Picnic season is well and truly underway now with a pair of picnics for my birthday; one in Pedlar's Park with lots of lovely friends from work on the Friday before my birthday weekend (thanks guys!) and a second with D on the day before my birthday. D had arranged a surprise day out to Oxford which was just lovely. We drove up from Salisbury, picked up some bread, cheese and fruit from the covered market and took it to the University Park for a long lazy lunch in the sunshine. After lunch we took a stroll back into town and I visited the Eccentricity exhibition at the Museum of the History of Science while D browsed for books at Blackwell's.
Next up was a smashing cup of tea at The Grand Cafe, the oldest coffee shop in Oxford and a perfect day was rounded off with a trip to the really rather lovely knitting shop, Darn It and Stitch where I took a very pretty picture of their rainbow of wool and bought a charm pack of creamy-beigey-brown and pale turquoise fabric from the Lily and Will range by Bunny Hill Designs for Moda. It is such a sweet little shop and well worth a visit if you in or near to Oxford.
The day of my birthday itself, I was completely spoiled. I was sent all kinds of cakey goodies; silicone muffin trays, the most beautiful measuring cups you are ever likely to see and a stunning three tier cake stand from my dear sister. D gave me a Kindle, which was a complete surprise and I have promptly loaded it with all of my favourite classics and even more that I haven't read yet. I also used some brilliant V&A fabric that hadn't fitted in with the colours of my quilt, to make a padded case to keep it protected on the train. Framley Parsonage, here I come...
I probably would've posted last weekend but D and I have spent the last week relaxing in the Tuscan sunshine! We stayed in the apartment of a friend and divided our time between swimming or lounging by the pool, and day trips out to the surrounding towns of Florence, Siena, Volterra and San Gimignano. I read some brilliant books; Great House by Nicole Krauss, The Best of Everything by Rona Jaffe, High Wages by Dorothy Whipple and When God Was a Rabbit by Sarah Winman. All of them were excellent reads. 
The apartment we stayed in was simple and stunning. It is situated in a tiny little hamlet in the hills not far from Pisa. The view from the bedroom window is of the church in the village at the top of the road and the view from the pool was of olive groves - I can't tell you how amazing it was! The sun shone every day and without internet, email, phone or TV it was a real retreat from the busyness of modern world and a step away from our everyday lives.
Trips out and about gave us a bit of culture and we visited the Uffizi Gallery in Florence for the first time. Both the museum and Florence were slightly overwhelming, so it was nice to visit a few of the more quiet towns in the region. We had the most amazing ice creams on each of our days out, including pistachio, yoghurt, vanilla, lemon, peach, fruits of the forest and best of all stracciatella, which is a plain cream gelato with delicious strips of dark chocolate. Mmmmmmm!
We pootled around in a brand new Fiat 500, which was charmingly Italian and very brave as it tackled all of the hills, often in first gear! I couldn't resist taking this picture of one of the original models that was parked up in Siena. Isn't it cute!
After all that activity, we made sure to make the most of the long evenings; eating wonderful Tuscan recipes, drinking local wine and gazing out over the landscape. I even managed to get in a spot of crafting, starting up the crochet blanket that I had my eye on in The Gentle Art of Knitting.
