chickens, waterfalls and egg cups

evening all...

well the pretty vintage household took ourselves off on a mini break this weekend!!..

it came at the end of a pretty long summer holidays i have to be honest and our holiday back in May felt a very long time ago it was much needed!!..

but then saying that when you go away with kids its not a restful holiday is it really, i mean its still the same as being at home but just in a different house!!..

that sounds awful doesn't it .. sorry!

anyways id been looking on eBay and the Internet trying to get a little last minute deal on a cottage somewhere, when i stumbled upon a listing on eBay, it was quite cheap and it wasn't that far really from us.. so it meant that there wasn't going to be hours and hours of driving to get to it..

so we were in wales but on the Shropshire borders i think .. i kept getting confused because one minute id see a sign saying welcome to wales then id see a sign saying welcome to England!

we were staying about 8 miles outside of Oswestry which is shrewsbury way i have to be honest i don't even know what the little town was called it just began with a double L LLsomthing!!

it was the sweetest little house.. it was called the smithy and it used to be the blacksmiths..

we had chickens outside that we could go and pick eggs from..

i obviously sent the hubby in to do this job.. i stayed on the other side of the gate chatting chicken talk to them..

the smithy itself was a real surprise from the outside it just looked like this tiny shed but then when you got inside it was lovely really open plan and high up..

it had a wood burner were the hubby was found here both evenings stoking up the fire and generally being fire hungry as only men are!!

I'll show you some pics now to give you a little idea of what it was like...

this was the view all around us. this was taken from the windows of the bedroom


gotta love a stable door..!!



our lovely comfy bed.. we put the boys on two put me up beds pushed together in the eves of the room.. they loved it ..

anyways we took ourselves off for many drives to discover nice places.. first place we went to was to see a beautiful waterfall .. it was stunning.. now I'm not really a lover of nature id rather be in the gift shop or cafe next to the place of natural beauty ( ooo they sell book marks and ice creams I'll see you later!) but even i thought it was gorgeous .. so it must be!

the air felt so clean and beautiful to, that i just know if my boys lived near to it they would never get bad chests again..

next day after a bit of a slobby morning we drove up to this which was a fantastic dam built in the Victorian age and again it really was stunning,



we even found out that underneath all the water was the remains of the village that had been standing there when the dam was being built.that was a bit strange to think that under all that water there was actually houses ..creepy..

there was even a fairy tale tower that was actually built to filter the water ( am i sounding a bit like a school trip report ..sorry !) and because it was all misty and drizzly it looked even more ethereal than it usually does i should imagine!!..

anyway mummy had been very good and hadn't mentioned any shops until later on that day!..

well the rain was coming down a lot so we had to do something indoors !!

these bright egg cups/sundae dishes i don't know what they are really, called to me, so it was to the charity shops for us!..

i just had to have them with their lovely bright colours and the mini spoons that came with them!

it was a day for bright colour as sitting not far from these beauties was this little beauty.. a bright yellow gravy jug..




it doesn't have a name on it just had an England stamp on it,

i love it though the bright acidic yellow of it, this is now popped on a shelf with my kitchen jugs..

so all to soon it was time to come home, and as always the sun was cracking the flags when we were leaving bah ...the English weather it hates us going on holiday .. it really does we drive into rain .. we leave sunshine behind.. it always happens!!.. anyway it was gorgeous and there was also a car boot sale not far from we were staying so we thought it would be rude not to go...i saw quite a bit that i could have bought but funds were running a bit low as they tend to do on the day your coming home from a break don't you find.. but i picked up this lovely cup and saucer for 20p







and the cutest tiny little jug also for 20p


.. they were actually in the same box,

and these two rather tall candle sticks complete with square candles that aren't staying i assure you!..


i am going to give them a nice lick of paint and replace candles with a nice size pillar candle just in time for the cold months coming up!

so there you go..if you got this far.. well done you !!...

break time is over!

well hello there !!... that was an unexpected break from blogging that i took wasn't it!..

with all the bank holidays and children being off school i haven't known if i was coming or going to be honest.. i feel like Ive been away for ages.. over a month anyways..

so how are you all !.. ( have been getting my fix of lovely blogs though. like my daily newspaper reading through seeing every ones goings on .. just not had that much to write myself.. must have had a touch of bloggers block.. what do you think!)

so I'm back i have at least 3 weeks without a school holiday taking place so I'm going to make the most of it!..

haven't been to the charity shop in weeks although i went to the bank holiday car boot sale and it was horrendous.. it was huge which sounds like a good thing i know but it was rows upon rows of tat basically... and usually i love other peoples tat.. but i couldn't even bring myself to part with my coppers to buy it.. it was rammed full of people so i didn't come away with much .. although i have a got a bit of a makeover project for something i bought which I'll show you another time.. (real rock and roll this blog aint it!) ..

so not really got much to show you on the thrifty front .. so I'll show ( bore !) you some piccies of our little break we had last week..

we went to criccieth in wales.. only for four nights.. it was the same house that we stayed in last year..only this time we actually had the sun shining on us instead of sideways rain!!

as it wasn't technically a school holiday last week but our primary school had a couple of staff training days and our school acts as the local polling station the school was mostly closed for the week, we decided to go then.

its such a lovely house, so its a joy to stay there.. i love all the little touches that the owners put in which makes it feel all the more personal and not bleak like some holiday homes can feel..

in the bedroom .. the lovely jug and bowl in the fireplace and the little glass tea light holders on the mantle..

the cosy sitting room which has a fantastic view of the sea so sitting in there at night you have the sounds of the sea just so relaxing with the little stove on as the nights are still a bit cool..

the fairy lights in the conservatory, making every were feel lovely and twinkly ..

lovely original tiled floor in the hall to.. great for sweeping up all the sand we had brought in with us!

we had such a lovely time.. we had whole beaches to ourselves




( if id known this was going to be the case i might have braved a swimming cozzie!)

we had ice cream every day at Cadwallers

( famous ice cream parlour!)

( waffle with toffee and chocolate ice cream.. drizzled butterscotch sauce and double cream yummy... me and the hubs had this most days no wonder Ive come back looking like the Michelin man!!)

we found a branch of some sort washed up on the beach

so that was soon buried in to the sound with great foundations that when we went past the next day it was still standing tall !!

this little tree of ours was decorated with pebbles off the beach!

oh and the hubbys favourite meal of the holiday, freshly done fish and chips from the most gorgeous chippy right on the sea front with a pint of hobgoblin or some traditional ale that he likes!..

me - i just loved sipping on a gin and tonic in the evenings with a bowl of nuts reading a book that id bought from the charity shop with the sound of the sea in the background.. bliss !!

cooking treaty teas for me and the hubby on the aga..( notice the boys trainers drying on it!! )

i do have aga love.. is that wrong!! ?

so that was a little snapshot of our break away...takes time to get back into routines though doesn't it. .Ive got piles of ironing to be getting on with and a good spring clean of the house but i just cant get my head round doing it..think I'm still in holiday mode!!

Happy Campers

well having seen how gorgeous the weather had turned out this week we decided to take our tent and pitch it up for the first time this year. ( yes we are the only people who decide to start camping at the end of the summer.. go figure!!) so along with the sister and her family we headed for Anglesey to a lovely site called St Davids Park.. it has its own private beach as well which was what sealed the deal for us..

so Friday came.. oldest boy has just started school so was on half days.. after picking him up we stuck everything in the car.. the kids were sat on all sorts. you couldn't see out of the back of the car haha..



( pic of a packed in child!)


first we got stuck in traffic.. then the kids were starving ( and i think the hubby was to) so it was a stop off at mr maccy d's, we finally got there and found our pitches.. on the overflow field.. sounds gross doesn't it. but we were actually up on a hill that overlooked every were the view was fantastic.. how beautiful is that.. what a fab spot we had



there were a few family's already pitched up but we had the pick of the land it was stunning..

now it came to put the tents up .. hmmm well lets just say an hour later the menfolk were still figuring out how to put them up.. in their defence it was the first time they'd put them up so we'll let them off.. me and the sis took the children down to the park to play.. we were hoping to have a large chilled gin and tonic at this point but id left my purse in the car.. doh!..

anyway the tents were finally set up.. it was now pitch black. we thought we would have a big bag of fish and chips so off we went to get some chips.. hmm all the chippy's were shut you could now sense my mood cant you.. all i wanted to do was get into bed !!

we found a spar shop that never seemed to shut which saved us.. we had ready cooked chickens.. freshly done..with crusty bread , wine for the girls cider for the boys and juice for the kids. and we were finally settled..

i was freezing!!!!!!!....

i did get to use the new vintage sleeping bag that id bought from the charity shop.. it just looks so pretty doesn't it ..

Saturday came and we woke to beautiful sunshine.. the hamper had all our plates and cups so bacon butties and hot coffee was made for us all

here's the hubby making our bacon butties.. you just cant beat that combo can you.. outdoors and a bacon butty!!

.then it was down to the beach with our chairs, wind breakers, children's tent, suntan lotion, buckets and spades and rubber boat.. we really were prepared for the beach this time..

the sun went in and it started to rain about 3o'clock...!!!!!!!!

off to the showers were the cleaning lady through a fit at us for daring to want to use the showers that she'd just cleaned.. ( am i mistaken in thinking that its her job to clean the showers and our right to use them!!??)...

we went and got fish and chips.. they were worth waiting for .. gorgeous..

big black clouds above us we decided to pack up.. as the tents were taken down the rain came so we knew we'd made the right decision ..

as we drove off the site.. the rain clouds disappeared and blue sky and sun came out to play...

pic of the rainbow that emerged .. mocking us !!!

we finally got home, packed the already sleeping children to bed.. and i had a nice hot bath and a glass of wine,

would we go again.. of course..i really enjoyed it !!

So were was I !?

hellooooo is there anybody there!!!!! ...

well that was a very long absence.. longer than i thought i must say.. today has been the first day that we've had the Internet for about 3 months!..

i feel sooo out of touch.. Ive not read any ones blogs for ages so i cant wait to catch up with every ones news !!

i have to say the first few weeks of not having the Internet were a bit strange... the nights were very long but i found solace in my books !!.. no actually it did me a favour us not having the Internet.. i have read a whole lot more and Ive been not so reliant on the world wide web like i was before.. ( and it helped that Big Brother has been on..!)

anyways what have i been up to over the summer.. well here goes, my last post was on the freecycle bench id just got well i did makeover on my garden bench with a little bit of red gloss . and i cant remember a time that i didn't have that little bench now!.. it sits so pretty in my little yard... here are some pics showing the back garden at its blooming best!!...
now when i say garden i know that's over exaggerating somewhat..its a little L shaped backyard..but this year it has given up tons of courgettes .. a whole heap of herbs and a few cucumbers and peppers to so we've not done to badly!!

oh i took voluntary redundancy as well...remember i said there were possibilities of redundancies well it was really taken out of my control and the jobs that were offered i just couldn't take so for the past month Ive been a lady of leisure.. ( well with two children . hardly leisure.. in fact i realise now how good it was to having a working week as well !) .. it still feels like I'm on hols or maternity leave at the minute.. Ive never not been in some sort of employment since Ive left school so this is a new experience for me! its been a bit sad for me as well..Ive worked in this job since i was 19.. Ive been a bit of a wild child, Ive got married and Ive had two children all in the space of working here.. it has felt like Ive grown up here so the prospect of starting all over again when i haven't got the confidence of youth behind me ( now i know that makes me sound ancient doesn't it and not just 30!..but that's how i feel!!) is a tad bit scary!



anyways back to the summer well we went on hols to criccieth which is in wales... fantastic house..right next to the beach.. absolutely amazing.. only trouble was it rained from the minute we got there to the day we left.. oh we were gutted.. the man whose house it was had asked us if we could swap the original date to the date that we eventually went on.. the original date turned out to to be the hottest weekend of the year i think and we went on the wettest!!.

here is the view from the gorgeous old sash windows.. pity it felt like we were in the middle of November haha.. ( actually if it had been the middle of November i would have loved it and would have stoked up the fire and pictured myself in a Rosamund Pilcher novel with the fire roaring .. but it was to blimmin warm for fires!)


the house itself was gorgeous and i think if we had been in a caravan or a tent we would have come home but this had a massive kitchen with an aga.. we just couldn't leave!!..

so the hubby just cooked amazing meals for us each night on the gorgeous old aga and i opened another bottle of rose!!



this was the pretty little courtyard on a very rare dry occasion.


well that's all for now.. just thought id pop on and say hello and say I'm back ( not that you're all going to be jumping around for joy but you know what i mean.!!..) .. hopefully have lots of piccies to show you of all forth coming events that will be taking place in the pretty vintage household..
( i.e. now that im not working 3 days a week the house will drive me crazy and all the half done jobs will be done and new jobs will be created!!)