5 August 2013 Holidays

Our summer holiday this year was spent about a mile down the road from Seahouses in the North East of England.  It’s always a gamble weather wise staying in the UK and this year we hit the jackpot.  Fantastic weather and a short walk to the beach meant the holiday was fabulous.  Our cottage was just right, not so fancy to worry about wrecking it and comfortable and homely enough to feel at ease.  ‘Our beach’ was amazing, about a mile long and each time we went there were no more than 4 other groups sitting on it – it felt like we owned it.  Evenings were our favourite time to visit and have a smokey cup of tea made with teenboy’s new gadget, the Kelly Kettle.

teenboy makes tea
teenboy makes tea
holiday shoes
holiday shoes
view from Seahouses
view from Seahouses
what are they doing?
what are they doing?
our beach
our beach

Barter Books was a real find in Alnwick early in the holiday, we were mesmerised by the layout and the feel of the place, the dogs were welcome which is always a bonus and they found some books of interest too.  The shop is an old railway station and has retained many of the original features and it only sells second-hand books.  You can take unwanted books in and collect credit for them to spend in store, so simple an idea and a wonderous place to visit.  You must go. It’s got a wee claim to fame too, have a look

and, yes, I did buy one.

Barter Books inside
Barter Books inside
IMG_0627
IMG_0641Lennie finds some interesting reading Lennie finds some interesting reading

At the moment I’m spending less time blogging and more time doing so there have been fewer posts recently.  Catch up is the name of the game I guess, slowly but surely I’ll get there.  No more regeneration news, nearly decided on wallpaper and flooring for the final finishing off.  Next stop, quotes for sanding the floors.

now, here’s a rarity, ha ha

a rare photo of me, make the most of it!

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9 July 2013

What a weekend, brilliant sunshine, children outside all the time, good times had with friends of all ages, charming museum discovered and then, just to polish it all off nicely, Andy Murray wins Wimbledon.  Amazing.

Perthshire is only an hour away but this weekend it felt a million miles, we stayed at the wigwams at newmillfarm near Stanley.  They facilities are pretty simple but the welcome was warm and the location just perfect with a little burn nearby where the children, all ten of them, could go and dabble with little worry of danger.  Our car was first at the wigwams, while the children were checking everything out I managed to read a bit of the book I borrowed months ago, I seem to have forgotten how rewarding reading an actual book rather than a screen can be.

spot the dog.. all this for 2 nights (no clothes in this pile)
spot the dog.. all this for 2 nights (no clothes in this pile)
wigwam ready for delivery, they are made at the farm we stayed at.
wigwam ready for delivery, they are made at the farm we stayed at.
an actual book
an actual book
simple yet functional (sort of)
simple yet functional (sort of)

We visited Active Kids nearby the next day – so sunny but pretty windy too.  It kept everybody happy for some hours with jelly bellies, a fortress, go carts, slides, trampolines, animals and crazy golf.  Barbeques were brilliant both nights, a feast for everyone – the dogs would have had a field day with all of the dropped bits and bobs had they come too.

reggie reggie vegetable kebabs
reggae reggae vegetable kebabs

Once we were all packed up ready on Sunday we headed up to Dunkeld where there is the very charming Beatrix Potter Exhibition at the Birnam Institute. It kept boys and girls aged 4-14 interested for ages, not bad going.  There’s always one who is not so impressed!

interesting to see how the kids acted when they were playing 'teacher'
interesting to see how the kids acted when they were playing ‘teacher’
little wardrobe with dressing up clothes and intructions
little wardrobe with dressing up clothes and intructions
not loving exib but still finds something to investigate
not loving exib but still finds something to investigate

That was my weekend then, hoping there will be more like that over the next few weeks of the holidays.

Thought you might like to see how beautiful Edinburgh was this evening, I will always be a city girl even though I love a bit of country life once in a while.

view from Inverleith at 9pm tonight
view from Inverleith at 9pm tonight

Day Thirty-Four

That’s us at seven weeks now, wow, this week has really flown in.  New stairs, lights decided on, windows organised, skeleton walls with some solid plasterboard up. The progress is incredible if you look back at these.

day one, day thirteen

Here’s today’s photos, hope you like them,

front to back
front to back
back to front
back to front
from top of stairs
from top of stairs

Friday afternoons have evolved a new ritual recently, the clear up for the weekend.  The hall goes through a huge dust removal procedure (extreme hoovering) and the bathroom gets cleaned and given its weekend look.  The colours in the mat are brilliant.

our Friday bathroom
our Friday bathroom

Other Stuff

We have some new improved dogs today, I always forget how funny they look when they’ve been clipped.  I think they look at little embarassed – what do you think?

Lennie
Lennie
Lucy
Lucy

There’s a bit of a running theme going on here this weekend, F is doing a sponsored run tomorrow and C  is doing a half marathon on Sunday. The closest thing to running I’ll be doing is running after them I suspect. Good on them though.

Just took this picture of Lucy relaxing, she’s so funny.

lucy day 34 002

All that’s left to say is have a fabulous weekend x