A Return To The Festival

We had such a great time at Clitheroe Food Festival last year that we decided to visit again this year, and we had a really great day out once again. In fact, quite a few of our friends and family also went to the festival on my recommendation and they had a great time too. The weather was lovely, the drive to the festival was very pleasant (through some gorgeous countryside) and the food was irresistible!

Like last year, we decided to buy one of everything that took our fancy and have a little each so that we could sample a broad range of things. Also, many of the exhibitors provided free samples, which was great. I enjoyed all of the food I tasted, but thought that the FatJax Chutney was especially scrummy! I tried lots of different kinds and ended up buying enough to feed an army! It makes my mouth water just thinking about it.

Ben made a b-line for Leagrams Organic Cheeses. He had some last year and really enjoyed it and so decided to stock up on it this year. And I have to say that it goes very well with crackers and my chutney! In fact, it goes well with just about anything – it’s so delicious.

We were also very keen on Susan’s Farmhouse Fudge, which was beyond delicious! It’s apparently made in Samlesbury (not far from Clitheroe) using local cream, butter and British sugar. And it’s some of the best fudge I’ve ever tasted! Hmmmm! I can feel the pounds piling on just thinking about it.

And as for the Polka Pops homemade cakes, forget about it! (I’ve been watching too many mafia movies, I know!) Apparently the cakes are baked using home laid eggs, they are then crumbled and mixed with delicious frosting to create yummy balls of truffle, which are then put on sticks and hand decorated. The kids really loved them, especially the two youngest.

The only downside to the day was that Sarah tore her new Dolce Petit ruffle dress on a damaged fence and was (understandably) very upset about it. Fortunately, they’re on sale at the moment at Cachet Kids so replacing it won’t be a problem. And Sarah quickly cheered up when I told her she’d be getting another one.

Overall, it was a great day out – great weather, great scenery, great company and great food. What more could you ask for? 

A Day To Remember

I had a great time at the weekend. Ben and I had the idea of getting together with friends and family and collectively throwing a massive garden party and that’s just what we did!

The party was held at Judy and Dimitris’ house. Well, to be more precise it was held at the back of their house in a field that their garden backs onto. They’re friends with the farmer who owns the land and he was happy to let them use it for free.

Dave and Elizabeth borrowed an enormous marquee from Elizabeth’s father. He had bought it for the wedding reception of Elizabeth’s older sister a few years earlier and said that he would be happy if Elizabeth could get some use out of it. And it’s a good thing that we had it as it rained non-stop for the duration of the party.

Ed contributed by bringing along his band mates and playing live music at the party. He’s played lead guitar in local pub bands for quite a few years now and the band went down really well at the party, playing lots of crowd pleasers like Meatloaf’s ‘Bat Out Of Hell’ and Queen’s ‘Tie Your Mother Down’.

Ben and I provided a lovely spread of food and drink. We also asked guests to bring some edible goodies to the party, which they did aplenty! In fact, there wasn’t enough room on the tables for all of the yummy guest contributions and some of them had to go in the house. (I can feel the pounds piling on just thinking about it!)

Lots of family and friends turned up to the party, including my aunty Elsie who I hadn’t seen for over ten years! She lives in Scotland close to Inverness and Ed brought her down for the party as a special surprise. It was great seeing her again and catching up on family news. I have such a big family that it’s easy to lose track of what everybody's up to.

The party was a lot of fun from start to finish (despite not being able to have a barbecue because of the rain). We kicked the party off proper with a kids’ disco, which everybody seemed to enjoy. It was so funny watching my little niece Dina doing her toddler dancing. She was actually pretty good at it. And she looked adorable in the new outfit that Ben and I bought her for her birthday – a Tutto Piccolo white dress with red flowers, some ankle high red socks with frills and bows and a pair of red bow hair clips. 

 We then played lots of party games, like dunking for apples, musical chairs and pass the parcel. And we finished the day with Ed’s live music, followed by some highly embarrassing Karaoke. (I think the lowlight of this was Uncle Jim’s lager fuelled, topless rendition of Rod Stewart’s ‘If You Think I’m Sexy’!) Anyway, we all had a lot of fun. It was a real day to remember!

Santorini

As I mentioned in my last blog, I recently got back from a holiday in Greece. I absolutely love Greece - it’s got great weather, great beaches, great food and most of all great people! I’ve visited quite a few of the islands in the past, and a few places on the mainland - most notably Athens, Thessaloniki, Giannitsa and Pella. I even did some walking in the foothills of Mount Olympus when I was young(er) and more adventurous. I didn’t see any gods but I could see why the ancient Greeks thought it was the home of their gods – much of the scenery was divine!

Speaking of divine scenery, my latest holiday was on the island of Santorini (Thira) in the southern Aegean, probably the most beautiful Greek island I’ve ever visited. It was created by volcanic activity thousands of years ago and the landscape is absolutely stunning, with: steep cliffs, lovely beaches, a striking blue caldera and clear warm waters. And among all this are gorgeous blue and white buildings. It really is a place of great beauty.  

The only negatives I can think of are as follows. First, it was quite windy (in my experience, the islands in the Aegean are all quite windy) so it’s worth hiring a wind break for the beach.

Second, when you wade out into the sea you have to walk on volcanic rock, which can be quite hard on the feet, so it’s a good idea to wear some foot protection when you do this.

Third, if you arrive by boat the bus ride from the harbour to the main settlement involves snaking up a steep cliff face, which is quite hair raising. Fortunately, the island has an airport which makes it possible to arrive by air. Next time I think I’ll do that and forget about visiting Athens first.

Finally, the island is a little on the expensive side. For example, in one of the clothing shops in the main settlement I found some Ben Sherman polo shirts that were exactly the same as the ones worn by my boys at the time and they were on sale for the equivalent off roughly £32 each – about £12 more than I paid! 

Anyway, all in all Santorini is a wonderful place that is well worth visiting. 

     

INCHworm Trainers - Update

Just got back from a great holiday in Greece. I’ll tell you all about it in my next blog. In this blog I just want to give you a quick update on something I wrote about in one of my first blogs.

Back in October 2013 I wrote a blog about a new type of trainers that I bought for my kids called INCHworm trainers. They looked really cool, but the thing that attracted me to them the most was that they could be adjusted to grow with my children’s feet and so (hopefully) last a lot longer than normal trainers. (They could be extended by 1 full size in 2 half size increments.)  I wrote that I liked them, but had a worry that if they aged like normal footwear and lasted a lot longer than normal footwear, then my kids would be running around in tatty looking trainers, which I wasn’t keen on.

Well, before the holiday I had a clear out of my kids’ wardrobes and came across the trainers. All the kids had grown out of them (which was no surprise as they had had them for over a year and a half), but they got a lot of use out of them and I have to say that the trainers had all worn very well. In fact, none of them looked tatty at all. 

I ended my previous blog on these trainers with the following words:

“… I think that the idea of adjustable trainers is a great idea, especially for kids with one foot bigger than the other (which thankfully none of my children have) but I’m not sure that these are the trainers for me … or my kids! Only time will tell.”

Well, time did tell and I’m happy to report that INCHworm Trainers passed the test of time!

A little competition.

I had a great Easter this year (as usual) and I hope that you did too! Ben and I spent much of the weekend driving around the Yorkshire Dales with the kids, taking in the gorgeous villages and beautiful countryside. I especially enjoyed visiting the gorgeous town of Grassington, having lunch in one of the lovely little tea rooms there and walking by the river. I also enjoyed walking from Malham up to the top of Malham Cove (which was featured in one of the Harry Potter films) but it was quite a climb and the kids were less than enthusiastic, to say the least.

In our family, there’s a long tradition of giving clothes as well as chocolate at Easter and this year we were very happy to continue that tradition. However, Ben and I decided that it would be fun to have a little competition – he would buy presents for me and the girls, I would buy presents for him and the boys, we would set a £35 per person limit and we would let the kids judge who bought the best presents. And the winner would gain complete control of the TV remote control for a week!

So what did we end up buying? Well, I bought Ben a lovely bath robe from Marks & Spencer, I bought Keith three stylish black shirts from Cachet Kids (which I knew he’d like as he’s going through a ‘black’ period at the moment) and I bought Simon three patterned leather belts from Cachet kids (which I knew he’d love as he loves leather belts). 

Ben bought me a lovely side zip crepe jumper from Marks &Spencer (which I adore), he bought Crissy a lovely Mayoral blue and white outfit with striped top and three quarter length leggings from Cachet Kids and he bought Sarah a Mayoral girl’s navy legging outfit with handkerchief from Cachet Kids (which may have been the best value of all at only £19.99 in the sale). 

Anyway, after giving the presents we let the kids decide the winner of the competition and (after bribing them with chocolate) I was declared the winner! Hurrah! Now where did I put that remote? J

Twins!

I had some great news at the weekend - my friend Sandra gave birth to two adorable baby girls on Saturday. She and her husband Clive couldn’t be more delighted. They’ve wanted a baby for some time and now they have two! I visited Sandra in the hospital yesterday and I’ve never seen her look so happy. She was positively glowing with joy.

I’ve known Sandra about fifteen years now and Clive for about eight. I met Sandra at a bar while on holiday in Rhodes. She was a little worse for wear and had lost her friends, so my friends and I adopted her for the evening and made sure she was all right. We got on really well all night and then the next day I found out that she lived just around the corner from me back home in Garstang! We arranged to meet up when we got home and our friendship developed from there.  

Anyway, when Sandra gets out of hospital Clive is going to throw a small welcome home party for her and the girls and I persuaded him to let me help organise it. I love organising parties – it’s almost as much fun as attending them.

Ben and I have already given Sandra and Clive a cute congratulations card, but we had a little trouble deciding what presents to get for the girls. Ben was set on buying a couple of Mayoral pink dummy chain with wooden beads, which I liked a lot, but I had in mind buying something for the girls to wear. When I was browsing through the Cachet Kids website I spotted an absolutely adorable Mayoral baby girl’s pink and white sailor dress with a cute little bow that I thought would be perfect, but then Ben found some equally adorable baby girl’s white frilly sock shoes in a gift pack and we couldn’t decide what to choose. In the end we decided to get them all!

I also have some good news about Crissy – last year she was struggling with her English at school, so I arranged for her to have one to one tutoring using a tutor from Tutor Doctor and her grades have been much better this year. So as a reward we bought her some gorgeous Pretty Originals girl’s white shoes, which she absolutely loves. I find that when it comes to my children's education, nothing works better than bribery!

Dina's Christening!

It’s been a really special day today – my lovely niece Dina was christened. Judy and Dimitris wanted it to be an intimate affair, so only close family and friends were invited; and I think that helped to make the occasion all the more special. (They’re going to visit Greece in a few weeks to have a second ceremony for Dimitris’ family.)

Dina looked absolutely adorable in a beautiful silk heirloom christening gown (which came with a free keepsake bag), baby girl’s special occasion scallop pattern ivory socks with bow and Sarah Louise ivory christening shoes, all wrapped up in a frilly ivory shawl with ivory lace trims and sequins. Seeing that cute bundle made me feel all broody again!

The ceremony was held at Saint Mary and St. Michael’s Church just outside of Garstang. To be more precise, it’s located over the river Wyre in Bonds with Barnacre, close to the Bowland Fells. It’s a gorgeous church dating back to1858, located in beautiful countryside. I’m so lucky to live in this part of the world.

The christening went very well, with hardly a peep out of Dina (she’s so good natured) and I was fortunate enough to be one of the godparents, along with my brother Dave. Afterwards we all went back to Judy’s house, where she and Dimitris had laid on a fantastic buffet, including lots of delicious Greek delicacies; I was particularly taken with a honey and baklava sweet, which I hadn’t tried before but will definitely try again!

It was good to be among close friends and family, catching up on all the latest gossip. (Apparently Uncle Jim is in the process of becoming a publican, which I’m sure will end badly: it’s like putting a mouse in charge of a cheese factory!) And it was nice to look through the vast array of christening gifts that Dina and Dimitris were given. My favourites have to be: a Mayoral baby girl’s cute bunny rabbits shorts set given by Dave and Liz and a DolcePetit baby girl’s beige polka dots ruffle dress set with red bow given by one of Judy's friends. Dina will look so adorable in them.