Sunny Saturday

Those of you that hail from outside Britain may be baffled by the British obsession with the weather. But if you look at the weather we've had so far this year it's very easy to see why. Back in March we had a week of glorious sunshine. Suntan lotion was applied, ice creams were eaten and children played in the garden. However, just a week later the ground was covered in snow. Moving onto this season and our summer has been largely punctuated by rain with the occasional day of sunshine. British weather is extreme and it's unpredictable - it's no wonder why we talk about it all the time!

Anyway, on Saturday afternoon I spotted something yellow in the sky. On further inspection it turned out to be the sun (yay!) so me and my eldest daughter seized the opportunity, donned our wellies and went fruit picking at Bentley Grange.

After a couple of minor mishaps (I forgot to bring sun cream and cash, thankfully the lovely folks at the farm took cards), me and my eldest daughter took to the fields...

'Look Mummy! horses!'

squelch!

The fruit of our labour - no pun intended

We picked strawberries and raspberries (although they also grow blackcurrants, redcurrants and gooseberries). They grow the strawberries on tables so it's not even back breaking work. It's a great way to pass the time with your kids. Whizz Kid loved it and I can't wait to take my youngest when she's old enough next year. The fact that the sun came out topped the day off quite nicely, but even in the rain it would have been fun.

Do you have any PYO (that stands for Pick Your Own by the way - yeah, I speak the lingo) farms near you? I can highly recommend paying them a visit - even if it's raining!

Got to go - I've got strawberries to eat!! Yummy!!

Michelle x 

Haworth

You've heard of Haworth, right? It's a little village in Yorkshire that's famous for being the home of the Bronte sisters. It's also home to the most wonderful festival of vintage. Every year this delightful village hosts a 1940s Vintage Weekend where the residents and shopkeepers dress up to celebrate the best of Britain.

I wasn't able to attend the festival on the Saturday and Sunday, so me, Mr C and the girls popped down on the Friday and made a day of it. The weather was freezing cold - who'd have thought we'd still need our winter coats in May! - but it didn't matter because there was lots of fun to be had...

Our first stop was the vintage fair, and as you can see from the pictures below, it truly was a thing of beauty. When I walked around I began to regret bringing Mr C with me as I knew I wouldn't be able to justify buying the Elizabeth II plate (among other things...) Sigh.....

From there we went for a walk around the town. All I can say is, I've never seen so much bunting...

While the rest of the troops were taking a well deserved coffee break I stumbled upon what has to be one of the most beautiful shops in the world - Rose & Co Apothecary. I'll use 3 words to describe it. Total - Vintage - Heaven. Enough said really.

If you're thinking of taking a trip to Haworth, I highly recommend you pay a visit here and to Oh la la Vintage...

I've been living in Yorkshire for 15 years now and I'm ashamed to say this was my first visit to Haworth. It definitely won't be my last. Thanks Haworth!!

If you want to know more about the 1940s Weekend, click here.

If you want to know more of the wonderful stalls I saw at the fair, click on the links below:
-  Vintage and retro styled 40s/50s clothing shoes and accessories www.missbamboo.co.uk
- Vintage hair and make-up artist who can recreate glamorous looks for weddings and parties www.bethanyjanedavies.com
-  Vintage reproduction clothing from golden era (and trousers to DIE for!) www.20thcenturyfoxy.com
-  More vintage clothing www.purplerabbitvintage.co.uk

Hope you feel inspired to get your retro on after that little lot!

I did!

Bye for now


Michelle x

farm shops and treasure hunts

Yesterday was one of those wonderful days that started out with such promise and then actually delivered. The sun was peeping through the clouds in the morning (which is rare in these parts) and I was feeling great. I dropped my eldest daughter off at nursery and went to meet my friend, Lucy, for a coffee at Hinchliffe's farm shop and restaurant.

If you live nearby and you've never been, I highly recommend it. This place is great. The building is divided into two. There's the farm shop and butchers on one side and the restaurant on the other. The restaurant is delightful and is really accommodating for kids - there's even a hamper stuffed full of toys for them to play with. Although the plan was to only have a coffee, I'm sure it will come to no surprise to regular readers of this blog that I succumbed to the sugar monster that lives inside me and ordered a plate of American pancakes, maple syrup and bacon as well....mmmmmm....nom nom nom...... Obviously no pictures of this exist because, once again, I was too much of a gannet to pause for thought before digging in. 

As well as the shop and restaurant, there are animals that roam around in pens outside, so after coffee (and extras!) we went to see the animals with the kids. My youngest had a blast saying hi to all the animals....well, almost all of them - a shire horse with a head almost as big as her entire body gave her cause for concern!

Once we'd finished seeing the sights it was time to go home and all that was left was for me to say a big THANK YOU to both Hinchliffe's and my mate Lucy who made such a great morning possible. Thank-you!!

The sunny happiness didn't end there. Later on, at home, me and my eldest daughter had a great time making treasure maps and hunting for *treasure in the garden. She pottered around and kept herself busy whilst I took snaps of the lovely greenery. I even filled a vase. Lovely.

Aahh, ain't life great when the sun comes out? What have you been doing? I hope the sun's shining where you are!

Smell ya later!

Michelle x  

* By 'treasure', I mean a pear, a handbag and some Smarties wrapped in foil - the innocence of youth, eh!

In Other News...

My folks have been staying with us this week, so we've been enjoying lots of family time. We went en masse to a local museum which wasn't that interesting, but the kids loved it and furthermore it was free, which is always a bonus. Anyways, in a previous post I had promised some Instagram pics, so here are some lovlies...

Bye y'all.

Michelle x

Day Tripper

It's school holidays here, so yesterday me and my girls went to Tropical World, Leeds. 

What a brilliant place! For the uninitiated, Tropical World is an indoor greenhouse full of exotic plants, butterflies and meerkats.

If you live in the area, I suggest you check it out - it's super cheap too!

By the way, I edited these pics with my new Instagram app. Loving it!

Enjoy the holidays.

Michelle x