating, J and I will bring a mug of tea each down here to sit on that bench and watch our littlest do his thing. He is happiest with an audience, that's for sure.

This time of day is so magical I think, it's about 8pm or thereabouts. Still another two hours of soft, golden daylight, another two hours of outdoor play before we all tuck into our cosy beds.

Our usual routine is to head to Connievan on a Friday evening, arriving around 6pm for a lateish dinner. I have found it best to keep the food very simple, and quick. Yeah, it has to be produced prettily speedily when we get there or else a small riot breaks out. Sometimes we have a cold spread of meats, salad, dips and crusty bread, and sometimes we have hotdogs in white bread rolls with lots of fried onions, ketchup and mustard. And there is always fruit. We eat a lot of fruit each week between the five of us, and it's especially good in the summer time. On a Friday I visit the market and come home laden with summer fruits :: bags of sweet cherries, plums and nectarines, punnets of strawberries and raspberries, and various varieties of melon. Ice cold wedges of watermelon are hard to beat on a hot summers day.

We have eased into the routine of sleeping in Connievan very well now, particularly Little B. Some of his initial sleeping-bag-induced over excitement has worn off and his caravan bed is now familiar to him and very cosy. Providing we all go to bed and have lights out at the same time (usually just after 10pm) then he happily climbs into his little nest and falls asleep within minutes.

I continue to love love love the early morning times best of all, oh I do LoVE it!!! I make myself a steaming hot tin mug of tea and take myself outside in my pyjamas with a camping blanket wrapped round my shoulders and sit. It is so peaceful, so tranquil and green and fresh and so completely different to being at home.

We have found that trying to sleep for two nights at the 'van simply does not work. It's just that weeny bit too long, especially for Little Man who misses his mates and his own space and is at an age (almost 11) where prolonged family time is sometimes a bit of a challenge. So we've come up with a compromise which seems to suit everyone. We arrive Friday evening, stay the night, then spend the whole of Saturday (including the evening meal) before closing up camp and heading  back into town around 8pm. Saturdays are usually spent in a very lazy fashion, lots of lounging, eating and drinking. Lengthy picnic lunches which sprawl into the late afternoon, hours of happy idleness.

Sometimes we wander the short way down the lane to go play in the river.

Down through this green and leafy pathway.....

....until we reach the cool water.

It's a beautiful spot, shallow enough for the Little Peeps to play and paddle safely....

....and extremely refreshing when the days have been so hot.

The light is so beautiful at this time of year, I love the dancing leafy reflections in the still water.

We are at the very height of summer now, and the landscape is starting to lose it's lush greenery and look a little more parched.

Still beautiful though, especially with the late afternoon sun beaming down upon it.

I sometimes have little in-my-head fantasies about living out here. It is only half an hour drive from the Attic, but it is very rural and quite isolated out here. It sometimes surprises me when I realise I have really become a Townie! I always felt so sure I should be a country girl.

Life in Connievan continues to be sweet. I just love the simplicity of caravan life so much. I love the little routines that form around mealtimes and bedtimes. I love the gentle domesticity that feels like such a pleasure.

On a few occasions, we have found ourselves still longing for Connievan when the weekend is over, and have come up to see her for a few hours on a Monday night. It feels very special when we do this, as if we are somehow sneaking in extra time that isn't really allowed! But it feels wonderful to be making the very most of our summer months, of the long hours of daylight at this time of year, and the welcome time that we can spend outdoors surrounded by greenery.

As you can see, the campsite is very well kept. Only a small part of it is used for touring caravans like ours, and for tents. The rest of it is taken up with these pale green static caravans which are used rather like holiday homes.

On Monday night when we went there for dinner and an evening of warm, golden, sunny outdoor pleasure, I took a stroll around the site with Little Man. It's not often I spend time with him alone, he is actually great company, chatty and funny and such a good young man. As the camp site was practically deserted on Monday evening, we took the opportunity to sneak a peek through the windows of some of the statics. They are very, very orderly and caravanish inside, but oddly appealing. Little Man said we should make an offer to the owners of this one so that I could have it and rename my blog Static24. Made me really laugh out loud.....but maybe..........?

Actually what we ended up doing was going to fetch a bag and some scissors and making an impromptu elderflower harvest. We came across several elder trees at the camp site and I noticed with some vocal joy that the blooms were still pretty much at their peak, unlike here in town where they are pretty much over. We collected enough for me to make a second batch of cordial, and (still pending, but on schedule for tomorrow), a batch of elderflower champagne!! I'm planning on using this recipe, unless anyone can give me a better one. I hope it works out!

8pm now on Monday evening, and the Little People both ask if we can go for a short walk up the hill behind the campsite, the same hill that we climbed on the evening of Summer Solstice and saw the Super Moon. There is a vague pathway which winds it's way through the long summer grass.....



....isn't this pretty? It brought back a sudden but rather hazy stab of childhood nostalgia and out of nowhere I remembered it's name :: Quaker Grass. My memory often amazes me. It is so appallingly awful on a day to day short term basis, and yet the most quirky facts from many moons ago are still able to surface.

The hill climb is short and sharp. I am wearing inappropriate footwear (flip flops) so I am a little slow and a little clumsy, but eventually I catch up with my energetic Little Peeps at our agreed resting point. Oh, I do love a good view!

Interestingly, my Little People decide to lay down in the long grass and study the sky, which is something that I very often do and which they very often ridicule me for. I smiled inwardly and lay down to join them. Don't you just love summer evenings like this? I feel like I never want it to end.

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Summer Solstice 2013

This time of year is really special I think, and in my mind I always picture Summer Solstice as being the top of a big sunny hill after a slow climb up out of winter and spring. Climbing, climbing until the summit is reached and the long day stretches out as far as it can possibly go. Arriving at the Longest Day of the year seems to me like something worth celebrating.

For some reason, the rest of my family do not share my love of Solstice. Year after year I try my best to rouse some shared excitement for these important days in December and June, and year after year I end up feeling as if I am a total nutcase for caring so much about it.

It's the Longest Day, we must celebrate it, it's special and important don't you know. Blank looks, a little bit of mild eye rolling. Yeah, yeah, if you say so, they say. Well yes, I DO say so, and we WILL make it a special day.

Yesterday, after a  day of grey clouds and spitty rain, by early evening it was miraculously glorious. We packed up some food and as soon as J came home from work, we all jumped in the car and headed up to Connievan. I felt sure this would be a great place to spend the end of the longest day, to sit in the glow of the evening and soak up the sun's rays right through till dark.

Re-homing Connievan to this little green corner of the Yorkshire Dales is one of the best decisions we've made in ages and is already providing us with a great deal of family happiness. The Little People no longer complain when I ask them to pack a few essentials for a night away here. In fact, they seem positively happy about going, which makes me very happy indeed.

Yesterday, something wonderful happened. For the first time, both Little People found other Little People to play with. Little Lady was first, confidently introducing herself and Little B to a gang of three girls who were busy doing cartwheels across the grass. Little Man took a while longer to find his confidence, but eventualy he and his scooter struck up a friendship with two boys and their scooters, and I couldn't have been happier. For them of course, cos finding new friends to play with totally made their evening, but also for J and I who suddenly had some unexpected peace and quiet to sit and just reeeeelax with each other.

I adore my Rice melamine tumbers and much prefer them to wine glasses when we are at Connievan. I always have the pink one for my Sauvignon Blanc, but oooo I have my beady eyes on this one now, so pretty!

The evening passed incredibly quickly, and before I knew it, it was almost ten o'clock. The Little People asked if we could go for a walk, they wanted to climb the hill behind the campsite. My heart squeezed a little and I thought what a perfectly perfect activity for Summer Solstice that would be. To climb a grassy hill as the light fades, to appreciate the beauty of the summer landscape on the longest day of the year, well yes, count me right in. I'm coming!

It was truly lovely. Slugs somehow got into LL's crocs and LM took a tumble into a stinging nettle patch, but we'll overlook those little mishaps shall we? It was lovely, really it was.

The moon was rising up behind the hill as we climbed back down, but it was still daylight at 10.30pm. A magical end to a long and beautiful day.

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Edit to add :: thanks to Gill for pointing me to this beautifully written article on the BBC website

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tales from Connievan :: a New Chapter

The above picture was taken three years ago when we were a newby caravaning family with two young children and a small baby. This was only our second trip away in Connievan, a two night stay at a beautiful caravan park in the Yorkshire Dales only half an hour from home. I remember it being a glorious weekend where we lounged about doing very little in the heat of early summer. Long golden days, lush green hills, a cool shallow river. Ice cold beer, colourful relaxing crochet, happy outdoor children. Good memories.

Three years on and it has suddenly become surprisingly hard to make caravan holidays actually happen. I think we all still love the idea of spending time in the caravan, but the planning/organising part of it is just a bit too much hard work. The unpredictable weather doesn't help either (oh that wet week in Blackpool last year was a bit dire!), but mainly I think it has simply become easier to Stay Home.

I wrote about our Stay Home holiday recently, the week where I really wanted us to be away in the caravan but had failed to actually book anything in time. The week where every other member of my family said they preferred to be at home actually. Oh I stropped. I ranted. I sulked. Then I re-grouped and gave the whole dilemma some serious thought until the answer slowly presented itself to me. What we needed was a permanent home for Connievan, somewhere beautiful and rural, but close enough for us to drive to at the drop of a hat if the whim suddenly took us. If the weather suddenly looks tippety-top then we can sling a change of clothes in a bag, grab some grub and head off. Just like that. We need for it to be easy. We need the chance to be spontaneous. No planning. No booking. Just up and go.

I knew this particular site would fit the bill perfectly as I had (secretly) made inquiries about it last year. But it was the money you see. This sort of thing does not come cheap, one has to pay quite dearly for the privilege of renting out a permanent little patch all year round. And yet.....after much discussion, we decided we could dig into our savings and it would be worth it. What the heck. Let's do it, lets splash out a bit and really make this work for our family. Yayyyy!!!!!!

So on the very last day of our StayHome week, we moved Connie out of her concrete storage place and into her new green country home. It was wonderful, oh I was SO excited! We've got a lovely little spot in a quiet corner, with a dry stone wall and an old bench. The pitches either side are empty for now, so we have quite a bit of open space in front of us.....

.....and we have the rustle of the wind in the trees behind us.

Those of you who have been visitors to the Attic for a while will know all about my complete devotion to Connievan. You will know about my prettifying exploits (see here and here for pictures). You will know about the early beginnings and about our adventures in her.

I am still as excited about all things Caravan and just adore spending time within these four small walls with my family. It's pretty damn marvelous!

Last weekend, we had out first proper sleep over with Connie in her new home. I packed up a few clothes and a cool bag of food and on Friday evening at 6pm we set off. By 6.30pm we were there, and I was strolling around picking flowers to put in my jam jar vase.

The weather was absolutely breathtakingly perfect. Sunny and warm, with the daylight lasting forever. We cooked hot dogs for dinner, with a plate of strawberries and melon for afters. J and I sat outside to chat and drink beer and the Little People went off to play. There is a lovely children's area on site with swings, slide etc, plus a green field where they played ball, tennis and frisbee. As a treat we also bought Swingball which has been a great success, and we took scooters with us too. So there was plenty to keep them happy and occupied.

Sleeping in Connievan is snug and cosy. We find it easier to all go to bed at the same time (including an over excited/over tired Little B) at around 10pm. J and I make up our double bed at the front of the van and we have the luxury of sheet, duvet and feather pillows. The Little People sleep at the back of the van in (newly purchased, stripy blue) sleeping bags. The seating at the back makes up into a double bed where Little Man and Little B sleep head to toe, then there is a narrow bunk which pulls out above them for Little Lady to bed down on. It can sometimes be a bit tense getting everyone to settle down and off to sleep, but mostly it goes ok. And thankfully we all seem to sleep well, waking around 6am.

I love early mornings in the caravan. I love the smell most of all. I love to open up the window and breath it all in, that nostalgic smell of still damp grass and fresh morning air. At the caravan site there is a tonne of wildlife. There are lots of rabbits hoppity-hopping around the caravans and oodles of birds sing and tweet all day long, including my favourite curlew. Oh how I adore the sound of the curlew, it is one of my all time favourite bird sounds (seagulls possibly come top, but hmm not sure about that to be honest. Maybe curlew is top)

I had to show you this photo, I really LOVED that Little Lady went to such effort to pack this all up into a big bag to bring for the weekend. All the drawers and cupboards were stocked with food and equipment (I was given the full tour) and the playmobil family had a lovely time camping alongside us.

The highlight of the weekend was undoubtedly the outing we had on Saturday, walking from the caravan site to the nearest village to have a pub lunch.

The countryside was looking absolutely glorious, I just love this time of year so much. Green and gold, sun light and shadow. Everything is so light and bright and lush.

Oh and there was such an abundance of buttercups! I could hardly believe this field, it took my breath away.

The walk to the village was 1.5 miles of flat riverside and meadow.

I loved this part of the river with it's deep, steep river banks....

....and clear reflective water.

But it was the meadows that I loved the most.....

....they were just soooooo beautiful.

It's a good few years since we'd been to this little village and I couldn't remember it very well. I recalled a village green, and a small pub, but not a lot else.

Turns out that's because there isn't a lot else there. Picturesque cottages around an uncut village green given over to meadow at this time of year....

....and yup, there's the pub. It's called The Falcon Inn and is an absolute original gem.

When you step inside, it's like walking into someones house. Small cosy rooms, ancient floors and walls, with a very simple and rustic style. Lots of stuffed animals (including a pair of pheasant and a whole fox) which I didn't much care for but the Little People thought were fantastic (especially the whole fox)

It was a delight. There was a simple menu and great, honest, homecooked food. The country kitchen was pretty open to view, with the landlady cooking everything herself on the Aga while her hubby served the beer from a tiny bar area in the hallway. The beer was poured the traditional way straight out of the barrel into a china jug before being poured into the glass. It was a very memorable lunch (who knew pea and mint soup was soooo good?!) and we left feeling satisfied, rested and happy.

This wasn't a circular walk, so the return home was back the same way we had come.

Back through the delightful riverside meadows....

....sneezing all the way! Yeah, there was a serious amount of pollen in the air here, but honestly the beauty of it more than made up for the discomfort.

We returned to the caravan site in the mid afternoon, with the promise of ice creams from the on site shop. Happy happy.

We have our old portable barbecue at the caravan and the dry stone wall which runs behind Connievan makes a perfect outdoor cooking area. That evening we cooked up burgers (delicious ones from the supermarket flavoured with smoked garlic, they were really good) and I made a big bowl of salad to go with them. Fruit and chocolate for afters.

And a little more beer.

The weekend felt warm and golden in more ways than one, and definitely one for the Family Memory Bank. I'm hoping that this is the start of a long line of weekends spent at our Country Residence. Connievan, we love you ♥

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ps thank you so much for all your good wishes for my head and hand this week! Still feeling a bit rubbish, but very much better than I was earlier in the week. I continue to rest my finger and it is slowly feeling better as a result. I'm holding off with the crochet until next week and keeping up with the ibuprofen which is helping loads. It can only get better, right? x

 pps I have a tagged all my caravan posts, so they are all in the "caravan" category...if you fancy pootling back through Connievan's archives, you can find them here xxx