Happy Holidays - Part One

Hello lovelies, well I'm back from my summer jaunt and what a fabulous time we had, the lovely Babs transported us 900+ miles around the Suffolk and Norfolk coastline which is remarkable really given her track record.

We had wall to wall sunshine for two whole weeks in fact it was so good we decided to stay two extra nights.
Southwold didn't disappoint, it was such a pretty place and everything I thought it would be, with it's beautiful houses and pretty shops not to mention a few rather snooty residents!
The day after we visited we heard on the local radio that things did take a slightly nasty turn at a local meeting when permission was granted to open a Costa... oh how I would have liked to have been a fly on the wall of that meeting!
Walberswick and Aldeburgh were equally as pretty but our favourite place had to be Dunwich beach, the boys had the best time ever swimming in the sea.

I managed to keep myself busy while they splashed about

even squeezing in 40 winks here and there on the lovely warm pebbles.


After six blissful nights in Suffolk we headed back up to Norfolk visiting some of our favourite places

No trip to Norfolk is complete without a ride on the Holt/Sheringham steam train

but not before a quick ride on this beauty very nearly missing the train- oops!

Wiveton Hall is always worth a visit and if you have never been then you don't know what you are missing. You could easily spend a full day there, picking your own fruit and veggies, then rewarding yourself with one of their chocolate brownies and a lovely brew as we did even though we didn't have time to pick any fruit or veggies!

Holkham beach was also on our 'to do' list after having spent many a happy hour there on previous trips.
We did some serious sandcastle building

looks like something from middle earth

ate crab from here

and did a bit of Tarzan swinging

yes that is me showing my builders bum.... very undignified I know but it made me chortle.

This is me on the very same swing last year looking slightly more ladylike

I'm hoping you are still with me and I haven't bored you to tears and if you are still reading then I thank you.
I'll be back soon with yet more snaps, including some of treasure I picked up along the way.

Hope you all have a great Bank Holiday weekend hopefully without too much rain...wishful thinking

TTFN
: )

What I did last week

Crikey I'm supposed to be on holiday, surely that means relaxing with a magazine or two, or maybe a little bit of hooky time or perhaps putting my feet up with not so little H and watching a film....alas this has not been the case and last week I was busier than ever (this week also seems to be heading in the same direction)

On Tuesday we celebrated little H's 12th birthday and as usual the sun shone, he didn't want a party at home this year and his football plans went slightly awry when only seven people confirmed due to being on their summer holidays (oh dear not enough to make two teams) so we had to cancel. Instead we had cream tea and ice creams with grandma in the botanical gardens and he bought a scooter he'd had his eye on so he was a happy chappie.

The cake was a bit of a rush and usually I put much more effort in but it tasted truly scrumptious, especially the day after when the marshmallows went all soft and gooey.


Wednesday I tootled over to Swinton to paint a friend's bathroom. I love a bit of decorating whereas she doesn't and it only took a few hours so it wasn't too bad and she loved it.
As for Thursday well I had been planning to pop down Meadowhell (as we locals call it) to the opening of Cath Kidston. I had been anticipating this day for weeks and had it all planned, I was going to get there early as I was predicting a queue, I was going to take a leisurely stroll around child/man child free and soak up the atmosphere and maybe make a little purchase or two BUT........... in a crazy moment of madness I decided I would clear out the spare room instead... WHAT WAS I THINKING?!!!

I really can't explain my actions other than I couldn't bear to walk past it and see the pile of stuff gradually making it's way through the door ( I kid you not) onto the landing. I would normally just close the door and ignore it for a few more days but as the stuff was now creeping toward the landing and blocking the doorway I couldn't even do that.
There was only one thing for it...... I rolled up my sleeves and got stuck in.
So Cath was put on hold for a couple more days and Mr. H breathed a sigh of relief.

This was taken during the big tidy up just as I was beginning to lose the will to live.


I'm still not totally happy with end result as there is still too much furniture in there but for the moment its clean and tidy and everything is in it's place.

As some of you know, we recently lost two of our three hens, first Bob then Hirsty so poor old Dame Judi was left bereft and pining, so on Saturday we decided to get her a mate with a view to getting three more when we return from our hols. Although we would have preferred to get more battery rescue hens we decided to steer clear for now as they can come with so many problems and cause too much heartache as we have found out to our cost : (

So here she is......Bobby our new girl.

I think maybe Bruce is in luuuuurve!


Our sad experiences haven't deterred us from hen keeping as they are so much fun and really rewarding but for now it as certainly put us off taking in battery rescue hens which is such a shame, maybe when we are more experienced.

Yesterday Mr. H and I celebrated our Wedding Anniversary, yes we have been married seven whole years and although it's very lovely to be married, seven years is nothing really when you consider we have been together for twenty five years *GULP!
When I say celebrated what I actually mean is we did our usual Sunday thing......Car booting, so actually not celebrating at all really!
I don't mind as we are saving our hard earned pennies at the moment as we go on our hols in a couple of weeks and as usual the camper a.k.a the money pit has had to have some work done, as anyone who has an old vehicle knows, what starts off as a little job turns into a rather large job resulting in being a few hundred pounds worse off : (

By the way how amazing was the opening Ceremony for the Olympic Games.

I have never been more proud to be British...apart from William and Kate's wedding obviously!!!

: )

HURRAY it's the weekend

Well I have survived a full week in my new job and lived to tell the tale!
It's been quite a tough week as I had become so used to being at home and pretty much doing whatever took my fancy. This usually amounted to a bit of blogging/pinterest/twitter and facebook with the odd bit of baking and crafting thrown in for good measure, and at least a cup of builders tea every hour!
Alas all good things come to an end and I find myself back in the workplace 5 days a week, but only for 4 hours a day so I suppose I shouldn't really complain.

I arrived home from work on Thursday gasping for a cuppa and generally feeling sorry for myself, to be greeted by this little package.

As you can imagine this cheered me up no end : )
Although it turned out to be a teeny bit larger than I imagined I fell in love immediately and can't wait to use it, unlike my friend - mentioning no names ahem... Donna Flower who takes it out of its box, looks at it admiringly then puts it back again!!!

Can you guess what it is yet?

Isn't it a thing of beauty.


As it's Mothering Sunday tomorrow and Mr. H's Birthday on Monday we decided to book a table here
http://www.oldsmithybeeley.co.uk/aspx014/article.aspx?CID=0&SID=36a33c82-e271-429b-a060-45be8a344026

It's on the Chatsworth Estate and a stones throw from Bakewell so plenty of walking opportunities, that's providing we can actually move after the lunch! It will be the perfect end to a tiring week.
Oh well only 14 more work days until the Easter Holidays (not that I'm counting!)


last Sunday was beautiful here in Sheffield and the sun shone all day, so we pulled on our wellies and headed out into the garden for a spot of clearing and tidying and of course the obligatory bonfire.

I think this picture was taken last year around this time. This is about halfway up the garden looking back down towards the house, so as you can tell its quite a large plot, not very wide but very long and its a fair old walk if you forget to take your trowel up to the veg patch at the very top.

this must have also been taken last year because the shed is now this colour and hopefully some time in the next month or so will become home to a few chickens - Can't wait.

and this is what I'm looking forward to in a few weeks time

Off now to make the old man a cuppa, he's been fixing a starter motor to Babs our VW, who decides every now and again to throw a tantrum if she feels she's been neglected

Happy weekend everyone and love to all the mums
: ) X