Autumn Camping

Another autumn camping adventure. This time, somewhere new, a National Trust campsite in Clumber Park, deep in the heart of Sherwood Forest.
A sweet little site, quite basic, but just fine however we were one of only two tents camping. When I booked our little trip, the lady said that we must be mad, and that we were.
I packed a hearty bean stew for our dinner, warm, tasty and devoured by all. We were all snuggled up in the tent by 7pm making it a long night. My goodness it was too cold. Dan ended up retreating to sleep in the car (which is no mean feat considering he is 6ft 4....) whilst Mr Bee and I huddled together all night. He snored for most of the night and I barely slept a wink.
By the time the sun arose, we were bored and starving, ready for the delicious sausages we bought from Hardwick Hall the day previously.
It took a long while for us to warm up, so we made the decision to pack up our soaking wet tent and head home later in the afternoon in favour of a warm bed and cosy central heating at home.
It was the best decision even though we did have a fun getaway!

Hardwick Hall

We begun our half term holiday at Hardwick Hall, Nottinghamshire. It has been a long, long time since our last visit but we enjoyed it just as much. Unfortunately, it was a miserable day, but we still managed to have plenty of fun spotting ladybirds and playing in the autumn leaves.

After a good romp in the leafy orchard, we had a little sit down in the herb garden whilst Mr Bee played with his newfound stick. Maybe he was a dog in an previous life, picking out sticks far bigger than him and refusing to give them up.

After a thorough walk around the gardens, I snapped the last of the flowers, the beautiful dahlias. We headed to the lovely cafe for a cream tea and then we found the woodland play trail. Mr Bee adored the woodland play areas, as usual, however this time he explored the whole thing all by his self, no holding hands! Little adventurer :)

and we found more ladybirds!

After a full day at Hardwick, we made the short trip to our campsite in the heart of Sherwood Forest for our little autumn break.

Half Term

Half term, October break. Four full weeks of school are over and I am pleased to report that he is loving school and thriving. Louie has come on leaps and bounds, with his reading, writing, grasp of maths and also, his swimming.
Our first ever half term break has been a sleepy one. Quiet and close to home, we have played lots of lego and trains. We baked delightful 'harvest braids' and made carrot soup, our new favourite.

Now it is time for our annual autumn camping trip, so we will see you when we get home!

Bake

Each week that the Great British Bake Off was aired, I was challenged to bake something different for my work colleagues. With the stress of moving house, I think I missed two weeks, but I did bake so many different things! Iced bun fingers, boston cream pie cupcakes, schicttorte and gingerbread men come to mind, but I am sure there were more goodies than that!
Anyhow, since bake off, I have made a delicious chocolate pie (homemade pie crust and filled with a chocolate custard) and today I baked wholemeal chocolate and cranberry cookies. Not to mention the weekly loaf of bread that has become my Wednesday ritual.
I am so, so glad to be back into my baking routine again so please be prepared to be bombarded with my new favourite recipes and makes!

Village Life

 

I'm back at long last! We have been living in our new house for a month today and we have only just had the internet installed. It as been a long few weeks! 

It is safe to say that we are enjoying ourselves in our new house and in the village we are now calling home. Here are some photos we took a few weeks ago when we went on a little exploration. Everyone seems so friendly and we were even invited into someones home for a model train exhibition which Louie was thrilled with. So now we are settled, I hope that we can resume documenting our everyday.

Stowe Landscape Garden

A week or two ago, we visited Stowe, a National Trust property that has been on my to do list for a year or so. It was a long overdue visit, but as I imagined, it was a spectacular view in its autumnal glory.
We are still working on getting the internet fixed up so I do apologise for the delay, but hopefully we will be back in business some time next week!