Probably because I’ve been on my own quite a lot lately, and because they’re already starting to appear on social media, I’ve been thinking a lot about what’s happened this decade as it starts to come to a close.
Read moreA whole lot of life
Moor Please!
This is the last of my holidays posts, which makes me super sad. They’ve been really fun to write and allowed me to think back on what a wonderful time we had, although it went by in a flash within a very busy few weeks! We had a lot of fun on every day trip and at every place we visited, but I think I’ve saved the best til last, although it was a close fought thing! On our anniversary, which was whilst we were in Devon, we spent the day up on Dartmoor and I can’t describe how truly happy I am when I’m there.
There’s something about the Moor that calms me, makes me feel like I belong nowhere else and brings a sense of peace over me that I don’t really find anywhere else. It brings back a wealth of childhood memories and makes me marvel at the natural world. Dartmoor will forever be where I long to go back to time and again. From driving around the narrow roads along the banks of the Dart, to the wide-open views from the tops of the tors, there’s something beautiful to see at every turn. I love the feel of walking across the soft, springy grass near the banks of the rivers and streams just as much as I love scrambling up the rocks and stomping through the pine forests.
Read moreA Day on the Dart
One of the days of our holiday was spent exploring two towns that sit on the River Dart. Once the Dart comes down from the moors at Buckfastleigh, it winds its way through the South Hams region to Totnes. This small but important town is one of the few crossing points and therefore is a pivotal town in the district.
Read moreGoing Coastal – Devon
Following on from my post about the Cornish Coast the other day, we also spent time exploring the South Devon coastline too. Our first sight of the Devon coast (apart from when we took the train to Exeter) was at the end of the day we’d spent exploring the towns of Dartmouth and Totnes. From my teenage years holidaying in this area, I remembered the coast around here well and remembered that the stretch of coast from the Dart to the Kingsbridge Estuary has a coast road famed for it’s stunning views. As my husband hadn’t been on this road before and the late afternoon sun was shining, we decided to take the long way back to the campsite and take in the stunning views.
Read moreGoing Coastal – Cornwall
Whilst on holiday in May we took the opportunity to explore the wonderful coastline of the South West. Our first taste of the beauty of the coastline was in the town of Marazion when we visited St. Michael’s Mount (post here) and then again the next day when we went to the Minack Theatre (again, post here).
Our first full day on the coast was the following day, where we decided to try and take in 3 coastal spots in one day, as part of a trip down memory lane for my husband and a day of exploration for myself. Our first stop of the day was the tiny village of Sennen and Sennen Cove. This beautiful little village and gorgeous bit of coastline is almost at the very bottom tip of Cornwall and that’s exactly why we went there. Unlike the crowded and busy car parks at near by Lands End, Sennen is a peaceful alternative only a mile or so around the bay. By no means unknown, it’s a well worn path between the two, this was a great alternative to the extortionate prices of going to Lands End itself and you’re able to walk the coast path to the famous landmark instead, which is exactly what we did.
Read moreA Day in Exeter
It has been 9 years since I last went to Exeter and as our friends now lived there, we decided to plan in a trip to Exeter as part of our holiday. As they both work full time and the only Saturday we were in the South West was whilst we were still camping in Cornwall, we actually took the train from Penzance to Exeter instead of going from Devon, which would have been more logical!
One of the advantages of getting the train though, was being able to appreciate the incredible scenery of the South Devon coast. We’d been along a short stretch of the Cornish coast a few days previously and as always when travelling by car, the driver doesn’t get to see all that much as they go along so this was a perfect opportunity for us both to appreciate the beauty of the Cornish and Devon coastline.
Read moreLife is better with routine – why do I find this so hard?!
So I’ve been thinking a lot about routine and structure recently. Since starting my new job at the beginning of June, I’ve been trying to work in a vague routine. Wake at 7, out the door at 8:30am, back home at 5:30pm and depending on the day of the week, either back out for things in the evening or at home trying to balance between some time spent doing housework and making time for things I enjoy such as blogging, knitting, watching tv etc. Wrap everything up by 9:45pm so I can tidy up for half an hour or so, then I have 45 minutes (ish) to meditate and get ready for bed. This is for weekdays by the way, weekends are a bit more anything goes.
The waking up, going to bed, leaving and returning to the house times tend to be adhered to pretty well but everything else seems to go out of the window half the time. Yet, I know I feel best when I’m in a routine and being equal parts productive and resting. I am fully aware that real life cannot be portioned up into neat little blocks of time, things come out of the blue and plans change, but why, when it’s not due to out of the blue things, do I still seem to let my routine slip, knowing full well this will set me up to fail?
Read moreFalmouth and the Looe Valley
Back in May we had a really lovely time exploring Cornwall as part of our 10-day camping holiday in Devon and Cornwall.
For the first few days we were based in the pretty town of Marazion. Right down at the bottom of Cornwall, in the middle of Mounts Bay, this tiny, pretty town is known for being where the causeway links across from the mainland to St. Michael’s Mount. It was a great base for our time down there and we were able to explore lots of different areas.
Read moreSeth Lakeman Live at The Minack Theatre – May 2019
This post shows, that sometimes, everything falls into place for dreams to come true. Music has always been a big part of my family’s life, as I mentioned when writing about C2C Fest. Radio 2 was the soundtrack of my childhood. The radio was on far more in our house than the tele. We listened to it in the morning, Mum had it on all day so days off school meant I’d hear it all day time too, and then after watching some TV after school, the radio was put back on whilst we had dinner and more often than not stayed on in the evening too. When I was up in my room, I often had local radio or Radio 1 on instead.
That coupled to listening to various albums in the car and the good old days of downloading tracks off Limewire as a teenager, meant I listened to music a) all the time and b) from quite a lot of genres. Rock music was definitely a big part of my teenage years, but so was folk music. Mum and Dad are big folk fans and therefore the Radio 2 Folk Show was left on in the evening most weeks. Mike Harding’s dulcet tones introduced me to a wide range of artists. I got really into folk music for a few years between around 2008 and 2014 and have kept up with some of my favourites ever since (need to pay more attention now!) and one of my very favourite artists that pulled me in, in 2008 was Seth Lakeman.
Read more6 Years
6 years, it’s a long time in some respects, a blink of an eye in others. 6 years ago today, the world around me changed dramatically.
6 years ago today I was in hospital. I had the call I’d been waiting for, a day earlier than expected and I was in hospital in the afternoon, preparing to have open heart surgery the following day. I wouldn’t be writing this post today if it wasn’t for that. I first started writing as a way to process my emotions in the 18 months or so leading up to this day 6 years ago. It was a big part of my life and daunting to say the least.
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