Time for a Break

Since my last post, things at work have been a little bit hectic so I was really ready for a little bit of time away. D and I booked a little last-minute getaway to one of our favourite retreats, Fifteen The Digey in St Ives for a little bit of peace and quiet. We had no great plans for the week; just reading, walks on the beach and the occasional afternoon tea, but the week before we left we discovered that, some very dear friends of ours would also be in St Ives for the week and that even more friends would join us at the end of it! 

A whole gang of us were due to meet at the incredibly happy wedding of Claire and Nigel yesterday and it was just delightful that so many good friends took the opportunity to make the most of the trip to the south west to spend a little bit of time together at the beach. Highlights of the time together included, running in the sea with little Joe, a slap-up lunch at the award-winning Porthminster Cafe, building sand-castles (Spangles' were by far the most excellent) and a delicious and hilarious dinner with the girls at Porthgwidden Beach Cafe. 

D and I also made the most of our time away together with walks on the beach at Sennen, Porthmeor beach and along Gurnard's Head followed by the tastiest lunch of the week at the Gurnard's Head Hotel. We also managed to squeeze in some very long lazy lie-ins, daily afternoon teas, plenty of reading, drinking, cryptic crosswords and sitting by the harbour just watching the world go by. Absolute bliss. I read four books, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson, The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro, The Vanishing of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell and One Boy and His Dog, the final book from master storyteller Eva Ibbotson. I also bought a rather beautiful photography book called The Light at St Ives by Ann Kelley from the St Ives Bookseller. 

I didn't get very much knitting done while I was away, apart from on the journeys to and fro. Coraline is coming along very nicely and I really am relieved that the Jaeger 4ply has finally found its purpose! There was a sale on at St Ives local yarn store House of Bartlett so, after a certain amount of indecision, I invested in ten balls of Louisa Harding's Millais in a dark petrol blue, which I hope will turn into something with a nice cowl neck. Maybe...

Our wonderful week ended with such a happy day as we joined Claire and Nigel to celebrate their wedding at Kitley House Hotel in Devon. Claire looked beautiful and it was so moving to see Nigel looking at her as she walked up the aisle to meet him. Claire's sister read lyrics from Angel Mine by the Cowboy Junkies which would have softened even the hardest of hearts. This is a picture of Claire's bouquet, which was patiently handmade by Claire's mum - isn't it gorgeous.

After the ceremony we drank pink fizz, had tea and scones on the lawn while a jazz singer serenaded us, an amazing wedding breakfast and dancing until midnight before collapsing into what was quite possibly the world's comfiest bed at the Plantation House Hotel. The perfect day to end a perfect holiday.

What a Week!

The sun is shining, the daffodils are out, D and I have had our first picnic of the year and at last spring really is on the way.

This last week has been a pretty momentous week in my world, particularly with the arrival of little baby Bobbin, who from now on will be known as Flora. Congratulations to Jenny and Pete – I can't wait to come on over and meet little Flora. Also, congratulations go out to D's twin, who got a new job teaching as a head of department at a particularly fine school just over the county line in Dorset. This means that he and his family will be moving closer, which will be all together lovely. M stayed with us the night before the interview and the night after and he found out that he'd got the job on Saturday morning, so we drove the short twenty miles to check out the town that he will be living in, stopped for a celebratory cup of tea at a really nice café/bookshop and checked out the local estate agents' windows.

That evening I went to my friend Claire's Hen Party, where we ate Claudia's amazing canapés and drank lots and lots of pink fizz. Throughout the course of the evening Claire had to answer a number of tricky questions including, "What really happened in the tree house...?" Great fun was had by all and there was none of the traditional tackiness!

Sunday was a momentous day indeed and heralded our first picnic of the season. Truth be told, it was still a little chilly, but there was quiche and potato salad left over from the party and an outdoor exhibition of plant photography at Lacock Abbey that I really, really wanted to see. The International Garden Photographer of the Year competition is held annually by the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in partnership with the National Trust and it's well worth a visit if you happen to be in Wiltshire. The National Trust museum also celebrates the art of photography and had a wonderful exhibition of pinhole photography by Jesseca Ferguson called Handmade Pictures.

On the needles, I have cast on for Coraline. I'm using 4ply so it may well take the rest of the year but I'm really pleased to be knitting something that I will really want to wear, with a pattern that's nicely challenging but not daunting (very important combination) and with a wool that is a pleasure to knit with.

I've also just finished a truly moving book, The Hand that First Held Mine by Maggie O'Farrell. It's a sad and beautiful book with a poignancy and inevitability that made me want to savour it as much as I wanted to race through to the end. I'm now off to buy some more of her books to keep me entertained on my forthcoming holiday in Cornwall. Wonderful!