a cornish adventure

We've been spending this week camping by the sea on Cornwall's stunning Roseland Peninsula. It's been the most incredible family holiday we've ever had. The weather was perfect, beaches were breathtaking and the girls were both the best behaved they have ever been- no tears or tantrums from either of them for the whole week. I think there must be something to be said for abandoning television and laptops and being forced to entertain each other!

 

 

Every beautiful sandy, rock-pooled beach we went to was virtually empty- most unexpected for Cornwall in the school holidays, I can only assume that the rest of Cornwall's holiday-makers were on the popular north side. This meant that the girls were allowed much more freedom to wander through the rock pools and paddle in the sea by themselves, as wherever they were, we could spot them instantly. Flora spent some of her holiday money on an inflatable boat "The Happy Crab" and the girls spent many an hour rowing her in the warm, shallow sea. The sea was so blue and calm that even I was swimming in it- it must be many years since the last time that happened.

 

 

 

 

The campsite where we stayed was like nothing we'd ever been to before- a small, heritage farm with lush green fields, rolling down to the sea and the most relaxed and friendly atmosphere we've ever encountered. There were only a small number of pitches, all of which were occupied by ordinary families with small children like ours (none of the scary super-keen rambler types you normally get, parading about in testicle-skimming cut off denims at the crack of dawn). There was a whole field set-aside for the children to run and play, with goal-posts and a willow den- both girls had the time of their lives and made armies of wonderful friends, who they were sad to say farewell to. Campfires were permitted in braziers that you could borrow with the purchase of firewood and every Wednesday night throughout the summer holidays there is an organised fireside gathering in the top field, with a bring-and-share bbq, music, poetry, story-telling and marshmallow toasting. It was the perfect opportunity to relax, make friends and watch the sun setting into the sea. 

I am now a rather rosy shade of pinky-brown and have an entire mountain of laundry to do, but I have never felt so relaxed. We'll be booking to go again next year as soon as we can- I can't imagine a holiday anywhere else in the world being so perfect!

courgette glut

It's that time of year again- more courgettes than you can shake a trowel at and I've already exhausted my courgette culinary repertoire.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining- I love courgettes, so it is a nice problem to have, but I could do with some new ideas. So far I've made umpteen roasted Medetaranian pasta bakes, crispy courgette pakoras, vegetable chillis and today we had a very tastey courgette lasagne.

Last year I used them in chutney too, which was lovely, but we had so much and never got round to eating it all, so I'm going easy on the preserving this year.

What are your favourite tried and tested courgette recipes?

red arrows

After a horrid wet and windy morning stuck indoors, this afternoon we took advantage of the sunshine peeping through the clouds and headed off for a drive to see if we could spot any of the planes from the Air Tattoo. We couldn't see very much at all, so I ended up driving right over to the venue, so as not to disappoint the girls. Just as we arrived, we were lucky enough to time it exactly right to see the Red Arrows drive right over us, so close we could see the pilots inside. I pulled the car onto the grass right outside the entrance to the show and despite the obvious police presence, not a single one asked us to move on, so we were able to enjoy the entire display from our car. 

The girls were screaming with delight as they shot about above us, loop-the-looping and spinning about, leaving their brightly coloured trails behind them. To my surprise, I became equally excited, not having watched them since I was a child, and I as was whooping and cheering out of the window like a woman possessed!

It marked the end of a pretty fantastic week all round. I do hope all of you have had a good one too.

Lou, you must tell Rufus and Charlie, they said hi! x

yip yip!

Go Flora!

festivities and fry-ups

This weekend our whole town has gathered together in the market square, pints of cider in hand, to enjoy the music and entertainment at our annual arts festival. The girls have been running free with their friends, skipping, dancing and drawing on the pavement with chalks. In a minute we're back off out to see some of Flora's friends take part in a 'flash mob' freestyle dance routine. I've no idea what to expect!

I've also been tackling the jungle of weeds down at the allotment- I put in three hours' hard labour yesterday and can hardly move today. I harvested the last of our early 'Maris Bard' potatoes and made some delicious hash browns with them for this morning's breakfast, served up with bacon, eggs and mushrooms- yum!

Back to work tomorrow, but I'm buoying myself the thought of Cornwall in two weeks' time, yip yip!

saturday morning

This morning I caught a half-dressed Flora reading the back of the record we were listening to. I love the fact that she will read ordinary things around the house now, not just her school books.

Thank you for all your kind comments about my fancy dress costumes, I did have a lot of fun making them. I really enjoyed working with felt- so colourful and easy to use, so I'm looking for inspiration for a few other cute felt-based makes. Watch this space.

Happy weekend x

p p p pick up a penguin

It's time for the third and final installment of my 'British Icons' costume posts, and it's the turn of my own costume (which I am most excited about!)

In the run up to the party I was racking my brains trying to decide which British icon I wanted to be, but all the people I came up with were unsuitable for someone on the plumper side, like myself. So I decided that I would be an iconic object, rather than a person. 

 

I looked for inspiration from around my own home and came up with the idea of going as one of my favourite things to collect- a mid century Penguin paperback book. For me, the Penguin book is one of the most iconic items of the 20th century- everyone instantly recognises the brightly coloured, simple cover designs and they are internationally celebrated for having brought good quality, contemporary and affordable fiction to the masses.

After a bit of thought, I chose the most infamous and revolutionary of all the Penguin paperbacks- Lady Chatterley's Lover, whose publication led to the company being charged under the Obscene Publications Act in 1960. Penguin was subsequently acquitted, marking a turning point in British censorship laws. The British public could not get their hands on a copy fast enough, with queues in bookshops up and down the land- two million copies sold in six weeks!

 

I had the idea to use Pearl's old cot mattress as the base of my costume, which I cut to a suitable size with sharp scissors. I'm pleased that I thought of a way to repurpose the cot mattress, as charity shops don't accept them on health guidance, so it would have just ended up in a landfill.

I bought some cheap lengths of polycotton in both white and bright orange and machine-sewed them together, to look like the book cover. I then cut some strips of the white fabric and ran it up and down my sewing machine with black cotton, to look like the pages of the book. These strips formed the top, bottom and one of the side ends of the book, which I stitched all together to cover the entire piece of mattress foam.

As I was sewing the pieces together, I stitched in some thick elastic cross-over straps, so that I would be able to wear the giant book as a costume.

Then it was time for the details on the book cover and spine. I cut out the letters and logo shapes from thick felt and then appliqued them by hand to the book cover.

I will confess that I got halfway through the rather tedious job of cutting out and stitching on the lettering and wondered why on earth I hadn't chosen to make 1984 instead!

But when I'd eventually finished it all, I was really pleased with the finished costume and it seemed to go down well at the party (although it was a little bit awkward to help myself to the buffet!)

After all that work I think I'm trying to think of another use for it- maybe a big floor cushion, or wall hanging? I'll let you know when I decide!

Have a lovely week everyone xx

my mate

Thank you for all your lovely comments about the girls' Where's Wally costumes, I had so much fun making them, so I'm glad you think they looked effective!

Now for the second installment- my husband's costume. He really isn't very keen on fancy dress at the best of times, so I needed to think of something a little bit more low-key, but clearly iconically British. I drew inspiration from the kitchen cupboard and decided that a jar of Marmite was just the thing.

I cut out shapes from brightly coloured felt to create the basic elements of the jar and label, overlaid them and then hand-stitched them all into place with blending cotton.

I then just stitched the jar onto an old white tee shirt and- voila! What could be more iconic than a trusty jar of Britain's favourite yeast extract?

Hope you all have had a super weekend- I hope yours didn't fly by as quickly as ours. I'll be back tomorrow with the third and final (and most exciting, in my opinion) installment of British Icons costumes- mine!