The biggest adventure in Pip the Campervan yet!

I am aware that I have been neglecting my little blog for a while now, but there is good reason I assure you!  Last friday I got engaged!

It was our 5 year anniversary of being together, and Chris had surprised me with a meal at a swanky restaurant. Afterwards Chris declared that we would be sleeping in the van. Ok, I thought this a little odd, as the van was only in the driveway, but hey ho! Chris went on inside while I got ready for bed in the house, when I opened the van door there was Chris on one knee holding the ring above! I was shocked to say the least, but after several moments of dumbfounded silence I, of course, said yes!

Once I had recovered from the shock I finally got the whole story.  You may remember a few weeks back that I mentioned my favourite antique shop? Well on that very visit I had pointed out a ring that I thought was pretty. Once Chris had made the decision to pop the question he decided he would have to go back to that shop to get that ring (which was an hour and a half drive away), keeping his fingers crossed that it was still there two weeks later!  On his way back he went and asked my Dad's permission - luckily he said yes!

No one else knew! Not even Chris's parents, who, at the point of proposal were tucked up in bed. It was far too exciting news to wait until the next day so we decided we would have to go and wake them up. The next 30 minutes or so was spent sat on the end of their bed drinking Asti! Of course I didn't sleep all night after all of that excitement!

I'm still getting around to telling everyone, but I've had some lovely cards from the people that know so far.

 My friend Jess wrote me a limerick, which pretty much sums up the event perfectly!

Another friend made me a lovely book for planning in, and dropped it on my doorstep on sunday morning.

First things first ... 

You may be seeing lots of wedding themed posts from now on I am afraid!

Laura xXx

Read More

Tour around 'Dairy House Antiques'

Today I thought I would take you on a virtual tour of my favorite antiques/vintage/allthingsbeautiful shop!

It is called 'Dairy House Antiques' and is in Semley near Shaftesbury, but it is a bit of a hidden gem. It is in quite a big building and there are lots of fascinating rooms to explore. My favorite area is downstairs where there are drawers full of fabrics, lace, ribbons, and an abundance of buttons and all things crafty! Unfortunately the lighting wasn't brilliant in this room so you will just have to imagine the rest.

The other rooms are full of all sorts of things; clothes, furniture, books, crockery, garden implements, the list goes on...

I really loved these little 1950's shot glasses, I almost bought them at £25 but I didn't have quite enough money. I may live to regret this forever!

However, I did manage to pick up a HUGE pot of embroidery silks for just £14. I was excited to get them home to count them and of course to put them all in colour order. Turns out I have about 160!

If you are ever nearby you must visit this lovely shop. There is also a reclemation yard around the corner which is worth a visit. They have lots of furniture and other pretty bits and bobs to look at, as well as lots of old doors and things made of concrete!  

What are your favourite treasure hunting spots? I would love to hear so that if Chris, Pip and I ever go on adventure near you we will know the best places to go!

Laura xXx

Read More

Holiday Snaps & Misadventures

I thought I would let you see a few snaps of our ...

Here we are ready to leave for Dartmoor! We stopped off at Charmouth on the way to do some unsuccessful fossil hunting.

On our first full day we walked to Fingle Bridge. There was a lovely Pub, which we had lunch in. We then ventured onwards towards Drogo Castle ... 2 hours later and we were still walking... up a very steep hill! And guess what, when we got there, the Castle was closing! I was dreading the walk back, so with limited signal, we managed to call a taxi, but before we could book it a lovely couple who were volunteering there offered us a lift home. Hurrah!

Then it was time to head to Wadebridge. On the first day we went to Tintagel Castle, but I stupidly forgot my camera. The weather the following day looked promising, so we headed for Treyarnon Bay. It was beautiful, and Chris went for an explore.

I was very excited to get a Mr Whippy ice cream, only to drop it minutes after this photo was taken. I was devastated, but as it fell on a rock I felt that the 3 second rule applied.

We explored the rock pools and found this beautiful, if a little slimey, rock face. I am happy here because I managed the treacherous path to get across. (I only fell in a bit on the way back).

 We tried to use the timer on the camera to take a photo, but Chris somehow lost his footing...

 So we gave up on that idea, it was far too dangerous. Meanwhile...

...below, children had joined forces to create a massive barrier against the incoming tide! They were really going for it and seemed to be doing a good job. We had to leave before we saw the full outcome,  but they fought valiantly.  When we got back to the van we found that Pip had made a friend. He didn't really want to leave, but we let them exchange addresses so they could stay in touch and managed to drag him away.

We went for a delicious meal out in the evening. Unfortunately Chris's stomach was not a fan of the mussels and we had a rather humorous night. Worried that we may both have food poisoning I psychosomatically contracted Chris's illness, and then joined him in dashing back and forth between the van and the toilet block. Incapable of doing much the next day I decided to get on with my cross stitch, while Chris lay invalided in the back. We also watched a lot of The IT Crowd and ate lots of soup.

Here we are, Chillin' in the van, did you spot me in the mirror? This was probably not that day, Chris looks far too well.

On our last day we visited the Eden Project. This was taken in the Rainforest Biodome. They were offering a magical drink called Baobab for only a pound. It was yummy.

 There were so many pretty flowers to take pictures of, unfortunately it was a bit steamy!

After we left Wadebridge we stayed one night in Blandford, which is where my parents and grandparents happened to be camping.

It was a great trip despite its many disasters. I didn't even mention the wind and rain, or the fact that I had packed a pack of cards that was missing 3 of its deck! Or the time when I went to turn the tap on but it fell off instead and water went everywhere!

It was an adventure, and that was the whole idea. We are looking forward to our next one!

Laura xXx

Read More

Pip Update - Having a good old clean

And so, it was time to clean... we cleaned here, there and everywhere!

Below you can see the left side, which has been cleaned and T-cut, and the right side which was yet to do. Big difference huh!? Ok, so it was probably a bit more noticeable in real life...

Time for a picnic and a rest on the lawn. I'm not asleep I promise!

We found a naughty bug-a-lug on Pip's Lei.  Your journey ends here Mr bug!

Testing out the van. You can catch a glimpse of the finished floor and bed in the background if you look closely!

There was another very important job to do! Do you remember that Pip was missing his VW badges?

Well now he has some! He is much happier now that he is a real VW! I found both the back and front badges on ebay, the silver had all worn off, but I won them for £13 which was a bargain, and we just sprayed them back to their lovely silvery selves!

We have left Pip at his grandparents this week. My dad has been trying to work out how to put our new fridge in. I am very excited to get back tomorrow. The plan is to work on him all weekend, if he's not finished by then we'll have to keep going, but hopefully we will get him done by mid-week and can start out on our first adventure! Hurrah!

Laura xXx

Read More

Pip Update - Remaking The bed

So, I'm afraid I'm back to talk your ear off about Pip again! 

The bed in dear old Pip was rather heavy! It was also rather dangerous to make up as it tried to bite our hands off every time! We wanted to put some cabinets down the side of the van anyway, so my dad suggested making the whole thing a bit shorter. First we had to pull the old one out.

Then it was time to get the circular saw out. My dad used the old bed as a template and made amendments where we needed. We crossed our fingers that it was all right then got stuck in! 

Chris, my Mum and I were put on carpet covering duty. We had bought some sticky backed carpet, (usually used on boats) and the idea was to cover the bed so that it looked nice and neat, and so that it didn't bang when we put it up!

In this picture I'm actually covering the box which goes on top of the engine, this also makes up the back of the bed. (Yes, the engine is in the back in our van!)

Dad then reassembled the bed with the nuts and bolts that came out of the old one!

The speakers that the van came with are actually quite decent. Here is a picture of Chris using it to pretend he is a robot. We have cut holes in the base of the bed which we will be putting these in later!

Sorry, I'm keeping all of the photo's of the finished product from you. Mainly because it's not quite finished! All will be revealed in good time! :)

Laura xXx

Read More

Pip Update - Tackling the floor

We have been super busy with Pip these last couple of weeks. We have spent a couple of weekends and a couple of evenings at my parents completing various jobs. I am happy to say he is coming along nicely! I'm going to split up the photographs into various installments, today I am going to show you what happened when we attempted to lay a new floor down.

All we really wanted to do was to replace the old, tired black vinyl tiles with nice new checked blue and white lino! When we ripped the vinyl up we realised the layer of wood underneath was a little damp and would probably need replacing - so we pulled that up. Then we got to the main layer of plywood at the bottom...Uh oh! This was damp too! So my Dad rushed off to the shop to buy some new plywood whilst we set to work tearing up the old flooring.

Whoever had laid this floor was a bit of a Frankenstein by the looks of it!

In fact everything seemed to have a billion screws/bolts and staples in it. We also took down the shelf at the back of the van as we decided we could put something lighter in instead.

Everything in this pot came out of the van. They were certainly a bit screw-happy! I bet that's made the van a lot lighter in itself!

So, once we got the flooring up there was a layer of insulation, and we cleared that away to reveal a bit of a rusty mess.

Luckily I think we discovered it just in time. My dad wire wheeled all of the rust, then painted some magic paint on to slow the rusting process. (Don't worry, we figured out where the leak was coming from and fixed it, so we shouldn't have the same problem again, fingers crossed!)

We then used the wood we had pulled out as a template for the new floor.

And then we made a lot of noise!

I varnished the edges of the wood so that it wouldn't be susceptible to getting damp again.

And then we bolted it all back in!

This is everything we pulled out of the van. Yikes! Chris had fun taking this to the dump ... not!

We did actually fit the new lino in too, but you'll have to wait for that. I didn't take any proper pictures and now we have carpet covering it to protect the floor whilst we are still working on it.

My 2 weeks off work starts on friday and we are planning to get it finished at the weekend. Hopefully we will be taking Pip on his first proper road trip early next week! Lots to do, we'd better crack on!

Next time I'll share photo's of us making a new bed/chair.

Laura xXx

P.S If you have any suggestions of where would be nice to visit, i'd love to hear them!

Read More