Snowdonia: A Holiday in the UK

Well aren’t I a lucky devil, I have just returned from my second holiday so far this year. This time we went a little off-piste though and holidayed in the UK, with a trip to Snowdonia with our beautiful little pooch-faced babychops (Lexi).

Here she is in case you’ve forgotten how stunning she is:

Lexi on Harlech Beach

Usually we go further afield but we really wanted to find somewhere dog friendly to explore, so we rented ourselves a little house in a coastal village called Harlech, packed up our impractical BMW coupé and off we went.

What a trip!

If like me you haven’t really holidayed in the UK since you were a small child, I highly recommend it. We saw some of the most beautiful places I have ever seen, my phones had no signal most of the time and we had loads to occupy us. I can’t remember the last time I felt so relaxed. That’s not to mention the fact that our little girly LOVED it and had a wonderful time getting the sand in her paws.

Here are some snaps / highlights in case you’re thinking about a trip (these are just phone snaps; imagine the colours in real life!):

Craggy, waterfall-y goodness at Fairy Glen

This is how clear the water is in the streams; my dad tells me some people have this pumped directly into their taps. We drank it, we’re alive

If you like history, there are castles galore. This one is Harlech Castle

Feeling gluttonous? Why not grab an ENORMOUS pancake over at Scoop in Caernarfon?

Or you can head over to Tu Hwnt I’r Bont tearoom in Llanwrst

Need a beach? We had this place to ourselves. Port Iago (in the middle of nowhere after a lot of driving in circles but so worth it – following images are the same place)

Throw in some zip lines, lots of delicious food and a steam train ride and you have yourself a holiday. I can’t recommend visiting Wales, especially the traffic-free, stunningly beautiful Snowdonia enough.

Much love! x

 

 

The Season of Simple Pleasures

Wow! What a truly fabulous weekend we’ve had here in the UK. The weather has been fantastic and as always when that happens in the UK, we’ve all gone out of our way to make the most it. What I find interesting is that a bit of sunshine takes us right back to nature. We all want to get to the beach or set up a BBQ in the garden; for once it’s not about spending money, it’s about spending quality time with our friends.

I personally spent a good chunk of Saturday walking with my step-mum and the delectable Rudi. (See previous posts for pictures of Rudi, so cute!) Then on Sunday headed over towards Oxford for a BBQ with some friends. Whilst at said BBQ, I was absolutely fascinated by the butterflies I saw. Firstly because butterflies seem to be really rare these days and secondly because they were the gorgeous peacock type which I love. So I spent ages chasing one to try and get a decent pic. with my phone; that’s one tough challenge – shutter speed and clarity are not all that but here’s what I ended up with:

Nature really is more beautiful than anything we can produce ourselves

I’m impressed with that, it took a lot of patience which is not something I usually have. Here some pictures of the main event:

Our BBQ Chef

Meat, Glorious Meat!

The BF in full-on sunny day pose

What did everyone else get up to in the sunny weather? I hope you had as good a weekend as I did! x

My Boyfriend’s Sandy Balls

Last Wednesday my bf tipped the scales to the wrong side of 25…he turned the grand old age of 26 just a month and a bit before it’s going to happen to me!

Anyhow, age aside, I wanted to take him somewhere as we hadn’t yet had a proper holiday together and he really wanted to visit a Centerparcs. However, that is EXPENSIVE for 2 people and the next best thing I could find was a lodge for 2 people at Sandy Balls in the New Forest. So we went and stayed Mon-Fri last week and had ourselves a lovely, relaxing time.

In terms of actual activities, Sandy Balls is pretty limited at this time of year, things like the clay pigeon shooting aren’t on out of season whereas my sister was at Centerparcs at the same time where much more was going on. Lucky for us, we were in the New Forest so there was plenty of natural beauty nearby to explore in between a couple of spa treatments 🙂

One of my favourite moments of the break was whilst we were out cycling and we found a few donkeys trotting up the road together. I love donkeys, they are just awesome so this made my day and my super talented bf even managed to capture a bit of this whilst cycling. If this has worked then his masterpiece should follow:

Oh, and here’s the evidence that I really was cycling and did it the safe way:

I don’t think you need 3 guesses to work out which of us is the most athletic! I tried really hard with the cycling but have to admit I did walk the bike up a couple of hills…I got part way there but they were massive and super steep!

Across the week we took in some gorgeous views but my favourite was when we went for a long walk through the trees, off the beaten track. We even found the carcass of a horse on the ground! It was like walking through an enchanted forest with the leaves on the ground, I kept expecting to see all sorts of animals come bounding out from the trees and gather in the middle of the forest floor to speak to each other. A couple of my faves from the bf’s photos are here: (check out the horse in the second one)

It was a fab. week and great to not be swamped with mobile phones and the internet all week, instead getting out there in the fresh air. It was a much simpler life and one which I enjoyed, though I am glad to be back with my laptop!

Whilst we were there we also had some delicious food which I will come onto in my next post as the places we visited I really recommend and want to share with you all 🙂 x