north cornwall coast

 

We spent a lovely week in North Cornwall. We were staying in a little converted barn on a small holding near St Agnes. It was right on the coastal path, so we could step out the front door, down a hawthorn track, over the heather covered moors and on to the sea. The Sea was just magical! One of our favourite beaches was called Chapel Porth which also had a friendly café serving crab sandwiches and homemade ice creams.





The coastal path was lined with these pretty pink flowers called Thrift, we walked seven miles to Trevaunance Cove, in St Agnes. which was beautiful.







We loved lighting this little log burner every evening and cooking dinner as the wind and rain rolled in off the sea.







St Agnes was a great base to explore North Cornwall. We spent a day in St Ives, visiting the Tate and watching the surfers, lunch at The Fish Kitchen in Port Isaac, fish & chips at the famous Stein's in Padstow, took the ferry to Trelissick house and gardens, walked along the estuary at Crantock and had a picnic on the sand dunes, walked along the coastal path to No4 Peterville and had the most delicious dinner. I've just realised that our holiday mainly consisted of walking and eating...well they are my two favourite things.

barcelona

A few snaps from a trip to Barcelona for my birthday..... we had so much fun exploring the city's different districts, getting lost in the old streets, finding lovely little squares to sit for coffee or a few tapas.

Our favourite areas were Gracia (where a lot of these photos were taken) with it's colourful old buildings, chic antique shops and cool cafes, and the narrow streets in the old Jewish quarter of Barri Gotic. 

 

We hired bikes and cycled around the city's streets to the beach, where we drank fresh fruit smoothies on the sand, we found a great seafood restaurant and ordered mussels, prawns and calamari, all my favourites. Yum!

This place served the most amazing selection of teas and cakes from around the world, we sat in their plaza drinking yogi chai tea with pistachio baklava, in fact I wish I was there now listening to the bustling streets drinking tea in the sunshine...





We were staying at the beautiful The Five Rooms hotel and waking up in Barcelona on my birthday was very exciting, we visited the Picasso museum , explored La Ribera and in the evening we got dressed up and went out on the town for tapas and rioja.

into the country

I'm sat in my living room writing this post with a mug of peppermint tea, I can hear the rain on the window pains and I'm wondering if this is the end of the summer. It's been feeling very autumnal here recently. So it's even nicer looking back at these very summery photos of a weekend away last month. We were staying in a rambling old farmhouse near Ludlow. It's one of my favourite places to get away to...I love the countryside, so being surrounded by green fields, roses, willow trees, veg patches, old farm buildings and the sound of summer birds singing away..I'm one very happy girl.

 

My boyfriend Pete, looking quite at home by the veg patch



One of the things I love about going way is waking up and having a relaxed breakfast, all made for you, instead of rushing to try and catch my bus to work...



Look at this amazing weeping willow tree, so beautiful, I felt like I was in a Tim Walker photoshoot!

This was the room we were staying in, full of freshly cut flowers from the garden, vintage books, cosy blankets and pretty wallpaper. The bathroom even had a roll top bath, which was so nice to have a soak in after a long walk through the coutryside. 

 

escape to the coast

We've been back from Cornwall for a couple of weeks now and it's really nice looking back at these photos.

We stayed in a lovely little cottage just a few minutes from the sea. The weather was completely gorgeous! We walked along the coastal path which was dotted with honeysuckle and wild flowers, down to secret coves and beaches.

Luckily there were a few local pubs on route to stop for a pint, crab sandwiches and mackerel pate on toast. Yum...

 

This was one of our favourite beaches called 'cow beach' we spent a lot of time here skimming stones, the sea was so calm. 

We carried on walking to a pretty little fishing village called Durgan and up to Trebah Gardens. which had it's own secluded beach. It was like being in the south of France.

The next day we took a small passenger ferry to Helford Village and walked along Frenchman's Creek, which was so beautiful. You start out in the village then walk through the cool, damp, fern covered woods to a wild flower meadow which was alive with butterflies, birds and bees. There was a small art gallery and tea shop too, where we stopped for local apple juice and lemon cake, just perfect.. Then back along the creek to get the ferry back across the estuary.

I can't wait to go back already!