A Weekend Together ...

... as a family of four again. :)

Last weekend my Husband and I drove Up North to see Fay and Jay.  We picked up the children and at Fay's suggestion headed to Trentham Gardens.

It was a little breezy, but we were well wrapped up.

The gardens are beautiful at this time of year, with lots of grasses swaying in the wind.

Jay couldn't resist climbing this pole! :)

Afterwards we headed to The Picture House in Stafford for our evening meal.

They have movie nights here, but unfortunately this wasn't one of them.

The next day dawned bright and sunny in Birmingham, with no sign of the predicted storm. While my Husband picked up Fay, I met up with Jay at his university.

We all met up at the Bullring for some Christmas shopping

and sight-seeing.

Afterwards we looked around the uni.

It all looks so late at night, but it was late in the afternoon as it now gets dark so early!

 Was it wrong of me to want him to get wet? :)

 Afterwards we ate at the Handmade Burger Co. where they also cater well for vegetarians.

Sadly, it was then time bid goodbye to the children as they had lectures in the morning.

We decided to stay in Birmingham for Monday morning, to let the storm pass as it had hit the South of England.

 The Iron Man by Antony Gormley.

 Jay had told us about the new Birmingham library so we took a look.

I liked the roof gardens

and the views they afforded of the city.

 And just in case you had forgotten it's nearly Christmas ...

... the decorations are up in Selfridges!

Am I allowed to say that I have completed 75% of my Christmas gift shopping?! ;) Pj x

Days 294 to 302

Playing catch-up again with my 365 photos! This batch sees me past the 300 mark! Wow, I can't quite believe that there are only two months left of both my photo challenge and the year!  It's a little scary to think that in a couple of months Christmas will have been and gone!

Day 294 of 365

A quick display at school.  I literally just hacked at some black sugar paper as time was short!

Day 295 of 365

It may be October, but my roses are still in bloom. So far it has been quite mild here.

Day 296 of 365

I fell in love with these sheepskin boots earlier this month and couldn't resist going back to buy them!  I don't know how practical they are in wet weather, but my feet will be toasty.  Ella was very interested in them when I took them out of the bag.

Day 297 of 365

Our new mattress has arrived ... vacuum-packed!  It was funny to see it rise to its full depth once on our bed.

Day 298 of 365

I have been busy knitting this bat for a Halloween Swap.  I finished him on Friday and whisked him to the post office just before closing time.

Day 299 of 365

Up North to see our babies.  We had a lovely weekend together (which I will post about separately).  On Saturday we visited some gardens and saw this giant wicker cat on a shed roof.

Day 300 of 365

Rock-a-Bully at the Bullring, where we went shopping on Sunday.

Day 301 of 365

Driving home Monday afternoon after the storm had passed.  For those of you outside of the UK, Sunday night a storm hit our shores with higher than usual winds.  We missed it where we were, but some places were badly hit as trees fell down and took power lines with them.

Day 302 of 365

A lovely sunny day.  No work as it is half term here, so I spent the day in the garden.  The clocks went back at the weekend, so by 5pm it was too dark to see what I was doing!  I have started to dig up my dahlias for the winter and I brought a few blooms indoors.  Some dahlias are still in the garden as they have lots of flowers on them, but I must lift them before the frosts.

As you can see I have some Halloween decorations out; maybe I should have lit that candle as the lighting in the photo looks dark!  :)

Three Magical Days

Last week we spent three magical days in Dorset, to celebrate our Silver Wedding Anniversary.

The highlight of our trip was our accommodation - we were going glamping for the first time!  In fact this was the very first time I had ever spent a night under canvas, so I was rather excited to say the least! :)

We arrived under blue skies, which was a relief as it has been pouring with rain when we left home.

 The walkway to our home for the next two nights ...

 ... a yurt named Coracle.

 We even had our own tree shower!

 The woodland setting was amazing, made even more so by the fact that we were the only campers there.

Our yurt is somewhere over there, hidden amongst the trees.

 This is the field kitchen,

 where we had tea and cakes

 and our breakfasts.

My Husband cooked breakfast for me - the first time in 25 years! :)

It was wonderful to be surrounded by the birds

and to have this view from the dining table.  I wish we had this at home!

 Some Processo may also have been drunk here on the second night!

As the sun set

 the woodland became even more magical.

My Husband lit the log burner in the yurt 

 and we made our way to the sauna,

 before barbecuing under the stars.

During the daytime we explored the local area - 

Chard, here we looked at the old lace mill and visited the museum.

Axminster to buy some deliciously stinky cheese from the River Cottage Deli.

Charmouth,

 where we hunted for fossils.

and Lyme Regis

 where we got a little wet on The Cobb!

 A coffee was in order after that! :)

All too soon it was time to say goodbye to Coracle.

 We weren't quite ready to return to reality, so we headed to Bridport for a nosey around.

 Here we bought some pastries for our lunch and headed to the beach to eat them.

The nearest resort was West Bay; we sat down on the beach with our lunch and I thought that the cliffs looked familiar ... I suddenly realised that this is where Broadchurch was filmed!

 We walked along the beach marvelling at the sandstone cliffs.

 Then walked back along the coastal path.

 Back in West Bay ... we weren't expecting to see this sign, 

 but I can report that the coffee at Broadchurch Police Station is excellent! :)

Then it was time to go home.

Sorry for the over-indulgence of photos, but this was such a special time that I wanted to record it all on my memory keeper aka blog.

Best wishes, Pj x