A trip to Knaresborough

 Hello what a lovely week we have had here, this was clearly the week we should have booked to go away but doesn't it always work out that way? We made the most of it today by having a trip to Knaresborough, what a beautiful little place that is!  We will definitely be going back there as it not that far, I can't understand why we haven't been before but I suppose there are lots of places like that.  We sat outside and had a drink after walking for two hours and it really did feel like being on holiday, just give us a bit of blue sky here in the UK and we are happy. Here are a few images from my day trip...

There were people queueing to get into a riverside cafe, the queue was really long I would have just gine somewhere else but they clearly really wanted to sit by the water.  We had a gorgeous walk along the river and the properties  overlooking the water were very nice, maybe a bit nerve wracking in high water though.

We had a nice chat with a man whitewashing the sides of the building oppsite this one, he had a beautiful venue for doing his work.

So many people out enjoying the sunshine, we really have to make the most of it.  The temperature is set to drop next week so get it while you can.

Oh I did mean to get a photo of the train station it was so pretty and I have just realised I have not got one, we were sat looking at it too.  

Here are a few of my makes...

John Kaldor sateen in duck egg, pattern New Look 6567.

This handbag with leftover chambray, denim and new cotton fabric.

This jumpsuit, I have added a few stitches front and back to this as it crosses over but hangs loose, so to be secure it needed a few stitches. Viscose challis, grey pattern New Look 

Another bag from recycled bits, the pink denim is from the hem of a pair of jeans I altered for someone, the grey a skirt from the charity shop  £1 rail, the lining recyled cotton and the foxy print is just a quarter that I did buy new,

This one is a lovely summery dress new look again ,I don't have the details to hand.  I will try and collect them together for next post.  There are a few other things that I have not had chance to share, as I film with my phone I keep having to clear and move stuff over to storage regularly.  Quite a few images I took the other day on mannequin I cleared before moving doh!  This included a top for my mum so I will retake them for the next post.

Now I really enjoyed my last read The Pull of  the Stars by Emma Donoghue, I bought that one on my last trip out and I would really recommend it.  There are a few things you need to know it is about the 1918 pandemic set on a maternity contagion ward, very well researched and interesting. So if the  pandemic is something you want to avoid, now you know. I am currently reading The Betrayals but have yet to get into that one.

Despite having a wardrobe packed with handmade clothes I had that thing this morning where I thought what do I wear? The weather has been unseasonably warm so I didn't quite trust it and having been living in tights and layers for months I was  not quite ready to face bare legs!  So I wore the trousers in the image above with a tiny denim jacket that is more of a shrug.  My husband said you could wear that jumpsuit you made the other day ( it is bare shoulders) but it is March I replied.  Anyway as it turned out I could have worn it as there were people in full summer gear everywhere, shorts sandals, vests the lot. British weather though, I was just expecting it to blow a gale or send a down pour at any minute.

We have started watching a new drama Young Wallander, I am enjoying it and my husband thinks it is a  bit slow.  

There has been  a lot of sewing as usual, my overlocker realy gave up last week then after two sessions of faffing and isisting it wouldn't beat me I fixed it, yay. My husband said just buy another you have had it years, 23 years to be exact, I adjusted the needle bar after watching some you tube, tension, etc.  Then after a week it is complaining again while working on viscose challis, it really does  not like that fabric and I know this as I tried a few others and it works fine.  Go back to working on that and it starts playing up again. Anyone else find this?

Well that is a little glimpse of the last week or so, take care everyone and if you are in the UK enjoy that sunshine while it lasts. 

September Days

 Hello everyone, a bit of a busy few weeks here.  We are  back to school  a new term and I have  caught a cold again!  I am pretty certain it is from the same little person who gave it to me before the summer hloidays because they have come back full of it, oh dear.  Anyway that aside I have completed quite a few sewing jobs but can only share a few as some of them are for Minerva videos that won' go live yet.  I am quite nervous that when they do go live people will like them/find them helpful, I hope so but I suppose I just have to get over that. 

We had another weekend away at Leyburn two weeks ago and that was lovely, we met with some of our family who have a static caravan out that way and we managed to find the most gorgeous small CL site just five minute from the site that they are on.  We had a day out in Richmond with lovely walks around the town charity shops then along the river and stopped at a little micro brewery on our way back for a drink outside.  I tried this amazing rhubarb and apple cider, liked it that much I brought some home with me. 

This is a picture I took on our walk, it was quite overcast on this particular day but still quite warm and lovely to be out.

Here I am wearing one of this months makes, this is my minerva make for the month and I used the Freya dress/top pattern to make this as I find it very reliable in fit and just very comfy to wear.  The fabric has little stars on it in peach and mint I thought it went well with our caravan but you can't really see them here in this image. 

My other Minerva make was this dress using a Simple sew pattern for the Sienna dress, I have worn it without a top underneath on a warm day but my intention is that it is worn with a long sleeve top for the Autumn.  Here I took pictures both ways so you can see the difference.  It has little bears on it so a very different fabric choice.

It is a polycotton fabric and reasonably priced if you are interested, although wearing little bears on your dress may not be your thing!

After I shared my last few £1 buys from the charity shop I got a few more ready to remake, as soon as I get a minute I will share those.  I have just the plan for one of the dresses based on a pattern I have seen, I will not be buying the pattern as it is about £18 but I will be copying the image. 

On Thursday we went to the cinema I really enjoyed it, we went to the Penistone Paramount and this is a lovely old fashioned cinema that still has the original seats, curtains and half time intermission.  It is like stepping back in time, it is lovely.  It also doesn't get full of people kicking the back of your seats and munching snacks through the films so that is a bonus.  We saw The Courier and I would recommend it. 

We have added some fake grass recently to the top of our garden just to break up the slate a bit, it is very practical with dogs although they do tend to go and do their businness right smack in the middle of it, but at least it is easy to see to pick up.  My husband fitted it and we bought it from a local carpet shop. I find this quite funny that we are technically buying carpet for the garden but our dogs just ruined the real grass when we had it, it just ended up muddy tracks where they ran around the same spots. 

A lot of things have gone over in the garden now but the Cosmos are doing so well.  My only thought is that next year I will conrol them better a s they do tend to flop every where.  I think my pear tree has some sort of disease as it does not look very well at all, orange spots on the leaves I am going to look that up now.  We have put some lights around the seat at the top of the garden, they are solar so they only come on if we have had adequate light during the day  but they look nice from the window at night when they are on.

 I hope you are all having a fabulous week wherever you are and if you are in the UK that you are  making the most of these last sunny days while they continue.

Take care. 

August...ing

 Hello everyone, we are just back from another get away in the van and I am pleased to say we another rain free week.  It was a bit cloudy most days but the sun came out here and there so I can't complain at that.  We visited Somerset and a lovely little CL site called Moorlands Farm, it had a lake on either side with ducks and our caravan and all the caravans (all five of them) overlooked the water so it really was a beautiful spot.  Be prepared holiday shots coming up...

Travelling We always try to see a bit of the area when we are away so we go to a different place each day, the local village was called Banwell.

We had a visit to Cheddar Gorge...

These are street views as all the scenic images are on my husbands camera.

A trip to Bath...

As we have dogs and are always outside on holiday we don't actually go in any of the tourist locations we just look from the street. It probably saves us a ton of money actually. 

This next place is Clevedon and a very windy day...

Then Axbridge where I had the best piece of vegan cheese cake...

I enjoy having a look around old churches.

Also on the list was Western supermare but I have no pictures for some reason.  In all a lovely week and a great caravan site.

Sewing I have done a few more recycling projects on charity shop £1 finds and videos to go with both.  The first was a dress that I made into a playsuit, it was not quite warm enough to wear on holiday this time but if the sun comes out this week I am wearing it.  I used Burda magazine from July last year for the pattern and had to do a bit of creative joining of pieces to make it work.

I love the look but does anyone else agree that jumpsuits and playsuits are not at all practical.

Here is the video link https://youtu.be/OjTYzgs6sXA

Then I had another dress that I bought weeks ago again off the £1 rail and once more used a bUrda magazine pattern.  This time it was from the August magazine and a top.

Here is the video link https://youtu.be/QxbOFw-SQvg

My Minerva make for this month is this skirt I love the pattern on this one...

Reading quite a few good books this month so I will do a separate post on that later, are books just better when you have more time do you think?

Baking a new york cheesecake a vegan version, quite expensive to make but I am so pleased with it.

Watching Gone for Good  a french drama and I am loving it.

Practising my Spanish but feeling I will never be a speaker as I only practise alone.

Loving the long summer days and feeling sad they will soon draw in.

Reminding myself to love all the seasons in relation to my last comment!

Feeling grateful.

Have a lovely week everyone. Take care. 

Summer Days

 Hello everyone I hope you are all having a good summer, we have just had a week in Angeles a week ago and the weather was very good.  We stayed on a lovely CL caravan site that has just six caravans and each pitch had a little garden of its own with a picnic table and an umbrella.  It really is one of the nicest sites we have stayed on and we enjoyed it so much that we have booked to return next year.  There is no guarantee that we will have the same weather but you can never know in the UK can you, you just have to book and hope for the best!   I am sharing a few places below, there  are not too many photos as I think my husband took more than me on the proper camera and I have not transferred those yet.

Here are the dogs waiting patiently for the awning to be put up ;)

A bit of the sea, a bit  choppy on this day but we did find a beautiful coastal walk.  This was at Benllach.

It was quite primitive feeling on parts of this walk and ferns everywhere, really beautiful and these pictures do not do it justice.

Here we are at Beaumaris...

This is a pub beer garden around the back, my husband nearly walked past because he said oh there is no outdoor seating in these pubs on the main street.  I said no lets look through some have court yards and how about this beauty!  It felt like we were somewhere Mediterranean.

This is  Bangor Pier...

As I mentioned the weather really held up for us, it had just started to turn on the Thursday and we came back then.  We could have had another night but a storm was coming and as any campers any know we wanted to pack away the awning while it was dry and avoid travelling back in bad weather.

Red Wharf Bay and this little one looking sheepish after trying to wolf down a jelly fish and then being sick!  Had me in a right panic he did.  He was fine, it was dead and it came out instantly, there were dead ones everywhere so we came off the beach, with three dogs it was too stressful watching what they were trying to sniff. 

Below is Moelfre where the lifeboat is, this was another beautiful coastal walk...

I was trying to get an artistic shot of the wild flowers here.

Finally a picture of the dogs having a paddle, we don't ever let them off on beaches unless it is out of season and very deserted and we only go on where allowed.  After the jelly fish incident I am  very wary too.  We were at Treadurr here...

We are off on another adventure soon, I hope you are all managing to get a bit of a break this summer.  I have caught up with  a few friends and I am off to do that again now.  I do love the summer break, take care everyone and I'll be back soon. 

 

10 Reasons to Holiday in the UK

 Hello everyone I hope you are having good week, I thought I would post a little about UK travel (or a staycation as some like to call it) as there has been so much talk about it recently and also we are just now starting to get out and about on our own travels. I think sometimes people feel that it is not exciting enough or that they are missing out somehow and that is a shame as there is so much to see and so many benefits.

I have heard a little of this talk myself this week hearing people complain about how dreadful it will be if they can't get abroad and have a proper holiday, I know this is how some people feel and a very recent way of looking at holidays I think as years ago travel abroad was not the norm.  Somehow the idea of a holiday has become linked with travel to another country and anything different from this can be viewed as a compromise.

So I  have a list of my reasons why I think a holiday in the UK is something you should embrace and I am going to start off with a an image of me sitting outside our caravan last weekend.

1. It is so much more accessible, in terms of getting around, cost and being available as an option to more people. I will get to each thing in turn in a minute but if you just stop and think about what is involved in travel  to another country there are a whole list of things that need to be in place before you even set off.  That involves passports and other documentation depending on where you are travelling, foreign currency, holiday insurance in case you are taken ill or are the victim  of a crime while away or extra vaccinations depending on what part of the world you are visiting.  It all adds up to quite a bit of paperwork and expense. A holiday in the UK can be affordable for many people as there are so many options from renting a caravan, pitching a tent sorting a house share, bed and breakfasts and hotels if you want something more fancy. You can be away in a hour if you stay close to home, hop on a bus, train or take the car if you drive and there is no hidden expense. 
2. The expense, I think we can all agree that holiday in the UK can also be very expensive depending on what you book but if we are being conscious of the cost it is so much much affordable to holiday closer to home.  There are of course all the factors listed above that will not be required and will therefore save you a lot of money. That is a big saving before you even choose where you want to travel to and also a part of the holiday cost that is a little hidden and that people just forget about. Your transfers to and from the airport, this may be parking for a week or two or getting a taxi, this may happen at both ends of your journey and can sometimes be very expensive when you arrive. The cost of eating while travelling and once you are away, again this may be dependent on what form of accommodation you chose but food can be expensive if you have not rented a space with cooking facilities. Losses on currency exchange I know a lot of people pay on cards these days but differences in rates can still have an influence on how much things cost while you are away and whether or not you get good value out of your holiday.  If you stay in the UK the travel alone can be so much more affordable, knowing your own surroundings means you can self cater and know how to shop if you need to stick to a budget while away. You can buy or borrow a tent to make it super affordable or look into house swapping.  If you want more luxury a good hotel in the UK will still all expenses considered still work out cheaper than more basic accommodation abroad if you take out all the other hidden costs I mentioned. 
3. Timings, now this can be anything from when you are able to travel to how long it takes to get there. So if we begin with travel to your destination just a short flight is made into a longer journey when you factor to in transport to the airport, check in times at the airport, waiting for your baggage at the other end.  Then you have transfer times to your holiday destination (these can be quite a journey as well depending how far from the nearest airport you are) then check in and settling in.  This alone can leave people tired when they arrive but most people just accept this as part of their holiday. The other timing issue I find is when you can travel, holidays abroad are very much dependent on flight times and ferry times etc. This again largely depends on where you are going but it often needs a fair bit of planning ahead.  When you travel in the UK I find you have so much more flexibility in when you go, if you are staying in a rented house this is usually still Friday or Saturday change over but when you set off from home is in your power.  You usually roughly know the travel time and there are no long waits in airports, no waiting for luggage. If you are camping this can be sometimes spur of the moment, spot a nice weekend of weather and try and book a spot on a quiet site.  This has been our reason for returning to caravaning we want to be able to make the most of the sunshine here in the UK.
4. Seeing the UK, how much of the UK have you seen and experienced? I like to watch travel shows about the UK and I have to say I am always jotting down new places that I want to visit. Walking shows are good like the one by Julia Bradbury and the shows about train journey's also show a lot of what there is to offer. Even if you travel to a few favourite locations each year you are bound to find something new if you look.  Try looking on the local town pages for what is going on and the top attractions in the area. You could make a list of places you would like to see and plan your holidays around that, or is there a theme park or attraction you would like to visit? Maybe decide on a weekend nearby and make that just one of the things you do that weekend.  We love Whitby and one time when we visited the Abbey there was a live theatre group in the grounds doing a production of Dracula, we all sat on the grass and watched.  We had been many times but never seen that before.  Below is a picture of the pretty town of Congolton that we visited on our last weekend away last week.  It is not that far but I had never been, then was a gorgeous country park where we walked.  These trips out do not need to cost a lot of money or be big organised events.
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. Being green, not taking that long haul flight is one way of doing your bit for the environment, if this is something that you are keen to do more of then not taking holidays abroad is a big one.  There are also holidays here in the UK where you can actively get involved in conservation if that is your kind of thing, and supporting nature reserves by using the cafes is one small step that you can do.
6. Supporting the economy, this has been mentioned a lot recently too in the news but why not give it a boost by spending your money here at home. We all want local businesses to do well and it may be that the UK takes a big hit by so many people taking their savings elsewhere every year. I don't think that it has to be any major spending either, if we all just our money to the local high streets while we are away even for the little things like cosmetics and that book you want to read. Wait until you are away before buying on Amazon then buy what you need in the local shops and bookshops. 
7. It teaches you to embrace the weather! A holiday doesn't always have to be about the sun although we do look out for good weekends mainly because we have dogs to walk. There are many indoor activities and if you look out for them there are so many things you can do in a new town that don't need sunshine.  We are used to rainy days here in the UK so having a holiday can mean you have a plan for what to do when the weather is not great.  I have to say we travelled to Cyprus one year for Christmas and it rained all week, without the sun there we couldn't find anything local to do near our resort in poor weather.  That is not to knock Cyprus but rather to highlight how much easier it is to source things to do here in the UK without any language barriers and also if you were not relying on the sun to begin with.
8. To learn more about your local history, when my boys were young we were in the English Heritage and spent many weekends exploring castles and houses.  |If this is something you have not tried I suggest you do as the cost of a family for a year is well worth all the days out you can have. It is great for children and adults, some sites allow dogs in the grounds but not buildings.
9. To feel good about where we live, I don't if you have heard this but when asked if they have been away a lot of people say oh yes but we only went to (insert UK location here!), people seem to apologise for having a holiday in the UK as if it is not as good as one in another country and that we should hang our heads and ask for forgiveness! The UK is beautiful and we should celebrate that, if you don't agree I think maybe you need to see more of it. We need to get out and teach our children what a brilliant place this is and how lucky we are.
10. You can take your pets, now this is a big one for me as a dog owner and of course it depends where you go but we always take our pets away with us.  We  have rented houses, cottages, static caravans and owned our own touring vans and they always came.  No need for kennels, house sitting or the worry of them pining for us staying in the UK means the whole family can go away if that is what you want.

Ok that was a long one, thank you for reading if you made it to the end.  I thought I would try something a but different today so please let me know if you enjoyed it and what your thoughts are on any of it.  Take care. 

Anglesey

Well some incredible has happened this week, we have actually been away on holiday in the UK and had sunshine almost everyday.  The only day it was overcast all day was Sunday, so we are very pleased.  More so because before we went away my husband said if we get another week of bad weather we are never booking anything again!  Oh dear, as we usually turn the weather as soon as we set off on the road.

We visited Anglesey Cemaes Bay and headed off to a different spot in the surrounding area each day.  It is beautiful and we will definitely be returning one day, we did lots of coastal walking up and down hills and saw some picturesque seaside towns.

Cemaes Bay itself is worth a visit, it is small and quiet but has everything you need, on the beach is St Patricks's bell, legend has it that St Patrick was shipwrecked at Ynys Badrig where he founded his first church and the bell has been erected in honour of that.

We had a walk up to the little church along the coastal path, it is small and well kept with information about the place inside.  It has an honesty box to support the upkeep and I think it is good that there are still places where this trust in visitors exists.  There are many places where even the toilets are locked.

This was our first day so the overcast one!

The next day we visited Breakwater country park, this was a wonderful place walks in different directions some of which were quite challenging.  There was an outdoor gallery and that was interesting to look at.

One of the views on our walk

I  took loads of these so I feel I may bore you with them, let me know if you want to see more and I will put them in another post.

We also visited Treardurr  Bay, this was much busier than where we stayed and with the baking sun you really could have been anywhere in Europe.  It has a lovely stretch of beach and was full of families enjoying the weather. 

 Amlwch was the nearest small town with a supermarket and used to be a port where copper was exported all over the world.

Beaurmaris  was beautiful with a pier and lots of pretty painted buildings, though I have to say we found that every where we went. There were certain parts of the beach where the dogs could go on so we let them have a little paddle but we are not sitting on the beach types, so not being able to access all of it was not a problem.

I don't know why but my dogs couldn't wait to get off here, it was as if they knew they were not on solid ground and no it wasn't too hot I checked with my hand.  We had plenty of rests, drinks sat under tables (the dogs not us!)  in the shade and we never stay out for a full day just a few hours here and there.

 Our house that we stayed in had a hot tub and before we left I made this bikini, the yellow straps are recycled from an old one but the rest is made from bits of scuba from a dress I made.  I just used an old bikini as a template.

Well that is all for now, my husband has more photos so I will share more in a different post if you are not already fed up of my holiday snaps. Back soon.