Makes and a walk

Today I photographed some new cushions I've been making this week.

 Some for my etsy shop (blatant advertising - sorry) and some for my sofa!

Then off to one of my favourite places for a walk -  Arne Nature Reserve.

A nice stroll through the woods and heath.

Loads of Sika Deer about today.

 Eventually we arrive at the 'beach'.

The edge of Poole Harbour complete with all the little islands.

Sadly all a bit cloudy by the time we got there.

Fantastic tree we saw on the walk.

 The jammers had to try and get inside!



On the trail of Enid Blyton

Last week we headed off on a trail around the Purbecks, well that was the plan. It was an Enid Blyton trail organised by the Ginger Pop Shop. The idea is you visit various places that inspired Enid Blyton and find clues along the way.

First stop was Swanage, a place I have many fond memories of as I lived there for a short while. Our destination was the restored pier. We stopped in the old fashioned amusements and exchanged a pound for some big old pennies to put in these vintage slot machines.

This is what remains of the old pier.

The jammers ran off to hunt down clues. I had better not share as they've set their hearts on winning!

Lovely views from the pier out to Old Harry rocks and Poole in the distance.

We picnicked overlooking the beach and I introduced the jammers to the world of Fortes icecream. We generally got distracted from the trail by icecream, food and a quick whizz around the chazzas for me.

Finally we were off again looking for something blue. Can you see where we are?The Blue Pool near Wareham.

The littlest jammer ran ahead. By now we found ourselves partaking in two trails. Enid Blyton and The Blue Pool's own hunt the squirrel.

We had to find posts labelled A-Z. easy peasy. Now at each post we had to look in the surrounding trees for a squirrel or possibly a woodpecker or owl (they obviously ran out of squirrels).

Boy this took some spotting. In fact many were not spotted!
I zoomed the camera as far as I could to check this was a plastic squirrel. Red or grey - who knows?!

Around the trail we peaked at the pool looking lovely and um blue.

And that's all for now folks. We caught the ferry from Studland to Sandbanks with the intention of going to the Ginger Pop shop for the next clue. However the queue was so long we missed that and opted for pizza supper instead.

Loving Lyme

Loving Lyme Regis this week with its colourful beach huts.

 Loving walking past and taking a sneaky peak inside each one.

Loving the way people take time and care to decorate them

Loving the vintage kitchen cabinets inside a couple of them.

 Most of all I was loving enjoying them in the SUNSHINE!!

Now a little quiz for you...

 

In Lyme Regis it's National Lifeboat Week and these celebrations were going on on over the beach.

RAF parachutists dropped from a plane we could barely see - 12,000ft I think.

Free falling at 120mph.

 Twizzling around in coloured smoke until somehow, who knows how but they made these amazing patterns in the sky.

 

 Before descending rapidly onto the beach

 right in front of us!

 

Lovely to see the beach full of holiday makers making the most of the sun.

 I took a wander past my most favourite place to live, a girl can dream,

 up onto Broad Street.

 I left the jammers on the beach and had a lovely hour to myself mooching in the chazzas and gorgeous shops that Lyme offers. I nipped in to Ruby Rock Cake to see my friend Caroline but clean forgot to take any photos of her lovely stock. Do pop in if you're in the area as the shop is brimming with gorgeousness.

 

 Love my littlest jammer in my big sunhat!

 

Time for a wander back to the car.

Hmmm - second favourite house? Well I could make do I suppose.

 By the time we left at 7pm there were still lots of people making the most of the last few rays and who can blame them!

If you made it through to the end of this post, well done.

I hadn't realised what a lot of photos I'd taken.

X



Nowhere in particular

Two posts in two days? The weather must be good.

The sun is still shining here in beautiful Dorset, well not as I type at 10.30pm but it shone like mad earlier! We headed off to the beach again. It's funny how a bit of sun makes me go out and do stuff as I think I might not see any more this summer. This is summer enjoy it now. Make the most of it, it could be all over tomorrow.

 Let me introduce you to Nowhere Island. I hadn't seen the news and didn't know what this was until we arrived at Bowleaze Cove in Weymouth.

 Nowhere Island is part of the cultural olympiad. An artwork by Alex Hartley made from arctic soil and intended to make people think about how they would create a new nation. This video tells the story.

 Accompanying the arctic island is its travelling embassy. This hosted all kinds of arctic artefacts hidden in drawers and cases. It was beautifully curated and I wish I'd taken some more photos of the converted horsebox! The little jammers enjoyed counting polar bears in the embassy and were pleased to find at the end of the day their total of 41 was the highest.

 The embassy was manned by Ambassadors who were so enthusiatic for the project the jammers signed up to become citizens of the island. They got to ring the bell

 and got taught a special Nowhere handshake type greeting!

So if you're in the area take a look and see what you think. A waste of public money or something to make people think and smile?

It's here until 2nd August then off around the South Coast.

 More beach. More sun. More sand.

More hole digging.

 More sea!

Tomorrow... weather check... more of the same I think... it wont last long.