woodland walk

The school holidays are almost over, I cant wait to get my tiny bit of freedom back. I know! I know! I shouldn't wish away these days but 6 weeks is such a long time to entertain a child on your own.

earlier in the week I made the most of the quiet, early start and made the boy some new crayons. He has a habit of breaking them into tiny pieces and making them unusable.

We started with these, all sorted into similar colours before putting in a medium oven for as long as it too to melt them. I kept checking through the glass so they didnt become a boring, murky puddle but would set with a a swirl of different colours

These are the finished crayon cakes. The boy has happily sat colouring with them since Friday and they are still in one piece!


With a final break in the weather we decided to go on a woodland foraging walk. Pulling on wellies, grabbing our baskets we took the 15 minute walk to the entrance of the woods. We're lucky to have several woodland trust woodlands within walking distance. We spent a good 3 hrs walking through the woods even trudged past the remains of farm boundries, picking up pine cones, hazelnuts and blackberries as we walked.

beautiful textures on a fallen tree. it was covered in bugs, woodlice, spiders even a beetle scurried over it.

roots growing through slate built farm boundries. The path we took was narrow with steep sides.

sloes before we gathered a pot full for homemade sloe gin and haws almost ready. we have a recipe for haw schnapps and haw ketchup we want to try out this year.

The last stop of the day before the long walk home, the boy sitting in the grass while I picked a few apples from the tree. This is a golden-ringed dragonfly and the first time the boy had seen one in the flesh. he was amazed and has the picture of him sat with it on his wall.

we returned to picking what few apples were left on the tree, its has been a particularly bad summer and this tree was laden with so much fruit 2 years ago its branches touched the ground. This year due to the wet weather most of the fruit had split and began to rot. a far cry from how lucky we've been in previous years. we gathered up a couple of kgs and made our way home.

second hand shops

I love secondhand shops. There is something about them, trawling through them looking for hidden gems that is incredibly addictive.  I have a habit of going into whichever one I pass.

Over the years I have picked up some absolute bargains from sons pristine moses basket to bed linen. clothing, and much more recently a fabulous penguin books box set, not a single book had been read (I am a sort of collector of penguin books. i love the covers)

Yesterday I picked up this incredible find.

I have been after cornishware for absolutely ages and have been saving a little each week to buy myself a teapot. So I was surprised to find this set in my charity shop for just £3. There are no cracks or chips at all and I would have happily paid more for it (i did stick more cash in the donation tin). I'm in love with it and it has to be the best buy from a charity shop for me. I'm already using it for my breakfast cuppa along with another teapot. I might just put the teapot funds towards something else now I have my own little bit of cornishware.

august

I've just realised i haven't blogged since may! wow! it has been very busy here. So much has happened in the last few months I've barely had time to catch my breath. so, instead of a long winded post about the last few months, I'll share a few pictures.

 my favourite rose in flower, perfect pea soup and some recent designs.

 beautiful blue and white china from the local charity shop added to my mismatched haul, lavender picked ready to be hung for drying, carrot and lentil soup and my blanket, now over a foot long.

 lastly, leftovers turned into pizza, the begining of a pair of socks, a pretty tea cup i bought for just 75p and sons breakfast pancakes!