Beach Beach Beach!

It's beach season again! Granted, it might not be bikini weather yet but it's perfect for walking and lying out in the sun. Add an ice cream into the mix and it's a brilliant beach trip. My closest coastline has pebbles, you've got to drive another 20 minutes for the sand. These pebbles are so painful to walk on in bare feet and the water isn't too welcoming nearby either, so if i'm wanting to swim in the sea I go a little further away to get the sand between my toes and where the water is  little cleaner. Sometimes though time is of the essence and there is no time to waste when making the most o a sunny day in Britain. Cue the pebble beach, beach huts, Toms, sunnies and ice cream to make the most of this Spring day.

All of these pics were taken at Hill Head Beach in Hampshire, England.

Marina Sundays

This past weekend was so beautiful across the south coast that I had to get out there and take some photos with my real camera (aka not an iphone!). Sunday afternoon we headed to Port Solent Marina and marvelled at the stunning boats and tanned in the sunshine.

This place is full of restaurants and also has a cinema. I've been on a date here last Autumn and it has such a nice atmosphere in the evening; so many twinkling lights. 

Spring time goodness

Thursday was an exciting day and one which I'd been waiting for since October last year when show tickets were purchased! It was the day of the  Country Living Spring Fair held in the London Design Centre in Islington. This is a huge exhibition about all things spring: homewares, clothing, cosmetics, fabrics, furnishings, paintings, crafts (all sorts) and food.

When I visited the Christmas fair in October (premature but a sure fire way to get some early Christmas excitement) I was a little overwhelmed at the vastness of the whole show. This time I went prepared to be wowed and the experience certainly didn't disappoint. As you walk in you are greeted with a pretty garden display complete with a fountain and a pond! Ribbons hung from the high ceiling and the theme was pastel colours throughout.

There were hundreds of stalls to browse and buy from, many staffed by the artists/designers themselves. I had been saving to go so was really happy with the treats I bought for myself!

This tin lantern has a glass insert and was a gift from my aunt.

A cute Bill Brown of London fabric bag for summer and the beach.

This Jan Constantine cushion was actually free with something my aunt bought for my mum, I just benefitted from the free gift!

I also found a heart shaped ceramic dip set with a bamboo base from Occasion for Entertaining but it's wrapped for moving so I haven't photographed it yet. Having been sucked in by the selling technique of an Irish man I ended up buying toffee vodka, which after two shots tasted delicious and I was sold! Wonder why that was?! Also a food centred buy (I'm a foodie) were the curry sauces I bought after copious tasting and choosing of which flavours I wanted. I cooked the butter chicken last night and it was great!

There were also workshops and talks which were interesting and the Greene and Blacks chocolate talk was definitely my favourite (mostly because of the tasting!) The orange flavoured milk chocolate is divine and I had to try quite a lot to be sure I liked it as much as I thought I did...

After we were weighed down with bags we ventured into Islington for coffee and then down the pretty terraced house lined streets to a gem of an old pub for dinner. 

We were all falling asleep on the way home that night but so full of joy from our day out the exhaustion was worth it!