A lifestyle blog
We love exploring, either close to home on an afternoon out, slightly further afield on a weekend away, or to a far flung destination picked because it happened to be on page 83 of the travel guide and we were asked to pick a number between 1 and 230.
It might actually be my travel bucket list for beyond 2018 as I can’t see us squeezing many of these into the next eleven months, but a girl can dream, right? The past month has been, to put it mildly, a tad stressful. First of all my youngest ended up in hospital. Twice. Once driven to A&E by me on the advice of 111 and then three days later (with
Window Wednesday this week is from Hillier Gardens The weather hasn’t really been conducive to photographing buildings and that small matter of Christmas has also begun to get in the way. Today though was different. And although the trip was brief it was great to get out with a camera and to meet up with Annie for breakfast. Hillier Gardens is only down the road, in a part of Hampshire
Despite living less than an hour away I have never been to Winchester’s Christmas market before and every year people seem to be raving about it more and more. So with a spare morning this week I grabbed my camera and headed down there to meet up with Annie. It is clearly sign posted off the motorway as you approach Winchester, with a suggestion that you use the Park and
Mini-breaks. Great aren’t they, but can somehow still a bit of a fag? We have always loved the idea of enjoying a weekend away not a million miles from home so we can feel we have done something with our weekend, yet not spent it on the motorway. No point checking in to a gorgeous city and fabulous hotel for the weekend if it is the other end of the
Despite being members of the National Trust for about twenty years we had no idea they owned Brownsea Island, just off Poole in Dorset. We also didn’t know that you could get the ferry over to visit for the day. Or an hour Which is all the time we could spend there recently. Because we didn’t know you could get the ferry there until 3.58pm, as we walked past the
Bladon Church, the subject of today’s Window Wednesday, is tucked away off a main road, so tucked away in fact that we drove past it twice and had to turn around to finally find it. When I started my Window Wednesday posts it was because I have always loved how windows can frame a shot. You can look through the window and see it perfectly frame the vista beyond. Or
“We have been invited to Ben and Michelle’s Wedding” “Oh that’s lovely, is it in Barnes?” “Nope, Malta” “Oh” And so that is how I found myself Googling Malta to find all I could about where to stay and what to do on the island that is often the hottest in the Med. We plumped for the little town of Silema, away from the capital as we thought it would
Window Wednesday this week is from Venice and features a first: a photo that not only did I not take it, but that I also wasn’t even nearby when it was being taken. The above pic was taken by my youngest, Ellie in Venice earlier this week. Her first trip abroad without one of us, or a teacher, just her and a mate flying off to Italy for
The great travel writer Simon Calder once said “if you want to be a travel writer, start at your own back door”. That really struck a chord with me, and whilst I have no great ambition to be a travel blogger (I have a full time job that makes leaving the house for longer than day difficult) it did make me think about how neglected our own part of the
Hughenden is on Window Wednesday this week With the gorgeous weather recently we decided to make the most of it (and our National Trust membership) and head to a property we haven’t been to before: Hughenden Manor in Buckinghamshire. Not only is the house steeped in political history due to it being the home of former British Prime Minister, Benjamin Diserali from 1848 to 1881, but during the second
We haven’t been away as a family this summer, but have spent our summer at home, with days out and some more local exploring. We have also spent quite a bit of time around the fire pit, toasting marshmallows, chatting late into the night. It is amazing how much more talking goes on when you turn the TV off. Who knew?! One of the questions that sparked the longest
Not Highclere as people often mis-hear, but Highcliffe Castle on Window Wednesday today The first clue we had were the ladies “of a certain age” occupying ever bench in the grounds. It wouldn’t have surprised me if they had a picnic and a Thermos hidden in their bags too because they certainly looked like this was a regular occurrence for them. Certainly in the summer, anyway. 4pm on a