the roseland return

This week we returned to the Cornish fishing village of Portscatho, in the Roseland Peninsula, where we had the most superb week's holiday last summer. Whilst the weather wasn't quite as kind to us this time round, we still had a wonderful time filled with non-stop adventure, play and laughter, like never before. 

Admittedly there wasn't too much laughter as we tried to pitch out tent in a thunderstorm (clearly we'd lost our sense of humour at that early point) but the rain clouds eventually parted and treated us to lots of sunny spells for the rest of our stay.

The vast majority of our time was spent crouched over rock pools, bobbing about in the waves and feasting on naughty Cornish treats. We also took the little ferry from St Mawes over to the bustling port of Falmouth to rummage for hidden treasure in the brimming second hand shops.

Back at the camp site, the girls marauded around squealing with delight, surrounded by an army of small friends with bubbles, balls, wooden swords and kites. The fields were also home to a small flock of sheep, chickens, rabbits and guinea pigs- the camp site lady would ring a hand bell in the morning at feeding time and the children all came running, desperate to help out!

We met a couple who had recently returned from paddling around the entire British coast in a sea kayak for 4 ½  months. The children were mesmerised by their tales of sleeping in bivy bags in car parks, not to mention the revelation that they only packed 5 pairs of underwear for their entire excursion! 

Needless to say, this encounter did nothing to stave off my ever-growing canoe obsession; I haven't quite convinced Steve of circumnavigating the British Isles just yet, but I think I might have him signed up to paddle the length of the Kennet and Avon Canal sometime soonish...

Once the girls were tucked up, Steve and I snuggled up in blankets, drinking cider, playing scrabble and treating ourselves to my dad's delicious blackberry vodka, which I had been saving for our holidays. I think it must have affected my usually impressive scrabble-playing skills as I lost every single game we played. I'm still sulking about it, but I will win back my scrabble crown at Christmas!

And now we're back home, preparing for the new school term, signs that the summer is drawing to its close. This evening has felt very autumnal indeed- we've been tucked up around the wood burner, watching 'Match of the Day' on the television!

I'll be trying to catch up with all your blogs over the next few days- what have I missed? x

goodbye summer

Haven't the school holidays flown by, I cannot quite believe it's time for winter uniforms and homework diaries again already. We've clung on to last days of Summer by heading off for a dreamy weekend filled with meadows, piglets, campfires, music, blackberries, the chirping of crickets and the hooting of owls.

I do hope you've all enjoyed the summer as much as we all have xx

nick the kid

Meet Nick.

During our trip to the farm a few weeks ago, Flora entered a competition to name one of the newborn kids. To my suprise, I had a call this week to say that Flora's entry 'Nick' had been selected as one of the winning names (I can only assume they pulled the names out of a hat!)

So today we all went along, free of charge, to officially name the kid and collect Flora's prize.

We all had such a lovely time and were treated like royalty! We'll be coming back regularly to watch Nick grow up.

Can you guess what we had for lunch at the end of our visit?

ssshhhhhhh....goat burgers. And delicious they were too!

muddy rainbows

Today Flora's Rainbow Guide group had a trip out to a local activity farm. For some unbeknown reason Steve had volunteered us to come along as helpers- a task that did not fill me full of enthusiasm, especially when we awoke to pouring rain this morning.

However, the sight of numerous cute baby livestock was enough to melt even my stony heart and I soon found myself getting into the swing of things.

It was the same farm that we took Pearl to for her birthday in November and it really is such a fun day out, even in grotty weather.

It's far more 'hands on' than any of the other farms we've been to- the children get plenty of opportunity to feed and stroke the animals, collect eggs from the chicken coop and even take the baby goats for a walk on leads.

Those of you with primary school age children are bound to recognise the books from the Oxford Reading Tree with Biff, Chip and Kipper. The 'At the Farm' book in the series is actually based on this farm, with all the illustrations a true likeness of the actual farmyard and barn.

I ended up having a really wonderful time and thoroughly enjoyed helping out with the other little girls. I never tire of conversations with children and their ability to find fun and laughter in everything they do. I came away wishing I was able to help out more regularly, but sadly I don't think I have any more spare time to commit.

It's sad that half term is nearly over, we've all had such a lovely week hanging out together. Hope your weekend is lots of fun x