My favourites of 2017

Hello again, I hope you’ve had a lovely Christmas! Surprisingly to some, I’ve only had this blog since the beginning of the year. I’m proud of where I’ve got to with it so far. The end of the year always brings with it a pensive mood. I don’t usually take the time at the end of each year to reflect on what’s happened. However, this year I feel that it’s important to.

This year, we’ve lost people some people who were very dear to us. Going into 2018 feels like taking yet another step further away from them, in some respects. However, as sad as it may be, life does go on. They wouldn’t want me to be sitting here dwelling on them. They’d want me to look at the positives, knowing that they’ll always be in my heart and remain a part of me as the years progress. My long-forgotten New Year’s Resolution was to be more positive this year. So here we go, let’s go out with a final big bang of positivity with my favourites of this year!

Read More

Rochester Dickensian Christmas Weekend 2017

A couple of weekends ago, we went to Rochester Christmas Market. We chose that particular weekend, as it was also the Dickensian Christmas Weekend. Charles Dickens lived locally in Higham and many of his novels were inspired by the surrounding area. This is one of two festivals in Rochester throughout the year in which Dickens enthusiasts, re-enactors and many others gather and celebrate Charles Dickens with members of the public.

We arrived just in time for one of the first parades of the day. It’s always such a delight to see so many beautiful outfits and smiley faces. It’s great fun and feels very festive!

Read More

Elves Behavin’ Badly

I’m a bit late blogging about it. I’ve been ill with one thing or another for the vast majority of the past 3 months. This has put me behind with absolutely everything! Obviously, Autumn, my day job and any paid commitments on the blog have had to come first.

Anyway, a couple of months ago I got an email saying that I’d won a competition with Elves Behavin’ Badly. It was something I entered at Blog On Xmas. It was a total surprise, as I thought it had probably already been drawn by then! The elves at the event loved my turkey hat and that clinched my prize!

Read More

Christmas at Bluestone: Day 5 (and some tips!)

On the Friday, we woke up to bright sunshine again. It seems to be a recurring theme that every time we go to Wales, the weather perks up just as we’re leaving. Typically, sun was forecast for at least the weekend afterwards.

As Dave was packing up everything, I took Autumn for a walk down to the village to see the advent countdown. There were notably fewer people and a fairly sombre mood. I could have happily stayed at Bluestone for far longer. I actually was on the brink of tears when we were leaving.

Read More

Making cocktails with Lambrini

Christmas party season is definitely upon us. Around the country, people scour the alcohol aisle in their supermarket for the best Christmas tipples. With just a few bottles of Lambrini and some other ingredients you can make a whole array of cocktails! I was recently sent some samples of their different flavours to test them out with my family ahead of Christmas dinner.

We usually stick to the same choices of wine, Baileys and snowballs. It’ll be nice to have another option on the table this year!

Read More