First Trip Of The Year - Dorset

Our first proper adventure in Hugo! We spent the week in Dorset at a small campsite we found through Junkaholique. It rained most of the way down, but the sun came out just in time for us to pop and sputter into the field on the farm. What a beautiful place! The owners were happy to see us and we had a chance for a good walk around before we settled in for the night.

Little we were to know (although we should have known, pesky British weather!) that those few rays were some of the last we would see for the entire week. A lot of cheese, wine and scrabble ensued.

Our little campsite had no electricity, which we actually quite love – it is so nice to switch off for a while! However when our adventure plans consisted mostly of BBQing on the beach and bodyboarding… we had to swiftly find new things to do. We had a great day at the Bombay Sapphire distillery – so interesting! Such brilliant architecture and history. Plus a cheeky gin cocktail at the end. Unfortunately, our cocktail was interrupted by someone shouting that a campervan had left its lights on. My husband dashed out into the rain to switch Hugo off, whilst I continued supping my gin and meeting new friends interested in our little bus.

One of the many, many things I love about our bus is the lovely people you meet. Everybody’s face lights up at the sight of him. Everybody waves and wants to talk to you. I am not sure this can be understood by someone who doesn’t own a classic vehicle, but you put so much love and time into them that any opportunity you get to talk in depth about them is relished! This particular couple wanted to know everything: where we got him, his age, any welding, any engine modifications, how far we had come, any difficulties! We had a fantastic afternoon talking to them about Hugo and hearing all about their classic Fiat 500 imported straight from Italy.

A rather quick visit to Stonehenge as neither of us had been there before. Much bigger than expected and very moving, but not much to do other that ‘ooh and ahh’. I think the walk there was longer than the time we spent admiring!

As the rain continued, we were swiftly running out of things to do. We pootled into Dorchester and the surrounding area on the hunt for vintage and antique treasures. Although we came home with nothing, we found some fantastic places! One in particular had so many rooms and hallways piled up to the ceiling, that we got separated and lost more than once! Another smaller den was a particular favourite of mine, with lots of bright kitschy goodness and retro fabrics. They had a children’s section set out upstairs with deliciously vintage pastel bunk beds, laid with handmade quilts and crochet blankets. They also had a 1970’s Tom & Jerry cartoon strip projector that almost came home with us… but it turned out the projector was snapped. Such a shame.

 The journey home was quite momentous. We broke down before we even began! Luckily we were in a Halfords carpark and were rescued very quickly. Onwards! A quick stop at my favourite Gloucester Farm Shop services for some food and a rest resulted in helping another unlucky traveller. I popped on some soup and filled our mugs with much needed water whilst my husband helped change a tyre for an elderly chap. 10 hours since we left and we were finally home.

It was far from the week we had planned, but none the less it is one I will never forget.

Hint Of Sunshine

After a tease of Spring this weekend, I am dreaming of summer! Just a few pictures of last year, ending with some fabric swatches for Hugo in the sun - the first clue to what summer 2016 will be.

Kitchen: Before & After

We have lived in our cottage for a year now and my favourite space has always been the kitchen. We love food. We love entertaining. I love baking! The kitchen is the heart of a home to us. Our previous apartment had the teeniest weeniest kitchen you could imagine. It was not well looked after by the landlords and we had about 2ft of worktop in total. There was no way we were getting anywhere to sit in there, so we had a little fold down table and stools in the living room. We were SO excited when we first went to visit what would become our new home...

BEFORE:

The kitchen is a really good size, but was not very sensibly organised as you can see. Don't even get me started on that rug! The whole house was different beige tones and the kitchen was no exception. Those tiles too... However we are very fortunate in our lease that they think of the house as 'ours' to a degree, so we were allowed to fix it all up. 

AFTER:

What a difference a bit of paint makes! We painted the entire house white to start us off and then added a few feature walls. We decided on a chalkboard wall for the kitchen as it made something of an unused space. It was also a good way to hide the radiator. The table was bought at a flea market in Knutsford from a lovely man who was using it to display his items. It was already grey, so we just gave the tops a two tone teal. 

This wall was inspired by Rice DK's new wallpaper range. I wanted something a little less busy, as we love to have coloured 'things' but I tend to keep the backgrounds mostly white. The little bookshelves from Ikea keep my current favourites handy, but also disguise an ugly blanked socked on the wall ;). We also painted all of the cabinets to make the space brighter - they are a laminate wood, but this worked surprisingly well. The difference it has made to the feel of the room was totally worth the effort! New tiles were essential too, as the previous ones were dark and broken. We chose bright white subway tiles all around.

Paint is my BFF. Anything can be given a new lease of life with a bit of paint.

So there you have it! What do you think?

A Bit More.

A bit more of a bit less? I think I am still putting off blogging regularly because I thought it a giant task to get all the pictures right, then off my phone, then write a good post... But I enjoy posting here! So for now, here is a bit more of a bit less. Smaller more regular posts. Sometimes maybe just photographs. Sometimes maybe more.

Quick update? The bus is almost ready. We had our first (VERY soggy) day trip last week and it was so fun! We packed a picnic and decided to head out to Anglesey - except the rain was so bad we were worried we may just blow off the bridge! It would be safer for our first proper outing if we went somewhere a little closer, so tootled off to Delamere forest. We had an awesome little adventure! The bed is still being fixed so we can't stay away yet...but soon we will be ready!

In the meantime, I am dreaming of waking up next to the beach and spending long summer days in the sea. 

Some VERY Exciting News...

All has been a little quiet here for a while... but that is because something super exciting has been happening. As usual when I get over excited about something, it completely consumes me. SO without further ado...

WE BOUGHT A 1968 VW T2 CAMPERVAN!

We have spent what feels like a lifetime searching, ringing, making lists, joining forums, going to festivals... but we finally have our bus! We had been watching her on eBay, but due to her unusual paint job had decided not to purchase. The day before the auction ended we realised that this bus ticked EVERY box on our wishlist, so we should not discount it because I thought it was a little ugly. Liam of course loved the paint job anyway! 

The bus is a Devon conversion and almost completely original inside. She needs some love... but overall in fantastic condition! We have had her for two weeks now and have spent countless hours sourcing new parts, making things and ripping things out. We have unearthed some scary things... I am very excited to share our restoration and excitement here and will post an update hopefully at the end of this week. We are dropping her off at the bus doctor's tonight - fingers crossed!