Things To See And Do - Lewes

This week we went to Lewes for our weekly date!  I used to go to University at Sussex, so it was a bit of a blast from the past, and it was good to explore again.

Lewes is great if you are on the hunt for Antiques, and quirky old stuff! The first place we found was Lewes Flea Market, which is a treasure trove of weird and wonderful things!

Next we stopped in on a lovely little shop called Mary's which stocked some really cute items, as well as sweets! I bought some pretty cards here as I felt I couldn't leave with nothing!  

I remembered from previous visits that there was a Bill's here, so we decided to head there for lunch! Chris picked a beautiful, if rather effeminate, drink.

We both had ham hock and pea terrine with caramelised onions as a starter, which was really nice! Then we had sea bass with potato rosti and tomato and avocado salsa. I ate that too quickly before I remembered to take a photo, but it looked great and was equally delicious! Aside from the food, Bills has such a fun atmosphere,  and I'd really recommend going to one if you haven't been before.

We wandered around some more antiques shops located near to Bills, and then decided it was time for a drink in the sunshine!  On our way we found a really awesome shop called Closet and Botts, which had a bit of a rustic feel and had some really interesting bits and bobs!

We found a pub called The Rights of Man which had a roof terrace garden, so we decided to stay a while and enjoy a drink. It felt like summer!

After we had finished our drinks we decided to take a walk near Lewes Castle. We decided not to go in this time but maybe we will on another adventure, it was still a really nice walk seeing it from a distance.

Have you been to Lewes before? What were your favourite things to see and do?

Laura xXx

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Things To See And Do - Arundel

A while back Chris and I started a habit of making sure we went on weekly dates. Each week we had to base the date on a letter of the alphabet. You can see our alphabet dates here. Unfortunately, we only got to D before we gave up. It turns out that theming dates on letters is actually quite tricky!  We did continue our weekly dates for a while without the letters to hold us back, but then life got in the way for a while.

But for the past month or so, we have been making a conscious effort to go out on weekly dates again. This time we have just decided to go and explore a town or village each time.  So far we have been to Winchester, Southsea, Bournemouth and The New Forest. I thought it might be nice to document the things we do and the places we see to unearth any hidden treasures, and give you some ideas if you want to visit.  Or, if you have been before and have any suggestions of places to go you can add to the conversation in the comments section!

So, on Wednesday we visited Arundel in West Sussex. Despite driving past Arundel Castle on my way to and from Sussex Uni many moons ago, I had never actually visited, so this was our first stop!

Arundel Castle has a variety of ticket choices, and so you can pick from paying £9 each for a bronze ticket, which only really includes the castle grounds and gardens, all the way up to gold for £18 which lets you get inside the whole castle including the bedrooms.  

We went for the silver ticket which meant we payed £12.10 each and could see the grounds, gardens and also inside the Castle Keep.  They also offer a Gift Aid scheme wherein if you pay a voluntary 10% gift aid then you get double that donation to spend each in the coffee shop.  We thought this was a great idea and it was nice to get an ice lolly and drink inside!

Since it was such a sunny day and we wanted to spend most of it outside, we probably could have just gone for a bronze ticket, and spent all our time looking at the beautiful gardens, and the castle from outside. But it was nice to get a glimpse inside the castle too.

My favourite bit was definitely the walled garden!  It was really pretty spectacular! It included loads of beautiful colourful flowers, and also had lots of wooden sculptures, fountains, and GOLD!

I think this fountain was the prettiest!

After we had finished wandering the grounds we popped into Arundel for a spot of lunch.  We found a nice little place called  Pappardelle Ristorante and Osteria (I think they must have had an update because the pictures on the website do not look like the same place inside). The decor was rustic and modern and I particularly liked their copper tables. I ordered a WooWoo!

The menu looked pretty delicious too, and in the end Chris and I both ordered the Duck Salad. It. Was. Yum.  

After eating we went for a look around the village. I really liked the look of their local Butchers!

We found some fantastic Antique shops. The one pictured below had some really unusual (and expensive) pieces inside. Can you see the Hippo in the window?

There were also more antique shops hidden behind this one, all selling pretty cool stuff. I liked this room pictured below in particular, it seemed to have an industrial chic theme mixed in with a bit of vintage school ware.

We also ventured in to another shop called Arundel Bridge Antiques Centre, again which had stalls from many different sellers.  My favourite was Arundel Photographica, which sold the biggest collection of vintage cameras I have ever seen!

Have you been to Arundel before? What was your favourite part?

I'm not sure where we are off to next week. Any suggestions for nice places along the South Coast?

 Laura xXx

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Exciting News!

Guess what?  Yesterday we put an offer on a lovely little house, and today it was accepted! I did a little watercolour painting of it to commemorate the event. We are very excited and crossing our fingers that it all goes smoothly.  Chris and I are going to TGI Friday's tonight to celebrate, yippee!

Laura xXx

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Cambridge Blogger Meet - The Goodie bag

Today I am going to share with you the contents of the wonderful #camblogmeet goodiebag! Hurrah!

An array of wonderful companies and artists contributed to our goodie bag, so a big thank you to all those that sponsored our fantastic day!

First up we each got a hand illustrated card by Rachel from OhNoRachio!

A crafty kit from Crafty Creatives and free copies of Homemaker magazine.

Lovely smelling soaps from Lush.

We each got our very own ring from the hostess with the mostess Claireabellemakes. Mine has cute little cherries on it!

Harriet's fantastic 'cattoos" and you can just peep the corner of Emma's pretty punting postcard. See the first picture for a better look.

A delicious sample tea from Teapigs. I haven't actually had mine yet, I will look forward to trying it this weekend.

The cutest little animal stickers by Stacie Swift.

Awesome Washi tape from Washitapes.co.uk. Also thanks to The Sheep Shop, Dexterous Diva and Printed.com, who also contributed.

If you want to see a full list of bloggers that attended the event you can find it here on twitter. Go and check out their blogs, they are all awesome!

I've definitely got the blogger meet up bug now, I can't wait for the next one!

Laura xXx

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More Weddings!!!

Today I just wanted to dedicate a little post to some recent exciting news! Chris's little sister got engaged friday before last! Her bofriend, now fiance, (and my brother in law to be!) whisked her away to Paris to pop the big question.  We did a little picture of both of our engagement rings together above to celebrate. She has the red nails and the beautiful platinum gold ring, which fits her perfectly (well done Alfie)!

I am very glad that once our big day is over I will still be able to get excited about weddingy things! Gosh aren't weddings the most fun things ever!? I could talk about them forever...weddings, weddings, weddings...

Congratulations Rosie and Alfie!!!

Laura xXx

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A day in the life...

This weekend Chris and I decided to go on a mini weekend trip to Wareham in Pip. I have just been given my own area to look after at work all the way through Christchurch to Swanage and Wareham, so I thought I'd better learn where the heck I am sending my lorries! (I work for a waste disposal company and send out the drivers to empty bins... very glamourous!) What better way than a weekend away! 

We set out early on Saturday morning, stopping along the way for breakfast at the service station McDonalds for an egg mcmuffin to really get into the holiday spirit.

I diligently "navigated" the whole way, only stopping to take really important photographs! At one point I made Chris turn the van around because I saw a sign that said 'Antiques' and I could tell it was one of those shops you could have a good old rummage. When we first walked in the post man came in behind us. There was a little girl who I assume was the owners daughter playing on the floor. The postman pointed in awe to the area the little girl was playing in and exclaimed 'A space!'. The little girl replied 'It won't be there for long!" As we walked into the shop I could see what they meant! The place was a maze and it was so jam packed I was afraid to touch anything in case the whole lot fell down. The speciality seemed to be tea sets but they had pretty much anything you could think of. I can't belive I forgot to take my camera in! It would have made a brilliant photo opportunity!

When we got to Wareham we found another lovely shop called ReLoved. I wanted everything in it especially the awesome vintage cabinet in the second photo down.

Next stop... hot chocolate, obviously.

Then we made our way to Corfe Castle. We didn't actually go in but we had a good look from the outside and explored the village which was beautiful.

We payed a quick visit to the 'Museum'. It was tiny but very informative, and we even got to see some fossilized dinosaur footprints.

We had some yummy food at the pub, we decided to share 3 starters. After lunch we had to rush back to the van as our ticket was running out of time. Then we headed to the campsite for the night, we played cards, ate tomato soup, and watched Tron. On Sunday morning we headed to Bournemouth for some shopping, I popped into WH Smith to see if they had Pretty Nostalgic in stock. They did! And here is me excitedly finding the page with my contribution on! Hurrah!

The hot air balloon at Bournemouth always makes me smile. Isn't it pretty? We had a really lovely weekend, and Pip was especially happy because the man serving at the garage said he was 'made in the golden age of life!' The only thing that spoilt the weekend was realising I had forgotten to pack my tea, then finding that my coffee had congealed into some caviar like substance. Oh well, at least we had hot chocolate to keep us going!

Laura xXx

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