Norfolk? Nahhhhhh...

We've spent the last week on holiday which is always a joyous occasion! No thoughts of work, far away from theatre life, the post-kitchen mess and the five million jobs we have stacked up on our to do list. B L I S S

As we often do, we decided that it was the perfect time to try out somewhere new. I've never been to Norfolk before I said one evening, let's try there. So try we did. We booked us up a former fisherman's hut that had been converted into a teeny tiny house - perfect for two weary humans and their big yellow dog. 

It was quite literally in the sand dunes. See that gap between the bigger hut and the small shed with the red door? All you had to do was pop through there, climb up a vertical set of steps, run down the sand dune and the golden, sandy beach was right there. Absolutely flipping brilliant! Perfect for big yellow dogs who love to roll around in the sand, swim in the sea and generally lollop about in a big lollopy kind of way! 

What was not so perfect was Norfolk itself. I mean, how does one say what I'm about to say without sounding insulting? I don't mean to be offensive...but to be honest, it's just a bit behind the times. And when I say a bit, I mean like somewhere around 1984 behind the times. Retro if you will, but without that cool vibe that tends to accompany the retro-vintage thing. 

Our biggest problem was how long it took to get there. Approximate journey time going down there: 6 hours. The return home journey? Clocked in at almost 8 hours. Whaaaat? Yep, we're talking long. Funnily enough, so many people messaged us while we were there saying, why did you go to Norfolk? Takes forever to get there! Wish someone would have told us that sooner...

But! Enough of the endless journey and 1984-vibe. We did have a fun time which is all that counts (even if there is nowhere to get a decent cup of coffee - first world problems or what?!) We went on heaps of walks, from coast to countryside. We stood within almost touching distance of a giant pile of seals (is there a technical term for this I wonder?) It was so warm we sat outside and read our books! In t-shirts! In October! We found Autumn gold and toasted sandwiches the size of our big yellow dog. And we did eventually find that much coveted cup of coffee, and as if that wasn't enough we also found donuts that were made in heaven! Should you ever find yourself in Stalham, head to the High Street and go straight to Daddy Donuts - I can promise you, that you won't regret it!

Blue skies! A whole week away from the normal daily grind! It might have taken forever to get there (and back!) but it was exactly what a couple of weary souls needed. We're restored, refreshed and kind of ready to head back to work tomorrow. And we're starting to plan 2019 holidays - where should we go? Do we do 2 weeks together? Do we do three separate weeks in like June, July and September? Decisions, decisions... 

Northumberland and Chill

Do you ever get that feeling when you just know that you need a break? Everything seems to be just that little bit too much and a general air of being frazzled follows around you like a black cloud? Yeah that was us. Busy work, busy life, busy at theatre, busy busy busy - definitely time for a holiday! Good job we had one booked in then, eh? 

Oh Northumberland. You beautiful, beautiful place with your massive skies and endless beaches that often have absolutely not a soul on them except you and your loves. It's my absolute favourite place to go, and a big part of my heart lies in it. We've had fab family holidays up there as kids, we had one king-size, all the family holiday as adults that is one of the most fun holidays I've ever had, and Dave and I have had a whole heap of brillo holidays up there too in the long while we've been together. And it's really just up the road a bit so absolutely ideal for a long weekend in November. 

The house we were staying in was absolutely cute as a button, even though we arrived in the dark and toured round the tiny village of Beadnell looking for it! We spent the weekend eating, drinking, strolling the endless beaches, running up and down the sand dunes with Bob and in and out of the sea - him that is, not us. The North Sea in November? No chuffin' way!! Reading, watching tv, listening to music, just pretty much enjoying doing absolutely nothing at all. 

It has truly worked a treat. I've come back rested and ready to face the bonkers that is to come in the run up to Christmas. 

That giant smile below? Says it all really. Northumberland - you truly are the best! 

November Jollies

For the past few years we've foolishly decided that November is the perfect time to get away from it all. Not to a hot country with a beach, usually to somewhere even farther north than us that might just have snow. This year is no exception and this family of mine are off up to Northumberland for a long weekend. In November. We might freeze to death. 

But there will be endless beaches with no-one on them that Bob can run up and down to his heart's content. 

There will be some yummy, warming food, and hopefully some hot chocolate with cream and marshmallows. 

We're taking the camera, and this time we've even remembered the SD card #winning 

If we don't freeze to death I'll report back on what we get up to. Have an awesome weekend, wherever you may be! 

Holiday part 2: Sheep in high heels AKA the night of camping hell

Dave and I are big fans of camping. We've enjoyed many a holiday in the great outdoors and so from the start we've been pretty keen to see how the Bobbo would get on camping too, so that it would be another option for future holiday ideas. Instead of going full-on canvas we decided we would try him (and us) in one of these camping pod thingies that you see so much about. There was one available kinda on the way home from the Lakes so we booked it up and got all excited about having another day of holidays! 

First of all let's talk about the pod. Hmmm, in the photo that I saw it had a sink area and looked all kinds of big. When we arrived it had two single camp beds, a futon, and a teeny tiny window that let in no light. Dave described it as being a bit like a shed, for me it felt really enclosed, rather like a big wooden coffin and I was definitely not feeling it at all...and neither was Bob. On high alert from the moment we arrived, we swayed back and forth between deciding if we were even going to stay or just give it up and head home. We really should have listened to our instincts, but being the hardy fools that we are, we decided to see the experiment out and stay the night. 

Here's the pod by the way. Looks all kinds of nice from the outside...

The best part was the meal at the pub down the road. More chips were involved. And more beer too. Woop! 

We watched a glorious sunset from the top of the moors and then decided it was time to head to bed. We closed the door of the tiny shed/coffin pod and went to bed...where we didn't really sleep at all. 

First of all some sheep arrived in the field. Sheep that seemed to be wearing high heel stilettos. Sheep in high heels and wooden decking is a strange combination for humans, add in a dog on high alert, not entirely at one with nature and trouble started to brew. Deep growls from the Bobbo did not deter the sheep one bit as they continued to dance around our decking in their high heel shoes *

*side note, we got off pretty lightly we found out in the morning. One man in the field was sleeping in a tent and he awoke in the middle of the night to find a sheep head-butting him through the canvas. These sheep were all kinds of mean...

After they'd finished dancing around our decking they headed off to the bins and knocked them over too. Barmy sheep! Deep growls. There was lots of us trying to coax Bob to lie back down and ignore the sheep and all the other noises. He even got up at one point in the night and started pacing up and down the tiny shed/coffin pod...it's making me tired just remembering it. As dawn finally broke we all staggered out of the pod bleary eyed and feeling pretty sorry for ourselves. We enjoyed-ish a big breakfast, packed up the car, and set off for home. 

Valuable lessons we have learned from this overnight experience:
1. Bob does not like camping
2. Bob does not like sheep. Especially if they wear high heels and eat his kibble
3. Bob will not be coming on any camping holidays with us
4. Claire and Dave do not enjoy sleeping in tiny camp beds
5. It's much colder than you expect in a shed/coffin/pod
6. Sheep are dickheads

WWW - the week that was

I was going to call this 'The Week Without WiFi' and have this ready to go out on Monday. Ahem. Life, work, busy, yada yada. Anyway here I am, better late than never to talk about the holiday!! The holiday that after 4 days back at work and extreme busy-ness now feels like a gazillion years ago *sad face* 

So, the week that was/the week without WiFi. We went to the beautiful Lake District, we took the Bobbo with us, we stayed in a fab place that used to be a tennis pavilion that was surrounded by trees, and birds - especially robins, and speaking of special - deer! Yep we saw an actual deer in our garden! The neighbour saw three! That was pretty magical I can tell you. Oh and yep, there was no internet signal, which we kind of knew about, but closer to the truth would be that there was no signal of any kind, even mobile to send a text message. Well and truly switched off from the world we settled into an absolutely brilliant week! 

Jennings ale at the local pub

We walked, we strolled, we read books, we ate ice creams and way too many chips, we drank all the Jennings ale (has to be done really considering it's my last name and all, and no, sadly it's not my future empire to inherit...). We enjoyed glorious blue skies and sunny days (only one half day of rain in the Lakes is almost a miracle!), and if you've never been it's a stunner of a place and around literally every corner is yet another beautiful sight. Here, I'll show you a few so you can see what I mean. 

Could there be a better example of the rolling English countryside?

Those mountains are totally real I promise you!

Rydal Water - yep, glorious!

Lake Windermere and the gorgeous blue skies!

By the end of every single day we were all so relaxed that some of us went to sleep at 6.30 in the evening and stayed that way until 13 hours later...

Let sleeping Bobs lie

It truly was a stupendous week and I was really quite upset that we had to come home. 

But I guess if you went on holiday every week it wouldn't be special anymore would it? 

The holiday is not quite over though so make sure you come back tomorrow to read the next installment. There's sheep in high heels...see you then! 

Out of Office

Well hello there. Thanks for popping by. Normal ramblings will resume soon. Myself, Dave, and Bob the Dog are out of the office in the beautiful Lake District. We're hoping for some sun, a comfy bench, and some relaxing times. See you on the other side... 

HOLIDAYS ROCK part 2: English Heritage

What I'm about to tell you is the most middle class thing I will ever own up to: last year we became members of the English Heritage. Eek! I mean seriously, it's probably some kind of crime against my working class roots! Before you go all Judy Judgement on me, let me tell you a bit more of the story. 

When we were on our epic roadtrip round Britain last year we decided to call into Stonehenge, simply because we were in the area. When we got there it was a bit of a shock because man, was it expensive to get in there to see a big old bunch of rocks! I don't remember how much exactly but it was upwards of £20 each (each!) - yikes! There was some blokey standing there from English Heritage who explained to us that we could take out a joint membership which would cost this much and then we would save this much...we're normally not one to fall for that kind of thing but actually it all kind of made sense. And the savings were huge if you had plans to visit lots of sites, so a financially sound decision also. 

Fast forward almost a year later to our holiday last week. Where we were staying in Bellingham was super close to all kinds of English Heritage places so we packed our membership cards with us and swiped our way into all sorts of halls and castles and gardens without handing over a penny!

First up was the lovely Belsay Hall and Castle. As we had Bob the Dog with us we couldn't go into the hall but we spent a lovely afternoon wandering around the woodland and cragside walks, both of which were frankly an absolute delight!

Next up was Hadrian's Wall. We went to two spots along the way here: Housestead's and Chester's Roman Fort. If you're not into seeing old ruins and bits of wall that date back 2000 years, this probably isn't going to be your thing, but it was actually pretty interesting, and Chester's in particular is in a beautiful setting. We enjoyed a lovely cuppa and a sticky bun in the cafe and the ladies who worked there made a huge fuss of Bob and gave him a saucer of biscuits for free! 

Our final visit was to Aydon Castle. We were actually recommended this by someone from English Heritage when we visited Belsay, who described it as a hidden gem at the bottom of a dirt track - with a description like that we couldn't resist! It really was all kinds of gem-like too. Built in the 13th century it's the only castle with all the rooms still remaining, and the added bonus was that as it is unfurnished we could take Bob in too! He only woof-ed once when he heard people upstairs in his castle - how rude...! We wandered from room to room admiring old beams and cupboards in walls, but the most exciting thing of all was being able to walk round the battlements at the top! Normally these kind of things are all closed off but you could freely trot around pretending to be a soldier, or you know, just be cool and walk round all chill like...

If you're ever in the area, I would definitely recommend a visit! Camera-trickery aside, it really was a lovely find and a great end to the holiday. 

So the moral of this tale? If like us, you're willing to accept the complete and utter middle-class-like shocked face emoji of being a member of the English Heritage you can find out more here. I never thought I would say it, but on the way home we were already talking about other places we can visit to make sure we get the most out of the membership and plan to rejoin when our current one expires. I don't think you can get a better recommendation than that! 

HOLIDAYS ROCK!

As this goes live I'm back at work and the holiday is officially over *sob* Which is very sad as it was an absolutely bloody brilliant week! Northumberland you did us proud! We only got rained on once, which for North East England in May is pretty amazing, the rest of the days it was glorious blue skies, warm sun, and epic relaxation and chilling out. Some days we went for an all day adventure, other days we lazed around til lunchtime and did a couple of hours strolling in the afternoons. The location was gorgeous and really couldn't be a better example of England's green and pleasant lands. Roll on the next one! Take it away photos! 

Blue skies, green fields, and sheep - England in a nutshell!

The South Riverside Walk at the North Tyne River

Kielder Water and Forest Park

Kielder Water and Forest Park

My trusty walking boots at Kielder Waterside

Belsay Hall and Castle - the Cragside Walk

Belsay Hall and Castle - the Cragside Walk

Belsay Castle, and the fireplaces in the high walls!

The North Riverside Walk at the North Tyne River

Hadrian's Wall!

In the grounds of Chester's Roman Fort

Aydon Castle - a total hidden gem! 

Time out

I'm interrupting normal proceedings and going radio silent for next week. Me and Dave and Bob the Dog are off on our jolly holidays and the plan for the week is total and utter relaxation, lazy contemplation, and all the ice-creams everyday. See you on the other side...

Last One!

I promise, I promise, it's the last holiday pic. But let's just take a moment to admire the beauty of the very first ice cream, served from a bobbing canal boat in Stratford Upon Avon. Yum!

Roadtrip Part 4 - I forgot about Stonehenge!

From Wiltshire we were only about 20 minutes away from Stonehenge so decided to stop off along the way. We pre-booked our tickets, which I would highly recommend, as it's busy, way busy, which means lots of queues. The whole timed thing is a bit of a nonsense though, so don't feel too tied down to your arrival time. And also don't bother with the bus, instead take a stroll along the road to the rocks, much more preferable than a crowded bus.

Once again Dave had been, but a long long time ago. So long ago that the visitor centre didn't even exist! As I said, we scrapped the bus idea and decided to walk to the stones. The road is available for pedestrians also, or you can head off on one of the guided public footpaths to cross a bit of country at the same time. It doesn't take long to walk and was so much more enjoyable, for us anyway. The buses all seemed crowded and full of hassled looking visitors.

I was really surprised by how interested I was in Stonehenge. I always thought it was just a bunch of rocks but it was fascinating to be so close to something so old and steeped in so much history and myth and legend. I didn't get a spiritual vibe, but the crowds were big and the walkways were busy. There are apparently tours that are available later at night which will allow you into the stone circle and I would think at sunset, that would be something quite spectacular, but the daytime visit was satisfactory, for us anyway.

They're big. Like big ass big! And it's hard to imagine how the people managed to move them and get them there in the first place. Once you get past the first bit of walkway, the crowds disperse slightly and if you walk all the way around you can get much closer to the stones than you initially think. From there you get a real sense of the scale and size of the rocks and they're pretty impressive.

All in all, it was well worth the visit and even though it's expensive, it's an impressive sight. Once you get past all the selfie sticks and crowds!

Roadtrip Part 3 - Luxury, Longleat, Lashings of Butterbeer

It's another big'un. But you can never have enough cups of tea in one day, right?

With the prospect of rain for 4 days straight we decided to quit the camping, pack up the very soggy tent, and head to a hotel for some serious hair washing (that would be for me) and sleep in a room that didn't move with the weather. Staying in Cornwall, we booked a basic room and headed to Truro. It did exactly what it said on the tin and I slept for 12 hours straight. Feeling refreshed we started one of the longest legs of the journey, out of Cornwall and back to civilisation.

It took us 10 hours to travel 100 metres...ha! Not really, we got caught in one bit where there was road works but good music and some pear drop sweeties soon solved that.

We decided to stop for a coffee at the services at Exeter on the M5. NEVER EVER DO THIS! Yowser! We went from hardly any people to all the people in the entire world, or that was what it felt like, all queuing up for Burger King. Horrid. I'm still mentally scarred by the experience.

Thankfully that horror was to be replaced by one of sheer relaxation when we reached our hotel for the night. It was intended to be our first hotel from camping so we planned a bit of luxury, spoiling ourselves, and oh-ho we were not let down. The 3 Daggers was absolutely ah-mazing! I've planned another blog post about it as it was such a brilliant place to stay so look out for that soon.

The reason for our Wiltshire accommodation was to go to Longleat. I was sooo looking forward to this as had always wanted to go so was properly excited. After we'd been there about 2 hours I was filled with a kind of dread, is this all there is to see type feeling? If you do go, don't worry, once you've moved past the smaller attractions the safari drive is well worth the wait. The place was packed so Dave suggested we go over lunchtime when everyone else would be eating. Brilliant idea as it was really quiet. Essentially you get to drive around and the animals roam around you. Quite an amazing concept and also pretty brilliant! We saw so many cool animals and even though the road is probably only about a mile long, it took us 2 full hours to drive round it all.

As the last of the crowds started to fade away we wandered around the other attractions, the best one being the maze of mirrors! So much fun!

We might have ended the day with another ice cream... And yes, we're on a healthy eating thing now!

And so to Watford. Say what? Not exactly the most sexy sounding place. You would be right there, but very conveniently located for HARRY POTTER WORLD! (not the real name at all but it sums it up pretty well). It was our last day. I was big style looking forward to this but also kind of nervous as Dave knows absolutely nothing about Potter and has no interest in it either.

That's a guy right there who will indulge your likes even if they're not his likes, just sayin'.

We arrived. The queues were enormous. But it was worth it. I'm really not going to say too much as if you plan to go (and who wouldn't) I would hate to ruin the many brilliant surprises that are there to greet you. All I will say is that it was absolutely, 100% a 5 star attraction, for all ages. If you love Potter you will gasp out loud and be open jaw delighted by so many things, and even if you don't love Potter (like Dave) you will LOVE it! Yes that is the real steam train. And the real Knight Bus. I say no more.

And so our road trip came to an end. A brilliantly good end. It was proper fabulous and a truly great holiday. I think they call them a Stay-Cation these days but I just call it a bloody good time!  

Roadtrip Part 2 - Cornwall, Cream Tea, and Camping

Grab a cuppa before you start, it's a long one!

Out of everything we had planned I was looking forward to Cornwall the most. We were there for the longest time, we were going to be camping, it's a beautiful part of this country...I just couldn't wait!

For the first time since we'd set off we had seen and done everything that we wanted from where we were in Street, so after a hearty breakfast we were straight on the road. You'll hear all kinds of horror stories if you ask people about Cornwall as there's one road in and the same road out. Oooh I once sat in a traffic queue for 10 hours, oh it took 7 hours to move one mile, and so on. I reckon we must have been very lucky as we only got stuck once and that was in a set of road works. It certainly didn't take us 10 hours (more like 2) and our major concern was which petrol station was going to give us the last Costa coffee before we exited normal civilisation.

Our first stop was in Pentewan Sands, conveniently located for both the Eden Project and the Lost Gardens of Heligan. We were pretty chuffed to get the tent up without too much hassle/snapping (something about putting up tents that causes snippiness amongst our generally laid back selves...) and safe to say we relaxed right into it:

Can't really say the same about our first overnight experience as the wind buffeted the tent almost out of the ground and the rain lashed down (I don't need the loo, I don't need the loo, gah I need the loo!) so it was two tired people who were up and about the next day for some serious amounts of walking!

We decided to try and do the Eden Project and the Lost Gardens of Heligan in the same day, in case we missed out on one of them. We did it, and my FitBit recorded that we walked 20,000 steps which was a whole lot of miles. It was very tiring but well worth it, however if you have more time I'd take a day for each to allow yourself a slightly more relaxing visit.

First up, Eden. Dave had been here before, many moons ago, but it was the first time for me; it was the opposite for Heligan. There was so much to see and do but we did our usual thing of picking a route and heading that way. We meandered along the passing of time walkway (I can't remember the exact name) before heading to the Rainforest dome. It's hot, that kind of steamy hot that makes my hair go frizzy from root to tip (side note: I pretty much gave up on trying to make my hair do anything other than frizz the whole time we were in Cornwall, at one with the elements and all that jazz) but pretty awe inspiring. Everything is huge! The plants are huge and the leaves are enormous! The other dome is not as steamy but everything is equally as large. Take these giant lemons for example (snort!):

I found the domes fascinating, but I equally enjoyed mooching around the grounds. We had a good chat with the gardener in the allotment about leeks, and I bravely took the barefoot challenge through all kinds of different things underfoot.

I also started seeing this succulent everywhere and became slightly obsessed with having one (side note: we bought one)

From one garden to another. Heligan was a whole other ball game. Being slightly later in the day the crowds were much less and the whole thing just seemed more relaxing and at holiday pace than the bustling Eden. Once again we wandered around woodland paths and through fields of wild flowers, stopping to say hello to some very greedy piglets along the way. The garden is now famous for its sculptures and these two were a delight to stumble across, and the maid particularly felt very peaceful and serene.

I would highly recommend both gardens, if you're into that kind of thing, and who wouldn't be fascinated by giant leaves and gently dappling light?

Our final destination in Cornwall was The Lizard, home of Henry's Campsite which would be our home for the next 6 nights. What can I say about Henry's? Unique, quirky, not at all for the faint hearted (ducks and chickens roam freely, toilets are unisex and generally in falling down sheds with piped music, showers cost 20p so don't be afraid to share the cubicle with your tent buddy and jump right in when they're done) but if you can get past all that it's bloody brilliant and we had the best time! We had a sea view, our very own palm tree, and warm croissants and yummy coffee were available every day, along with jugs of cider and marshmallows for melting over your BBQ.

The Lizard? The Lizard was special. Very special. Every day was a new adventure, with turquoise seas, cream teas, delicious local ice cream, beer and cider, blue skies, hot sun, and sheer joy. If you ever find yourself there head to Coverack (beautiful), Roskilly's Farm (best ice cream ever), take a walk to the most Southerly part of England, enjoy a cream tea, a Sunday lunch at the Top House, and an evening stroll in the last of the sun. Magical days.

We have a rule that when the rain starts it's time for us to go, but if the sun had stayed shining, I would have had a really hard time to pull myself away. I think I fell in love with Cornwall a teensy bit...