Florence



Outside the cathedral. Dress: EBay, shoes: Reef, bag: an Italian purchase!



The only way to travel in Italy!

Posing outside Gucci? Oh go on then!

Assisi

Rome

The Pantheon

Interior of the pantheon

Getting a fruit pot from the market for breakfast

The Colloseum

Inside the Colloseum

An amaretto bellini - my new favourite drink!

You know what they say, "when in Rome..."!

We had a wonderful time in Italy this summer, and finished off our trip with a weekend in Rome. We stayed in a small apartment and spent our days wandering around all the sights (which are surprisingly close together) and taking far too many photos. In the evenings we sat outside restaurants and ate - and boy did we eat a lot!

Everything about our stay was amazing, the weather (43 degrees anyone?!), the architecture, the people, the markets... sigh!

Umbria

Viw across the bridge to the town & castle from our house

Evening over Spoleto

You can't go without ice cream in Italy! This one was English trifle flavour...

At the cathedral

The only way to travel in Italy!

The Roman ampitheatre

We were lucky enough to spend our summer holiday in Italy this year. We had a week in Umbria, followed by a weekend in Rome before flying home. It’s safe to say that we both fell in love with Umbria, and could quite happily get used to the laid back lifestyle out there!

We rented a beautiful restored artist’s house just outside the town of Spoleto. The town itself is a walled medieval town, with a castle, a cathedral, a roman amphitheatre and lots of pretty squares hosting markets and open air cafes.

Using Spoleto as a base we did day trips out across Umbria, or just spent our days potting around the winding roads of the town.

If you get a chance to visit Umbria, do it, it is just the most beautiful place!

Moroccan Blue



The bunting is homemade, the string of solar lanterns came from Asda, £10



Old furniture being given a new lease of life in the garden! This is a great storage solution for me, and looks pretty too

Table and chairs from B&Q. Cushions homemade

As the weather was glorious this weekend I spent the whole of it in the garden, getting all those annoying little jobs done. I painted all of the fence work – while I know the vivid blue is not to everyone’s taste, I love it. It reminds me of being in Morocco & the wonderful gardens there.

I also moved some bushes that were threatening to take over the flowerbed after being left to do their own thing for four years – and of course that left gaps, so I just had to go and get some new plants to fill them!

It was hard work, but I love how the garden looks now – as you can see Bronwyn approves too! I even managed to enjoy Sunday evening, sitting beside the fire pit with a book and a glass of wine – that’s the life!

Pirate Weekend!

Last weekend in Plymouth was Pirate Weekend - oh yes, no shying away from any cliches in my hometown! Ash & I took his niece Isabella to Plymouth Hoe to enjoy the fun & luckily for us it was a beautiful sunny day.

We went on a pirate ship, did treasure hunts and met 'Jointy Depp' - Oh yes, you did read that right! Isabella had her face painted with a beautiful butterfly, as you can see from the pictures. She's a real stunner and lucky for me she's happy to be photographed!

Here Comes The Sun...

" Here comes the sun...It feels like years since it's been here!"

It seems that the weather has finally started to warm up ever so slightly & sunshine is trying it's best to stay. I usually get my garden sorted much earlier in the year than this, but it's been far too cold so far for any veg plants to survive.

This weekend I took my cue from the sunshine & finally planted out all the delicate little plug plants I'd been keeping alive in the sunroom. All my veg grows in my front garden as there's not enough room in the back, and despite my mum being concerned about neighbours stealing my tomatoes I've not had a problem so far! I have a greenhouse and a veg bed out the front, and these are nicely full now with tomatoes, peppers, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, carrots, parsnips, mangetout & pak choi. Plus at the side of the house I have a 3 tier planter system with salads, herbs, spinach & beetroot all growing from seed.

It feels so nice to have finally got things organised outside, and I'm now looking forward to eating it all!