Back from Cornwall

We arrived back yesterday night after a wonderful week camping in Bodmin in Cornwall. We stayed at South Penquite Farm, which is where we stayed last time and had a lovely time. The site is a working farm with lots of eco friendly features, like the solar heated showers. The weather was a bit iffy and wet for some of the week but we had a wonderful and relaxing time in spite of it :)

We paid a return visit to Restormal Castle in Lostwithniel on the first full day and then visited Looe in the afternoon. The castle was amazing and it was so nice to see it in the sunshine.



The next day we went to the Lost Gardens of Heligan just outside St Austell. The Gardens are absolutely enormous and it took us a whole day to explore and we still didn't get to see everything. We picked a great day to visit too as it scorching hot and the trees and gardens made for some cool shady spots.

The Jungle


The Fruit & Veg Gardens






We then went to St Ives the following day and had a good day checking out the latest collections at the Tate Gallery and then going onto the Barbara Hepworth Gallery. I wasn't overly taken with anything at the Tate but loved Barbara Hepworths' work. I wasn't familiar with her before the day so it was really interesting.

We also visited Bodmin town for a spot of shopping and visited Boscastle on our last full day. The weather was a bit of the blowy side so we had a wander round the Museum of Witchcraft. It was fasinating and well worth a visit.

Boscastle

Beads, Beads and a bit of Daniel Craig

Its been a good week for cakery and beads. On Monday we went out for the day to Oxford to visit the Pitt Rivers Museum and I had a great time exploring all the cool collections. Unlike a lot of museums where things are organised by their origin or the era they come from, everything here was organised by what it was. There were tons of cabinets full of jewellery from all over the world and all through time. I also enjoyed looking at the weapons and all there ornate and decorative handles. The work that must have gone in to making some of them was amazing and very inspiring.
Heres some pics of some of my favourite bits







I also saw in the news that it was International Womens Day yesterday and loved the video made by Sam Taylor Wood highlighting the inequality that still exists in the world for women. I thought I'd share it with you all here.

Back from Berlin

We just got back last night from the most amazing holiday. My first time ever abroad (well further afield than Ireland) and I loved it. As you have probably guested from the title, we went to Berlin. A beautiful city with so much to see, a week was no where near long enough but we had a nice relaxing potter around and managed to see a fair few of the sites.
Purely by chance and good luck we found that Berlin has a Dali Gallery devoted entirely to Salvador Dali and his work. While there wasn't any of his big oil paintings there, there was still loads to see. I felt like I'd died and gone to heaven :) We also became very well acquainted with Ampelmann, the German equivalent to the man in the traffic light. He's apparently only found in the former East German side of Berlin and is very cool. He is so popular that he even has his own shop (which can also be found online here). I thoroughly enjoyed doing the whole touristy bit and have come home with my own Ampelmann t-shirt :)
I'm planning on put together all my soveniers in some form of scrapbook or something similar. I think I need to recover from the journey home though. zzzzz
I also need to get going on the swaps that I've signed up to. I'm taking part in the second round of the tiny swap, the spooky swap and earrings swap :) I'll have to get my crafty act together and come up with some things. I've already got some ideas of what to make Kiddo for the tiny swap.
I'm also in the process of making something for a friends birthday :) I won't say anymore though as I know she's probably reading this ;)

Sweeties \o/

I got my sweeties on Friday from Rhibi in Australia for the Sweetie swap we've been participating in on CO&K. So far they're all yummy, especially the raspberry and white chocolate bar which has unfortunately now disappeared :P
I've also been crafting away for the Newbie/Vet Swap which I'm participating in as a Vet. So far I've made a few bits and I've been really enjoying feeling a bit more creative. I've also retaken a lot of my product shots for my shop so feel free to check out the preview on the side bar. I think they're a really improvement so I'm pretty pleased with myself.
I'm reading another Bill Bryson book now as well as I'd finished A Walk in the Woods. I'm now reading a Short History of Nearly Everything (I think thats what its called). It's absolutely amazing. I'm already about half way through it and have been reading about the planet and the progress science has made in understanding the universe and our own planet. It's fascinating and really inspiring.
I was hoping to get down the plot today but the sky looks really grey and miserable. I was hoping it would clear up but its not looking overly hopeful right now and its already a quarter past four. I wanted to get down and continue weeding and plant out the pansies. At the moment they are spread around the herbs and onions in their pots where I would like to plant them. We also wanted to plant out the Sunflowers and they're on the windowsill at the moment and have grown loads since last week.

Todays Adventures

Spent today in Corfe. We travelled down on the steam train and it was really enjoyable. The train was extremely comfy, way better than any modern train, properly springy seats and separate little compartments with a table each. I thought we might end up at Hogwarts :)
When we arrived we had a yummy, cream tea with clotted cream and strawberry jam :P I could feel my arteries hardening but I didn't care as it was scrummy. We then went for a wander around Corfe Castle in an attempt to burn off the cream. Although we go to the castle every time we visit, we still enjoy the walk around and are always amazed at well in tact it is considering how old and how many wars its survived.
Yesterday was cool too. We started the day in Dorchester and v nearly got caught in a hail storm and then took a drive to Cerne Abbis to see the giant in the hillside. It took a while negotiating our way up the hill as it had rained so much the mud was like a paste, but we kind of got a view and he was very impressive. You'll also be pleased to know that he was unaffected by all the cold weather :D

Happy Friday :)

Continued our tradition of not celebrating Christmas but starting the day with a spot of malt loaf and a walk to Durlston Country Park. The weather was lovely and although the ground was a bit on the muddy side we enjoyed the views out to sea and seeing how the restoration work is going. Stopped to watch a robin for ages and almost tempted him over a couple of times with raisins but unfortunately several loud groups scared him away both times.
Did some food shopping yesterday so probably going to have a yummy vegi stew for dinner tonight.
My family still celebrate Christmas so I bought them all pressies and got pressies back from them. We opened them the day before driving down though and got some great gifts. I'm wearing my knitted, fleecy slippers right now and they have been worn pretty much constantly since I got them. They're great and so cosy :)
I'm finally getting into White Fang now, although its a pretty dark story. Its the tale of a wolf cub and his mother and, although its beautifully written, they go though some pretty tough times and he nearly dies a few times either through starvation or at the hands of another animal. I've just reached the bit in the book where he's now living in a native American reservation and he's having to learn how to be part of a big pack.