Wales In Sunshine

During those most gloriously sunny days we had in April (and that are just beginning to return), Michael, I and my parents went up to Wales to visit family and enjoy the beautiful Welsh countryside. I've been up to North Wales so many times now that, while not exactly like coming home, there's something so cosy and familiar about arriving in Denbigh... So here are some pictures from our day out at Denbigh Castle and our visit to the beautiful secret garden where my cousin acquired a pet bunny! I had some issues with picture quality and to be honest I am still not happy with how these are looking on blogspot, but I so wanted to share them before going off on an adventure to Edinburgh and Dundee tomorrow and hopefully taking some more lovely pictures.

The entrance to the 'secret garden', full of beautiful garden statues and (many many) pet bunnies for sale...

We met this lovely little fellow on the way to the castle...

The building above used to be a hospital and apparently had an episode of Most Haunted filmed there once! Spooky. Suffice it to say, we didn't get any closer... ;)

Some much needed refreshment was had after a walk around the castle walls...

And we returned to the secret garden where a lovely bunny was met, cuddled, and ultimately purchased!

SS15 Supermarket Homeware

As pretty much everyone has noticed by now, supermarkets have really upped their game in the homeware and clothing stakes over the last few years - with having to compete with the recession and each other, they've been producing some really good and mostly great quality stuff for a price that won't break the bank.

As someone who often likes to change the style of their home/clothes, I'm all for this situation - I've been a big fan of Tesco homeware for the last couple of years, and when I recently saw all the fun new decor options in the SS15 ASDA home catalogue and while browsing my local Sainsbury's, I thought showing you my favourite supermarket finds for this season would make a fun post (while I figure out some issues I'm having with posting my photos on Blogger!).

George @ ASDA Morning Sunshine Hiball Glasses / Tesco Home Multi Triangles Print Cushion / Tesco Home Hello Sunshine Cushion / Tesco Home Silhouette Geo Floral Duvet Set / Tesco Home Yellow Taper Vase / George @ ASDA Enjoy The Little Things Lamp [no longer available online, similar here] / Sainsbury's Home Green Cast Iron Shallow Casserole Dish / Sainsbury's Home Dipped Mug / Sainsbury's Home Print Mug / George @ ASDA Polka Dot Cake Tins 

All the bright primary colours dominating these SS15 supermarket home collections are so gorgeous for the (hopefully) brighter and warmer days ahead - I've actually bought both those Tesco cushions to update our sofa with already, though I haven't actually got them out yet...

I especially love these retro 50s-esque glasses from ASDA - I saw a cute bottle in the same theme in the catalogue, but unfortunately couldn't find it online.

Sadly you can't buy the Sainsbury's home collection online right now, but you can have a broad look at all their current collections and some pieces online and find stores that stock their homeware near wherever you are if you like what you see. I've really been wanting a casserole dish for a while, and although I am totally lusting after this new cool mint Le Creuset collection exclusive to John Lewis, these Sainsbury's options seem just as cute and durable for about a quarter of the price.

I hope I've inspired you to consider supermarkets if you're looking for some cheap and cheerful home accessories these season! What are your favourite pieces?

A Walk In The Wild

Hello and happy weekend! Isn't this lovely spring weather wonderful?! Blue skies, sunshine and warmth just makes me feel so much better about everything.

Anyway, today I've got some more photos of our stay at Fuzzy Orchard to share with you guys - on our first full day there we took a very eventful walk in the surrounding countryside...

I never knew pigs could be so energetic until this holiday!! This pig and her friend are owned by the person who owns the house we stayed at and he encouraged us to feed them our leftovers, so we went down armed with a lovely bag of rotting food. This pig started jumping up onto the fence as soon as he saw us, oinking and snuffling in excitement!

Then the farm's sheepdog (Star) turned up and started trying to fight the pig for his food, barking and biting the poor pig's ear. Sarah, above - the biggest animal lover I have ever met - was the only one not slightly wary of the excitable pig and was even pleased when she got a kiss out of it...

From afar this looked liked a giant tree, so we made our way to it to investigate and on closer inspection it turned out to be sculpted out of a hedge - cheeky little Star accompanied us all the way there and back towards the farm (and was very protective when an annoyed farmer informed us we were trespassing...oops...).

On the way back we were lucky enough to watch the farmer introducing these triplet lambs into the field of sheep with their mum - the poor little white one seemed pretty confused, but hopefully she managed to join the others in the end...

After that we headed back to the house (with Star trying to follow again!) for a relaxing afternoon and a little evening party, surprised that there was quite so much to see in the little patch of country we managed to explore in only about an hour and a half!

Fuzzy Orchard

Just to clear things up, my title isn't referring to some slightly mouldy fruit trees (ew), but a GORGEOUS house in Somerset which I recently stayed in for four nights for my friend Amy's hen do. Fuzzy Orchard is a huge luxury holiday home in the Somerset countryside. It sleeps up to 12 people and has a swimming pool, sauna and hot tub, plus everything is totally modern and tastefully decorated and all six bedrooms have en-suites - definitely the fanciest place I've ever gone on holiday.

Amy's maid of honour Rachel did a fab job of organising the whole week down to the last detail, so we had something to do every day (more on that to come...) and everything went like clockwork. It was all a total secret as well, so you can imagine how amazing it was to arrive here!

Above is the lovely upstairs lounge (those sofas were ridiculously comfy and spacious) - downstairs there was a games room and the huge kitchen/dining room.

The upstairs balcony had stunning view of the surrounding countryside.

You could open the hot tub up to the elements or enclose it with a dome for night time. If you look in the top left of the above photo you can spot a mischievous little photo bomber...more on him to come in later posts too!

This cute little building (excuse the random upturned chair...) above was even a surprise to Rachel, as it's only a couple of months old and she booked the trip last year! Inside was a little fire pit which we roasted marshmallows over on our last night, with a bench all the way around covered with cushions and some of the softest furry blankets I've ever felt.

I wasn't originally going to devote a whole post just to the house, but it was such a huge and amazing place I thought it deserved it! And that means I can share more photos of the rest of our adventure in my next posts ;)

What's the most amazing place you've stayed on holiday?!

Clandon Park

Last Saturday, as it was such a lovely bright sunny day and we had no plans, I cajoled Michael into making a visit to Clandon Park, a nearby National Trust property. It only took us 10 minutes to drive there and then we were quickly making our way up to the beautiful old house to have a nosey around.

After grabbing a bit of lunch in the cafe, we explored the house, which was built in the 18th century. The highlight was definitely the beautiful stucco in the Marble Hall (which I sadly didn't get a picture of) - based on Classical art and sculpture, it was filled with impressive figures and intricate carvings.

There was also a small but very interesting exhibition featuring information about the time when Clandon Park was used as a military hospital during the First World War, like many similar great houses were (thanks to Downton Abbey for that knowledge!). The Surrey Infantry Museum is on site as well, but we haven't yet had a chance to visit that - maybe next time!

Cardigan - Gap, Dress - Goldkid @ Spitalfields Market, Bag - Accessorize, Brogues - Clarks, Hat - Miss Selfridge, Ring - Topshop

I even snuck in a couple of cheeky (awkward!) outfit shots...This cardigan was a massive bargain in the Gap sale and it's so warm and cozy I keep having to take it off when I'm inside as I get too hot! Definitely a good buy for this freezing weather.

The most unique aspect of Clandon Park is Hinemihi, a Maori meeting house brought back from New Zealand in 1892 when Lord Onslow, the owner of Clandon, was governor there. He dug it out of the debris of a volcanic eruption to bring it back and it's the only one of its kind outside of New Zealand that isn't in a museum.

Hope you enjoyed this little look at a beautiful house! I can't wait to get some more use out of my young person's membership and explore more National Trust properties in the area. Does anyone have any favourite NT houses in Surrey or further afield?

Resolved.

I know I'm a little late to the party, but considering it's not quite the middle of January yet I'm going to say it's still safe to post some resolutions. ;) I've never really made resolutions before but 2015 seemed like the year to do it as I'm more determined to accomplish things than ever before! So without further ado, I am resolved to:

1. Buy a new (used!) car and get back into driving. Michael and I are well on the way to having enough money to accomplish the first half of this goal, but the second is a little scarier! I passed my test in July 2009 and haven't driven since, having always been fairly nervous about it and then going off to uni in the September. I'm hoping it'll be a little like riding a bike... I'll certainly be having some refresher lessons though!
2. Keep exercising. In March 2014 I discovered that I absolutely love exercise classes, and so going to the gym magically went from a chore to something pretty fun (most of the time). I slipped a bit in the last few months of the year when moving house made the gym more awkward to get to and the days became shorter and colder, but I'm excited to try to go twice a week most weeks from now on. It's especially motivating to think that in a few weeks I'll be leaving work when it's light again!
3. Paint the house. When we moved at the end of August it was into a house that we bought - yep, I still can't believe it either - and while it's in reasonably good condition the paint is starting to look a bit worse for wear. And I'm excited to put our own stamp on the place! Now just to convince the boy that this is necessary...
4. Get new living room furniture/TV. One of the downsides to our new house is that it's pretty tiny and so doesn't actually fit our current living room furniture properly.This isn't a disaster as we inherited it from Michael's parents, so I'm super looking forward to getting some nice modern things that work in the space, and making room for a big fancy smart TV as I'm a big movie/TV buff. Watching a movie made for the big screen on a 19in TV kills me a little every time! Below are a few things I have my eye on:

Samsung 40in 3D Smart TV (John Lewis), Stanton Small Sideboard (Next)

Stanton Corner TV Unit (Next) 

1. Do a wardrobe overhaul. I love fashion and I'm looking forward to being more careful about loving everything I buy, getting some quality basics and knowing when it's fine to go for fast fashion and when to look for something more high end. This recent post on A Beautiful Mess was a really interesting insight into how Elsie does this, and her style is always on point. 
2. Blog more!! I love this little space, posting in it and interacting with other bloggers, so I really want to get it going this year and post and comment more regularly.

There are loads of other things I want out of 2015 (aim high, right!), but I think that's enough to be going on with! I'll try to update on my progress throughout the year to keep me motivated to accomplish these goals.

I love hearing what other people plan for their year - are you rebelling against resolutions or embracing the tradition?!