Days with Friends

 We caught up with S&D who we hadn't seen for a long time, had a great walk, lunch, cake and conversations then dinner and home.

Martha loved the cake :)

Summer Club

We helped with summer club at church which was a lot of fun.

Lots of kids came and joined in for "Seaside Stories"

 Lots of creative activities as well as games and drama.

Martha was officially too young but she joined in and had a fantastic week!

Buckets for the kids to take away with them.

Norfolk

 My friend was going camping with her dog in Norfolk and somehow I ended up taking our tent and Martha and I went along too.

Unfortunately I had a chest infection so was feeling rather low and this made life a little tricky while camping but as the days went on I improved and we had a good time.

Relaxed, beach, Cromer pier, sitting in the sun reading, easy cooking and good sleeping.

Perfect really!

The beach was about a mile from the campsite (this was a lot for me feeling unwell!) but we made it and it was lovely.

Cromer Pier in the rain

Our little tent

Dinner on the last night, Martha munching sweetcorn!

Vintage Fair Visit

At the weekend I headed to Stratford to a vintage fair which I had spotted online while looking for autumn fairs to book for my own business. 

It was set up really beautifully at the entrance and looked tempting but I was disappointed to find lots of 1980s stuff which for me is just not old enough to count as vintage! 

There were piles of clothes and jewellery but not as many homewares and quirky items as I would like plus lots of things were not priced and I just can't be bothered with that. I'm not too shy to ask and I'm not worried about saying "no thank you" if the price is not right for me...I simply don't want to ask 20-odd times, "how much is this?" ..."and this?"..."and these?" So I left with all the pennies in my pocket and headed to a Hathaways Tea Rooms opposite Shakespeare's birthplace.

I do love going back to Stratford. It seems like a long way back when I lived here and could wander around in the evenings when all the tourists had gone. Mike and I started going out when I lived here and would walk by the river and round Holy Trinity church. Happy days!

  

Camper van!

Cute sign!

The bell tent in the centre had a stall selling cupcakes - I resisted. They were pretty though!

Cotswold Wildlife Park

Our trip to Burford for the Cotswold Wildlife Park was amazing. My dad had wanted to take Martha for months as she loves animals and my uncle and cousin's visit was the perfect opportunity. So we all headed off in 2 cars complete with picnic (although forgot the plates so we had to stop in Stow to buy some paper ones...) 

The proximity of the animals was fantastic, the train ride round was good, the guidebook well worth the money and I popped into the shop for 5 minutes to see if there was anything good that I could tuck away. They had the Schleich animals so I got 3 that we had seen that day, a zebra-print windmill and an activity book that I will put away for future called "Things to do on a Camping Trip". 

My dad and Martha looking in at the lions.

The meerkats were funny but a little shy.

Bar-B-Q

My uncle and cousin are staying with my parents at the moment so they all came over for a BBQ and a chat.

The day started grey and unpromising but by the evening the weather was lovely.

We had fab Aberdeen Angus burgers and sausages from Waitrose - I love Waitrose :) - and salad from the garden, sweetcorn and minted buttery baby potatoes followed by strawberries with lavender sugar and cream. 

Clan gathering in Wales

Every year we have a holiday in Barmouth with Mike's parents and all the children and grandchildren. This year Martha was able to really get involved and enjoy it all. She talked for weeks about going on a donkey on the beach so we did that first and she was really happy to get up on the donkey and go!

A waffle, bananas and turkish delight ice cream at the very pink Knickerbocker cafe on the front. Lovely! I also sampled the snickers milkshake there and it was a-m-a-z-i-n-g!!

Martha on the Rupert car

On the merry-go-round at the funfair

The house we go to is right opposite the beach, a few minutes from the shops and near the funfair - just fab for little ones and big ones too :)