Sunny garden days

 Camper van eggs in the garden for lunch.

Playing with windmills

Charlecote Nursery

This summer I have had a few trips to Charlecote Nursery which is just so lovely - it's across from the National Trust house (Charlecote Park where the Lucy family lived - fabulous orangery tearoom and croquet on the lawn if you wish) and is worth a wander and a plant purchase or two, they also sell fruit, veg and ice cream and fresh bunches of flowers that are grown there.
Definitely a great choice for a simple daycation.

I'm really getting hooked on the camping lark - having borrowed the Cool Camping Scotland book from the library I am now planning a trip to Norfolk with a friend - we are spoilt for choice on where to stay - all the campsites on the website look so unique and inviting and many allow campfires which is fab. We will take 2 tents and she will take her dog and I will have Martha so it should work out pretty well.


I told Martha we were planning a trip next month and she said "I take my boots" so she is all set to go!

Books, baking & bags

Martha and I had a trip to the library which Martha loves - so much so, that she had a little meltdown when we were leaving as she wanted to "stay inna libey" so we had to forego the usual sticker to make a point about good behaviour!

Today we returned nice and quietly and got the sticker of course!

Before we scuttled out yesterday I managed to borrow a book for myself "Cool Camping" which is lovely as it shows many of the places we visited during our holiday.

Martha got a great haul of books which will be read several times and returned for a new batch very soon.

We also made our first batch of bread - I have wanted to make bread for years so I have finally done it. The mixture was stickier than I imagined so I will tweak it a little. I followed the recipe from TheQuinceTree65

Homemade bread is always so yummy.

I have frozen most of it to stop me eating it all straight away.

Popped into Leamington and spotted this bag which feels so holiday-ish that I had to buy it.

Birthday at Knaresborough

Knaresborough was the perfect place for a picnic to celebrate Mike's birthday. It was really hot! The one day in the last week or so that was like proper summer. Mike's mum made a lovely chocolate cake for him and we ate it by the river after lunch.

Martha loves cake! When anyone is having a birthday she is always excited about the "special cakey" I love it that she is excited about that rather than presents and stuff although I'm sure that time will come.

If we can keep her thinking that birthdays are about treats and celebration rather than getting things then that would be great.

The River Nidd at Knaresborough

Martha and I also made cake for Daddy which we had when we got home

 

The birthday boy sporting his mum's sunhat.

Happy Birthday Mike - have a happy year xxx

Weekend at HQ

We went for a lovely, long weekend in Yorkshire to visit Mike's parents. The weather was good and we took a trip to Goathland, famous for steam trains a few of which we watched and also the location of Aidensfield the town which featured in Heartbeat.

We stopped off in Pickering on the way home where we had spent a few days on honeymoon. Nice to pop back and have another look. 

Martha had a lovely time with Grandma and Grandpa, playing in their garden, having stories and dancing to Grandpa's piano playing. 


We returned home to Warwickshire on an AA truck which was an extra thrill for her!

Water, water everywhere....

Here in leafy Warwickshire we are miles from any water with the exception of the canals.

In Scotland we saw an abundance of loch, river and sea views, all awesome. I think I took that for granted when I lived there and realise now how much I miss it. The area where we live now is very beautiful but in a completely different way.

Glen Etive

Bay on Ardnamurchan Peninsula

Picnic spot overlooking the sea

View from the Fort William to Mallaig train journey.

Glencoe Lochan

Baking and Helping

It's only recently that I first baked with Martha - naturally we made fairy cakes but she was not at all happy that we had to wait 12 minutes or so while they baked before we could eat them.

This time I thought crispy cakes would be good as they are almost instant.

Testing - fortunately it was only the 3 of us who were going to be eating the finished product!

Happiness is a chocolatey face :)

Chocolate crispy cakes with white buttons.