LIFESTYLE

Lovely Things || May 2017

On 2nd June 2017
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May May May, how you’ve tempted us with such bright and sunny days, followed by weekends of cloud!

Another month of many things, all the DIY, and visitors galore. There will be no complaints that I haven’t managed to get much done or see many people as we’ve been chocka block with friends coming to visit and practically fixing things until midnight. That’s not actually that much of an exaggeration either! There’s been a lot of little jobs to complete, which is satisfying, but also quite annoyingly behind the scenes as a lot of it isn’t glaringly obvious. I’ll do a nice little update post soon!

I also have realised that these posts do tend to be quite long, so if you’re sitting comfortably, I’ll begin…

A weekend with my oldest friend

The way she looks at food is how I hope to be looked at…!! My oldest friend (not in terms of age, but in length of friendship years) Ali came to visit us on the first weekend in May and it was so much fun. We started with a bizarre and wonderful evening at our neighbour’s friends, which resulted in getting a dusk tour of Trematon Castle. It’s literally an adventure every day with Liz! In the keep of the castle, they actually have chickens, who in turn live in the COOLEST chicken house in all of the land! I hope at some point this summer I get to swim in their Indian styled swimming pool too! The following day was full of food with a trip to the monthly Royal William Yard market, and an afternoon baking these beauties, which you may have already caught up on!

Calligraphy workshop

Another weekend treat during May was the calligraphy workshop run by Anon Design. We ink dipped and flowed and tried desperately to follow the beautiful curves and shapes on our workbooks. I found it amazingly relaxing, and a really fun way of doing a different form of art. I wrote a whole post on the workshop here if you’re interested in trying it yourself, I’d highly recommend it!

Five-a-day at Turtle Bay

I was really luck enough to try out the new additions to Turtle Bay‘s menu in May, most of which are either vegetarian or vegan. Taking along my vegan brother was a treat as he’s usually quite limited in choice when he’s out in restaurants and always ends up with the same boring types of meal. Not here though, his Ital wrap was deliciously stuffed with spiced chickpeas, jerk roasted mushrooms & red peppers, shredded carrot, crispy cabbage & sweet mango mole. Served with some super crispy spiced fries, I was actually pretty jealous I didn’t go for it as well! I love that as a reasonably new restaurant, they’ve really taken on board people’s comments and expanded their menu to include lots more vegetarian or vegan options. It’s such good value for money as well, and I’m excited about the rumours that a Turtle Bay will be opening in Plymouth soon…!!

Countryside Living

When Adam’s Dad came to stay, the weekend didn’t start off particularly smoothly as I was late home. Not because I was working late or there was bad traffic, oh no! What actually happened is briefly described in the photo above. As I was driving back into the village, merrily following the farmer and his flock of sheep behind another car, the sheep themselves were all over the road, running about. Just into this layby, the sheep all seemed to stop and huddle. I wondered whether the farmer was distracted, or actually if the guy in front of me was the farmer, but when he got out of his car, it became apparent that a) he wasn’t and b) there actually wasn’t a farmer there at all! The sheep had escaped from goodness knows which field and were happily running along the road in a flock of about 50 ewes and lambs. Between myself, and the random guy in front of me, we managed to herd them into the nearest available gateway with lots of arm shaking and shouting. Following this, wondering who’s field we’d just overtaken and actually where they’d come from I went for a quick jog around looking for anyone and everyone who could help. Picture the scene from Love Actually when Colin Firth is going to propose to Aurelia, the villagers gathered and together, in our own flock, finally we came across the very nonchalant farmer who was evidently looking for his sheep. You can call me Little Bo Peep…

One man’s rubbish is another man’s treasure…

It seems mad that I’m here chatting about a lovely thing that occurred at the local tip, but we came across a guy about to chuck away this brilliant corner cabinet! It is a bit old and dirty, but given a clean, it actually really suits our house, and I was excited that we saved it from the skip of death. Plus, the guy getting rid of it was really kind and also offered us a bureau that belonged to his wife’s dad and they would also be chucking. I’m going to upcycle that one I think and make it really pretty with new handles, a lick of paint, and some fun wallpaper on the inside.

Plymouth bloggers brunch

After madly organising May’s Plymouth Blogger Brunch about 24 hours in advance, it was lovely once again to hang out with some like-minded people and we tried Slug & Lettuce, which is new in Plymouth. Admittedly, I didn’t think much of the food, it was nice, but not outstanding. However, I did like that you got popcorn with your drinks, and the decor is great. Perhaps next time I’ll try their cocktails before I make my mind up…!!

Plus, before said brunch, I was proud to say I went for a swim in the sea, without a wetsuit! (and actually, if you really want to know, once I was quite far out, I may have also taken my cossie off too, cheeky!! How liberating…)

Life is better with friends…

Lovely Things May 2017 10

…and we are blessed to have many, all of whom are so keen to come and visit! Hooray for finally having a house big enough to invite people over properly to stay! This month we’ve been to Plymouth’s Theatre Royal to see the comedy A Brimful of Asha with Anna, my old housemate Joe came for an adventure (and the amazing tapas and mocktails at the Seco Lounge…), I swam at a local outdoor pool and went for some pub grub with my friend Verity, two other uni friends popped by on their way back from bank holiday fun in Looe, my brother and his two friends stayed after seeing The Kooks and Adam’s brother came to help out in the garden and slept over…it’s been a hive of activity at Hall Farmhouse!

Garden in Bloom

Talking of hives, one thing that’s certain is the bees are loving our garden at the moment. Despite not being lived in for 3 years, the rhododendrons are in full bloom, and all our our beds are full of plants, lots of which are flowering! The wisteria was beautiful and smelt amazing, but I’m excited to work out what’s what and fill both the back and front with lovely flowers! Plus, we had a fun visit from three riders and horses who came and drank out of the trough by our gate. Oh countryside life ehh?

Rosie Alba

Pretty much my favourite thing to be born out of May (get it?!) is this little bundle of joy, Rosie Alba. One of my best friends, Sophy and her husband Adam welcomed Rosie on Sunday and I am literally bursting with love for her. After a pretty traumatic birth but the sounds of things, she is absolute 10lb 7oz perfection and I’m so excited for both of them about what this next stage of life will bring!

So there you have it, another month summer up nicely into a not-so-neat 1500 words or so. With the bursts of sunshine May has also brought some really lovely bursts of happiness too, and as we settle into a weekend routine since the move, June’s about to come along and disrupt it all with some seriously busy weekends. I hope the momentum for visitors stays strong, it’s been amazing having people over to see us, and I promise I’ll get you some better house update photos too as I know you’re dying to see the “before” photos of the inside! Enjoy your weekend my lovelies!