30 Nov 2024
Three Summer Highlights
My summer was mostly spent shuffling along wondering when I would stop feeling sick or like I’d not slept in a month (still waiting for that second one to be honest). I can’t say it was my favourite way to spend the summer months but right at the start (pre-sickness) and at the end (mostly post-sickness) there were some special days that I would have captured at the time if I’d had the energy to:
My sister got married!
We had the best weekend in June celebrating my sister and her now-husband. They were the most beautiful bride and groom. From getting ready with the other bridesmaids at my sister’s flat, the white London taxi delivering us in style, the ceremony at Marylebone Town Hall, the red bus ride across London to cracking food, giant glow sticks, an excellent play list and lots of questionable dance moves at the pub; every part of the day was a joy. We also had pizza and brunch with the immediate families the night before/morning after and isn’t it so bloody lovely when everyone really gets along in these situations? Probably my favourite day of the year tbh and I love looking through the photos (captured by the same photographer we had at our wedding which makes it even nicer).
A family holiday to Devon, including a hitchhiker
Not long after the wedding, we headed off on a family holiday to Dartmouth, Devon. My parents used to spend a lot of time in Dartmouth and they used to have days that they would call ‘A Dartmouth Day’; where you would essentially while away a whole day just pottering around Dartmouth, not really doing very much. It’s that kind of place. We had quite a stressful first half of the year and, so, when thinking of booking a summer holiday, we just wanted something easy. We’re very familiar with Dartmouth and didn’t want to do very much so it was the perfect place. As predicted, everyday was just spent pottering about, mainly between the park (cos 2 year old), the beach and cafes. We were really lucky with the weather with every day but one being sunny, and it was also when we realised that we had a little hitchhiker with us, just starting to grow in my belly. I think my favourite moments were early evenings sat down by the river in the for a drink and bowl of olives, and just enjoying the view (in between chasing Alfie around of course), paddling in the sea, and sitting on a bench and eating fish & chips (where Alfie took it very personally that seagulls were hanging around trying to steal his chips and kept telling them to go away). We also stopped off in Bath on the way there and back and it was lovely to soak in the city in the sunshine.
London day: Lincoln’s Inn, sunset views and all the food
In September, just as summer was petering out, I wangled myself a weekend off parenting and spent two nights in London with two of my oldest friends. We had a little bit of culture looking around Lincoln’s Inn as part of the Open House Festival which I really liked for the Hogwarts vibes, took in the glorious golden hour views down by the river just by London Bridge and otherwise ate a lot of food and did a lot of chatting. Shout out to Comptoir Bakery which did unbelievably tasty pastries, Flour & Grape, a deliciously good pasta restaurant, Humble Crumble at Borough Market which did, you guessed it, really good crumble and Lechevalier, a cosy cheese and wine bar with amazing cheeses (I’m told the wine was very good as well, I just couldn’t sample it myself). A lovely weekend.
26 Nov 2024
An End-Of-Summer Glamping Trip In Suffolk
I booked this relatively last minute in August when I was feeling a bit down about feeling unwell a lot whilst summer whizzed on by. I thought a trip in early September would be a nice way to celebrate the end of the summer and make the most of the weather before the leaves started to fall. I imagined the weather to be warm but with that freshness and golden light that emerges as the two seasons intermingle. I imagined Alfie absolutely loving running around in the woods, rosy cheeks and mucky hands. I imagined campfires and stargazing and so much fresh air that it knocked us out at night. And we got it all.
Gary and I have been glamping a couple of times before this and are fans. In my opinion, it’s like getting all the best bits of camping but still having a comfy bed to sleep in. This really was GLAMping; our safari-style tent in Suffolk had a gas-powered hot shower and basic electricity, but it was a good gateway to seeing how we would feel about more basic glamping or proper camping with Alfie. He had the time of his life so I suppose I better start shopping for tents and camping stoves and take a few deep breaths over what my holidays might look like in the future.
Within a few minutes of arriving, once he’d gotten over his post-nap grumpiness, Alfie was having a whale of a time sitting amongst the luggage in the trolley that we pulled from the car to the tent. He ran around outside, getting excited over the field full of cows opposite and the goats/chickens/rabbits/pig next door whilst we vaguely unpacked and then sat down on the decking with crisps and drinks, before heating up the sausage casserole I’d made earlier and packed up in Tupperware.
It was deliciously quiet and dusky, and I watched a bat circling around for ages. We let Alfie keep playing until it was dark before tucking him up in the four-poster bed. It was extremely cosy in there, the three of us lying in bed together reading bedtime stories. Gary slept in the bed next door (if you count the other side of a piece of fabric as ‘next door’) and I joined Alfie in the four-poster. Slipping into bed with him was like getting into bed with a gently-snoring hot water bottle; with all the fabric hanging above our heads, it was like sleeping in a very cosy den. Obviously, we were woken up in the middle of the night by the foxes screeching but what do you expect when sleeping in a tent?
The next day started with early-morning bacon sandwiches and then my parents stopped by for the day on the way back from their holiday nearby. We whiled away the time not doing very much; sitting on the terrace, popping to the farm shop café a mile down the road for lunch, having an afternoon nap in the hammock (me) or on the sofa on the decking (my mum) or the buggy (Alfie) before driving over to The Maybush Inn. I’ll be honest, the food wasn’t great but the location on the side of the river was excellent, and Alfie had a great time getting absolutely filthy playing on the muddy beach with his Grandad.
The rain came hammering down at about 4am on Sunday morning which was cosy but not great for sleeping or for a pregnant woman’s easily-triggered bladder. Amazingly, Alfie slept through it, but Gary and I got up a little bleary-eyed. I gotta say though, this was a lot easier to deal with when stepping out to that countryside air. We went into Woodbridge in the morning and had an early lunch at The Woodyard – their pizzas are so good – before retreating back to the countryside where an afternoon nap for everyone was once again on the agenda. Once we were all up and about again, Gary introduced Alfie to the concept of collecting sticks from the forest floor for the fire. I’m not sure he realised what he would be unleashing because Alfie took this very seriously and – as it transpired – had to collect all the sticks from the forest floor. There were a lot.
When I could finally tempt him away from this activity, I took him back round to say hi to all the farmyard animals (this occurred several times a day) and to climb on the hay bales. He was in his element in his wellies, surrounded by tractors and farm life – pretty sure this kid is going to be a farmer. Meanwhile, Gary was getting the campfire going. Ooof the smell of campfire! Obviously toasting marshmallows was on the agenda and whilst Alfie wouldn’t contemplate trying s’mores, he happily sat there eating the chocolate biscuits and telling us that the fire was ‘HOT!’, as if we were the ones who kept threatening to charge towards it.
Finally, we had a clear night and the stars were unbelievable. Away from any light pollution, the whole sky was lit up and twinkling, and I actually managed to get some half-decent photos on my phone.
On our final morning, we packed up, stopped by Woodbridge for brunch at Honey & Harvey – where Alfie ate nothing but hash browns – had a little nose around the local bookshop, and then it was time to head back to brick walls and central heating.
19 Nov 2024
October Journal | To The Pumpkin Patch(es)! Plus A Seasonal To-Do List & Things I've Loved Lately
Autumnal/Christmas to-do
This is hands down my favourite time of year and whilst I try not to put too much pressure on it because I don’t want to risk making it stressful, I do like to try and soak it up as much as possible. So I jotted down a few ideas in September of things to do/watch/eat to try and embrace everything cosy season.
Do: Hunt for conkers with Alfie. Visit a pumpkin patch. Make ginger cake and do sparklers in the garden for Bonfire night. Have an autumnal and/or Christmassy weekend away. Add a few Autumn touches around the house. Cosy up under a blanket with a book, candle burning and the Netflix fire in the background. Make a hot chocolate on a rainy Sunday afternoon (okay, every afternoon). Go out for a roast. Read spooky/Autumnal books. Try and see Wicked at the cinema. Get ahead on Christmas shopping, trying to shop local as much as possible. Decorate the house for Christmas as soon as I can persuade my husband it’s not ‘too early’. Buy some Christmas pjs. Go to a Christmas wreath workshop. See the cathedral all decorated for Christmas. Go to a Christmas light display.
Watch: Bake Off, Shetland, Bad Sisters, series 2, The Holiday, Bridget Jones, The Polar Express (hoping to try this one with Alfie for the first time), Arthur Christmas, Love Actually.
Make: Soup, fresh bread, practice Christmas dinners, cosy autumnal recipes; pies, stews etc, Christmas fettucine, camembert and cranberry toasties, milk buns for Boxing Day leftovers sandwiches, Christmas cookies, cinnamon buns.
Twenty things I’ve loved lately
Visting the new Dishoom in Cambridge; so good.
Bridgerton series 3; that show is just joyful, ridiculous escapism and I’m here for it.
A little day trip into London to meet my friend’s new baby.
Alfie’s joy in conker hunting – we varnished all the ones he collected and put them in a big jar with some fairy lights, and it makes a cute autumnal decoration.
An autumnal wreath on the door; yup I’m that person and I don’t even care.
Killing half an hour by letting Alfie run amok in the toy shop. Easy pastime, great way to put together his birthday/Christmas list.
Golden autumn leaves everywhere. Alfie scooping up big handfuls and throwing them above his head.
Baking diary milk and cinnamon cookies.
Misty mornings with dewy spider webs in the trees.
Baby kicks really starting to – excuse the pun – kick in.
Alfie’s sheer joy in drinking hot chocolate.
As sad as it sounds, the absolute satisfaction of cleaning and tidying the house and sitting down with a candle burning, the Netflix fire on the telly and a freshly made hot chocolate.
When your kid and one of your oldest friend’s kids start developing a cute little friendship.
Alfie offering to ‘help’ grate the cheese, turning round to find him nibbling on an entire block of parmesan.
Fenland sky sunsets.
Pumpkins on doorsteps.
Buying all of Alfie’s birthday/Christmas presents and briefly, just for a split second, feeling like I was vaguely on top of something.
Alfie insisting on me putting my coat on because he didn’t want me to be cold.
Buying an air fryer; the trend finally got me.
Baby scan and little one being nice and healthy.
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