Under the heat of the Lyme Regis sun

On Sunday, we went to Lyme Regis for the day, we picked a beautiful day! It was the hottest day of the year so far. Unfortunately, we didn't set out as early as we should have done and by the time we arrived (noon), all the car parks were full. Not surprising as they only charge £1 for a whole day! Alan dropped Phoebe and I off whilst he went around and around the car park looking for a space.



As Phoebe and I walked down towards the beach, all we could see where a mass of tents and parasols. As you will have established from my VW campervan post, I am not one for the crowds and the thought of being on the beach surrounded by people everywhere did not appeal!

What we didn't realise, is that the Lyme Regis Fossil Festival was on that day. No wonder it was so crowded!

We looked for somewhere to eat, we had lunch in a tea room at the bottom of the High street.
After lunch, Alan headed off to the beach with Phoebe whilst I had a look around a few shops including Suzie Cole and a Hospice charity shop. I found something in each of those shops.


Suzie Cole was full of real vintage & vintage style items.
Click on the pictures if you wish see in more detail.









About an hour later, I joined Alan and Phoebe on the beach where I then caught up with a bit of reading under the tent and watched Phoebe and Alan play in the sea.


The Lilac and blue beret comes from Suzie Cole and the rose dish from the Hospice Charity shop. Picture was taken in the tent so has a pinky tinge.


Embroidered tablecloth on the right was bought from the Hospice charity shop.



This 1920's book I bought from the Hospice charity shop.



Lyme Regis town rooftops
Photo from: Alan Woollard Photography


Lyme Dream
Photo from: Alan Woollard Photography


Candy coloured beach huts
Photo from: Alan Woollard Photography


Pink door. Lyme is very colourful, buildings and doors have a wonderful array of colours
Photo from: Alan Woollard Photography
More photos of Lyme Regis can be found on Alan's Flickr Photostream (see side bar)

As the afternoon went on, the beach gradually became quieter. At last, I had a view of the sea and coastline instead of tents, parasols, heads and feet.

Phoebe having fun with this huge bouncy ball we bought on the sea front

At last, the crowds have gone.

It was lovely catching up with some reading

BANK HOLIDAY MONDAY
This afternoon there is a hive of activity around the lane and fields surrounding our house. They are collecting the cut grass. The machines are huge and at times struggle to get through the drive between our house and the barn, it requires good driving skills!



The noise is something else when these machines arrive!

Phoebe doing a handstand as one of these machines goes by.


The field in front of our house where the steam train goes by was worked on first


Then they moved to one of the fields next to our back garden

I switfly brought my washing back in as all that cut grass in the air.

I hope that you all had a good bank holiday weekend. If you live in this area, then unfortunately the weather forecast is not good. Heavy rain on it's way with thunderstorm....


A bientôt!


Isabelle x

House decorating update & Retail therapy

I came across this tray in a charity shop in Frome and had to have it. Why? Because it reminded me of my childhood and how my sister I loved these little characters. We had writing paper, stickers etc.. We named them 'Les Boubous' as we didn't know what they were called. We lived in France then. To this day my sister and I still don't know what they are called. If anyone knows I'd love to know please, thank you.

ON THE HOME FRONT

The house is still having a lot work done to it. Every single room needs redecorating and re-arranging. We are doing most of the work ourselves.

Here is a taster of some of the curtains we will have:

This fabric will be made in to curtains for our bedroom. Our bedroom walls have not had the old wallpaper stripped yet. This will be changed to an Ivory cream colour. Have not decided on the exact brand or colour of the paint yet.

I love these curtains, they will be in our kitchen on 2 sets of windows and the kitchen door there will be a different curtain to break it up a bit. The kitchen walls have been painted in 'Honey' by Laura Ashley.

These 1960's/70's curtains are on the downstairs window as you go up the stairs, these starts the blue & green theme which runs up to the landing. Not the style I usually go for but I found them fresh. They work well with some of the 1950's things that I have around them. The walls are painted in an of white called Pointing by Farrow and Ball.

We still have boxes and piles of books everywhere. As the house is small, we cannot empty the contents of a room in to another to get the job done. We have do work with all the contents still in! This, we find frustrating and time consuming!

The weather has been so unreliable of late that we have not even been able to take furniture out in to the garden whilst we strip wallpaper, move things around etc. I certainly would not want to have anyone around at the house in it's current state....this in between stage, is never a good look!

I look forward to having the house completely redecorated and furnished to our taste, everything in it's right place, lighter and brighter looking and TIDY! It will finally feel like HOME.

RETAIL THERAPY

In between all the work, I have enjoyed looking through the Cath Kidston catalogue making my WISH list (Not all will be ordered in one go..) before the Easy Living discount offer expires. I have not placed my order yet but here are some of the things to be found on my list so far..

The set


I like the colourful glasses





I am in need of a new ironing board cover and this one will be just right!

I love this design. The tablecloth will look right with the curtains

For our bedroom


For our bedroom. This will look perfect with the fabric which I am going to turn in to curtains

Hope you are having a great weekend!

A bientôt!

Isabelle x

The romance of the VW campervan & The vintage caravan featured in Joules catalogue

To me there is something very romantic about going off on a day out or holiday exploring the English countryside and coast in an old VW campervan. However, camping has never really been my thing!

My first and last experience of camping was when I was 11 years old. I was with the Girl Guides somewhere in the South of France. After taking what seemed like an eternity to set up the tent, we had a meal. Sometime later, after singing around the camp fire we settled in our tents. The lights went out. Not long after settling down, I felt something sharp in my lower back. I lit my torch and saw a spider in my sleeping bag. I screamed, this resulted in all the girls screaming, followed by all of us running out of the tent.

None of us wanted to go back in again! I had been bitten by a spider, I came up with a bluey purple rash with raised bubbles, the rash was about the size of an old 50p coin. It didn't look pretty. The next morning none of us felt like doing any orienteering, we had not slept a wink! I decided that camping was not for me.

I still feel that way about camping today. Although for other reasons too. One of them being that I don't like the lack of privacy, having other tents close by and having to leave your tent to go to the toilet. I love being in the countryside but like to have my basic comforts and PRIVACY!

I still have a scar where I was bitten by the spider.

Going back to the VW Campervan....

Having taken a shining to the VW campervan for going on days out, I have wondered how I would feel about going on holiday with one and sleeping in it. I usually opt for a cottage or B&B when holidaying in this country. The idea of sleeping in a VW campervan does appeal, especially if furnished with Cath Kidston items inside! BUT... could I find a lovely spot without having any other tents or caravans around?....After all, my idea of a relaxing holiday is to stay in a beautiful peaceful place away from the crowds.

Imagine being there in your campervan having a picnic with no one else around, bliss....

Now, I wouldn't want to have a whole collection of VW camper items around the house but I do like these which I couldn't resist.

I bought these tea towels from Jam Tart, they do other retro designs too.

On our way to the Isle of Wight a couple weeks ago, we walked around Lymington in Hampshire. Lymington is where the ferry leaves for Yarmouth (Isle of Wight). We arrived a bit earlier than expected so looked around the market which is held on a Saturday. There are several stalls on both sides of the high street. On one of them I spotted bags, mouse mats etc.. with various coloured VW campervans on. Naturally I had to stop. I bought a little shopper bag and a couple of magnets from Rainbow Days . They also have an online shop, click on the link to see their selection.

Here are my purchases

Whilst browsing online yesterday I came across this really interesting website Snail Trail. It offers retro vehicle rentals.

I spent ages looking through it and here is a selection of some of the vehicles up for hire. Each campervan is named. I love the interiors, many of which are decorated with Cath Kidston things. Snail Trail have kindly agreed for me to use their photos for this post.

Here is ELSIE

BETTY

FLO

PRU

NELL

MATILDA

Some of you may recognise the caravan in the next set of pictures. It features in the current Joules catalogue. Constance is also available via Snail Trail!

CONSTANCE

Such beautiful interior! I could see myself being tempted in to caravaning for the first time with a caravan like Constance!

If like me you are interested in VW campervans you may find these links interesting:

vwcampervans.com

Volkswagen Camper


VW Campers Forever

The VW campervan is on my wish list but I do need to find out more about it. What are they like to drive? etc. I will just have to hire one for a holiday and find out! I love the idea of it as it would fit in with what we do a lot of at the weekends, exploring the South West of England.

A bientôt!

Isabelle x