Biggest update ever!

I am finally back home and getting back to normal after celebrating my 30th up in the Lake district. We had a wonderful time staying at Ann's Hill Lodge, Bridekirk (Near Cockermouth). There was a hot tub, a breakfast basket every morning, speakers fitted into the bathroom ceiling, where you could relax in a huge copper bath, and the lovely Vanessa, who owns the Lodge, even made me cupcakes for my birthday :)

I am also taking an idea from the maker of lovely things, Lee May of Bonbi Forest. She is in the middle of her 29 Project, where she takes a photo every day for the final year of her 20s. Obviously I am too late to say ta ta to my 20s, but thought I would give a big 'howdy' wave to my 30s instead. For someone like me, who always forgets to use a camera, this will be a very challenging excercise. So I have a couple of pics from the beginning of my holiday, and then the 30 Project begins :)

The night before we left for the Lakes, Lauren Child, author of Charlie and Lola and Clarice Bean, gave a lecture at The Lightbox in Woking. I have it in my head that one day I would like to write a children's book, so I found the talk really inspiring. At the end I was able to get my copy of Clarice Bean signed :)

We travelled up to the Lakes on Friday. On the Saturday we went to the Taste Cumbria Food Festival in Cockermouth where we spent far too much money on handmade chocolates, strawberry vodka, bread, dipping oil, chilli sauce and Wild Boar Burgers - Yum! For the last part of the afternoon we went on to Keswick, where we stumbled across the Pencil Museum, home of the Derwent art pencil, it is only small, but we did find it interesting. This is part of a pretty display of pen nibs.

We also took a walk through the town up to Derwent Water.

30 Project

Day 1 : My birthday!

Our breakfast arrived with some adorable little birthday cupcakes!

In the evening our host Vanessa dropped us down at the Royal Yew for my birthday meal. It was wonderful, the food was lovely and came in unbelievably large northern sized portions.

Day 2:

We went back to Keswick and took the launch around some of Derwent Water. This is the jetty where we were dropped off ready for Cat Bells.

On our return, from a nearby village, I took a little pic from the jetty.

Day 3:

We began our walk up Wansfell Pike. The beginning of the walk takes you passed a waterfall in Ambleside, this is taken from a bridge at the bottom. I didn't take any photos after this point as I was too busy getting puffed out on the never ending steps up to the summit of Wansfell Pike :) It wasn't all hard work though, we stopped at Troutbeck half way round the walk and went to The Mortal Man for a lovely pub lunch. Who can say no to a venison, pheasant, and rabbit pie after a couple of hours walking?

I loved the hallway at The Lodge where we stayed, it had a really high ceiling and a pretty chandelier!

Day 4:

Just one of the scrumptious breakfast baskets left at our front door every morning. Spot those homemade muffins, possibly the best muffins I have ever tasted!

After breakfast we went to an animal farm where I fell in love with this Tapir. I love their noses, they remind me of Cedric Sneer from The Raccoons (he was actually supposed to be an aardvark but I'm not convinced) :)

Day 5 :

We took a visit to Windermere, taking another launch back to Ambleside. It started off pretty misty, but then brightened throughout the day.

The Copper bath!!!

Day 6:

I took a couple more photos inside the Lodge as we wondered around getting ready to leave, this is the wood burner in the second sitting room.

The second bedroom.

Now I know this probably isn't exciting to most people, but as soon as we arrived home Friday night, I had to put the adaptable shelves we had bought at Lakeland, Windermere, straight into the herb and spice cupboard, and now it is so much tidier!

Day 7:

The walls in our house are bare. We have had some empty frames sitting on the floor for a while now, but finally, we now have 3 Rob Ryan cards in a frame, not only that, but the frame is now actually on the wall!

Day 8:

Yummy gingerbread we bought from the Grasmere Gingerbread shop.

Naughty cat, I had opened my wardrobe for one second and in he popped. You can see by the motion that he realised that he had been rumbled, and was in mid escape :)