Day trippin' #11 Cider & Apple Weekend at Killerton

Last weekend was the annual Cider and Apple weekend at Killerton House & Gardens, a treat for all apple lovers. Killerton has many apple orchards so produce their own ciders and apple juice on site, as an apple juice lover I can tell you it's very scrummy. As always, the National Trust puts on some good entertainment, live music, archery and a chance to see some old fashioned apple pressing.
It was also a great opportunity to get out in the sunshine and enjoy the beautiful colours of autumn, my favourite season of all. For a change, here are a few of my photos, my favourite is the old couple holding hands!

 

Sarah

xx

Day Trippin' #10 The Gaslight Anthem

Despite Rich constantly moaning about my taste in music and hating what come's on in my car, and asking 'who sings this?' everytime they came on, he finally started liking the Gaslight Anthem. When they announced that they were touring I really wanted to go but the closest gigs were Birmingham or London so I sort of dismissed it. But Rich being ever so lovely got us tickets as a surprise yipeeee.

We made a day of it and headed off to Birmingham early for a quick trip to Ikea for flat things and to leave plenty of time for a walk around the town centre. I can safely say I never want to go to the Bull Ring again. Yeah it's got lots of shops and whatnot but it was so busy I wanted to cry.

Anyway, on to the good stuff. The gig was AMAZING!! Brian Fallon's voice was just as good live as recorded and they were just so so good. If you haven't heard them before you should definitely check them out, 59 Sound is my personal favourite album but they're all pretty great.

 

Let me know what you think of them.

Sarah

xx

10 Years

10 years ago today my wonderful Mum passed away. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about her and miss her. Love you Mum. xx

Day trippin #9 Budleigh Salterton

Being the loser that I am, throughout the week you'll find me looking at the Met Office app to see what weekend will bring weather wise. Last week was a treat, it was like a summers day in October so naturally as the sun had come out we went to the beach. I'd been wanting to go to Budleigh Salterton to take photos of the beach huts before they were removed for the winter, this year the council owned ones had been painted lovely pastel colours so the camera had to come out. Obviously being food lovers we had to take a picnic and have an ice cream, it was only right seeing as we were at the seaside. 

So here are a few photos from our day out. My favourite is the old boys soaking up the sun and the scenery on their mobility scooters, they were pretty popular with anyone with a camera!

Hope you've had a great weekend.

Sarah
xx

Staycation

At the end of August Rich and I went on a 'staycation' to Cornwall. Yes, this post really is that late!! But anyway, because I just love sharing my photos with you from our random little trips, our staycation is no exception. Enjoy!

Our first day/night was spent in Padstow, a lovely harbour town on the north coast of Cornwall. I hadn't been there since I was a toddler so couldn't remember it at all but it was really beautiful, even with the masses of tourists. My only advice would be to never go in the school holidays, you can't move for people and everything is more expensive. We stayed at Padstow Touring Park which is about a mile away from the harbour and with its own footpath route into the town (don't make the mistake of walking down it if it's rained unless you have wellies!!!). It took about half an hour though and has lovely views of the river as you walk down into the town.

After the mandatory walk around the town and fish and chips in the harbour we found the beach and got down to some serious paddling!

The second stop on our staycation was St Ives, my favourite place in Cornwall. It has the best beaches, surf and mix of shops. Our campsite, Little Trevarrack, was at Carbis Bay. I'd recommend it to anyone, they offer a bus into the town that goes every hour, has a heated swimming pool, games room and clean, modern shower blocks. It really does have everything you could need.

We had perfect weather and Rich even attempted body boarding, sadly the waves weren't up to much but we had a good splash around. The best part was possibly the ice cream shop on the harbour that was open until midnight, the ice cream was scrummy and you could pick a topping, we chose nuts, it was delish!

 

On the final day of our staycation we went to St Michaels Mount, somewhere I've been wanting to visit my whole life. It's always seemed so magical that it's on an island that can only be accessed when the tide is out, lets face it it would be an awesome place to live.

We ended our lovely little holiday with a visit at my 'Nanny Cornwall's house. As always it was great to see her and hear even more old stories. I love how the older people get the greater story tellers they become.

Now I better go and unpack some more boxes, sigh!

Take care

Sarah
xx

Flooding

The last week has brought some non-stop rain and a whole lot of flooding. It seems like most of the UK has been struck by floods and Exeter was no exception. Living in the Exe Valley means we get hit pretty hard, and when it's at its worst we can't leave our sleepy village. When I was driving to work on Friday morning you couldn't see the fields for the flooding, it was spectacular. After work I thought I'd go and take a few photos, the water had gone down a lot but I thought I'd share a few photos with you none the less. 

I hope you've all managed to stay dry and haven't been hit by the rain too hard.

Sarah
xx

We got the keys!!!

I've come to the conclusion that flat hunting is one of the most stressful things under the sun. Anything vaguely nice is snapped up within a day of being advertised, so many agents tell you there are two double bedrooms and when you get there the second is a box room, and then you have the agents that don't show up for your appointment at all. All in all it's a hoot!

After a lot of searching we finally found a lovely little maisonette and picked up the keys last week. Naturally nothing can ever go smoothly, when we went back again we were told there were no longer going to be any white goods? Whattttt? We went for the flat because it HAD white goods. Anyway we managed to compromise with the landlord and get a fridge freezer put in so we only have to get a washing machine. 

Over the next couple of weeks my evenings are going to be filled with moving stuff over to the flat, and packing up the family home. It's going to be emotional and no doubt even more stressful so wish me luck.

Sarah

xx

Iprintagram

Like pretty much anyone with a mobile phone these days, I love Instagram. So much so I probably end up neglecting my other cameras just to be able to use the app. Recently a friend introduced me to 'iprintagram', an app where you can order your instagram photos to be printed. It's fairly pricey at £2.99 for 3 photos on what seems to be photo paper that I could buy and print on at home. But with the little things aside, I just love the polaroid style photos.

Luckily I'd just been to see my nephew, who was cracking out the funniest faces I've seen in ages so I took a few photos and ordered them straight away. Here are the final products...

Cute hey? I'm pretty chuffed with them and I'm looking forward to putting a little collection together. Admittedly I might buy some photo paper and have a go at doing it myself, but I think they're fun and could make some great presents.

If you know of any other fun photo apps please let me know.

Sarah
xx