Burnmoor Lodge

 Over Easter weekend we took a trip to the Lake District - Eskdale Green - to say goodbye to Grandad, my mum's dad who died just under 2 years ago. Burnmoor Lodge near Eskdale is a remote lodge sat just above Burnmoor Tarn, and Grandad spent many happy times staying there. The Lake District also holds special memories for my mum, as they had regular camping trips there when growing up.

Mark & I drove from Cardiff to Eskdale (7.5 hours - but sharing the driving!) to meet Caitlin, mum, & JC there on Friday. During the drive I learnt that Mark didn't know the word for cattle grid - and was calling them 'slated fence on the floor'. 

We had a wee surprise when two of Grandad's sisters - Maggie and Linda, together with their husbands - popped up to our airbnb. They were staying nearby and had recognised our cottage. It was at this point that Cait clocked all of the men were plus ones/not related (Rob, Keith, JC, Mark).

On Saturday we all went for a walk around Boot. We'd originally planned to get the Ravenglass and Eskdale railway there from our nearby station, but at £17 a pop it wasn't quite worth it - and those on the train looked quite cold anyway!

Proud moment of Mark in his new gear - new coat, new shoes, and new (mine) bag. 

We started off with the acquisition of snacks from the station cafe. 

Then a lovely walk ambling along the river, up some waterfalls, and back down again. 

Photographer at work. 

Friends!

This is Caitlin's best worried look when we found a viewpoint for the waterfall with grated flooring looking a long way below. 

Said waterfall.

Everyone together now. 

Some of the clearest water I've ever seen! Not photographed well but it was gorgeous.

At one point mum wanted to visit the campsite she remembered visiting decades ago. It's changed a lot since she last visited - not least the playground.

We also looked at Eskdale Mill but didn't fancy paying to go in. It wasn't until we later lost Maggie & Keith that we discovered they had indeed gone in. 

The wee train. Some of the seating looked quite cold!

Everyone met back at our airbnb for a picnic style lunch, before we broke and re-convened again for dinner in a pub that evening. 

On Sunday we had better weather (in fact - the whole weekend was better weather than we anticipated), and headed for our longer celebratory Grandad walk. 

Mark was wrapped up warm. My new bag!

We started off through a farm. 

Before emerging onto some gorgeous moors. 

Mark found some tadpoles. Hundreds of them!

Hello!

We then met with Burnmoor Tarn, and Maggie cracked out the mini mini eggs. Next to the Tarn was Burnmoor Lodge - an ex-hunting lodge where Grandad used to stay. 

We took a few minutes to say goodbye to Grandad. Shortly after this, a hailstorm hit us - he did love a practical joke.

Then back to the beautiful moor, we headed downhill to see Wast Water. 

We decided to not do a ridge walk that day due to the unpredictable weather (Storm Dave), and headed back along the side of the ridge. 

Adams girls. 

On Sunday afternoon (Easter Sunday) we adults (1 of whom is turning 30 this year) were treated to an Easter egg hunt. Final scores were 22 vs 12... I like to win big. In the evening we headed over to Maggie/Linda/Rob/Keith's for a lovely home cooked dinner. We were again treated to another Easter hunt - this time for Lindt bunnies, with different rules - they could be hidden inside things too! Yes, I won that one too.

Our cottage for the weekend. 

Monday called for another long drive back (8 hours this time). Getting out of the Lake District and North England was quite slow, with even service stations being too full to park. The last 3 hours were fortunately a breeze. Home to 2 loads of washing and falling asleep on the sofa!

Maureen's 80th bash

 This week my great-aunt Maureen turned 80, and invited us all to Swindon (a meet-in-the-middle between Cardiff, Exeter, London, and Basingstoke) to celebrate with her. 

We were joined by our other Farmer/Brook family and played a couple of games of bowling. I have discovered that bowling in a straight line is not one of my specialist skills, and managed to win last place overall. 

Following this we were treated to late lunch at a lovely Italian restaurant. 

On Sunday Mark I had a productive day of lie-ins, climbing/running, and then joining our friends to watch Project Hail Mary in the cinema - very accurate to the book, but when compared to The Martian (another film based on an Andy Weir's book) there wasn't enough disco music. 

March weekends

Last weekend my gorgeous mum yet again visited in an attempt to source me a wedding dress - who knew it'd be this challenging! The extra dilemma comes due to the nature of visiting outlet shops (ex-sample dresses) rather than a main bridal shop, meaning that options are much more limited.

Then mum made me walk across a bridge. 

This photo was used (amongst many others taken at the bridal shop that morning) when I got home & realised I was missing my earring. We managed to deduce that I've either lost it at home or when I first changed at the bridal shop, as it was in none of the photos that day. Happily, super-mum found my earring at home!

We are very pleased to announce that we did find 'the dress' last weekend! Very exciting stuff indeed - it only took 5 shops and 2 weekends... Even more exciting for my mum who got to pick it up from Cullompton post office and lug carry it home to be stored in her house. Thanks mum!!

Cait also called whilst I was on the train to discuss her 30th plans, and then didn't release me until we'd walked all the way to the bridal shop in Newport! 

Cardiff has had some much wanted lovely weather this week - despite the hail last Friday. The sun shining really does make everything seem so gorgeous. 

Hail.

Blossom!

Sunset.

When the light hits the hallway just right. 🥰 

Then this weekend Mark & I traipsed across Cardiff to visit a cake/brunch shop near Victoria Park - Let Them See Cake. Worth it - the brunch and cakes were both excellent. 

 I was feeling a bit sourdough deficient with mine so Mark let me eat half of his - I'm marrying him for a reason. 

Proof of Mark's existence. 

Bridgerton Binge weekend away

This weekend Mark and I booked an airbnb... ostensibly for a weekend away together but really so that we could watch all 8 episodes of the new season of Bridgerton. 

In preparation for the weekend, I made a huge tray of chocolate cracknell. 

We stayed in a  gorgeous converted sheep lorry near Powys, loud braying donkey included (no photos of him sadly).  

On Saturday we had a lie in and then headed out to Henrhyd Falls - the highest waterfall in South Wales!

You can walk behind it but it looked very slippery and wet and we decided to enjoy it from afar. 

The airbnb also had a hot tub, of which I cannot photograph well in the dark but was lovely to hide from the cold wind. 

A lovely weekend all in all, with Sunday for another lie in, driving home, and falling asleep on the sofa. And yes, Bridgerton season 4 was excellent. 

Wedding dress shopping

This weekend my lovely family came up to visit. I've started the hunt for a wedding dress! I'm trying to start early so that I have time to visit multiple outlet shops before giving in to the comprehensive but expensive proper bridal shops.

Cait and mum popped to Cardiff on Friday, and then on Saturday we began. 

First up was a bridal charity shop in Abergavenny. This was the most unlikely option to find my dress but also the cheapest, so worth a go! We were released into a room of dresses and had fun dressing up.

This wasn't quite the one...

Of course, we had to pop into a charity shop or two while we were there, and Caitlin was fully out in support of the rugby. 

We loved Abergavenny, it was so cute, and we found a new favourite shop for me - a zero waste shop with pick and mix sweets, a coffee shop, and a toilet! What more could I want?

And apparently, 2kg of brown rice is what mum wanted. 

I'd asked our venue (St Tewdrics House - and no, I didn't leave an apostrophe out) if we could visit and then asked dad if he wanted to pop up and join us. He drove up on Saturday morning and picked up Mark from Chepstow station. We then had a lovely time showing them around the venue and visualising our wedding! We even got lucky and got a view of the estuary. Dad is pleased there are lots of comfy chairs for him to fall asleep in. 

We drove back to Cardiff and had a quick lunch whilst watching the first half of the rugby (Ire vs Eng). Or rather, Cait & dad screamed at the TV while mum & I actually made lunch. Next, we left the boys to the rugby and went to a secondhand reloved bridal shop, which was closer to the 'right dress' but still too much tulle!

On Saturday evening we treated ourselves to a takeaway & introduced Mark to fifteens (made by dad), before dad drove back home. 

On Sunday we tried our third bridal shop of the weekend - this time a bridal shop outlet. This was the closest yet, and I nearly bought a dress! But ultimately, I want to look a bit more to see if I can get that 'the one' moment. We shall see!